Angel Kin (7 page)

“We love you, too, Cross.” Bren couldn’t seem to help himself as  he gave a wink. “So serious. You’d think we were in a Lifetime  movie.”

Cross rolled his eyes. “Behave, Bren.”

“That’s like telling a dog not to bark, Cross. It’s not going to happen,” Michel quipped, grinning at Bren. “But you know, he’s starting to grow on me.”

“Starting to?” Bren asked. “I’m wounded. Just thinking about how much you love when I—”

“Focus, all of you,” Cross commanded, unable to keep the smile out of his voice as he said it. His men couldn’t be truly serious to save their lives. “I want this to go as smoothly as possible.”

Bren saluted. “So noted, commander. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Dex looked up toward the sky and nodded twice. “Lord Gabriel said there are a large number of hunters at the temple doing a demonstration, so we shouldn’t have to contend with too many on the way.”

“The ones we do come across will be dealt with in the harshest of

terms.” Michel’s voice was deadly.

Cross frowned. “We’re not to engage them if we can help it,  Michel. I don’t want you breaking formation to chase down a hunter.  Understood?”

Michel sighed, annoyance lacing his tone. “Yeah, yeah. I got it,  Cross. I’ll behave. One day though…”

“Banish the bad thoughts, babe. No reason to get worked up before you guys hit the sky.” Bren put his arm around Michel’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Seriously, chill. We’ll get the fuckers soon enough.”

In a way, Cross hoped he was right. In another, he prayed that they wouldn’t have to engage the hunters at all. He didn’t want to risk losing them before they got a chance at happily ever after.

Chapter Six

Yuri fiddled with the dial on the radio as they pulled onto the highway. Since it was early morning, the traffic was a bit heavier than usual, and Bren was cursing human drivers under his breath as they sped toward their destination.

Madigan was nervous about the drive and couldn’t wait until they got there. The entire car seemed to be under the same sort of gloomy pall that he was. Even the normally vibrant Levi was quiet and reclined against Erik as best he could with his seat belt on.

“So far so good,” Madigan mumbled, petting the petals of his flowers as they rolled along. It had been nice of Marius to think to get

him some.

“Madi, what was that one house you found promising on the net  last night?” Yuri asked the question, no doubt to distract Madigan  from more serious thoughts and anxieties.

“It’s a three bedroom, three and a half bath with a finished  basement, office, and attached garage. I thought we could stick a  weight room in the garage and install some built-in shelves in the  office to make it into a library,” Madigan answered without thinking.  His mind was on his lovers above him, not on the house that could  potentially be theirs. “It’s also centrally located with the shopping  district within walking distance. I thought we could look at some  commercial properties when we got there.”

“For the bakery?” Bren asked.

“Yep.” The car fell silent again. Keeping small talk going was  going to be a painful experience for them if they tried to keep it going  the entire car ride. Madigan’s thoughts turned toward the town they

were heading into. It was a medium-sized area, only thirty-six  thousand people total. The metropolitan area was booming and  catered to neighboring cities in a fairly efficient and widespread  manner. Madigan had been surprised he hadn’t heard of the place  before, but the guardians had told him that it was a side effect of the  sanctuary spell that the creator of the town had put in place to  dissuade humans from settling there. While some humans who were  oblivious to the existence of angels, nephilim, and Fallen commuted  to the city, the only people allowed residences in the area were  nephilim, Fallen, angels, and those select humans who knew  explicitly about them. How they managed it, Madigan wasn’t certain,  but he figured that it couldn’t be a bad thing.

The residential areas were apparently the big draw for people of  all walks of angelic life. Each had their own unique security measures  and safety, and privacy seemed to be the number-one thing that  residents were concerned with. Not only were the neighborhoods  extremely safe, the place was completely self-sufficient so the  residents didn’t have to worry about leaving the city ever. The idea of  being able to relax seemed like heaven right about then as they drove  toward their destination. Madigan was definitely excited to be able to  spread his wings in a home that catered to and reassured his loved

ones.

Yuri seemed to settle on a station that was playing the Top 20 countdown in mainstream music and settled back against his seat. His color was a lot better today, and he seemed to be in a marginally better mood. Hopefully, whatever healers they found there would help him undo whatever was done to him and help him get better.

“You okay today, Yuri?” Madigan asked as the angel began to tap the beat of the song on the radio against his jeans.

“I’m fine, Madi. No worries.” Yuri met his eyes in the rearview mirror and gave him a slow smile. There was the jokester that had wormed his way into Madigan’s heart. The overwhelming relief at seeing that light restored to Yuri’s eyes swamped Madigan and made

him want nothing more than to crawl into Yuri’s lap and cry in  gratitude. There was still that ever-present darkness in his eyes, but  the glimpse of Yuri’s old self gave Madigan hope for the future.

“Should be the next exit, guys,” Bren said, flipping on his turn  signal and gliding into the right exit lane. “It’s about twenty minutes  off the exit, so it shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Would we know if something happened up above?” Erik asked.  His expression was nervous and a little pale. He almost clutched Levi  to him. Madigan realized that Levi touching Erik through the ride was  probably not just for Levi’s benefit.

Yuri leaned his head against the glass of the passenger window.  “We wouldn’t.” The honesty was chilling.

“I should’ve made them take a cell phone or something,” Bren  muttered, glancing up at the ever-darkening sky as they slowed  coming off exit twenty-three. “Next time.”

Madigan prayed there wouldn’t be a next time. The idea of his  mates up there alone and in danger was enough to make his heart start  to pound. He deliberately forced his pulse back to normal. There was  no point in getting hysterical. It wouldn’t help things, and it certainly  wouldn’t make them any safer.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’re warriors,” Madigan heard  himself say. “I bet they’re enjoying the fresh air. It’s no fun being  stuck in a car for an hour.” God, was it only an hour away from his  place? Yeah.
 
Shit
. Why did it feel so much longer?

“Marius doesn’t fly as much as he used to. He says until we get  our wings, he’ll stay on the ground with us,” Levi said, still holding  his other lover close. “So I’m sure he’s hurrying to the sanctuary.”  The distraction of talking about their loves seemed to ease the tension  a little bit.

“Yeah, Cross hasn’t let us fly a lot, either. Mainly because we’ve  been targeted now that they can’t get to Madi,” Yuri said. “I can’t  wait to be able to fly again.” There was a longing in his voice as he  said it, and Bren reached out and gripped his knee.

“We’ll find a healer, and you’ll be flying in no time. Isn’t that  right, bright eyes?”

Madigan nodded. “Of course. We won’t accept anything less.” He  smiled as he thought of living in a place where none of them had to  hide away or were restricted to certain areas. “An entire town of  sanctuary sounds pretty great.”

“It does. I was so excited when Marius told us about it.” Levi’s

enthusiasm seemed to be building with their conversation. “That was  when we started planning the wedding and everything. Since it’s a  neutral zone, even our fathers are coming.”

The fact had Madigan turning to look at Levi. “Your angelic  fathers?”

Levi all but bounced in his seat. The smaller guy nearly vibrated with energy when something excited him. It reminded Madigan of a small dog for some reason. It was adorable. “Yeah. Marius sent them special invitations, and they said that they were coming. It’ll be the first time that either of us gets to meet them.”

“Are they archangels, too?” Madigan wondered.

“No way! It’s super rare for archangels to take on human form long enough to impregnate a human. They’re really busy in the heavens, and besides, their angelic forms are very very hard to put in a human skin.” Levi babbled on, oblivious to the wealth of

information he was dropping in Madigan’s lap. “Our fathers are just  regular run-of-the-mill choir angels. Erik’s father is from Gabriel’s  choir and mine is from Michael’s. I did some research on it when I

found out they were coming.”

“Gabriel mentioned something about me not being trained to look  at angels’ true forms. You guys going to start doing that at some  point?” Madigan asked his angels in the front seat.

They shared a glance. “We can if you wish. I really have no idea  what sort of preparation to give a nephilim who is reaching maturity.  Cross was the one who got majority of the orders because your father  was the one that told him what to do as far as your angelic education

goes. We weren’t supposed to be as involved as we are in the original  plans,” Yuri explained. “I was mainly tech support since I am by  nature a scholar, Bren was spell support, Dex was brute strength, so  essentially the tank of the group, Cross was the leader, and Michel  was the tactician. We all had our roles to play. So, when it comes to  all the other stuff that goes along with being a guardian, we’re as lost  as you are. We’re doing this by ear for the most part.”

Madigan had to laugh at that. “Good to know that we’re all  stumbling around in the dark. I love you, guys.”

* * * *

Michel swerved to the left, narrowly missing the projectile arrow tipped in light. If it hadn’t been so dark, he wouldn’t have seen it.

“Incoming!” he shouted ahead to Cross and the others as the hunters rose like crows from the trees on either side of the exit as the

SUV passed some sort of invisible detection line.

“Hunters must’ve set up a trap to take out any nephilim heading toward sanctuary. It might be worth it once they get there, but the journey is a bitch!” Marius yelled as he clenched his fists, summoning his Fallen magic to the form of two glowing green crossbows. He took a shot and nailed one hunter through both his wings, sending him plummeting back towards Earth.

“Keep them off the car!” Cross shouted, diving to engage a pair of angels as they streaked toward the SUV.

Not a lot to worry about today, my ass
. Michel followed suit, tucking his wings in so that he sliced through the air to increase his speed. He did a quick count and noted at least fifteen hunters had risen from the trees. His sword sprang to his fingertips, flashing as it came to full form. He’d been craving blood for days, and he was going to take pleasure in taking these hunters out.

It wasn’t normally in his personality to be so bloodthirsty. He considered himself a nurturing person. When he went home, he liked

to take off his warrior persona and just take care of his men, but lately  it had seemed impossible to shrug off the pounding need to take out  every hunter in the world just to keep his lovers safe. He’d never  hated before in his life, and now he hated with such a depth and  breadth of feeling that it had become a corrosive acid in his blood.

His sword sliced through the wings of a hunter, dropping him  from the sky like an anvil. The satisfaction that filled him at the sight  made him howl with glee. Another hunter rose up to meet him. Their  weapons clashed, but Dex came from above and took that one out,  too. They were faceless enemies to him. Just one more thing that  stood in between him and his lovers’ happiness.

A hand grabbed his elbow, and he turned, snarling, weapon ready  to strike. He paused as he saw who had gripped him. It was the Fallen,  Marius. For one sick second he considered using his sword on the  weaponless Fallen angel. It had been drilled into his head his entire  life that the Fallen and demons were one in the same and that they  both deserved to be met with the same sword point as any other  enemy of heaven. The feeling faded as quickly as it came, leaving  him slightly sick to his stomach. His Madigan had taught him to have  compassion for this angel and his charges, despite the fact that they  weren’t exactly on the same side. He was ashamed he’d even thought  that for an instant.

Marius jerked him suddenly, pulling him out of the line of fire as a mass of arrows shot through the space he’d just occupied. Michel watched in horror as one struck Marius’s arm, piercing through his bicep and sticking into his chest. His flight wavered, and he fell for a second before he righted himself. Michel grabbed his uninjured arm and looped it around his shoulders.