They woke up, seemingly simultaneously, the next morning entwined together. Brielle’s eyes fluttered open, and Logan stared into them, realizing she’d never appreciated just how green they were. The pale green of pistachio ice cream.
Brielle tucked the lower half of her face beneath a pillow. “I’ve never had to worry about morning breath after sleeping next to a girl before.”
“Bet you’ve never done a lot of things with a girl that you did with me last night.”
Brielle snorted. “That’s the truth.”
“You hungry?”
“Yes, but I want to shower before we go to breakfast.”
Logan yawned, stretching. Her arms thumped back to the comforter, which she pulled up to her chin, closing her eyes again. “Okay. You can go first.”
“Or…you could just come with me.”
Eyes opening again, Logan shot Brielle a surprised look. “What’s gotten into you, you little sex kitten.”
Brielle giggled and bent closer to her. “We’re Super Halos. We can do whatever we want.”
With this, Brielle threw the comforter off of her and padded, naked, to the bathroom sending a suggestive look over her shoulder.
Logan didn’t know what she meant by Super Halos, but she wasn’t about to argue. So she jumped out of bed and followed after her.
BRIELLE
If last night had been a show, their shower had been the encore. Suffice it to say, they were a tad bit late to breakfast. But they were the only ones left of their group, so no one had to wait around for them.
It was kind of sad. She had Logan back now, but there was something lonely about being group-less. And, even though Aurora and Chord gave her a bunch of crap, she missed them.
“Brielle!” a voice called out as she and Logan walked into the dining room. “Come join us!”
She turned to see Danni Jo and the rest of their group waving at her. Brielle glanced uncertainly at Logan. But she was smiling.
“Let’s go.” Logan grabbed Brielle’s hand, pulling her towards them. “It’s not like anyone is going to miss us at our table.”
Brielle felt her stomach flip as Danni Jo's group took in their clasped hands. All the embarrassed and borderline ashamed feelings she's once had came flooding back into her chest cavity, weighing it down.
She thought she’d grown out of those feelings. She thought she’d taken a step forward. But here she was, her cheeks filling with warmth as the two of them approached the table with clasped hands.
How was she supposed to introduce Logan? Should she say she was her friend? Her girlfriend? Would they think it was weird that she’d hidden this fact from them until now?
Thoughts raced through her brain as her heart rate sped up.
“Is this another Super Halo?” Danni Jo asked brightly before Brielle could say anything.
Logan laughed. “Okay, what is this Super Halo business?”
“You’re famous,” Trixi declared, popping a strawberry in her mouth.
“I am?” Logan said.
Anthony pulled up two extra chairs. “Girl, your whole group is famous. From what you did on Etheria.”
“I wasn’t actually in their group then.” Logan sat in one of the chairs, letting go of Brielle’s hand and placing it on her thigh. “My sister and I joined up with them on Arx Isle, so I guess I’m just a groupie.”
“Well, you’re also famous for what happened in Seattle,” Danni Jo added.
“So, I guess that makes me famous too,” Jax chimed in placing the backs of his fingers beneath his chin and batting his eyelashes.
Everyone at the table laughed. Brielle realized no one was asking about her and Logan. No one was paying attention to Logan’s hand on her thigh. No one even seemed to care.
At this realization, she visibly relaxed, letting out a long, slow breath.
Logan took over the conversation, introducing herself and filling everyone in on the situation with Aurora and Gray and Chord and Sevastion. Brielle tried not to smile too big as she took a long sip of coffee.
As Danni Jo reached forward to grab another muffin off the table, her black prophecy illuminated, turning a solid white. Everyone, save for Logan and Brielle, looked at their wrists.
Jax cursed under his breath.
Brielle leaned towards Danni Jo, trying to read the words scrolling across the prophecy like a mini marquee. “What does it say?”
“We’re being dispatched to fight the Horns in Seattle.”
Logan’s face drained of color. “Seattle?”
Brielle placed a hand on Logan’s, squeezing. Seattle was both the place Luna had died and been laid to rest.
“Yeah.” Trixi sighed. “Back to the dangerous reality of being Halos, I guess.”
Logan’s back straightened. “Could we come? Brielle and I? Our group is all off doing other things, working to end all of this, and we’re just sitting around here.”
“I’m not sure,” Danni Jo said uncertainly. “We’d have to ask—”
“Halos!” a flamboyant voice with a thick, German accent said from behind them. Brielle and Logan jumped. “Did you receive your messages? Chop, chop, now. Time to board Tigerlilly and get hopping!”
Brielle turned to see a plump angel with flaming red hair that curled up on either side of his head like a ram’s horns. His eyes were so amber colored, they nearly matched his hair, and his cheeks were a bright fuchsia. Fifty shades of red.
“Ramiel,” Danni Jo greeted, standing. “Could Logan and Brielle join us? The rest of their group is—”
Ramiel looked from Logan to Brielle as if he was just now seeing them. “Super Halos?” Apparently, even the angels had adopted the nickname. “Why, of course. Of course they can. Just speak with Verity before you leave. Which should be post haste!”
Brielle couldn’t help but chuckle to herself as Ramiel flounced off with his hands held up.
“God, I love him,” Anthony said, shaking his head back and forth in awe. “He is what I aspire to be.”
“Honey,” Jax said, placing his baseball-mitt-sized hand on Anthony’s shoulder, “You already are.”
The table erupted in laughter.
Brielle leaned towards Logan. “Are you sure you want to go back to Seattle?”
“Are you kidding?” Logan laughed darkly. “I want to kill every last Horn in that motherfucking city.”
Twenty-Five
CHORD
Sev stood on the topmost deck, holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes. Brows furrowing, his head craned forward. Chord propped his foot on the railing, leaning with his hands clasped and forearms resting on the bar.
Sev lowered the binoculars, his colorless eyes still squinting at the skyline of the city. “It seems the beasts grow less active in the light of day. Perhaps darkness fuels them.”
“Which means…”
“We should capture one before the light leaves the sky.”
Chord sighed. “Yeah. I figured you might say that.”
Quirking an eyebrow at him, Sev folded his arms across his chest. “What did you expect this journey would entail?”
I was hoping for more sex and sugarclouds, Chord thought.
Baring his teeth in an exaggerated grin, Chord said, “Nothing, darling. Lead the way. Take the charge. Smooth the path. Get the ball rolling. Lay the first stone.”
Sev blinked a moment and leaned in to kiss him, taking Chord off guard. The kiss was indulgent and heady, leaving Chord breathless as Sev pulled slowly away. “I’ll go get the rope and duct tape.”
Regaining his speech, Chord chuckled. “Duct tape?”
“The handiest supply one can have on hand.” Sev winked, kissing him one last time. “Go put on your gear and get your weapons. Meet you back here in ten.”
Chord gave him a salute. “Aye-aye, captain.”
With Halo armor on, weapons strung across their hips, and duct tape in tow, Sev and Chord left the safety of Lady Lionheart. Luckily the beasts had dispersed into the nooks and cran
nies of the city, for the most part. Though, there were the occasional stragglers.
The first one they came across was a woman of Asian descent. Her straight black hair glistened in the sun as she walked sleepily just outside the shadows of a gray building. She almost looked like a normal person, but then she turned her head to show her face. The beast woman’s mouth, once stitched closed, was now open and bloodied. Strips of skin dangled sickeningly down.
“How in the hell did she get those wires off on her own?” Chord muttered as Sev hastily pulled him behind a stalled truck before the beast spotted them.
“I don’t know, but she’s going to be our first experiment. Get your weapon ready, and only go in for the kill if absolutely necessary. We need to keep her alive.”
“Don’t you think we should wait to find one whose mouth doesn’t look like a morbid string of icicle Christmas lights?”
Sev shook his head, unsheathing his crux. “We haven’t the time to wait, Chord. The increased number of beasts tells us that. Caducus is growing his army by the hour. We must figure out how to stop him before it’s too late.”
“All right, General Patton.” Chord pulled his crux from its holster. “Let’s go then.”
They moved as one entity, splitting in two at the last minute, confusing the beast woman, who revolved with bared teeth.
She spat and snarled as Sev went to work stringing her torso up with rope and duct tape. Chord knelt to take care of the legs, which kicked out at them. A sudden thrash of her upper torso knocked Sev off balance and Chord dropped the rope he’d been holding.
With a cry of rage, the beast whipped her head to the side, mouth open, and sank her teeth into Sev’s forearm. She pulled her mouth back and took with it a chunk of Sev’s skin.
This sickening display made Chord’s stomach churn. Sev let out a shout of pain and Chord snatched for the rope. Everything happened as if in slow motion.
Wrapping the rope around the thrashing beast, tying it securely, the creature arched her back, and the three of them went crashing down to the dirty street. Recovering the breath he’d lost, Chord looked up to see Sev bowed over, panting. His face was pale, and flooded in mini rivers of sweat. At this point, he didn’t even have a hold of the beast.
Making a last minute decision, Chord swung his crux, hitting the beast hard in the temple with the handle. The creature grunted, and her eyes fluttered closed.
Sev squinted as if he couldn’t see her clearly. Chord ripped off a chunk of duct tape and immediately sealed closed the beast’s wide open mouth. Then he went to work on her torso and legs.
“There,” he said through a labored breath.
Sev didn’t acknowledge what Chord had done. Instead, he cradled his head in his hands, blood from the bite wound streaming down his arm.
“Come on, Sev,” Chord said gently. “Let’s get her back to the ship and get you fixed up.”
Sev didn’t respond, which would have really annoyed the hell out of Chord if he wasn’t so damned terrified. It was evident he would have no help dragging the beast girl back to the boat. Lucky she was a petite thing.
Stringing an arm through Sev’s and tugging him up, Chord slung the unconscious beast over his shoulder and struggled back to the water.
Each step was impossible, and he silently thanked his angel father for giving him inhuman strength and endurance.
Lest they all die.
Time didn’t mean much to Chord anymore, but he could tell he’d used quite a lot of it trying to basically carry two people—an unconscious beast and a nearly unconscious Halo—back to the boat.
The sun sank low in the sky as he finally pushed Sev onto the deck and forced himself to walk the last however many feet to the examination room, dropping the beast heavily onto the table.
Sev hadn’t followed him inside the boat.
Dammit, Sevastion, he thought. Now is not the time.
Chord left the examination room in search of his boyfriend. He found him slumped up against the outer ship walls, chest rising and falling erratically like he’d just carried a beast from land to the docks.
Which he definitely hadn’t. That had been Chord.
Chord knelt in front of Sev. The usually calm and collected Brit trembled, his breathing growing more labored. “Sev?” Chord whispered, pressing a hand to his cheek. “You’re burning up. Are you getting sick? Do Halos get sick?” he added aloud to himself. “Sev,” he said more forcefully, gripping his shoulders. “Sevastion, tell me what you need. Water? Ice? Sev.”
With a shuddering breath, Sev’s head lolled to the side, his eyes fluttering closed and his chest stilling.
“Sev!”
Panic took over. Chord pulled him to lie flat on the deck, hovering over him, pumping his chest with the heels of his hand. Tears stung his eyes, pressure building until they dropped heavily onto Sev’s Halo armor.
What happened? How could one bite from a beast cause this?
He pumped harder and faster, watching for some sort of change, some sign of life.
But Sev was still. Eerily and heart-wrenchingly still.
A sob tore its way out of Chord’s mouth as he slumped back on the deck. An out of body disbelief took over.
He didn’t understand.
He couldn’t comprehend.
They hadn’t been battling. They hadn’t been in grave danger. It had just been one beast. One tiny beast. What had the bite contained?
Then a strange, rattling sound met Chord’s ears.
Looking slowly up, he saw Sev’s chest rising and falling once again. Heart leaping, Chord crawled forward. “Sev,” he said through another sob. “Sev?”
A long, low breath made its way out of Sev’s mouth, and Chord felt the flame of relief illuminate him from the inside out…
But this flame was quickly doused.
Sev’s eyes flew open. And, rather than peer into his beautiful, colorless irises…Chord stared down in horror into a pair of solid, beetle-black eyes.
Twenty-Six
AURORA
Before she opened her eyes, Aurora’s mind awoke, recalling everything that had taken place the night before. Gray taking her in his arms, taking her in more way than one. And her letting him.
Her body felt weaker than it ever had after days of training. All the pleasure had exhausted her in the best way. A small smile made its way across her lips as she opened her eyes, expecting to see Gray lying beside her.
But the bed was empty.
Sitting up, Aurora scanned the room, listening for a shower or movement in the living room. Too quickly, her peaceful serenity was weighed down with doubt. She hated to be the girl who needed reassurance from a man, but it didn’t seem like Gray to sleep with her and then leave her alone the next morning.
Hurt and rejection threatened to saturate her, but she pushed it down, explaining it away.
Maybe he suddenly remembered something he had to ask Michael.
Maybe he was in his bedroom cleaning up, and she just couldn’t hear as well as she thought she could.
Maybe he was whipping up breakfast for her in the demon kitchen.
Groaning at her ridiculousness, Aurora threw off her covers and moved to the bathroom to shower. She hated that she was questioning this. Questioning Gray. Questioning what they’d done. Just because she woke up to an empty bed.
This had been one of the many reasons she’d avoided relationships in the past. As good as they made her feel, they had the potential to make her feel that much worse.
But she was being ridiculous. There was likely a logical reason for Gray to leave that morning. Without even saying goodbye. She couldn’t think of one, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. A burning hot shower would make her forget her pathetic worries.
After showering, she changed back into her Halo armor—she’d had quite enough of those damned corsets and heavy dresses. She was a Halo. A Power Halo. She didn’t need to play dress-up with the Devil. Or the Devil's Mistress, for that matter.
&
nbsp; Unable to stop herself, she peeked inside Gray’s room to see if he’d been hiding silently in there. But his bed was made, and no water from the shower could be heard.
Sucking in a calming breath, Aurora left the flat. She’d been half expecting another demon child to appear out of the shadows to escort her down to the dining room for breakfast, but no one could be seen in the dark hallways. Strange... The day before, they’d practically been crawling up the walls like cockroaches, watching her. Giggling maliciously.
After getting lost twice, Aurora finally located the dining room. Her heart leaped fractionally as she took in the four others at the breakfast table. Michael, Lucifer, Lilith…
And Gray.
Gritting her teeth to keep from saying something she’d regret, Aurora walked mechanically to her spot at the table beside Michael. No demon came to take her order or fill her tea cup.
The conversation was nonexistent. Eyes flicking up to Gray, Aurora waited for him to look her way.
But he didn’t.
His half-lidded gaze remained trained on the empty plate before him.
“Now that we’re all here,” Lucifer said. “I suppose I can conjure up breakfast. Forgive the lack of service, but it would appear all of our staff has been extinguished.”
Aurora’s eyes moved from Gray to the head of the table where Lucifer sat, straight-backed and tight-lipped. “What do you mean?”
Lilith was the one to speak. “Surely you didn’t think you and your Stellar could do the dirty things you did last night without killing our demon children.”
Aurora’s cheeks warmed as her mouth fell slightly ajar. “I don’t know what you’re—”
“Of course you know what we’re talking about,” Lilith interrupted. “We are talking about your fuck session last night. Don’t act ignorant, girl.”
Aurora's teeth clamped down on the inside of her cheeks to keep from cursing the woman across from her.
Again, she tried to make eye-contact with Gray, but his stare remained vacant and removed from the conversation. Burning anger rose up inside her, licking her ears and cheeks.
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