24. Ezekiel
24
Ezekiel
I t had taken thirty more minutes of discussion to get everything else in place. After what had happened last time one of us had been summoned upstairs by Gloria, we weren’t walking into this situation unprepared. No, we were putting every possible safeguard in place.
I’d just had my first taste of true happiness. There was no fucking way I was letting that harpy do anything that might jeopardise that.
With at least three failsafes in place, Micah agreeing to let Nox and Breann accompany us as far as the portal, and Benji promising to look after Sam, we were finally ready to set off.
Casting a compulsion net just in case Sam happened to look out of the window, we unfurled our wings and took to the skies. Micah took point, with Nox and myself flying on either side of him. Breann took the rear, watching our backs.
All our theorising about what to expect ceased the moment we crossed the wards surrounding our property. The likelihood of anyone being close enough to hear us was slim, but we wouldn’t risk giving Gloria any further ammunition.
Not that we knew what she already had on us, if anything.
We could be making a mountain out of a molehill, I told myself as we reached the portal. This could just be a special mission or something.
I wished I could believe that. I really did.
We reached the portal and Nox, predictably, made another pitch for why he should come with us. Just as predictably, Micah deflected, insisting he stayed behind.
Breann took to the sky, monitoring our position from there. In truth, I thought she wanted to just avoid being around the furious argument. There was a tightness in her face as she watched Nox admit defeat. Was she imagining having to let Grace go without her?
I swallowed as Nox’s shoulders slumped. Micah tried to hide his despair as his mate turned from him.
They would be okay. They always were. In a way, it was reassuring to see that you didn’t always have to be on the same page as your mate. So long as you were in the same book, your happy ending would happen regardless.
Even if there were some bumps along the way.
Micah transported first, his lightning cracking through the clearing. I lingered, my eyes locked on the sad fury on Nox’s face.
“What?” he snapped, noticing my attention.
“I’ll look after him,” I found myself saying. “I’ve got his back. I won’t let anything happen to him.”
Nox’s scowl didn’t shift. “I know you will. Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I wouldn’t want to wait behind if it were Sam,” I said. “I get it now, how hard it must be for you to watch Micah walk into these situations, knowing you have to let him.” I summoned my power before speaking again. I didn’t know if it had been my conversation with Sam, or just being around him, but I was baring my soul easier than ever before. “I know I’ve given you a lot of shit, but you’re a good person, Nox. Better than me, I’m starting to realise.”
Before he could respond, I closed my eyes and unleashed my power.
When I opened them, I was standing outside the giant courtroom doors.
Micah’s spine was stiff. “Everything okay?”
“Yes.” I knew what he was secretly asking. “Nox is pissed, but he understands.”
“I know,” he murmured, tapping his chest. “I can feel him, even from here. But it’s nice to hear it from you too.”
I rubbed that aching hole in my heart, the one I hadn’t known existed until I’d met Sam, until the night I knew he was my mate. From then on, the absence of the mating bond had felt like an open wound. “Ready for this?”
“Hard to say when we don’t know what this is.”
By unspoken agreement, we shoved the massive doors open together. Shining light spilled from the chamber, its familiar warmth washing over me. It no longer felt like coming home though.
It felt like a warning. A reminder of the power and control Gloria wielded.
She might have been just another arch, but her position on the council meant she answered only to the Almighty.
And we were fully on her shit list.
The memory of the last time I’d been here had my skin tightening over my bones. Then, it had been the life of my leader on the line. A gamble that might have cost me not only my immortality, but all those I called family.
I’d known that walking in. Now, I had no idea what price might be demanded.
Judging by the smug, serene expression on Gloria’s face, I wasn’t going to like it. She sat, as always, on her seat in the centre. Angels fanned out on either side, silent witnesses to what was to unfold.
Who knew, maybe this time they would intercede? After all, we’d been the ones to leave here triumphant. Not that you’d know it looking at the council. Every last one of them was sneering at us, looking down their noses as though we were beneath them.
I knew why. It wasn’t just because we’d bested them. It wasn’t because we’d used their own laws against them.
It was because Micah had mated with a demon.
Shame flooded me at my own prejudices. Had I really been better than Gloria with how I’d treated Nox?
I swallowed it down. I would be better. The best version of myself that I could be.
Sam didn’t deserve anything less.
The dais that had been destroyed during our last visit had been repaired. There was no sign of the scene that’d played out, as if it had never happened.
“Micah, Ezekiel, how lovely it is to see you.” Gloria’s saccharine voice grated like nails on a chalkboard. “And alone. How marvellous to see you can actually follow orders.”
My temper rankled but I kept my face impassive. My role here was to support Micah, not antagonise Gloria.
If I spent a few seconds picturing how her head might look skewered on the end of my sword, that was nobody’s business.
“We came as summoned,” Micah said, his manner matching Gloria’s. To look at him now, you’d have no idea he was face-to-face with the being who’d tried to execute his mate. “Our loyalty is, as always, to the Lord Almighty.”
God, not Gloria. Her smile dipped slightly at that.
“That is what we want to hear.” That was a lie, based on how the other archs behind the dais were scowling. “Perhaps you can explain how the extra occupants who have been living within the compound boundaries align with your supposed loyalty.”
Really? This was about the regents? I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. Gloria knew as well as I did that we’d offered them sanctuary from her. Not only that, but we’d followed the required procedures.
If this was the rope Gloria was hoping to hang us with, she was going to have to find another option.
“Given we filed all the appropriate paperwork, I can only assume that there’s an issue with your administration staff.” Micah inclined his head. “Perhaps that’s where you should be focusing your attention, if something as simple as a form can be lost.”
Gloria gave a tinkling laugh that set my teeth on edge. “You think a form gives you the right to prevent the regents from fulfilling their roles?”
“I think that following the laws set out by God herself allows that,” Micah said mildly. “If you’d prefer, I can summon Benji here. I’m sure his thorough studies of said laws can clear up any misunderstandings.”
Which was exactly why she hadn’t summoned Benji. “I do not need to be educated by a soldier on how to interpret those laws.”
I snorted. “Really? Because that’s not the impression we got last time. The way I remember it, that soldier wiped the floor with you, thanks to his knowledge and interpretation.”
“That’s neither here nor there.” Gloria dismissed the notion with a wave of her hand. The arch to her left shifted slightly, like he too was remembering how foolish Gloria had been made to look. “The fact remains that there are… people occupying the Seraphim compound that shouldn’t be there.”
Confusion nagged at me, undoubtedly at Micah too, not that he gave any sign of it when he spoke. “Last I checked, all three regents have returned to their former duties and living situations.”
“Ah, but it’s not just about the regents.” Her gaze slid to me, her smile widening. “There’s a human there. A human, inside the most sacred space on earth. You Seraphim are quick to tout the laws when it’s convenient to you, and here you are, breaking one of the most fundamental ones. ‘Humans are to be protected from the existence of supernaturals, unless deemed necessary by God or her council.’”
A bead of sweat ran down my spine. The monster tensed, ready to leap.
“I’m confused.” Gloria tapped her chin with a delicate finger. I pictured grabbing it and pulling downwards, hearing each individual bone break on the way. “I know we haven’t given permission for you to disclose your true identities to any humans. So unless you want to claim you’ve convened with the Almighty directly…”
Micah didn’t look at me, keeping his gaze steady on Gloria. “We make no such claim.” No, to do so would be to commit treason of the highest order. God chose who she convened with, never was it the other way around—hence why this council existed in the first place. “Yes, there is a human at the compound. His place there is temporary. We offered him sanctuary in a time of need for him.”
“He knows nothing of our true natures,” I added gruffly, ignoring the fact that I’d been about to reveal everything to him earlier. “Nor does he suspect anything is out of the ordinary as far as we are concerned.”
I could admit that Sam was my fated mate. As such, he was allowed to know everything about me. He’d be protected by every law that was supposed to protect me. But my instincts were telling me to keep it quiet. That, somehow, it would put Sam at a greater risk than he was at now.
I didn’t trust much in my life, but I did trust my instincts. They’d never led me wrong before.
“It won’t be long before he does suspect,” Gloria mused, tapping her chin again. “Especially given the behaviour of some of the members of the unit. And what will happen then? How long will it be before he’s telling the world about the existence of supernatural beings?”
Ice filled me. It was so different to the usual fire of rage that I felt. More dangerous. It tunnelled down into my soul, wrapping around the collar of my monster, preparing to fully remove the leash.
“I think it’s safer if the human forfeits his life,” Gloria commented, like she was discussing the weather. “Removes all threat of complications.”
The monster roared as the ice cracked the collar. I let it. I did nothing to try and stop it.
Until I saw Micah’s hand. His fingers twitched, a subtle gesture. A command to stop. To stay.
To trust him.
I tugged on the leash reluctantly. If we screw this up, we could lose Sam.
I expected a fight, a protest, but there was none. My monster dropped to his haunches, waiting for the instruction.
“Forgive me, but even my rudimentary understanding of our laws says that taking the life of an innocent is the gravest of sins.” Micah had lost all pretence of his smile now, making sure to look every last arch in the eye. “Are you really suggesting that we commit treason against our Lord by willingly breaking this law?”
The archs shifted uncomfortably in their seats, exchanging glances. However they’d thought this was going to play out, this wasn’t it.
“We could debate for hours as to which law trumps which, but the matter is simple. He is a liability. A risk. Unless of course, someone in the unit has a claim on the human?”
Micah stayed silent, leaving the choice up to me. My brain was screaming at me to admit that Sam was mine. That he was my fated mate. That if any of these fuckers even suggested hurting a hair on his head, I’d shred Heaven to pieces with nothing more than my bare hands.
But my heart, my gut, my instincts, they were telling me to be quiet. That there was something more sinister at play. That Gloria already suspected who Sam was to me, but to confirm it would set something in motion that I’d have no hope of stopping.
I couldn’t deny him. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
But I didn’t claim him either.
“I see,” Gloria said eventually, weaving her fingers together and bracing her chin on them. “Well, Micah, this is your official warning. You have five days to get your house in order. At the end of those five days, if the human is unmated, we will have no choice but to intervene.”
A yawning chasm opened under my feet. I’d thought I’d have time to win Sam over, to let him fall in love with me the way he deserved to before deciding whether he wanted to tie himself to me for eternity.
Now, it was being ripped away. My joy at finding Sam was being tainted by those who were supposed to support and lead us.
Gloria smiled, undoubtedly reading the emotions I couldn’t keep from flickering over my face. “You’re dismissed.”