32. Ezekiel
32
Ezekiel
S am was silent as I carried him into our suite. I hesitated for approximately half a second before choosing my bedroom. The bed was unmade from when we’d left it earlier.
Before everything had changed.
It had been an exhausting morning for me, so it was no wonder Sam was struggling.
Sam immediately snuggled down, lying on his side and bringing the duvet up to cover his ear. He tried to move it again, but huffed.
God, he was adorable. “What are you trying to do, Sam?”
“Burrito,” he muttered. “Want it tucked in.”
Like the bath. He wanted to feel fully surrounded. A safe cocoon for him to hide in. It was an odd choice, given he’d felt everything was too close a few moments ago. I was quickly realising that there were times when Sam needed me to fight his OCD and anxiety with him, and others when I just needed to do whatever would make him the most comfortable.
This was definitely one of the latter.
Starting at his feet, I tucked the duvet in all around him. I even pulled it up over the back of his head, fashioning it like a hood. When I was done, the only part of him that was visible was his face.
“Good?”
Sam’s sleepy smile made me feel like I’d won a medal. “Perfect. Thanks, Zeke.”
I crouched beside him. “Do you need anything else?”
“Umm.” He thought for a moment before his eyes widened. “Fuck, my meds. Did I take them? Oh god. Maybe I did…”
I booped his nose, which confused him so much that he stopped spiralling. “You didn’t. Your new pill box will arrive later today. Once it does, are you happy for me to take over?”
His teeth worried at his lip. “You don’t need to do that.”
“Stop worrying about what you think I should or shouldn’t be doing. Do you want me to do it for you?”
“Yes, please.” He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed hard. “That would be wonderful.”
“Great. What do you need to take this morning?”
“One tablet of sertraline,” he whispered. “I think they’re on the desk in my room.”
A few seconds later, I was back at his side, his tablet in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
Sam huffed. “Typical. You’ve made me the most perfect burrito ever, and now I’ve got to sit up to take my medicine.”
I rolled my eyes. As if I wouldn’t tuck Sam in as often as he wanted. “Here, let me help.”
Wriggling an arm under him, I lifted him, burrito and all, into an elevated position. With my spare hand, I popped the tablet into his mouth and then held the glass to his lips.
“Those muscles really are something else,” Sam said as I lowered him back to the bed and set about checking that the duvet was tucked securely in.
I smirked. “I’m glad you approve. Okay, is there anything else you want or need?”
Sam went to speak but stopped himself, a slight flush on his cheekbones. “No thank you. You’ve done enough already.”
I crouched back down, so our eyes were level. “Baby, I know you’re not being honest right now. I suspect it’s because your brain is telling you that you’re a burden, or that I’m going to get bored of taking care of you.”
Sam’s silence confirmed I was right. “Whatever bullshit it’s saying, it’s wrong. Nothing makes me happier than taking care of you, Sam. Making you happy makes me happy.”
“Because I’m your mate?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “Because I love you. And, when you love someone, you want them to feel happy. Comfortable. Safe. Secure. Let me help you feel that. Please, Sam.”
Silver lined Sam’s eyes, and his lower lip trembled. “My headphones please. And you in bed with me, but not touching.”
I got those for him and handed them over. “Do you need your phone for music?”
“No.” He lifted his head and popped them in. “Just the noise cancelling. It’s soothing.”
My chest ached at how overloaded Sam was. My room was almost silent, just the hum of the heating and the ticking of a clock.
But even that was too much for him right now.
I slid into the bed beside him, wriggling until I was close, but not touching. As much as I ached to pull him into my arms, that wasn’t what he needed.
He wanted me close though. That was a good sign.
I breathed in his scent. My Sam. My mate.
He was here. He was safe. He was calm. He knew the truth.
And he loved me.
He loves me.
For that fact alone, I’d never leave this man wanting. He’d seen something in me that no one else ever had. Something worthy of love. Of care. Of affection.
I was never letting him go.
S am slept for about two hours. I stayed beside him the whole time, not wanting him to wake up alone.
The only time I even looked away from him was when I realised there was a question I’d neglected to ask Ferry.
A very important question, given the deadline Gloria had imposed on us.
Not wanting to leave Sam, I opened the group thread.
Ezekiel
can someone reach out to Ferry and ask him if it’s safe to mark Sam?
It was a good thing I was immortal, because I don’t think I took a single breath until Micah’s response flashed up.
Micah
he believes it should be fine, but recommends you don’t leave it more than a few minutes between marking and bonding
that way, if his brain fights it, the mating bond will be in place before it causes any damage
It wasn’t the answer I’d been hoping for, but it wasn’t the worst outcome either. If I had my way, I’d mark Sam now, just so he had that extra protection. I hadn’t done it before because doing so without his knowledge of what I was felt…wrong.
Now though, with memories of his agonised screams still ringing in my ears, I wanted him to have whatever advantages I could give him.
At least it wouldn’t be a permanent roadblock though. With the threat of Gloria looming over our heads, I needed to make Sam my mate sooner rather than later.
Or, take him and run. Because if he wasn’t ready, that was the option I’d choose.
Sam stirred, pulling me out of my dark thoughts. “What time is it?”
“Two in the afternoon. You’ve been out for a couple of hours.”
“Crap.” He yawned, his jaw cracking. “My phone’s going to start blowing up soon.”
“Why soon?”
“Americans,” he said sleepily. “Most of my clients live on the East Coast, so it gets to three o’clock our time and they all start hitting me up for different things.”
He tried to make his way out of his burrito but failed. I watched him struggle for a few seconds longer with a small smirk. “Would you like some help?”
“Please,” Sam huffed, before grinning at me. “Honestly, you could enter the world duvet burrito championships and walk out with a gold medal.”
I unravelled him, watching him stretch like a cat as I did so. “I don’t think that exists.”
“Shame.” Sam ruffled his hair, his curls in an adorable disarray. “Maybe we should start them. Enter you as a candidate and then place bets on you to win. We could make millions.”
I was already worth millions. Something else I needed to fill Sam in on. “Some people call that bet fixing.”
He looked at me pointedly. “Are any of those people in this room?”
“Course not.” My smile softened. “How are you feeling now?”
“Better,” he said. “Sorry about that, sometimes I just need to decompress.”
“Don’t apologise. You okay with me touching you?”
He threw his arms wide. “I’d be insulted if you didn’t.”
Gathering him up, I lay back down and arranged him so he was flat on my chest, his legs between mine. Kissing his hair, I wound my arms around him and sighed. “Now this is my idea of a burrito.”
“Would be better if we were both naked.”
My cock stirred against my thigh. “As fun as that sounds, maybe we should talk first. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions for me.”
Sam propped his chin up on my chest. “I do.”
“I’ve got a secret stash of Jelly Babies in my drawer. How about we break them out and get talking?”
His smile bloomed big and bright. “Sounds perfect.”
“ A nd you really can’t die?”
We were still sat on my bed, an open bag of Jelly Babies between us along with a couple of empty plates. As we’d missed lunch, Rami had delivered some to the suite. Sam had grumbled about being waited on, but decided he wanted answers before being out amongst the others. Especially the twins. Even though I’d explained what had happened and that Nate hadn’t intended any damage, Sam wasn’t convinced.
The little fuckers were going to have to work to get back into my mate’s good books.
Aside from stopping to respond to urgent messages from his clients, Sam had asked question after question. One of which—whether or not he was still compelled—had had me reaching out to the group thread to confirm the answer.
He wasn’t. Ferry had lifted it completely. For some reason though, just the knowledge that he had known it was the truth was enough to satisfy Sam.
The answers to other questions, such as this one, were harder for him to accept. Which was why he kept coming back to it.
“No,” I said gently. “Not easily, anyway. I can be killed permanently if a powerful supe executes me. There aren’t many that are strong enough to do so, and those that are…well, they’d have to get past my training first. Plus the rest of the unit.”
“Guess that explains why your dad was so strict on training you,” Sam muttered. “Still think he’s a cunt though, and I’m glad he’s dead.”
He paused, and I knew without asking that his OCD was taking that comment to needle at him, so I gave him the reassurance I knew he needed. “Me too. If he hadn’t died when he did, I probably would’ve done it myself.”
Sam’s shoulders relaxed. “We’re both weird.”
I chuckled. “We are. But your ethics and morals tend to be different when you live for centuries. Don’t worry, you’ll see it happen yourself.”
He choked on a sweet. I reached out in alarm, smacking him on the back. He kept coughing, and I was about to yell for Rami when Sam raised a sheepish hand. “I’m okay.”
“Don’t scare me like that,” I growled.
“Sorry,” Sam wheezed. I passed him a glass of water and glared at him until he took a few sips. “Going back to what you said…what do you mean by I’ll ‘see it happen?’”
“Well, because when we’re mated, you’ll inherit my immortality.” His jaw went slack as he stared at me with round eyes. “Umm, shit. Did I not mention that?”
“You did not. You said something about ‘eternity’ earlier, but I’d forgotten about it until now.” He shoved back his curls. “Fuck, I don’t believe this.”
Puzzled, I shuffled closer to him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” A disbelieving laugh bubbled from him. “Turns out, there’s absolutely nothing wrong. Do you know the biggest hold my OCD has over me?”
“No?”
“That I’ll die,” Sam said bluntly. “That or murder someone. All my life, those have been my biggest fears, the things my OCD takes advantage of the most. And you’re telling me that you can remove one of those fears?”
“Technically I can remove both, as long as the ones you murder are supes. They’ll come back to life and probably just show you a more efficient or painful way to do it next time.”
Sam gave me a pointed look. “You know I don’t actually follow the intrusive thoughts, right?”
“I know, but if you did , nothing bad would happen.” I tapped his temple lightly. “Maybe that knowledge will stop your OCD latching on to that particular pathway.”
“It’ll just find a new route,” Sam said glumly. “It always does.”
“I wish I could say you won’t have OCD when we’re mated, but it doesn’t work that way.”
“Yeah, I figured that out already.” Sam elaborated at my questioning look. “Benji. He’s autistic, right? You can be an angel and be neurodivergent, so I guessed being mated to you wouldn’t change it.”
“I wish it would. I’d give anything to help you have peace of mind.”
He kissed me softly. “You already do, Zeke. More than you’ll ever know.”
My heart fluttered in a way I hadn’t even realised it was capable of. “Fuck, I love you so much.”
Sam grinned as he pressed another kiss to my lips. “Love you too.”
“Do you have any more questions?” The temptation to strip Sam naked and have my way with him was growing with every kiss. But that wouldn’t be happening until I was certain he had all the answers he needed.
“Only a few thousand,” He popped another Jelly Baby into his mouth with a wink. That action shouldn’t have been as erotic as it was. “So, none of you are professors, but you are a unit of soldiers.”
“Yes.”
“And Micah’s in charge.”
My lips twitched. “That’s right.”
“And you’re the second?”
I kissed away some icing sugar from the corner of his mouth. “Should I be insulted? Are you saying I’m not good enough to be the second-in-command of God’s most elite unit of angels?”
“No,” Sam hissed as I trailed my tongue along his jaw. “I’m clarifying because it’s fucking hot . A little scary, but mainly hot.”
I pulled back at that. “Why scary?”
“Because”—he gestured with a sugar covered hand—“you were already out of my league. Now you’re telling me you’re also an extremely powerful, immortal angel. And I’m just…”
“You’re just the man I’ve fallen in love with,” I said firmly. “The man who, if things go to plan, is the one I’ll happily spend the rest of eternity with. You’re the special one out of the two of us, Sam. I might be powerful, but you’re the one who holds my leash.”
Sam swallowed, his eyes glassy. “I’ll be right back.”
I frowned as he shot off the bed and into the bathroom. He returned with a sheepish smile, flashing me his now clean hands. “Sorry, all I wanted to do was touch you then, but I realised my hands were sticky so?—”
“So you washed them.” I got to my feet, heading for the bathroom, picking up our dishes and rubbish on the way to deposit on the side. “Makes perfect sense, baby. Don’t apologise for that.”
I washed my own hands thoroughly and dried them. Sam’s cheeks were pink as I returned. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“Yes, I did. You’ll be more comfortable now.”
“But—”
“But nothing,” I growled, yanking his legs until he was on his back beneath me. “I don’t want you thinking about anything else while I’m getting you off. Your mind needs to be on me, and only me. You got that?”
“Yes,” Sam breathed.
Running my fingers around the inside of his waistband, I smirked down at him. “Just one question for you, and it’s nice and simple. How do you want to come?”