Prologue #3
But Dimitri wasn’t done. “I’m sorry, but you have to get over me. I love Dagon and Lucky.”
“Because they’re your mates.” I exploded.
I heard Dagon hiss, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Dimitri’s words had unleashed something ugly inside me.
I’d come undone, the truth I’d tried to hide spilling from me like venom.
“Because fate decided you should be theirs when really you were supposed to be mine. It’s fucking bullshit. ”
I knew before I’d finished that I’d gone too far. Steel flashed in Dimitri’s eyes. “No. I was never meant to be yours. I would choose them every day, even if they weren’t my mates. I’m sorry, Micah, but you’re wrong.”
“Micah?” A smaller man stepped forwards, a frown on his face. He was my opposite in just about every way. I knew instinctively that this was Dimitri’s human mate. “I thought it had to be you, but I wanted to be sure.”
The human stalked over, squaring up to me. I stiffened but didn’t move a muscle. He might have been tiny, but he had fury packed into every single inch of him. “I get it. Dimitri’s super fucking hot. But what you did was shitty. You hurt both the men I love, so fuck you for that.”
I could only blink as Lucky pulled back his fist and socked me in the face.
“Motherfucker,” he howled, shaking his hand out as his mates came forward to fuss over him. “Why did it hurt that much? Punching Grant was a walk in the park compared to that.”
I had no idea who Grant was, or why Lucky had punched him, but I was too focused on myself to care.
I gently touched the spot where his fist had landed.
I hadn’t felt any pain, but nonetheless, it had hit me with the strength of a bomb.
Guilt and remorse threatened to choke me as I processed my behaviour.
What the fuck had I been thinking? What kind of man, what kind of angel could I claim to be if I let my baser instincts take over the way they just had? I’d behaved like a fool. An utter fool.
Love made fools of us all.
Well, no more. I made a vow as I stood there, watching the various couples embrace. Never again would I let love guide me. Never again would I let my heart lead me so far from the path I was destined to walk. Never again would I be at the mercy of another.
Never again would I risk feeling this heartbreak.
All around me, demons were pulling their mates towards the portal. Lucky was sandwiched between his mates as they whispered what they were going to do to him when they got him somewhere more private.
I fought the urge to fly off without another word. I couldn’t though. I owed Dimitri better than that.
Clearing my throat, I tried not to make eye contact with any of them. That didn’t stop me seeing Dimitri give Lucky a tender kiss. Nudging him into Dagon’s arms and telling him he’d meet them at the portal.
Dimitri watched them leave before turning to face me with a sigh. “I hope you’re not expecting me to apologise for Lucky.”
“No.” I rubbed the spot where he’d punched me, still marvelling at the tiny human’s bravery.
If nothing else, I had to be grateful that Dimitri had mates who would go to the mat for him.
“I definitely deserved it. Probably deserved worse, if I’m being honest. Asking you in front of your mates if you definitely wanted them…
I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry. ”
Dimitri’s lips twitched, probably in shock. I didn’t think I’d apologised to anyone in…well, ever. “Apology accepted. Now, can we move past this?”
I knew what I should say, but Dimitri deserved my honesty as much as my apology.
“I’d like to say yes, but…I’m not sure. Seeing you with them, it’s just…
” For some reason though, I found my gaze wandering as I spoke.
It was like there was a rope tugging my attention over to a small group of demons a few feet away.
One of them moved, and my gaze fell on the man who’d just been revealed.
No, not a man. A demon.
The tug in my chest increased as a word began to repeat over and over inside my mind. I ignored it, speaking over it. “No. No…it’s not possible.”
My limbs moved without my consent, taking me straight over to the tall man.
In some ways, he reminded me of Dimitri.
He was covered in tattoos, silver piercings flashing in his nose, brow, and lip.
There were marked differences though. This guy was stockier, more muscled.
Where Dimitri’s dark hair was long, his was clipped close to his head.
None of that mattered. Not really. Nothing mattered other than the word now screaming to be unleashed. The pull that was taking me closer and closer to this stranger.
His amber eyes met mine and I felt like I was being undone and stitched back together all at the same time. This torrent of feeling wasn’t one-sided either, not judging by the way the blood drained from his face.
Whatever this pull was, he was experiencing it too.
I ignored the word. I had to. I refused to acknowledge it.
“It’s not possible.”
My hand lifted, still out of my control, and gently brushed along the demon’s jaw.
Warmth exploded where our skin met, making us both jump apart several paces. That word roared inside me. It pushed at my lips. Begged for release. Screamed at me to pay it any attention.
I wouldn’t allow it. I couldn’t. There was no way I was walking down this path. Not after the vow I’d just made. And especially not for a fucking demon.
“Absolutely fucking not,” I hissed, wiping my hand on my shirt, like that might somehow remove the memory of his skin under my fingertips.
The demon seemed to share my sentiment. “You’ve got that right. Not in this lifetime.”
He didn’t spare me another look, opening his wings and making his way to the portal.
The disgust that had poured off him cemented my belief that I was doing the right thing.
Angels and demons were natural enemies. Falling in love was forbidden.
Dagon and Dimitri might’ve found a way around that, but that was because of who his demon’s father was.
Heaven didn’t want to start drama with Lucifer unnecessarily.
They might’ve won the first time around, but there was no guarantee they’d get the same outcome a second time.
Dimitri was staring at me in disbelief. “What was that? Is he your ma—”
“He’s nothing.” I cut him off before he could finish that word. If it wasn’t said aloud, it didn’t exist. It didn’t mean anything.
My body betrayed my words almost instantly, hungrily tracking the demon across the sky. I watched him all the way to the portal, something inside me tearing as he stepped through and vanished from sight.
Only then did I allow my wings to spread wide and take me skywards. I meant what I’d said. That demon was nothing to me.
But accompanying the beat of my wings was that word. The one I wouldn’t acknowledge. The one I refused to say aloud.
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
***