26. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ama
This was a lot of blood.
I mean, seriously, this was probably the most blood and gore I’d ever seen, even compared to the battlefield. This was just a new level, and I hated to say it, but…I was impressed. Not only by my men, who had very clearly continued to fight, but by Luce.
Speaking of which, I gently moved from Finias’ arms and made my way towards the devil, who was standing in the center of the room with blood splattered on him, ruining his nice clothes and flecking his golden hair as if he had crimson highlights like mine.
His golden appearance seemed to appear only fiercer with the blood on him. I offered him a small smile, reaching towards him cautiously and noticing the tension running through him. The way he was staring at me was like he was almost scared of me. Maybe scared of my reaction?
I couldn’t blame him, seeing as we had a quantifiable fuckton of issues to work out between us. But I couldn’t deny that I wanted to have his arms wrapped around me right now, and that was all that mattered in this moment.
“Luce?” I spoke softly, “Are you okay?”
His eyes ran over the space, and he nodded sharply before tugging me forward. I let out a squeak as I was suddenly wrapped in his wings, his hard body pressed against mine. I blinked in surprise, not really understanding what was going on, but more so, wondering why the hell he’d shown up.
I mean, last time we had talked he had literally kicked me out after admitting he could never give me what I had asked of him.
“I thought I had lost you, Little Temptress.” His voice was rough as he tilted my head back and gripped my jaw.
I could hear the others outside of our little bubble, but I was perfectly content like this.
I could see remorse and darkness in his gaze, and I craved hearing these words.
This was the man I’d known was in him this whole time.
“The dream in the cave…” I blinked remembering it. “You came for me?”
Regret clouded his features, “I should have never left your side. Fuck, Ama…I fucked up so badly. Again. It seems to be a natural characteristic of mine. I realized the moment you left that I had made a horrible mistake, and the sensation of you being out of my sight had my skin crawling. I so badly wanted to go to you but I had seen the expression on your face. I knew you hated me—”
“I do not hate you.”
My words were soft but serious, and he swallowed, looking insecure, “Well, you don’t like me either.”
I reached up and cupped his jaw, “I think the issue, Luce, is that I do like you…even if you are fucking crazy and have made mistakes— but I need to know that you like me. Not this dream of what you thought your mate would be.”
“Of course I fucking like you! That word doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel!” he bellowed.
“As I am—that you like me, as I am, with my other mates.”
He nodded slowly and closed his eyes, “I am not going to adjust to this right away. I know that. I know I will still be jealous…” he trailed off as his eyes opened once more, shining with such intensity my mouth parted slightly.
“But I can’t leave you alone, Ama. I need you in my life.
I felt like my heart was being torn apart the minute you were out of reach.
I may not be one hundred percent okay with sharing you yet, but I will never be okay with losing you.
I need you…and if you don’t think I am a complete monster, I hope that you will have me.
I am so sorry, Little Temptress. I will work on becoming someone worthy of you, if you can just give me the time to change. ”
Tears welled in my eyes as I rose up on my toes and kissed him, his arms immediately wrapping around me as he groaned into the kiss.
My entire body lit up under his touch, and I felt that part of me, the one that was filled with emotions for all my mates, snap into place, causing a surge of relief—the likes of which I had never experienced before—to roll over my skin.
Contentment like I’d never known ran through me, and tears dripped down my face. I felt complete.
“Why are you crying?” he questioned in a panicked state, pulling back.
“I missed you,” I swallowed down my emotion, “I really missed you, despite also really wanting to punch you.”
“And you don’t think I’m a monster? I just fucking slaughtered more people—”
“You are a monster,” I teased, trying to relieve the tension. “My monster. My devil. Killing is justified, Luce, when you are protecting the people you love. You came here for me. You just unintentionally ended the war—”
“Oh, it was intentional,” he offered quietly before adding, “I left your forces unharmed.”
“And the others?”
“Those who raised a sword against you are very, very dead,” he confirmed, not looking remorseful in the slightest.
Before I could respond, a frustrated voice spoke up. “Ama, princess, I really need to know that you’re okay—No, I don’t give a fuck who he is, Colt.”
I smirked at Drayven’s response, and Luce’s expression turned dry as he remembered just who was around us, but he allowed me to detach from him slightly, his wings snapping back into hiding as I turned to find all seven of my other mates watching us with varying expressions.
Drayven looked possessive and annoyed, something that I found amusing because it seemed that not even the devil himself could persuade Drayven I was anything but his.
Finias looked back to his somewhat cheery, psychotic self, offering me a sweet smile and seemingly unbothered by Luce—probably because he believed he could kill him if necessary.
Damien was in Hellhound form and edging closer, whining at me but snarling when he looked at Luce. I crouched down, and he came to me quickly, nuzzling against my neck where his mate marks were. I could tell he was worried.
Adrien seemed normal, but he didn’t even give Luce the time of day, instead focusing on me and looking very concerned.
Then there was Jace, whose shadowy Hellhound was nearly whining as I motioned for him to come over. He ran to me and rested his head against the marks he had placed on me, he and Damien surrounding me with warmth and love as I held them tightly.
After a moment, I stood and walked towards Colt and Nico.
The first because I knew he was oddly the most anxious, his gaze moving towards Luce as his own wings twitched, like they wanted to wrap around me.
It was likely because he knew exactly how I felt about Luce after our conversation and knew he had to accept him.
I melted against his chest as I whispered that I was perfectly fine and gave him a quick kiss.
Nico squeezed my hand as I came to stand next to him, and his hand caressed my cheek while his lips dropped to mine in a searing kiss. I smiled up at him as I pulled back and winked.
Moving towards Dray and Finias, I saw them exchange looks with each other like they were about to fight for the chance to get to me first. Although we all knew how that would end...with Finias knocking Dray out for...I don’t even know how many times now.
Finias smirked in satisfaction as Dray rolled his eyes and nodded for him to go first. I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from my throat. “You guys seriously act like brothers.”
“Ew,” Drayven responded as Finias scoffed and took me into his arms, dipping me down and peppering kisses all along my neck and up to my lips. He pressed his soft lips to mine before pulling back and murmuring, “I love you.”
I giggled, not hating the sound for the first time in my life, as he lifted me back up and I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I love you too.”
Drayven was immediately at my side and stole me into his arms, glaring at Finias for taking so long with me. He pulled me into his hard chest and tucked my head beneath his chin as he whispered, “Saved the best for last.”
I couldn’t help but smile at their easygoing banter now.
After a few seconds, Dray allowed me to turn around, still keeping me tucked under his heavy arm as I looked towards the men in my life who seemed to have altered everything I knew in such a short span of time.
It felt like yesterday that I was grumbling about having to go to the Summit and feeling like I’d be a recluse forever.
“So…” I hedged and looked around and towards the capitol grounds. “That was interesting. I’ve never been part of a war before.”
“Ama,” Colt chided, shaking his head at me.
“What? It is true!” I shrugged before realization hit me. “Oh shit, okay we need to go unlock my parents—”
“Your father?” Nico asked, wanting clarification.
“No, not just him,” I hedged. “My mother is also in there.”
“What?” Drayven asked, his arm tightening around me.
“Yeah,” I nodded and then drew my hand over my face, “Man it has been a day—and that is not just blood. Oh man, that is really gross—” I stopped and shuddered.
Luce appeared and picked off the piece of something that had been on my face, flicking it off. I offered him an appreciative smile. See? He was already on his best behavior, picking brains of the men he’d slaughtered off me. Oh man, I clearly needed some sleep or coffee.
When a weird surge of power pulsed through the space, I found myself immediately surrounded by all of my men. Luce stood in front of me, an almost annoyed sound coming from his throat that didn’t match the seriousness of the situation as the entire balcony shook and the wind picked up.
It howled loudly as I clutched onto his back, my other mates tightening around me. I could feel something changing, and it almost felt similar to when we went to Earth for souls—it was that same type of suctioning power, like a shifting of realms.
“What is going on?!” I called out.
“Unfortunately,” Luce bit out. “We seem to be having visitors.”
I moved up and to the side slightly, Luce tucking me against him when he noticed, as five beams of golden light shot down from the sky, the entire realm seeming to shake under the impact of it.
My eyes went wide as a massive form landed in a crouched position under the vibrancy of the first beam, followed by four other men, all of whom had massive wings…
holy shit. It wasn’t just the wings, though.
Each man was extraordinarily distinct, and it caused a churning feeling in my gut as I considered who exactly they might be.
The first was dressed in a simple linen shirt and pants, his golden skin and black hair seeming to radiate warmth and light. The staff he held seemed to vibrate the ground itself, and when his gaze met Luce’s, a smile that caused me to feel very protective filled his face. It wasn’t a nice smile.
The second winged man had a braid of white hair that was streaked with a faint, almost blue shade that matched his cloudy eyes and made me wonder if he could see or not.
Yet, when he looked directly at us, a shiver ran over my skin, and it was all too clear that he could most definitely see us.
A white smoke surrounded him and lent the entire space a dream-like quality.
The third man was dressed in completely black armor that matched his hair, which was cropped short.
He carried no sword to match his armor, but I didn’t think he needed to—everything about his power radiated violence.
I could practically sense the bloodlust under his skin, which had me pressing against Luce more.
I didn’t like how they were all looking at him, and it had a growl bubbling up from my throat.
Which was something the fourth individual seemed to find hilarious.
The man had an uncomfortable feeling to him.
Wispy shadows seemed to surround him as he stood there in completely dark clothes, tattoos covering every visible inch of him.
His red hair was pushed back from his face, and his black gaze was locked on me and Luce with animated expressions that contrasted his dark aura.
I narrowed my eyes at the shadows, realizing they weren’t shadows… but souls.
Shit. That was not good, and I was a fucking Reaper, so if I was saying that…
“Lucifer.” The final voice drew all our attention, and my eyes widened.
If I’d thought the other men were odd looking, it was nothing on this guy.
It was almost as if he was refracting light, his icy skin and pale hair making him look like some sort of diamond as random colorful light patterns shimmered across his form, which was completely clothed in white.
His eyes were filled with a changing spectrum of colors that made me almost feel sick to my stomach to look at.
I had no idea what it was about these guys, but they left me with a feeling of anger and sickness. It was possible it was because of what they were…something that was just becoming more apparent the longer I looked at them.
“Who the hell are they?” I demanded softly of Luce, wanting to confirm my suspicions.
“Seraphim” Adrien responded with a bite to his tone before Luce could add, “They are the other Seraphim I told you about. My brothers.”
Shit.