Chapter 15 Samael
Chapter fifteen
Samael
If Nephilim could lose their minds like humans do, I’d say Malachi and Remiel have lost theirs.
They’ve gone against my wishes with Greer, and I truly think they’re falling for her in a way I never could have expected—especially since they just met her and she’s our job.
A job who has very serious lessons to learn, given she’s a Scrooge.
Greer Mallory is not ours to have or play with. She’s here for two more nights, and then she’ll be gone. My guardian lovers, however, are not acting as if that’s the case.
Despite the sour note Kai ended on with Greer last night in her past, he returned from his work with a reverent smile on his face and the desire to go back to her.
He spoke nonstop of their time together, more than just our normal debrief, and I could tell by the lust pouring out through his aura that the kiss Greer had planted on his lips only made him hungry for more.
Then there’s Remiel, who’s acting like a lovesick fool.
My dark gaze narrows as I watch the scene before me from my hiding spot.
I’m off to the side of the rink between two vendors, a pine tree in front of me that I can peer through.
Remi grips Greer’s waist, and her head tips back in laughter.
They’ve been skating for nearly an hour now, and this has got to be the twentieth time she’s almost fallen.
Every time she starts to wobble or slip or her ankle turns in, I want to clobber my longtime friend and lover over the head. I don’t like watching her nearly break something or concuss herself. We’re supposed to be helping her, not hurting her.
Remi’s boisterous laugh hits me square in the chest, and I give my focus to him. His smile is joyful and eyes sparkling as he attempts to let go of Greer and have her skate by herself. They’re on the opposite side of the rink, but with my Nephilim hearing, their voices are loud and clear.
“Okay, okay, let me go!” Greer cries with a sharp tone, though there’s a playful edge to it.
Remi counts down from five before he removes his hands from her hips, skating back a couple of feet. The air in my lungs ceases as Greer wobbles like a newborn foal finding its legs. But after she gets her balance, she skates forward.
“That’s it!” Remi cheers.
“I think I’m doing it!”
“You are, love. Keep going.”
Love. I grit my teeth. Where the hell does he get off calling her that?
This whole thing is ridiculous. I should snap my fingers and put Greer in bed, make her think she dreamed up the entire day.
But I know Remi would have my head if I messed with his day and Greer’s mind beyond what we’re intended to show her.
Moreover, he’s clearly enjoying himself.
And while I may be a grumpy asshole, I’m not cruel.
My eyes dart to Remi again. His golden aura glows from his being as he smiles and laughs more than I’ve seen in a very long time. Too long, if I think about it. But while I love seeing his joy, his light, I don’t like how it’s coming out.
It would be one thing if he was simply enjoying the day with Greer as a friend. But he looks at her like he looks at Kai and me, and it’s not okay. If he gets his heart involved, it will only be broken when Greer leaves. I don’t want that for him or Kai.
Turning into a stalker now?
My features flatten as Kai’s voice rings in my head. Before I can respond, I feel his comforting presence at my side.
“I’m not stalking; I’m babysitting,” I respond to him verbally, though I keep my voice down. Remi probably knows I’m here since we can sense each other even if our communications are down, but Greer doesn’t, and I don’t need any attention drawn to me.
Kai guffaws. “That’s what you’re calling it?”
I grit my teeth but don’t respond to his question, pulling him toward me so we’re both covered by the tree.
“I need to keep an eye on them. It’s bad enough that you kissed her already.”
“Correction: She kissed me.”
“That may be so, but you didn’t exactly try to stop it.”
Kai’s eyes stare into mine, the corner of his lips turning up into a boyish grin that borders on wolfish.
“Sam.” He says my name with a curious lilt in his tone. “Are you jealous?”
I glare at the man I’ve called many names over the centuries. Right now, none of them would be sweet or nice. “I don’t get jealous nor is there anything to be jealous of.”
His eyes turn into slits, and his hands come to rest on my shoulders, gripping them. “Come on, leave them be. Greer had a tough night, and she’s enjoying herself.”
“This is not good, Malachi. She shouldn’t be on a date with Remiel. She should be spending today thinking about what you showed her, learning from the lessons until Remi guides her tonight.”
Kai exhales. “Have you considered that maybe this is helping her learn?”
“Learning how to ice skate and flirt is hardly what she should be doing.”
“Sam…” The air around us strains as he drops his forehead to mine, breathing me in as he loves to do.
From the day we met, he told me I smell like a winter’s night—earthy with an undertone of burning cedar wood.
The heat of his skin feels nice against mine, and before I can stop myself, I’m gripping his waist.
“You need to relax, baby,” he continues. “Take a page out of Remi’s book, and live in the moment.”
He pulls back to meet my eyes. His are softer now while my gaze remains hard.
“We argued over this already. You know I can’t do that. One of us has to keep a level head and think about the future.”
“But maybe if you tried—”
“It’s not in my nature. And since you and Remi seem to be set on being careless, I have to keep things in order. If that means watching the two of them skate around like idiots and stopping you from kissing her again, that’s what I’ll do.”
“Sounds to me like you’re dead set on being a voyeur, kinky bastard.”
“Malachi,” I chide. “Now is not the time to be immature.”
“I’m not. I’m trying to get you to ease up a bit.”
I grit my teeth. “I’ve tried, but I can’t. Like I told you before, we need to stick to our plan.”
“Who says that we have to?”
The hair on my arms stands on end. “What do you mean?”
“The only one trying to stick to ‘our plan’ is you, Sam. But I’m asking you to think. Why do we need to? It’s not as if we have some rule book.”
I should scoff, but I know Kai is being serious. He’s not smiling, and he sure as hell is not laughing.
“For centuries, we’ve helped the people who have been sent here, just like the Nephilim guardians did before us. There is no reason to veer from this path now, especially when you know Greer will forget us and this place when she leaves and goes back to her life.”
His breath puffs against my cheek, and my hands grip his waist harder as if that will get through to him.
“Yes, it has been. But you’re forgetting, Samael: Elysian Pines sent Greer here. Her aura—it’s different. Her energy is different. The way we feel…even you acknowledged the restlessness.” He places one of his hands on his stomach. “The hunger.”
My stomach tightens, the voracious feeling inside of me that has not been sated growing. It’s like a winter storm, a turbulent one that will turn the building snowfall into deadly drifts as the wind rages on. It’s impossible to ignore, but I keep trying.
“I told you, Greer’s future is not with us.”
“I don’t know what you saw. But you know better than anyone that futures change. Greer chooses her future, like all of our jobs do. She could take what we show her and ignore it all, or she could change her life. What if there’s a third path? What if it’s even more than that?”
Kai moves in closer so there’s hardly any space between our bodies.
“I fear you’re thinking about this too much, baby.”
“Or you’re not thinking enough. Just look at the past—this is nothing like anything we’ve come up against before.”
“I have, and I’ve learned from it and moved on. Just because we’ve never crossed a line with a job doesn’t mean we can’t now. Is it different? Yes. But different can be good. I’m asking you to embrace what is for now and not think of what was or what will be. Join me and Remi here.”
My hands pulse on Kai’s toned waist, feeling the muscles twitch beneath my fingers.
“It worries me, Kai. That this woman has hardly been in our lives and yet you and Remi are already attached. I don’t know if it’s because of the way the town has made us respond to her or simply attraction to a beautiful, independent woman who holds her own.
But the more attached you both become to her, the harder it will be when she leaves.
And despite all that you say, despite if I choose to live in the moment with you both, she will leave us. ”
Kai traces my lips with his thumb. “I love that you are looking out for us, but I think it’s more than that.”
“Meaning?”
“Do you notice that you keep including yourself in this?”
“I don’t.”
He smiles. “You do. You just did. You said ‘us,’ and last night, you said ‘our’ desire.”
My lungs sting from a sudden inhale of frozen air. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No? Then why have you not been able to leave her side?”
“I told you; I’m babysitting.”
“Are you?”
Kai points to Remi and Greer at the far end of the rink, tugging me a bit out from behind the tree. She’s gained confidence in her skating now. Her legs aren’t wobbling, and her shoulders are back.
Remi is smiling at her as they glide along. Her brick-red hair flows down her back, and with the glow of the sun shining through the clouds, she looks damn near regal. It doesn’t escape me that Remi is not the only one captivated by her.
The other Nephilim playing their roles as townspeople on the rink seem drawn in by her, too, looking over to where she skates and laughs with Remi.
They’re probably wondering why Remi is entertaining one of our jobs like this as well.
It’s not like any one of us has taken a human ice skating before, much less flirted with them.