Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Rocco
I held my arms around Selena's waist as we flew over the ocean. We’d been flying for almost five hours. We’d be back home soon. This was so much more relaxing than last time. No deadline. No demons breathing down our necks. The worst was over.
Or was it?
Michael said we belonged to him now. And if we didn't answer his call, we'd die a slow and painful death. The Archangel's version of a retirement plan.
I'd traded one godfather for another. But maybe with Michael, I'd find something Angelo never offered.
Redemption.
And Selena was part of this whether I liked it or not. She had the same tattoo. The same dagger. The same target on her back. I couldn't leave her now — not with demons to fight. Not with everything that was coming.
I didn't want to leave her. That was the truth I'd been running from all night.
I thought of her townhome. Modest but homey. Warm. Ten times better than anything I'd been living in. A place where the sheets didn't smell like mildew and the walls didn't shake when trucks passed on the highway.
Maybe I could have that. Maybe I deserved it.
Maybe.
But first, I had to face my family one more time. Try and make amends. I didn’t know if my brother would ever forgive me, but I had to try.
Raven flew high above the clouds since we were flying in daylight. No nighttime to hide us. She glided down and the Mississippi River flowed into the ocean. She flew toward the bayou and landed in the same place where we’d parked the cars.
I got off first and helped Selena down. Her feet hit the ground and she went still. Her face drained of color, her eyes locked on something behind me.
Oh fuck.
Angelo.
He emerged from the trees like a shadow given teeth. The look in his eyes was the kind that preceded funerals. Enzo and Dimitri flanked him, faces blank, hands ready — soldiers awaiting an order.
I stepped in front of Selena. "She didn't have anything to do with this."
"That's not true." Angelo closed the distance between us, each step deliberate, unhurried. The walk of a man who never had to chase anyone because no one was stupid enough to run. "You shouldn't have betrayed me. None of you should have."
I reached for the dagger tucked in my belt behind me.
"Don't." Selena stepped around me. "They're for demons. Not vampires."
You could have fooled me. Angelo looked like a demon ready to rip us apart.
A massive black bat swooped down in front of Angelo and shifted into Costin. He straightened, brushed off his jacket like he'd just stepped out of a car instead of the sky, and fixed Angelo with a look that could have frozen hell itself.
"The shard belongs to me, Angelo."
Things just went from bad to worse.
Rose held her head high and stared them both down. "We've split the shard. One for Angelo. One for Costin."
Costin cocked an eyebrow. "How did you split it?"
"We didn't," I said. "The Archangel Michael did."
Angelo's eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't lie to me."
Thunder cracked overhead. Lightning split the sky — not distant, not a warning, but right there, striking the ground between us. The air reeked of ozone and divine fury.
Michael appeared. And he wasn't alone.
Serenity stood beside him. The sunlight glistened off her blonde hair. Angelo's mate. The mother of his child. And the look on her face went beyond fury. It was the cold, quiet rage of a woman who had just learned exactly what kind of man she'd given her heart to.
Angelo went white.
"I'm going to say this once, and only once." Michael's voice cut through the silence like Excalibur itself. "I split the shard. If you kill any of them, you'll deal with me." His gaze fixed on Angelo and held. "And she knows everything."
Serenity’s white wings flapped out behind her—not for flight, for fury. I’d seen Nephilim angry before. This was something else entirely. She stormed over toward Angelo and pointed at me. “Did you tell Rocco that if he didn’t steal this shard for you, you’d have Enzo kill his mother?”
Angelo cast a furious gaze over to Michael, but then faced Serenity. “I would do anything to protect our daughter.”
No apology. No it was a mistake. No remorse.
Serenity shoved his chest. “How many times do I have to tell you that she can protect herself?”
Angelo folded his arms. “I’m not convinced.”
He really liked to tease an Archangel who could cut him down with the snap of his fingers. Total arrogance. Or was it foolishness?
Michael rolled his eyes. Actually rolled his eyes, like a parent dealing with a child who refused to put on his shoes. “Give the idiot the shard. Now.”
I had to turn my head to keep from laughing. Not many people got a way with calling Angelo an idiot.
Costin opened his mouth as if to protest—
“Don’t.” Michael didn’t even look at him. “You get a piece too. You’re all testing my patience.”
Rose gave one piece to Angelo and the other to Costin. Neither of them looked happy about sharing. Neither of them said a word.
“Before you wonder, those pieces contain the power of Excalibur. I’m expecting both of you to protect it. If a demon gets it, you’ll face me.”
"One more thing." Michael's gaze moved between Angelo and Costin.
"These eight belong to me now. Every one of them bears the mark of Excalibur.
They are my warriors, sworn to my service.
" His voice dropped. "If either of you punishes them, threatens them, or so much as makes their lives difficult for what happened here — you won't be dealing with them. You'll be dealing with me."
He looked at Angelo. Then Costin. Letting it land.
"They answer to me. Not you. Not anymore."
He didn't have to explain what that meant.
Lightning flashed. And he was gone.
He didn’t have to say what would happen. Lightning flashed and he was gone.
The silence after Michael vanished was deafening. Angelo stood rigid, jaw clenched, holding a piece of shard he'd been told to accept by an archangel who'd called him an idiot. Twice.
Dimitri broke first. He looked at Angelo, then at the scorched ground, then back at Angelo.
"So... that went well."
Angelo turned on him with a look that could have stopped a heart.
Dimitri shrugged, completely unbothered. "I'm just saying — you threatened to kill the one guy who's now untouchable, your wife shoved you in front of everyone, and an archangel called you an idiot." He tilted his head. "Want me to get you a drink, or...?"
"Dimitri," Enzo warned.
"What? Someone had to say it."
Costin put the shard in his jacket pocket. “What did Angelo mean you worked for him?”
Selena looked at me and then the others. “We’re demon hunters. When Michael calls, we have to answer.”
“Or become a burnt pop tart,” Dimitri murmured.
"Something like that," Valentin said.
"We're going home now." Serenity clasped Angelo's arm. "You got what you wanted. And we have more things to discuss in... private."
I wouldn't want to be Angelo. The look in her eyes and the tone of her voice meant he was going to spend a month or more in the doghouse.
Without a word, Angelo shifted into a bat and flew into the air. Dimitri and Enzo followed.
Serenity looked at me. "I'm sorry, Rocco. It won't happen again."
Before I could respond, she unfurled her white wings and launched into the sky after them.
I watched her go. In all the time Angelo had held my life in his hands, not once had he apologized. His mate had just done it for him in five words. Then again, he was the vampire mafia king. Fearless. Ruthless.
But merciful he wasn't.
Selena glanced up at me, then headed over to the headmaster of Red Rose Academy. "Costin, do I still have a job?"
"Despite my wishes, Julienne refused to fire you."
I smiled. That was so like Julienne.
Selena didn't miss a beat. "Then I have another proposal for you."
"One I'm not going to like?"
"Probably not. You don't have anyone teaching students how to ward off demons, do you?"
"Not specifically demons. We have the defense against the dark arts class. You know that."
"What about possession?"
His eyes widened. "Possession? No."
She looked at me. "Rocco has been possessed twice and survived. He's part of Michael's team now. And the prince." She let that settle. "Don't you think he'd be an asset to the Academy?"
Costin didn't answer her. He turned to me, his gaze steady, measuring — the look of a man going through every fight I'd survived, every mistake I'd made. He knew it all.
"Tell me, Rocco. Do you want to work at the Academy?"
I nodded, not wanting to return to flipping burgers — a job I sucked at. "Yes."
"I'm not sure about giving you your own class, but you could work with my dark arts professor as his assistant. We'll start from there. This would be on an interim basis." He studied me. "Is that reasonable to you?"
"I think it's fair."
"Good. Come over for dinner tonight. We'll work out the particulars."
"We'll be there," Selena said as she looped her arm through mine.
Costin shifted into a bat and flew out of the bayou, leaving us staring at each other.
Darius clasped Alice's hand. "I think it's time to head back to Colorado before Michael sends us on a mission. I miss the mountains."
"Agreed," Lucien said. He looked at Raven. "You good to fly us back?"
The silver dragon nodded.
Alice and Darius climbed onto her back and Lucien settled in front of them. I stepped forward, looking up at the three of them — people who had walked into hell beside me without hesitation.
"Thank you for helping us. I couldn't have done this without you."
Darius winked. "We know. See you soon."
Lucien smiled. "We're a team now. Michael's team."
Raven launched into the air, her wings catching the light, and they disappeared into the sky.
"We can give you a ride back to Selena's," Valentin said.
“Our home,” Selena corrected.
Home. A real home. Not a hotel. A home.