Ronen #2
“Not that I’m aware of. But a few members from the Trenchers and Infernos didn’t appear at their checkpoint. And their leaders said the ones missing were the ones who complained the most about Hell.”
I crossed my arms, squeezing my hands into fists beneath my armpits.
“You believe they deserted for the other side.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I shouldn’t be surprised. The voice controlling Ni had said as much.
“I want numbers.”
“Yes, Sir.” Xavier side-eyed Aspen before leaving.
“If your own military is betraying you, she isn’t safe here either.”
Pressure pushed behind my eyes, and I straightened to my full height, turning to Aspen.
“The answer is no. Understood?”
He pressed his lips together as he weighed his next words.
“Understood, General.”
“Good. Anything else you’d like to discuss?” I didn’t bother keeping the bite from my words.
He lifted his chin.
“How do you accept a Soulhound’s claim?”
“You fight him. And if he doesn’t kill you, he’ll be yours.”
I entered Alexei’s private room in the healers’ wing in need of some good news. Preferably about the Damneds’ location, but I’d take anything at this point.
A pretty, curvy blonde I’d never met sat on the rug, scanning one of the numerous books spread across the ground while grazing her fingers across Alexei’s wings.
“Lex, who the hell is this?”
This mission wasn’t for him to talk about with his flavor of the day.
His head whipped up from his book.
“Cindy was just—”
“Cindy,” I barked. “Leave.”
She scrambled off the ground and out the door in sufficient time.
Alexei glared at me.
“Not cool.”
“No. What’s not cool is an outsider learning shit she shouldn’t and having it spread to our enemies. Or Lucifer.”
“It’s not like I told her what we were researching. Just to let me know if she found anything interesting,” he grumbled, adjusting his pants, no longer in the patient gown that barely hid his big ass.
Sam probably got sick of his healers going missing and finding them in here ogling the golden warrior.
His dark shirt stretched over his back, the density where his dappled wings connected to his shoulder blades thinning, a trick we had to learn early on as angels. Without it, we’d require special clothing with slits or modifications.
Good thing too. Or Alexei would be in a whole lot of pain trying to put on a shirt.
“Wings must be feeling better,” I said dryly.
“They were before you entered and ruined my fun.”
I refrained from chucking a book at his head.
“Sam say anything more?”
He shrugged, refusing to look at me.
“They’re better. But not enough to fly yet or dematerialize them.”
I acknowledged his statement and let it go.
“Find anything yet?”
“Nothing worth mentioning. But I haven’t been through all of it, and I’m getting antsy. Tell Lucy to come see me and help. I miss her face.”
“Sure. Right after I give her orders to go patrolling for infected in the city with a squad that doesn’t listen to her.”
Alexei flipped a page.
“I’m serious, Ro. I miss our beautiful girl.”
I sank into the chair next to his bed, rubbing my face.
“Yeah, well, Aspen believes if I don’t, she’ll do it anyway.”
And I was concerned he was right. But I was concerned with more than that. I couldn’t get his fucking words out of my head. They sat in my gut and made me question everything.
He lifted his head from the book.
“Hells, you just said his name conversationally. I must be in an alternate-fucking universe.”
At my silence, he sprang from the bed, barely wincing.
A huge improvement from the last time I saw him.
“Ronen! Be reasonable.”
Reasonable.
I released a deep, frustrated sigh.
“I told him no. And I plan to tell her to.”
“But?” he prompted, standing over me.
“She killed Lilith, Lex. That wasn’t some simple fucking feat. She trained to the point of passing out these last two months. Physically and with her powers. She is more than capable.”
She survived the Tenebrous Kingdom.
He grabbed my shoulder.
“Yeah, and she paid a big price for it. Plus, she used powers she’s not allowed to use here! And we both know her physical fighting skills still need improvement. That’s not even touching on their inability to work as a unit.”
She survived Elora.
I pushed to my feet, brushing him off and gazing out the window at the snowless trees.
“More than half our squads don’t know how to work as fucking units.”
“We’re training them.”
She survived the scars Michael carved into her back.
“And how long will that take?” I flung a hand toward his books. “We haven’t even found how they’re getting in! They could strike at any time, and we’d be fodder because I can’t use my fucking shadows against them without risking my own death!”
Alexei quirked a brow.
“So are we arguing about Lucy or our military now? Or your inability to protect us to your full extent? I can’t keep up.”
Twenty fucking years old.
I fell back into the chair, gripping my head as my shadows snaked around my body.
“What is this really about, brother?”
“Are we blind?” I murmured.
“I’m not. I can see your ugly, stressed ass just fine.”
I lifted my head. “How long have the gates been closed, Lex?”
He frowned. “A little over twenty years now. But you know that.”
“Guess how old Lucille is.”
Ages never really mattered to us. We were immortal. They added up. We lost track.
But none of us dared question Lucille’s age against the timeline of the gates?
His brows lifted into his golden hair.
“You think she’s the cause?”
“What better explanation do we have? Think about it. The celestial world is built on balance. Her birth upsets it.”
Alexei grazed his hip, sighed, then dropped his hand to his tan pants and drummed his fingers against his thigh.
“No. If we’re going with balance, then Aspen would’ve upset it first, not Lucy.”
I gave him that.
“But she’s related to the king. A king, I might add, who had to give away his powers to the Lords of Hell to maintain Hell’s balance. Something she never had to do. And add the fact that she was able to open Portal Lake.”
He internalized my words and nodded.
“Okay. I can see the parallels. But if her birth closed the gates, is she the solution to opening them? And if she is, how does that explain why the gates have opened randomly throughout the years?”
I sat back, rubbing a hand over my lip.
Lucille wasn’t here during those times. So how could she be related to them?
More importantly, how did Lucifer know, after the gates had been closed for years, that they’d open again when I needed to rescue Lucille?
I never questioned him.
Now I wish I had.
He knows something.
“I don’t know. But I plan to find out.”
“And our beautiful girl?”
“I’ll inform her once I have all the facts.”
Alexei nodded, his light eyes widening, lips pressed as if to say obviously.
Like hiding this from her hadn’t even crossed his mind. And why would it? He was right. She needed to know…
She needed to know about a lot of things.
My gut churned with guilt and regret.
She deserved better from me.
“As you should. But I meant with this whole going-out-on-her-own situation.”
“Like I said. I’m going to tell her no.”
Alexei crossed his arms, a mischievous grin transforming his face.
“Can I come with to watch?”
“No—”
He pressed a finger to my lips.
“I’m coming. Sam cleared me an hour ago, and I’d love to see Lucy rip your ass a new one. It’d brighten my day.”
I swatted his hand away.
“Weren’t you just against her going?”
“Yes. Doesn’t mean our stubborn girl isn’t going to give you hell.
And I’m not missing the show. My muscles have healed.
Sam surgically and magically restored ten out of twenty percent of my ligaments.
Five percent is unhealable, and the other five may be restored over months of magical intervention and reconstruction, eventually determining my flying ability.
For now, I’m flightless and in need of a good distraction. ”
He would use his sob story against me.
“You’re still working on this afterward.”
“Yes, General,” Alexei mocked.
“Should I have someone move all these books to your room?”
Alexei looked taken aback.
“Are you kidding me? No. There are some hot assistant healers here that love to dote on the injured warrior. I’m going to milk that as long as I can.”
Why did I even ask?
“Did you tell them you jack off to your magazines nightly?”
“No. But I did offer to buy one of them a costume.”
“Yeah? What’d—”
Lucille’s fear ripped the rest of my words from my throat.