26. Rami
Rami
We were all too well trained to let our surprise show—even the twins schooled their expressions.
“Who is your father?” Micah asked.
“Damien Gaunt.” Erik finally spoke. It was quiet. Measured. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know this already.”
“We didn’t before you entered,” Benji said frankly. “None of our research suggested that Damien had children.”
“We stay under the radar,” Ezra said. “We know our father. What he’s capable of. None of us want to be associated with him.”
Curiosity itched at the back of my neck. “So why come forward now?”
“Because no one else who’s challenged him stood a chance against him,” Emerson said, cracking his knuckles. “Us included.”
“But you might.” Ezra’s gaze swept over us. “Especially if you have our help.”
Micah simply raised a brow. “What makes you think we plan to kill him?”
All four vampires looked at me, but it was Ezra who spoke. “Because he’s taken an interest in Ramiel’s mate.”
The tension in the room deepened as he confirmed my worst fears. Fury and terror contended for the upper hand as I stared Ezra down. “Tell me everything you know. Now.”
He sighed. “Honestly, we don’t know anything more than you do. We got a tip-off that he’d warded your mate’s house.”
“Who gave you the tip-off?” Micah’s voice was like ice.
Ezra’s eyes flicked from me to Micah. “Sebastian LeClerc.”
I ran a hand over my face. Fucking Sebastian. I didn’t know whether I wanted to throttle him for not telling us Damien had kids, and that he knew them, or thank him for giving them a heads-up.
From the expressions on the rest of the Seraphim’s faces, I knew I wasn’t the only one having this internal battle.
“We weren’t aware Damien was in the country,” Elias said, his tone bitter. “Let alone in the same city as me.”
“He’s always been good at staying hidden,” Emerson added. “It’s part of his M.O. Doesn’t let his targets know he’s there until there’s no chance of them escaping him.”
A chill went down my spine. “Targets?”
Ezra smiled at me, and I fucking hated every ounce of sympathy in it. “Our father, if we can call him that, always follows the same pattern. He chooses a human to become his…project. To hear of him speak of it, you’d think they were his fated mate.”
Benji stated the obvious. “Vampires don’t have fated mates.”
“They do not,” Ezra confirmed. “But that doesn’t matter to Damien. He’s always searching for the elusive ‘one.’ Every century or so, he fixates on a human. Always a human.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why is that detail important?”
“Because a supe might survive what he puts them through,” Erik said quietly. “His tests.”
“What tests?”
Elias stared down at his hands as he answered me. “He claims they are to see if the human is worthy of being his mate. How much they can survive before he claims them.”
“No one has survived,” Emerson said. “It’s just a fucking excuse for him to continue playing these sick, twisted games.”
“I have to go to Ethan,” I said numbly, shoving back from the table. “I can’t leave him alone.”
Several Seraphim stood at the same time as me, faces contorted in alarm. But it was Micah who reached me first. “Rami, wait.”
“I can’t wait!” The words exploded from me, ricocheting from the walls as my wings tore from my back. “That’s my mate he’s fucking with, Micah!”
“I know,” he said calmly, blocking my way to the exit. “And we need you here to help us plan how to stop him. Ethan is safe right now. He has five quite frankly terrifying demons watching his back. Damien won’t attack now.”
“Micah’s right,” Emerson said. “Damien wants a challenge, but he’s no fool. He’ll wait until Ethan is alone before he acts.”
“So we make sure he’s never alone,” Ez said as Micah firmly steered me back to the table. Thankfully these chairs were adapted for our wings, because there was no way I was in control enough to compel mine away. “We’ll guard him around the clock while we track Damien down.”
“Tell us everything you know,” Micah commanded as he returned to his seat. Benji pulled out a notebook and pen, waiting to record whatever we learned. “Every detail. Nothing is too small.”
I tried to listen to the Gaunts as they spoke, but it was too difficult. My mind was a couple of miles away, with my mate.
Micah’s right, he’s safe. Nox and the others won’t let anyone near him.
“Are we sure it’s Ethan he’s after?” Theo asked after a little while. “He lived with another bloke, could it not be him?”
The brothers all exchanged a look before Emerson sighed. He turned to me. “Is your mate a redhead? Green eyes? Freckles? Adorably cute? Makes you want to cuddle him up in a blanket and keep him safe?”
My mouth dried out in fear. “Yes. All of those things.”
Pity shone in his eyes. “Then it’s him Damien wants. I’m sorry.”
“Daddy has a type,” Elias muttered darkly.
“He does.” Ezra rubbed his jaw. “Which makes it easier to pin down Ethan as his target, but obviously it’s not the answer you were hoping to hear.”
“I knew it was him,” I said, anger coursing through me. “There’s no way it wouldn’t be.”
Elias pursed his lips. “You haven’t helped matters.”
I stiffened, all of my pent-up fury settling on a new target. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve marked him, right?”
I didn’t answer, which was confirmation enough.
“Of course you have.” Elias rolled his eyes. “Well, in doing that, you might as well have pinned a massive fucking bullseye on him.”
A low growl left me as lightning licked around my knuckles.
“While he’s chosen a fucking idiotic way to express himself as usual,” Ezra said, glaring at his brother, “Elias is unfortunately right. Damien loves nothing more than a challenge. Kidnapping and torturing the marked but unbonded mate of an archangel? That’s his biggest one yet.”
“Fuck.” I looked to Micah in desperation. “What do I do?”
“He needs to know the truth sooner rather than later,” Micah said heavily. “I’m sorry, Rami, but it’s not safe for him to just be marked. He needs a full bond with you.”
My stomach twisted as I thought of the promise I’d made to him earlier that day. “I want you, Ethan. What I don’t want is to rush you into anything. I want you to be with me because you’re choosing to be, not because you feel like you don’t have a choice.”
“Actually, I think that might make the situation worse,” Erik said slowly. “Taking out a human who’s marked is one thing, but tempting in his bonded mate and executing him too? That’s the kind of game he lives for.”
Theo’s face showed the same confusion I was feeling. “I thought the point was him finding his mate?”
Elias snorted. “Please. The point is him torturing and murdering innocent humans. The mate bullshit is the excuse he gives to make it okay, as if that would do it.”
Ez raked a hand over his face. “What you’re saying is that we’re dealing with a delusional vampire powerful enough to execute an arch?”
“If he was human, he’d be deemed a psychopath,” Erik said flatly. “As a vampire, he’s too dangerous to be allowed to live.”
“We all want him dead.” Emerson cracked his knuckles again. “Alone, we’re not strong enough, but with your help…”
Working with a vampire clan was not in our usual remit. Then again, nothing about this situation was.
I stared at Micah, willing him to make the right decision. To my relief, he nodded. “He needs to die, and before Rami’s mate is impacted. Tell us what you need.”
The meeting dragged on forever.
I should’ve felt grateful for the sheer amount of information the Gaunt brothers were handing over. And I was. But, mostly, I wanted to be with Ethan. To see that he was safe with my own eyes. To hear about how his move had gone. To help him unpack and settle into his new home.
The conversation moved on to different options for entrapping Damien, but there was one I shot down immediately.
“We’re not using Ethan as bait,” I growled. I was on my feet, wings spread wide, glaring at Elias, who’d dared make the suggestion. “He’s my mate, not a pawn.”
Elias held up his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying it’s the most obvious solution.”
“It’s non-negotiable.” Micah cut in before I could rip out Elias’s throat. “Our mates are protected at all costs.”
I could tell Elias wanted to argue, but an elbow in the ribs from Ezra had him clamping his mouth shut. The older vampire inclined his head respectfully. “Of course. Our goal is to protect Ethan, and we won’t jeopardise that.”
No, their goal was to wipe their father from this world. But so long as their interests aligned with ours, I didn’t give a shit how they wanted to dress it up.
“Why don’t you take off?” Micah suggested to me with an understanding smile. “We can fill you in later. Go see Ethan.”
I didn’t bother to argue. Didn’t even take the time to thank Micah, just strode out of the room without another word.
Within seconds, I was in the air and circling the demons’ house. Ethan’s new home. Just as I was about to land, I realised I needed a reason for stopping by.
Which was annoying as fuck.
I took a quick detour to a local takeaway. It was only another fifteen minutes before I was hammering on their front door, but each one felt like a decade.
Darius opened the door, his brows rising at the stack of pizza boxes in my arms. “Hungry?”
“They’re for you lot,” I said, stepping in when he made room for me. “Where’s Ethan? Is he safe? Is he upset? Was Dave there?”
The demon’s lips twitched. “He’s upstairs. He’s safe. No, he’s not upset as far as I can tell. He was a little quiet when we were packing up his stuff, but I don’t know him well enough to know if that’s just his personality or not.”
It wasn’t. At least, Ethan wasn’t quiet around me.
“As for the ex,” Darius said, taking the pizza boxes off my hands, “he wasn’t there. Which begs the question, why is he still alive?”
I sighed. “Because it’d upset Ethan if he wasn’t.”
“Interesting,” he said mildly. “How do you manage that?”
“What do you mean?”
Darius stared down at the pizza boxes. “I find I want to kill anyone who annoys or irritates my mate. It’d definitely upset him, but knowing that doesn’t make me any less murderous.”
I blinked in surprise, trying to decide which question I should ask first. “You have a mate?”
He gave me a pained smile. “In the same sense you do, although you’re one step ahead of me with the marking.”
“I had no idea.”
Darius shrugged like it wasn’t bothering him at all, but the fact that he was admitting he knew his mate told me everything I needed to know. “No one does. Not really.”
Upstairs, I could hear Ethan singing softly. Although my soul was begging me to go to him, I hesitated. “Do you…is there a reason why you aren’t mated?”
“You know all those people I want to murder because they irritate him?”
I nodded.
“I’m one of that number,” he said, already turning to head for the kitchen. “He can’t stand the sight of me.”
“I’m sorry.” I was. Truly. I couldn’t imagine knowing Ethan and having him hate me.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve survived worse. Being rejected by my fated mate is par for the course these days.”
I couldn’t imagine surviving worse than that. Did Darius mean it, or was it a lie he told himself to just get through each day?
He disappeared before I could say another word. I waited a few minutes, torn between going after him and heading up the stairs. But I’d known Darius long enough to know he only opened up when he wanted to. If he’d left the conversation, it meant he didn’t want to discuss it anymore.
Making a mental note to check in with him later, I took the stairs two at a time.
Ethan was still humming softly when I got to his door. I smiled as I recognised it as one of Caffeine Daydreams’ new songs. I rapped lightly on the wood. “Eth? Can I come in?”
“Rami?” The excited pitch of his voice had me wanting to break into song myself.
“Yep,” I said. “Expecting someone else?”
The door flew open to reveal Ethan, his cheeks flushed from exertion, his eyes bright. “No, but I wasn’t expecting you either.”
“Oh.” His words caught me off guard. “Sorry, I thought you might be hungry so I brought dinner…but I can go if now isn’t good?”
He rolled his eyes before grabbing the front of my shirt and using it to tow me into his room. “Absolutely not, you plonker. I just meant this is a surprise. A nice one.”
“Phew.” I pulled him into a hug, breathing a little easier now he was in my arms. “Because I probably wouldn’t have left. Just gone downstairs and pouted until you took pity on me.”
“I can well believe it,” Ethan said wryly. “Thanks for bringing food though. You didn’t need to do that.”
“I know. I wanted to.”
He stepped backwards and ran a sheepish hand over the back of his neck as he gestured at his room. “Sorry about the mess. I’m in the middle of unpacking.”
“How was the move?”
“Fine.” Ethan shrugged. “No sign of Dave. He’d already boxed up most of my stuff, which made it quicker.”
My fingers twitched as though they were wrapped around Dave’s neck. “I’m sorry, Ethan.”
“It’s fine,” he replied quickly. “Honestly, I didn’t care.”
“Are you sure? You were together a long time.”
“We were, but…” He exhaled and shook his head. “I feel like we’ve been over for a long time. If it weren’t for my diagnosis, I suspect Dave would’ve ended it months ago.”
“I can’t decide whether it makes it better or worse that he didn’t, even with your diagnosis.”
“Me either,” Ethan said, sliding his arms around my waist. “But you want to know what I am certain about?”
“What?”
“This,” he said shyly, smiling up at me. “You. Us. Whatever this is. It’s making me happier than I’ve been in…well, ever. I don’t want to scare you or anything, I just…I don’t know. You make me happy.”
“Hearing that will never scare me,” I croaked, holding him tight. “You make me happy too, Eth. Happier than I’ve ever been.”
“Good.” He stepped back with a cheeky grin hopping up onto his desk. “I need a break from unpacking. What do you think about helping me christen this room?”
I cleared my throat, raising my voice just a little. “I think your housemates better make themselves scarce or put noise-cancelling headphones on, because I can’t promise to be quiet.”
I heard two sighs, then the front door opened, and Darius and Dahlia stepped outside the wards. In the room a couple of doors away, Quill chuckled. “Headphones going on, my man. Enjoy.”
Ethan smirked up at me, completely unaware of the privacy I’d just guaranteed us. “They had better, because I don’t think I can be either.”
Those were the last words spoken between us for a while.
But, as promised, there was a lot of noise.