33. Rami
Rami
By the time the last person was healed, I could barely hold myself upright. My powers were utterly depleted in a way they hadn’t been since the crane incident.
But I’d personally saved at least half the occupants of this café from certain death.
That was worth any level of exhaustion.
I was just thankful that Ethan hadn’t been one of the people who needed healing. The mark would’ve taken care of any scratches or bruising long before now.
What he’d been through mentally and emotionally? That was going to take a lot longer to recover from.
Knowing he was safe and physically unharmed had allowed me to fully focus on the people who needed me most. Now, I could give him all my attention. Answer all of his questions.
And pray that he was willing to listen.
“Okay, prepare to leave,” Micah called authoritatively. “Benji and Grace, you’re on compulsion duty. Nate and Theo, gather any evidence you can find. If this wasn’t an accident, I want to know who it was and why.”
My mind was working too slowly for me to be worried about that. There was a pounding in my head as it hung low between my shoulders. God, I just wanted to be out of here. Back at the compound with Ethan. Where I could remind him that he was safe. That I’d always protect him from anything like this.
That he could trust me to be fully honest going forward.
Suddenly, Quill’s voice rang out. “Wait, where’s Ethan?”
As easily as that, the exhaustion vanished. A surge of adrenaline rushed through me, launching me to my feet. I whirled around to see Quill standing next to a lone chair, looking frantic. “What?”
“He was right here,” Quill said, running his hands through his hair. “I told him not to move.”
My stomach plummeted through the floor.
Where was Ethan?
Where was Ethan?
“He wouldn’t have left,” Quill said urgently. “He promised me he’d wait here.”
Every pair of angelic and demonic eyes turned to me.
“No, he wouldn’t have left. Fuck!” I knew in my gut that he hadn’t left voluntarily. Not with everything going on. With all the questions he had.
I searched frantically for the mark, my chest tight. “I can’t…I can’t feel him.”
Micah’s face paled, then he was barking out fresh orders. “Fan out. Everyone searches except Benji and Grace. Join us when you’ve finished.”
I shot into the air alongside my family and friends, fear clutching my heart.
It took under twenty seconds to establish that he wasn’t in the café.
Another thirty to search the immediate perimeter.
Two more minutes and we’d scoured the entire hospital.
Three more and we’d searched a mile radius with the café at the centre.
Ethan was nowhere to be found.
“Did you feel anything from the mark while we were in there?” Noah asked when we landed back at the gaping hole that once held the windows of the café. “Fear? Anxiety? Anything?”
I swallowed down my own terror. “No…I don’t think so? There was so much happening, I could’ve missed it.”
Oh god. What if I’d missed it?
“Don’t think about that now,” Micah ordered, as if such a thing was easy to do. “The police are on their way. Let’s head back to the compound.”
Red filled my vision. My hands were around Micah’s shirt collar before he’d finished speaking, lifting him bodily from the ground. “I’m not fucking leaving without Ethan!”
Fire licked at my wrists, but I ignored the burn. Micah was the one to address it. “Nox, back off. Now.”
The flames disappeared, replaced by Micah’s cool grip. He didn’t try to remove me, just held me like he was offering me comfort. Or trying to ground me. “Ethan isn’t here, Rami. He’s been taken—probably by Damien. This was all a trap.”
A trap.
A trap.
The truth of it slammed into me. Of course it was. How else would Damien have snatched Ethan if we weren’t all fully distracted?
Fuck.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. How had Damien even known we’d be at the hospital today? Or that we’d stop by the café?
I wasn’t going to get any answers staying here. Wouldn’t find my mate, either.
Numb, I released Micah, letting him drop to the ground. I didn’t try to hide my fear as I faced our leader. My friend. My brother. “We’re going to get him back, right?”
My soft plea was heard by the Seraphim. I felt them draw nearer, hands gripping me wherever they could reach.
Micah touched my face. “Yes. We’ll get him back, Rami. Together.”
It was all I needed to hear. There was hope. With my family surrounding me, we could do anything.
Including saving my mate.
Damien’s sons burst into the conference room less than two minutes after we entered. Their expressions ranged from shocked to sympathetic to grim.
Ezra spoke first. “Is it true? He captured him? How?”
Because I wasn’t paying attention.
Because I was distracted.
Because I failed him.
All those thoughts echoed through my mind, just as they’d been doing since we realised Ethan was missing.
Missing.
My mate was missing.
Sitting here, knowing he was out there somewhere, possibly being tortured, was fucking killing me. But I knew this was necessary. If we were going to find Ethan, if we were going to save him, we needed a plan.
And fast.
I stayed silent as Micah filled the Gaunt brothers in. The whole time, I searched for Ethan using the mark.
But there was nothing.
“Wherever he is, it’s heavily warded,” I said, cutting through the discussion abruptly. “I’m not getting a read on him at all.”
“Okay, well that actually makes it easier,” Micah said as Benji walked in, a map under his arm. He unrolled it over the centre of the table, revealing the city. “Assuming he’s still in London?”
That question was directed at the brothers. Elias nodded. “Yes. He doesn’t like to take his victims far. Especially in this situation, when he knows he’s going to be hunted.”
“That’s what I don’t understand,” Quill said, sounding as frustrated as I was feeling.
The fact that he was even here was testament to the impact my mate had had on him.
Ethan had been living in his house for only a couple of weeks, but it had been enough to persuade Quill to step outside his comfort zone.
From how his hands were shaking, it was taking a toll on him.
“Why would he take Ethan, knowing he’ll be bringing down the wrath of the Seraphim? ”
Not just the Seraphim, but the demons in the room too. Their very natures demanded vengeance. Like the rest of us, they wouldn’t rest until Damien had been executed.
“Because he doesn’t like to fail,” Erik said heavily.
“We can assume the wards around Ethan’s house were in place prior to Rami meeting him, which means he’d already chosen him as his next victim.
Discovering he’s the fated mate to a Seraphim will just have added an extra challenge.
It’s made the whole thing more…exciting. ”
“He sounds like a real cunt,” Nate said darkly.
“He is.” Elias gave him a grim smile. “Trust me, we know that better than anyone.”
“Then why haven’t you killed him already?” That question came from Theo, who was glaring at Elias like he was deciding how best to murder him.
“You’re underestimating how strong he is,” Elias replied. “It’s going to take all of us.”
“No,” I said softly, my power crackling around me. I’d never been more grateful to be an arch before, my stores replenishing fast despite the earlier drain on my powers. “It’ll just take me.”
Of that, I was certain. Damien Gaunt was going to pay the ultimate price. That had been set in stone the instant he’d first set his sights on my mate.
I was going to be the one to collect it.
“Be that as it may, we’ll all be fighting alongside you,” Micah said firmly, looking up from the map. While we’d been talking, he and Benji had been drawing grid lines across it. “Okay, we’ve divided the city into fourteen. Each of us will take a section. You’re searching for blank spots.”
“Fourteen?” Ezra said, his eyes skating over the angels and demons assembled. “There’s eighteen of us.”
“You can’t fly,” Benji said. “Carrying you will only slow us down.”
“Then what are we meant to do?”
“We need you to stay here,” Micah held up his hand to silence them. “As a favour to us. Ezekiel has a human mate. He’s in our panic room right now, but we can’t leave him here undefended.”
From the thunder on Ez’s face, he wasn’t thrilled about the vampires being the ones to protect him. But I knew he wasn’t protesting as he wanted to help find Ethan.
For me.
I reached over and squeezed his shoulder in thanks. He gave me a clipped nod before speaking to Ezra. “If any of you so much as insult Sam, you’ll pay with your immortality.”
Emerson rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “We’re vampires, Ezekiel, not monsters. We’ll both respect and protect your mate.”
Some of the tension left Ez, but not all of it. That wouldn’t happen until he was back here with Sam in his arms.
Just as it wouldn’t for me until Ethan was back in mine.
If we get him back.
We would. We had to. And if we didn’t?
Then my soul would depart this plane the same moment his did.
I got to my feet, ready to get searching. Adrenaline buzzed under my skin as my instincts screamed at me to move. Every second wasted was another one where Damien could be hurting Ethan. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Ezra stepped forwards. I growled, tempted to strike him down just for delaying us. “You’ll need us when you find him. Seeing that we’ve joined forces with you will catch him off guard.”
Ez and Micah exchanged a look before Micah spoke. “When we’ve pinned down his location, a few of us will come to pick you up. Grace will take over guarding Sam.”
Elias snorted. “One angel in place of four vampires?”
Grace gave him a sweet smile. “Oh, I do love to be underestimated.”
“Enough,” I barked before an argument could break out. My temper roiled along with my power. “Ethan’s out there, right now, going through fuck knows what. We need to find him, and now.”
“Rami’s right,” Micah said. “Everyone out. Fly like lives depend on it.”
Because they did.
Both mine and Ethan’s.