30. Micah

30

Micah

" I can't believe that worked."

"Me either," I admitted to Nox. I rubbed his skin where the manacles had been. There was no evidence that they'd ever been there, but it would be a long time before I'd be able to erase the memory of him in them. "I was prepared to die for you. For us."

"I know," he said, kissing me briefly. "Me too. I'm glad that didn't happen though."

We were back in the compound, in the room we used for meetings. With no other avenue open to her, Gloria had been forced to release us. Dimitri's admission of guilt had cleared Nox's name. He couldn't be punished for it unless she wanted to explain to God why she suddenly had all of Hell knocking on the front door.

As for my actions in taking him as my mate? Those had been forgiven too. They'd had no choice unless they wanted to admit they were breaking the law regarding the sanctity of mates.

Yes, the presence of the regents had turned out to be very handy. They'd become the unwitting audience and jury to Gloria's failures and injustice.

All it had taken was Benji reminding them all of the wording in the legislation and succinctly pointing out that it was down to fate. Nox and I had no say in the matter, therefore could not face repercussions for it.

Privately, I knew neither Nox nor I agreed with that sentiment. Fate meant fuck all when it came to our love. We could've spent eternity denying it, basking in our hate and using it as a shield against fate.

But that hadn't happened. Instead, we'd got to know each other. To learn we weren't as we'd been taught to be. That, underneath it all, our differences were non-existent.

We'd fallen in love. It was as simple as that.

Needless to say, we kept those thoughts to ourselves, letting Benji take the lead. By the time he'd finished, Gloria had no choice but to dismiss us with no charges or punishments being issued.

I wasn't stupid enough to believe this would be the end of it. The way she'd watched us leave the courtroom was burned into my mind.

She'd get her revenge at some point, of that I had no doubt.

Not trusting them, we'd left as hastily as we could, escaping back to the compound to go over everything. With the addition of the demons, there wasn't room for all of us around the table, so instead we were mingling in the room, having hushed conversations as we all marvelled at our lucky escape.

Or, not so lucky, when you considered it. It was nothing less than a meticulous manipulation of Gloria and the other judges .

I kissed Nox once more before reluctantly pulling away. It's okay. We've got plenty of time.

In theory, that should be the rest of eternity, but today had shown how fast that could change. Because of that I was going to make the most of every second we had together.

Starting as soon as we'd debriefed and I got him up to my bedroom.

Nox settled against the wall, arms folded across his chest. My mind flashed back to how I'd found him in a similar position after he'd caused a literal riot to get my attention.

How neither of us had caught on that it wasn't hate driving us earlier was beyond me.

I knew I should have been calling the room to attention, but I couldn't help eye-fucking my mate a little longer. It was his fault. He was naked from the waist up, having lost his shirt days ago on the beach. From his rippling muscles to the metal glinting in his nipples, he made one helluva distraction.

My cock stirred as Nox smirked at me arrogantly before winking. Oh yeah, my demon knew exactly where my thoughts had gone.

About as far from saintly as it was possible to get.

Unfortunately, my libido would have to wait. I had duties to attend to.

For the first time in aeons, I wasn't bitter about it. How could I be after the loyalty the Seraphim had shown me today? Each of them had walked into that courtroom knowing they might not walk back out.

For me.

On top of that, the weight of it all was easier to carry knowing Nox was here. That he'd take me upstairs as soon as this was done and make me forget everything except us.

I was one lucky angel.

Bracing my arms on the back of the chair I usually sat in, I cleared my throat loudly.

Silence fell, all eyes turning to me.

"I'm not sure where to begin," I said slowly. "When I first saw you enter the courtroom, I was furious. I couldn't believe you were all putting yourselves at risk for me."

Talk about how to instantly piss off an entire unit. It wasn't just the twins whose expressions were identical, but all of them.

"You're part of this unit too," Ezekiel growled. "How can you?—"

I cut him off. "Hold your horses, Ez, I'm not done. At first, I was furious, but then I quickly realised how misplaced that feeling was. How could I be angry at you when you were just trying to protect me?"

Benji crossed his arms. "We're a team. We live together. We fight together. We die together."

"I know that." I smiled at him sadly. "But I always believed that applied to the rest of you, but not to me."

Rami frowned. "What do you mean?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Nox met my gaze and gave me an encouraging nod. "Being the leader, I've always looked at things differently. My job is to protect you all. To keep you safe. To keep you together. Anything that happens to me—" I shrugged helplessly. "—it's my problem to deal with. That's how I've always thought of it."

"That's complete bollocks." Ezekiel looked at me like I'd lost my marbles. "Why the fuck does you being in charge mean you have to take the brunt of everything? "

"That's how it works."

I swear, the entire unit scoffed as one. Nox covered his mouth like he was trying to hide a laugh. I glared at him, which only succeeded in making his shoulders shake harder.

"But why?" Ezekiel demanded. "Who the fuck said you have to shoulder everything all the time?"

Dimitri sighed. "I think this is on me."

He was stood with an arm around Dagon. The sight didn't flay me open like it once had. Now I felt…warmth. Happiness that he'd found love with someone.

Just as I had.

That didn't mean I understood what he'd said. "How?"

Dimitri shrugged. "Let's be honest, I wasn't the second you needed, especially after what went down between us."

My cheeks flushed. Against the wall, Nox narrowed his eyes. Even though I knew I'd been in the wrong, I also knew my mate would tear Dimitri a new one if he started anything in front of the unit.

"And I'm sorry about that," I said.

"You don't need to be." Dimitri glanced at Nox and smiled. "I think it's pretty obvious now why you were obsessed with me. You weren't, not really. You were just waiting for your mate."

"Yeah, that makes sense." I smiled softly at Nox. "What I feel for him is far stronger than anything I've experienced before."

He blew me a kiss as giggles broke out around the room. Shit, I really should've been more mindful of the fact that we had an audience.

An opinionated audience who didn't know when to hold their tongues .

Sure enough, Rami made kissy noises while Breann pretended to wipe away a tear.

"Aww." Theo swooned dramatically, clutching at his chest as he addressed his twin. "Think we'll be this sappy when we're in love?"

"Nope," Nate said, kicking his brother in the shin. "I think we'll be obsessed psychos. It's probably best for our mates if we don't meet them for a long time yet. Give us a bit longer to mature."

Everyone laughed at that. If the twins hadn't matured in the two thousand plus years they'd been alive, there was little hope of it happening now.

"Anyway," Dimitri, said loudly. "My point is that I didn't do the job I was supposed to. I think you've got so used to doing it alone, that you've forgotten that's not how it's meant to work."

"Well that stops now," Ezekiel said darkly. Benji nodded alongside him. "I'm your second, and there's no way I'll ever be distracted from the job because I've found my mate."

For the first time in centuries, Dimitri and I were on the same wavelength as we exchanged a knowing look. Ezekiel said that now, but he had no idea what it was like to find your mate. To feel that pull to them. To have them reshape your world until they were in the centre of it.

For all his barbs and walls, I suspected Ez was a secret softie. God help us all if he ever did find his mate. The poor guy wouldn't know what had hit him.

"We're all here for you," Benji added. "We're a team. It's time you started treating us as one."

I bowed my head, ashamed that I'd let it get this far. I'd been so busy trying to shelter them that I'd failed to remember what we were .

A unit. A team. A family.

"As for the punishments," Rami said, "they stop now. There's no fucking way we'll tolerate you being whipped again."

Nox spoke up. "Trust me, that'll happen over my dead body."

"It won't come to that," Ez said simply. "If Micah is called to Heaven, at least two of us accompany him at all times. Agreed?"

Every Seraphim nodded, loyalty burning in their eyes.

Suddenly I was overcome by a wave of emotion, my throat thickening to the point of pain. "Thank you. I'm not sure what I've done to command such loyalty from you, but I'm grateful for it all the same."

"You've been you," Benji said. "That's enough for us."

A fter the emotional pause, the meeting turned businesslike. None of us believed that we'd heard the last of Gloria. For an angel, she wasn't exactly forgiving.

We spent a few hours turning over the various ways she might come after us again, the demons chipping in with their thoughts. It should've felt odd to have Dimitri back with us, especially given he was accompanied by Dagon and Ferry, but it didn't.

Despite what we'd been taught, today had shown that we were on the same side. We didn't care whether Heaven or Hell was in charge. We cared about keeping those we loved safe and being able to live our lives as we wished.

It was the sort of wish that shouldn't have been hard to achieve, but I supposed that was the downside of being powerful immortals. There'd always be someone looking to threaten what you'd built, who'd want to disturb your peace for their own gains. And those of us with mates to worry about had one massive fucking weak spot.

For me, it wasn't too bad. Nox had already demonstrated how capable he was at protecting both himself and me. But for Dimitri and Ferry? Their human mates were always going to need more protection than the rest of them. I think that was partially why they were even here—keeping an eye on supes affairs and seeing how it might affect them was sensible.

After hours of discussion, we came to two conclusions. One: Gloria would definitely be an issue. Two: we had no idea how that would manifest.

"Okay, so we'll keep an eye on Gloria and meet again when she decides to make a play." I rubbed at my temple. "Moving on, there's another problem we need to deal with. When Nox and I were taken topside, three regents accompanied us."

"I remember," Dimitri said with a frown. "Twats promised you'd be safe and that nothing was going to happen. Obviously they were fucking lying."

"Because I asked them to," I said coolly, meeting Dimitri's eyes. "I knew there was no way you'd let us leave unless you believed that."

Both Dimitri and Dagon looked as though I'd whacked them upside the head. "Why would you do that?"

Nox came up behind me, rubbing my shoulders. I put one of my hands over his, so fucking grateful to have him there. "Because I knew that the Seraphim would be the next targets if we didn't go with them. "

Dimitri pursed his lips. "We still could have gone with you."

I laughed humourlessly. "And where would that have got you, Dimitri? I'll tell you where—landed in a cell beside ours. We weren't prepared to do that. You have your mates to consider now. I didn't want to put them at risk."

"And you really didn't want to be in the cell next to ours," Nox said, breaking the tension as he squeezed my shoulders. "That would've been super awkward."

"I still can't believe you did that," Dimitri said. "You should've told us the truth."

"I've caused enough trouble for you and your mates," I said simply. "That's not something I'm ever going to do again."

There was a slightly awkward pause before Ez brought us back to the matter in hand. "What did you want to tell us about the regents?"

I nodded at him gratefully. "They knew something was amiss about the whole situation and tried to defend us. One in particular, Amelia, was very…vocal in her defence."

"They intimated that they've received similar punishments to Micah," Nox added, his hands tensing on my shoulders. "The way they spoke of it suggested it was something they were used to."

Several people in the room hissed and muttered. "The last time we saw them was when they escorted us to the cells. They weren't in the room today. I checked."

There was a heavy silence as everyone worked through the implications of what that might mean.

"Ordinarily I'd insist on tracking them down myself." I held my hand up before the protests could get too loud. "However, I suspect me going into Heaven or Purgatory will do the opposite to help matters. And, seeing as I'm trying this new relying on the unit thing…any volunteers?"

"We'll go," Theo said immediately, Nate nodding beside him. "We'll track them down and make sure they're safe."

"Thank you." I smiled.

Ferry, who'd been watching all this unfold in silence, suddenly spoke up. "What about Lyle? From the little I saw of him, I suspect he's not going to skulk off quietly into the night."

Across the room, I saw Noah duck his head, hiding behind his hair. "Now that is something I'm going to deal with myself."

Noah's head shot up, relief swimming in his eyes as they met mine. I nodded to let him know he wasn't alone in this.

As soon as things were back to normal, I'd be sitting Noah down for a talk. A long talk. One where I planned to find out exactly what he wanted done about Lyle. From what I'd seen of their interactions, it wasn't his behaviour towards me that he needed to be punished for.

But for whatever he'd put sweet Noah through? The fucker would pay for that.

"Really?" Ez said in disbelief. "Have you learned nothing?"

Behind me, Nox growled. I ignored him. If I got my way, he'd be spending a lot more time here in future. To do that, he'd have to accept the other Seraphim arguing with me and, sometimes, losing their temper.

"It's not about that," I assured Ez. "This is more of a… personal vendetta. Trust me, if I need assistance, I know to ask for it."

Just like that, Ez's temper receded. With that issue dealt with, I wrapped the meeting up and dismissed everyone .

The angels filed from the room one by one. I didn't fail to notice that every one of them said good night to Nox, the twins going as far as to hug him. They also made sure to bid Dimitri goodbye, making him promise to meet up soon. I smiled sadly at how Dimitri kept blinking away tears.

My actions had fractured this unit, but I was happy to see that the cracks weren't permanent. That love was going to help us fill them in, creating a stronger foundation than what had existed before.

Eventually, it was just me, Nox, Dimitri, Dagon, and Ferry in the room. Dimitri was staring at Nox when suddenly he started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" My mate slid into the seat beside me. His hand cupped my thigh possessively, making me wish the others would leave so we could retreat upstairs.

"Ah, I'm just tickled by how fate works," Dimitri mused. "Remember what I said to you when you asked me what I'd do in your situation? If Emilio was hurting someone I loved?"

"Wait a minute," I interjected, fixing Nox with a glare. "When exactly did you two talk?"

Nox had the decency to look sheepish. "Ah…about that. Dimitri was the one who helped me figure out who'd punished you."

"And told him where to find him," Dimitri added helpfully with a smirk. "It's almost like I'm responsible for you two getting your heads out of your rears and sorting shit out."

"I wouldn't go that far," Nox said, his thumb stroking my thigh. "We would've got there eventually. Maybe less dramatically, but we were inevitable."

He looked at me with such love in his eyes that it made my cheeks heat .

"Anyway," Dimitri said, "I told Nox that I wouldn't execute Emilio alone. That I'd make sure I had powerful friends who could back me up and fight my corner for me."

Nox blinked at Dimitri. "You did. And I told you that not all of us have that luxury."

"Ah but that's where you're wrong." Dimitri smirked. "Despite you both being convinced that every battle needs to be fought solo, you both had a lot of extremely powerful beings ready to die for you. Perhaps you should remember that the next time you do something reckless."

"Or," I said, poking Nox in the ribs, "maybe next time, we don't do anything reckless. How does that sound?"

"Pretty boring," Nox said with a lopsided grin. "But if it makes you happy, I guess I can try to rein it in a bit."

"Try is the best I can hope for with you."

Nox turned to Dimitri and inclined his head. "Thank you though. I appreciate you all coming through for us."

"We both do," I added. "It means a lot."

Dimitri smiled as he wrapped his arm around Dagon. "Well, it was kinda my turn, but you're welcome."

More conversation broke out between all the demons about possible things to watch out for where Gloria was concerned. The whole time they spoke, Nox's hand inched further north up my thigh, making my breath catch and my cock stiffen.

When he was close enough to brush the head of my dick with his thumb, my patience snapped. Dimitri was literally mid-sentence, but I didn't give a shit about interrupting him.

"Okay, great as this is, you all need to fuck off now. Thanks for the saving et cetera, et cetera, but please leave."

Fortunately, the demons merely chuckled before saying their farewells. Dagon paused in the doorway, mischief in his eyes. "Oh, make sure you join us for dinner one night! It'll be so fun."

The door banged closed behind him as I groaned. "Oh fuck, do we really need to do that?"

Nox grinned widely. "I think it sounds marvellous."

"That's because you delight in irritating me."

His hand slid up my thigh, resting over my aching bulge. "I'd delight in getting you naked far more. Now, little angel, why don't you invite me up to your bedroom?"