Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

ZADKIEL

" M y God, I love the pumpkin-spiced chai from Pink Coffee Cafe." I closed my eyes to take in the mixture of flavors hitting my taste buds. "I only wish they sold it all year long."

"That's the problem with seasonal drinks." Jophiel sipped his own pumpkin-spiced iced chai. "You get addicted to the yummy flavors and then have to wait months to taste them again. If they even come back. I hate when a flavor comes into my life just for one season, never to hit my tongue again."

"Are we still talking about tea?" I had a feeling we'd left the topic of tea and dived into another subject entirely.

"I was thinking about this guy I hooked up with last year." Jo sat at the table next to the reading nook inside the cafe. "We had the most amazing sex of my life but then walked away without even exchanging numbers."

"Jo, that's your regular weekend-hookup rule. You like to be anonymous so they don't come around begging for another bite of your angel pie, right? So, why is this guy bugging you?" Jo loved to fuck and never was without a hookup. This guy who was still on his mind after a year had to have had a golden dick or something.

"I know, Zad." Jo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "No matter how many guys I take to bed, I compare them to this guy. I haven't been able to fully enjoy an orgasm since that night because I keep thinking how he could have had me come three times by now."

"Wow."

"Yep." Jo sighed. "Zad, you need to help me."

"I'm not fucking you?—"

"Be serious, for once." I knew Jo meant business when my best friend snapped at me. "I need to find this guy, and you need to help me."

"Do you have any clues as to who he is or where we could even start looking for him?" I'm good at locating people but usually need at least a name, a location, or a description.

"I do have a partial picture of him on my phone. And I think he said he liked to hit this one club downtown. But I haven't ever seen him there again since that night." A blush crept up Jo's cheeks. "I looked."

That shocked me. Jo never chases. He is always pursued.

"Okay, give me your phone and show me that picture of this god who has captured your attention so fully that no other mere man can make you come the same as he."

"Shut it, Zad. I'm serious. And your overly flowery prose makes me stupider for feeling this way." Jo hid his head in his hands, and a part of me felt terrible—until I remembered all the times he had given me a hard time over falling in love in the past.

"You'll get over it." I grabbed his phone off the table and scrolled his camera roll. "Dude, how many dick pics do you have on here?"

"Give that to me." Jo jumped up from his seat and grabbed his phone. "You don't even know where to look for his pic. And I needed to get the right angle."

"Oh god. Get me bleach."

"Zad—"

"Those are all of your junk?" I took a water bottle from my bag and started splashing my eyes as if to clear the image from them. "I would blind myself, but the image burned itself into my memory. Fuck you, Jo. Why do you need to take dick pics anyway?"

"Stop acting like a fool, Zad." Jo sat down with his phone, shaking his head. "Don't go through people's property if you can't handle what you find."

"Ah." I sagged into my seat. "Fine. Go through the photos and find the one you want to show me. Text it to me, and I will never touch your phone again. I might never get hard again after that, either."

"Fuck you," Jo laughed. "There, I sent it to you."

"Thanks." I pulled out my phone to check my text messages. "And don't ever think of sending me one of those other pics. Some things best friends should never see of one another, and cock shots are one of those things."

"Whatever." Jo grinned. "Did you get the photo?"

"I did, and I am entering it into my image program to search for any matches in the data I already have." I uploaded the photo and hit search. "Give it about an hour."

"Thank you." Jo leaned back and took a sip of his drink. "So, how do you think this meeting with the local demon clan is about to go?"

"Honestly, I have a positive feeling about it." We had a good chance of finding a way to build an alliance. "We will see for ourselves soon though."

"Did you do divination on it?" Jo knew I liked adding magic to almost every aspect of my life. I would consult my tarot before meetings and do a daily one-card draw to receive messages from our brothers and sisters based in the heavens.

"I did. Everything showed up positively."

"Do you ever feel odd using those tools?" Jo was still wary about angels using magic.

"Everyone can use magic." I leaned forward so my friend could see my eyes. "Magic is not good or evil. It's not black or white. It's neutral and can be used by all. Only if you can't respect the rules of energy should it be avoided."

"I know." Jo reached over and grabbed my hand. "I'm sorry, I'm still hanging on to the things they used to teach me growing up. The angels should do this, but refrain from that because only the demon kids dabbled in magic. I should be over that toxic kind of thinking after all this time."

"Don't sweat it." I patted Jo's hand and stood up. "It's time to head up to the meeting. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Jo stood and threw his empty cup in the trash. "I'm glad we thought ahead and grabbed water for the meeting. I need something after all that sweetness and spice."

"You are such a weirdo." I laughed, handing him a water bottle. "The elevators are over there. Let's go."

Walking toward the bank of elevators, a slight tingle started at the base of my spine and crawled up my back, snaking its way around my body until every fiber buzzed with a new awareness. I turned as if commanded by an imaginary master and stood frozen once I saw who stood behind us.

I barely registered the deep intake of air coming from my best friend beside me and whispered, "It's him," as he nudged me. I barely recognized that one of the two men standing before us was the man my friend had been lusting after. All my focus was on the other man and what this energy flowing between us meant.

Only one word managed to escape my lips. "Mate."