26. Theo

26

W e meet in the cave before school. It hadn’t been the plan, but when the usually quiet house leader asks everyone to go somewhere, you show up. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t intrigued. All he’d said was there’d been a new development, which could mean anything. Good or bad.

I was about to stop by and escort Hayliel. Want to join? I press the message through my private bond with Raphael, curious what he’ll think of Zeke’s summoning.

His cheerful voice enters my head with a response. I’m actually with her now. We’ll be at the cave in five minutes.

Give her a kiss for me. Smiling, I imagine him doing just that. I shake my head, not needing to get lost in the lust fog that Hayliel is so good at dragging me into without even trying.

Before I leave my room, I shoot off a message to Castiel, letting him know of Zeke’s request. We really should open up a path to communicate with our entire group instead of having to send different messages to include everyone, even if it’s frowned upon by the university to have private mental connections with students.

It takes me no time at all to arrive at the cave, but only Dina is here. Castiel still hasn’t responded to my message, so I have no clue if he’ll show up. Dina says she’s having lunch with Mira and Hayliel, so at least they can loop the girl in on anything important.

When Hayliel and Raphael arrive, I expect a happier pair than the two angels in front of me. Something must’ve happened. As hard as I try, I can’t help but worry it’s about the odd sort of relationship we’ve formed. I push those thoughts aside, though. They would tell me if something was wrong.

Zeke is the last to arrive, and the man looks furious. I don’t think I’ve ever seen his scowl so deep, and I’ve seen it pretty damn fucking deep. If I was wondering before whether this news was good or bad, I now have my answer.

This shit is bad .

“Sorry I’m late. Have you updated anyone yet?” he asks Dina. When she shakes her head, he continues. “Then I’ll cut to the chase. The Fallen library was vandalized last night. So far, there have been no witnesses, but we’re still looking into it and searching for the culprit. I haven’t ruled out Uriel’s little Fallen minions, but the thought that Fallen ruined their own fucking library pisses me off more than if it were a Pure.”

I consider his words, but the motives don’t line up. What would tearing apart an entire university house library prove? That wouldn’t just harm Hayliel. It would harm the entire Fallen population at Silver City University and the school itself. From what we’ve seen of Uriel, he wants to keep shit contained to just Hayliel.

My gaze travels to the woman I can’t seem to shake, and I catch her and Raphael sharing a look that has unease curling through me.

“What do you know?”

Raphael’s usually happy persona turns dark as he says, “Hayliel couldn’t sleep last night, so she went to the Fallen library. Instead of studying, she had two Fallen and some cloak-wearing psycho coming after her. She ran and ended up at my dorm, where she spent the night.”

An unnatural silence falls over us as we stare dumbfounded at the pair.

“What?” Zeke growls, his fury growing rapidly. My own builds right along with him. If this is Uriel’s doing, I swear I’ll make him regret ever coming at the girl who owns my heart.

She frowns. “When I left the library, nothing was out of place aside from whoever was inside looking for me. The two Fallen seemed terrified of the masked being, though. Maybe he got so mad they took it out on the books?”

An angry cloaked figure? Just what the hell happened last night?

A memory hits me straight in the chest. The nightmare I’d had last night woke me in a pile of sweat and fear. I thought it was about Serah being chased by a demon, but what if it was something else? I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but now I take a second look. Could my body tell Hayliel was in danger? Is that what truly woke me up?

No. Most likely, it was just an unrelated nightmare. Even as I think it, something nags at my mind, refusing to let me drop it. I need to decipher the implications a bit more before I bring it up to anyone. For now, I’ll focus on figuring out how to keep Hayliel safe.

Clearing my throat has all eyes turning to me. “I think it goes without saying that even more than before, we need to ensure that you’re never alone. If the Fallen and this cloaked figure are working with Uriel and they were trying to kidnap you in the middle of the night, then who knows what lengths they’ll reach to get what they want? We can’t be too careful.”

“Castiel should be here. Maybe there’s something he can do at the faculty level,” Zeke adds darkly. I get the sense he would like to do several things to the likes of Uriel that our professor and the rest of the school wouldn’t agree with. I’m right there with you, buddy.

“I did text him and asked about coming to the cave, but he hasn’t responded yet. When he responds, I’ll fill him in and see what he can do.”

“Should we consider looping in Principal Cael?” Dina asks, chewing on her top lip.

It’s a decent question, but we already have enough angels in the know that I’m not sure how I feel about adding more. Especially someone as powerful as the head of the school. Still, we’re not at a point where we can completely turn down the idea.

Raphael answers before I get a chance to. “Honestly, I’d like to know what Castiel thinks about that before we make any decisions. He’d know more about the man than we would.”

“Agreed,” Zeke says, “But let’s not rule it out yet. For now, we’ll double our efforts to make sure Hayliel is never alone. Ideally, we’ll even have as many as two angels with her at all times, though that may not always be doable.”

“I hate this. I don’t want to be a burden to any of you, but that’s exactly what it sounds like I’ll be.” My sweet, gorgeous angel drops her head into her hands, and my heart hurts at the sight.

In a second, I’m at her side, gently pulling them down. “Hey. You are never a burden to us. Ever. Each angel in this room cares about you, so much so that we would all be devastated if something bad happened to you. It’s not a burden to help keep you safe. It’s an honor.” I lean in and press a soft kiss to her lips, and when I pull away, her expression is a little less dark.

“Fine.” She checks her slate and sighs. “So, who wants the first shift of walking me to class?”

I ignore the lunchtime rush of students heading to the main hall to grab a bite to eat and instead make my way back to the cave. Raphael is with Dina and Hayliel, who are planning to eat their food in Dina’s dorm room with Mira. When he’s done, he’ll join the rest of us here. He never said exactly what it was we needed to talk about, but it sounded important.

The shit just keeps piling on.

Zeke arrives next, looking worried. “Did something else happen?”

I shrug. “I don’t know, but I’m getting tired of these fucking surprises.”

Just as Zeke nods his agreement, Raphael walks through the cave entrance, his usually cheery face just as grim as it was this morning.

“What is this about? Is Hayliel alright?” Zeke asks him, and I have to hand it to the guy. He’s made great strides in his behavior since the little talk we’ve had. I just hope he’s showing her this side of him too, instead of just us.

Raphael, who usually would have taken Zeke’s gruff tone as an attack, only nods. “She’s fine right now. Mira and Dina will keep her safe through lunch, anyway. I wanted to talk to you both about last night. I don’t think she should be left alone, even then.”

“What did you have in mind?” I ask. Zeke doesn’t say anything, but he looks a little uncomfortable, and I can’t quite understand why.

“She agreed to spend her nights between the three of us, assuming we all agree.”

Relief floods me at his words. I hadn’t even realized I’d been worried about what he would say until now. “Well, shit. You won’t hear any complaints from me.”

Zeke has basically stopped moving at this point, looking eerie as hell where he stands like a stone statue. Raphael has to say his name twice before he snaps out of it.

“Sorry. What did you say?”

I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face, but Raphael rolls his eyes. “I said, are you cool with having Hayliel spend her nights between the three of us, or are you too much of an asshole to make it work?”

Ugh. Raphael and I talked about this. He agreed to be nice to Zeke and give him another chance, since he’d been making an effort not to suck.

Zeke narrows his eyes at Raph, but I butt in before things take a turn. “I think what he means it that Hayliel would like to spend a few nights with you each week. Is that something you’re comfortable with?”

“She said that?” he asks Raphael.

“More or less, yes.”

He’s silent for a beat, then says, “If it’s what she wants, and neither of you have issues with it, then I’d like that very much.”

“It’s clear to us— both of us —“ I shoot a look at Raph, “that Hayliel has feelings for you. We know what went down between the two of you over the weekend—”

His head whips toward me with guilt written all over his face. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s not like I planned for it to happen, it just did.”

This poor guy. Who would have thought the prickly Fallen angel would be so damn dense?

“Archangels, will you just shut up? We’re trying to include you,” Raphael says with a huff, causing Zeke to promptly close his mouth.

More gently, I add, “We just want to see her happy, and you’re part of making that happen.”

He swallows, a slight blush lining his cheeks. I never would have imagined seeing this grumpy ass dude blush, but I guess stranger things have happened.

At seeing Zeke soften, Raphael’s annoyance fades. “Then it’s settled. She’ll bounce between our rooms at night. I considered setting a schedule, but I think it might be better if we keep things sporadic and unpredictable in case anyone is watching us closely.”

“That’s a good idea,” Zeke says before I can.

“I agree. We can’t be too careful,” I add, then bite the bullet and bring up the other item that won’t seem to leave my mind. “Did either of you have nightmares last night?”

They both look at me like my face has been replaced with an ass. It’s not like it was that weird of a question.

Zeke grimaces, but eventually nods. Raphael does too, and my stomach sinks.

“And were they about a woman being chased by a dark figure? I thought it was just my past, the usual images that haunt me while I’m sleeping, but now I’m not so sure.”

Raphael’s face pales. “All I heard was an angel screaming, begging for help, but I was surrounded by darkness and couldn’t find her.”

“I…” Zeke starts, then stops. He takes a breath before he says, “I thought it was my mom, but the location didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t at home or the barn. It was here.”

“Maybe it’s nothing …” I say, unsure of my thoughts.

Raphael laughs. “When angels say that, it usually is something. What is it, Theo?”

Swallowing hard, I blow out a hard breath and share my thoughts. “It’s just … sometimes it feels like my connection with her is stronger than anything I’ve experienced before. I assume it’s the same with you guys, but the fact that all three of us had strange dreams on the night where she was almost captured by some weirdo in a mask makes me think it’s not just in my head.”

Zeke, who I expect to scoff and tell me I’m an idiot, actually looks like he’s considering it. “I’ve never heard of an angelic connection being so strong that dreams were shared, but that doesn’t mean it’s never happened. Hell, Hayliel’s entire being is proof that we don’t know shit about fuck.”

“Add it to the list of things for us to dig into,” Raphael mutters, though I know he’s thinking the same thing I am.

Our connection with Hayliel seems to strengthen on the daily, and if it were up to us, we’d make it as deep as fucking possible.