by J. L. Madore
So, yeah, he was a dad.
Ha! What was the saying? Life was what happened when you’re busy making other plans. True dat. He didn’t know shit about babies, but figured his boy for the best-behaved newborn ever. Even after the rough start, the little monkey just slept, blinked up at them, nuzzled Thea’s breast, and then went back to sleep. He couldn’t blame him. Perfect setup, right?
Weren’t babies supposed to scream and stink and stuff?
Okay, he’d spoken too soon about the stinking, and jinxed them. “Is that him?” He pressed his hand against his nose. “How can someone so tiny drop a cloud like that?”
Thea giggled, gliding over to the change pad she set up on the dresser. “That’s normal. Nio can clear a room as well.”
A rush of dawning hit, and Seth felt like a royal shit.
He’d been so freaked out by the whole baby plotting and fallout, he’d avoided his family like the plague. He hadn’t even held Zander and Austin’s daughter yet.
No wonder Austin was disappointed in him.
No wonder Phoenix wanted to knock his block off.
Still, the whole time he’d been on the outside looking in, he’d been sure he held the moral high ground.
He was, after all, the injured party. Except . . . he didn’t see things the same way on this side of fatherhood.
He stood behind Thea as she took care of the HAZMAT cleanup and marveled at his own one-eighty. He’d been a father less than twenty-four hours and would die for the boy. Zander alluded to that truth last week, but it still hadn’t resonated.
“There,” Thea said, zipping up his little Harley Davidson onesie and picking him up. “Presentable once again. Would you like your turn?”
“Hells-to-the-yeah,” he said, opening his arms. No matter how long he stared at his son, he couldn’t get over how a person could be so tiny. “Hey, dude. How’s things?”
“I think he’d like to explore his home and meet his aunties.”
In response to his mother’s suggestion, the boy yawned and farted against his hand. “Yeah, he can hardly contain himself.”
Thea laughed and pushed them toward the bedroom door. “Come on, the others want their turn fawning over him. Let’s go be proud parents.”
He could get into that.
The raid on the rebellion encampment occupied a huge part of his mind. Maybe Tanek had news. Opting out didn’t mean he was indifferent. Far from it. He wanted Thrash and her ass-licking minions put down for what they’d done.
He just wasn’t ready to tap out of the fam just yet.
The two of them walked down the hall, him carrying his son, Thea’s arm wrapped around his waist, leaning in to make smiley faces at the babe. As insignificant as the moment was on the scale of millennia of living, he’d never felt so . . . content.
Weird. Maybe he really was a big fool.
Maybe Tanek was right and Lady Divinity was giving them what they needed most, whether they knew it or not. Not that he was falling madly in love with the angel, but he saw the appeal. Besides, they were linked now. No need to be crazy and dive into love just because everyone else was doing it.
Been there, got the wings to prove it.
Yeah, but that was different. Loving your child was easier. It was instinctual, like breathing, or getting a hard-on when you watched porn. Just natural. Right?
The succulence of celebration cooking and the warmth of lively conversation filled the halls, even before they got all the way to the kitchen.
“Finally,” Ronnie said, jogging over to meet them as they approached the massive harvest table. “Is it our turn to hold him? Does he have a name?”
Seth reluctantly gave up his son to Danel’s wife. Bereft with his arms empty, he shifted for a comfy position.
Thea seemed to realize his struggle and hugged his arm, leaning her cheek against his shoulder. “His name is Zane. Seth picked it and I think it’s lovely.”
Austin smiled, rounding the island to join them, her gaze locked on his son. “Hello, Zane. Welcome home, sweet boy.”
“Can you see him, cowgirl?”
Her chestnut ponytail bobbed as she leaned in and kissed his forehead. “Sure can. He’s Otherworld on both sides. I see him as plainly as I see both of you.”
“And Niobi? Can you see her?”
He regretted the question as her smile tightened. “Not yet, but Zander thinks that if Nio’s powers continue to grow at the rate they already are, it won’t be long.”
Seth tugged Austin aside and gave her a private hug. The two of them had been close for the past year and then he’d gotten jammed up in his own shit. “I’ve been an ass and I swear I’ll do better.”
Austin didn’t hesitate to wrap him in the warmth of her endless southern charm. She hugged him tight and kissed his cheek. “Apology accepted, sugar. Now, come on over here and take a load off. I’ve been rustlin’ up the highlight reel of your favorites all day. You must be starvin’.”
He was, but for the first time in his life, it wasn’t for food.
Before Austin, they’d never had emotional connection in their lives. Now, he’d fight, tooth and nail, never to be without it. He glanced over at Ronnie and Thea fussing over Zane, and then watched Austin heaping food onto a plate for him.
If this was the Nephilim new normal, he had to admit, it didn’t suck at all.
Kyrian recited what he’d say to Cassi all the way home to the hotel. The battle against the Darkworld rebels had been long and bloody. They’d encircled the forested camp and come at the enemy from all sides. Engaging in mass slaughter wasn’t their SOP, but extenuating circumstances and all that.
Cassi wouldn’t see it that way. The dead Shedim were her people—hunters and soldiers she’d known her entire life, and they wouldn’t return home to their families.
Neither would her sister.
Such a soft-hearted soul, Cassi would lament that Thrash was the last blood-family she had, and she never got the chance to know her. She’d tried and been rejected. Didn’t bother him.
That Shedim/Dimme half-breed bitch was shallow and spiteful, and nothing but the worst of both her parents. Thrash hadn’t deserved to breathe the same air as his Cassi.
Still . . . she’d be sad . . . which made him sad.
He’d showered and changed at the loft to lessen the blow, but with a heavy heart, he materialized beneath the shadowed overhang of the old hotel’s entrance. His poor Cassi. He hated that he couldn’t protect her from the brutal realities of the realms. She deserved nothing but joy and respect.
“Is it done?”
He looked up from the cracked front steps and his well-rehearsed answer dissolved on his tongue. “I’m so fucking sorry, sweetheart.”
“Don’t be. You did what was necessary to keep innocent people safe. That she kidnapped Thea is unconscionable. That she stole the child and sacrificed his mother for the sake of making more weapons to kill you and the others—I can’t . . .”
He led her inside, pulling her into his lap on one of the purple velvet wingback chairs in the lobby. It didn’t matter what her head knew, her heart ached.
So, he held her and let her cry it out.
When the waterworks ended, and he thought they were back on solid ground, he pulled a couple three-ply squares from the box on the side table and let her fix her face.
“I haven’t gone to the ranch yet,” he said. “I thought, if you felt up to it, you might like to go with me and meet Seth and Thea’s son together.”
Cassi brightened, and nuzzled his neck in a nod. “There are fewer people on this earth targeting you, and I am glad. Don’t think I’d ever trade anyone’s life for yours. She chose her path.”
He pressed his lips to her long, ginger hair and breathed deep. She was his heart and soul. With her in his arms, he truly believed they could keep the world safe from evil.
“I love you, Cass. More than I can express. How about you tell Dougal we’re heading out and I warm up the Range Rover. I’m anxious
to meet our baby nephew. Zander said he’s a cute little thing.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The simple joy of having Zane safely tucked in bed, and his Nephilim brothers and their wives celebrating his arrival ended sooner than any of them wanted. Body language telegraphed that shit had hit, and the easy conversation buzzing around their suite sitting room silenced.
“How bad?” Zander cursed, his phone at his ear. “Do you think we can wipe them? . . . Uh-huh . . . Do what you can, Cop. And thanks.”
“How bad is it, Z?” Kyrian asked.
Zander hung up, and they all waited for the shoe to drop. “There’s an eight-minute video of Phoenix going dark-witch-Jackson and a building hovering mid-air.”
“Did they get us flying out of the rubble with Seth?”
“Sure did.”
“Any chance it’s blurry and hard to make out?”
“Nope. With today’s camera phones, we’re pretty much pooched every time we get captured.”
Danel left Ronnie on the couch and headed for the door. “I’ll see what I can find. Maybe we can discredit the footage or the person who shot it.”
Zander kissed Austin and tilted his head toward the door. “Damage control, my brothers. If the men in white aren’t on their way down to flay us, they soon will be.”
Seth followed his brothers into the corridor and down toward the stairs.
Phoenix tugged at his shirt sleeve. Hang back a sec.
They let the others gain some distance. When it was time to get to the point, Phoenix shrugged, obviously not sure where to begin. Seth wasn’t much better off.
When had things become awkward between them?
Oh yeah, when Phoenix lied to him over and over about his involvement with the dark priestess stuff, and he sexed up Thea to spy on him. Right, that’s when.
I’m proud of you for stepping up and accepting Zane.
“He’s pretty fucking great, isn’t he?”
How could he not be, with us as his male DNA.
“I know, right?”
I honestly never doubted that you’d be his dad—and a great one, at that.
Seth chuckled. “Well, that makes one of us.”
Phoenix sobered and crossed his arms. Even if I fry for the exposure, I want you to know I’d do it again. I don’t care if there’s one chance in a million I can bring you back from death, I’m gonna give it everything I’ve got.
“Right back atcha, brother.”
Phoenix nodded. So, regardless of what the Archangels do to me, if you take care of Thea and raise that boy up right, it’ll all be worth it. You feel me?
Seth exhaled and shook his head. “Nothing’s gonna happen to you. Danel will work his magic with the tech shit and it’ll be logic versus another paranormal ghost chaser who looks crazy. You’ll see.”
The tingle at the base of his neck meant the time for what-ifs was over. Seth cursed and the two of them got their feet moving toward the stairway.
“In case I forgot to mention it, thanks for the save. I’m pretty jazzed not to be dead.”
Seth figured he’d get a punch in the gut or some off-the-cuff snark, but Phoenix stopped on the top step and pegged him with a serious stare. Don’t pull that shit again. We’ve both got too much to live for to act like cowboys. Those days are over and I, for one, am happy with my new horizon. Storme’s fuming that I almost killed myself to save you. No more of that shit, got it?
Seth fought to bite his tongue annnnd lost the battle. “So, Storme? She’s truly your soul’s match. You’re sure?”
Why wouldn’t I be?
“She was raised by our mother, so there’s that. Then there’s the timing. Not sure I buy into that love-at-first-sight stuff. I can’t wrap my head around it.”
Phoenix didn’t attack his skepticism, he just shrugged, looking annoyed. Maybe they were getting somewhere. Storme is my universe—the breath in my lungs, the beat of my heart, the strength in my bones. You need to push past her being a witch raised by our mother and get to know her.
“That’s a hard one for me but if you’re all-in, I’ll try.”
I’m all-in. And it’s time to face the music.
Seth nodded. “Okay, but let me ask you one last thing. If Storme is your everything, am I still the jelly in your donut?”
Phoenix laughed and clapped a rough hand on his shoulder. Always, my brother.
After the men failed to return, Thea figured they would be busy for a long while and turned in. Retreating to her bedroom, she checked that Zane was still asleep in his bassinet and then got cleaned up for bed. What a day. Her finger was on the light switch to turn things off and slip between the sheets when a soft knock on the door changed her course.
“Sorry to disturb you,” Austin said, holding up a blue gift bag with a little bow on it. “I wanted to give you two this while everything is still fresh in your mind.”
Thea waved her in and sat on the bed. After pulling out layers of white tissue, she found two books weighing down the bottom of the bag. The first was a baby book, with empty places for pictures and lines to record the details of Zane’s birth and growth. The second was a blank turquoise notebook and a set of metallic and colored pens.
“It’s for you to journal,” she said. “A private place to sort through your thoughts, feelings, maybe your ideas on what you might like to do in the future. Who knows, you might stumble across what calls to you.”
“That’s sweet, thank you.”
“And if you come up with something, Zander will pay for any courses or classes you’d like to take. There’s nothing holding you back. We’ll all pitch in to help.”
Thea set the gifts onto the bed and hugged her friend. “Why are you so good to me?”
Austin smiled. “’Cause you’re family, silly. That’s the way family works.”
It never failed to gall Zander that the Archangels showed up in his home as if they were welcome. They weren’t. He and his brothers had been the dog shit mashed on the bottom of their fancy loafers for millennia and wouldn’t expect anything else. Their sires had burned the bridge of any happy-happy extra crispy. Unfortunately, they ranked as their direct superiors, and nothing would change that in their favor.
He strode into the War Room and headed straight for the bar. No amount of alcohol would numb this pain in his ass, but it was better than facing it sober. “Gentlemen, a little late for an unannounced visit, don’t you think? We were about to call it and head to bed.”
Michael raised a perfectly sculpted, flaxen brow. “When the world around you falls to shambles, you think it wise to turn in? That’s exactly the dereliction of leadership that led you into this trouble in the first place.”
Yeah. Yeah. Nothing he hadn’t heard before.
Raphael shook his head, the guy’s gorgeous mane of hair swaying with the effort. “Tanek would never have allowed you all to run with such a loose rein. That warrior understood how to run a garrison. He kept not only your territory in line, but you warriors yourselves.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Tanek said, walking through the wall to join them. “I recall plenty of instances when you handed me my ass, and that was before Hell’s revolt. Zander’s done an amazing job, considering everything.”
Auriel frowned. “What are you doing here, Warrior? Aren’t you supposed to be guarding your matron?”
Tanek grew solid and accepted the tumbler Zander offered him. “Lady Divinity had other plans. You may consider me part of the garrison once again.”
“She what?” Gabriel’s alabaster cheeks flushed an amusing shade of pissed off. “Dead is dead. You don’t simply choose to ignore that and resume your life.”
“Well,” Zander said, pouring a freshie, “you’re welcome to go take that up with her—like, right now.”
Michael raised an open palm and stole his bottle of whiskey through the air. “Watch your tone, Sumerian. Our Lady dotes on you boys like the children you are, but don’t let that go to your heads. It’s ridiculous, and we
won’t tolerate it.”
Zander snorted. “That’s none of your concern. She and Shayton outrank you by a longshot.”
“That doesn’t mean we’ll tolerate you disrespecting us.”
Electrical current rushed over Zander’s flesh, charging the air around them. “Haven’t you heard? Respect is earned.”
Tanek stepped between Zander and his sire. “Okay, enough. With the amount of shit hitting, Z has done one hell of a job. Let’s catch you gentlemen up before you pass judgment.”
Tanek went on to inform the Archangels about the pipe bombs, saving Seth, the kidnapping, rescuing Zane, and then the cleansing of the forest clearing. “Now, about the exposure, let’s discuss next steps.”
“Next steps?” Michael snapped. “Your primary tenet is to prevent exposure of the Otherworld. Instead, you’re the ones who caused it. No wonder the daemons think to revolt. This garrison is a joke.”
Thunder rumbled outside, and Zander stepped closer. “Our death toll tonight proves otherwise. Not only did we neutralize all of the Leviathans, we eliminated Stryker’s troublemaker daughter, Thrash, in the process.”
“Did you save the heads?” Auriel asked, his interest piqued from the corner of the room.
Zander nodded. “You asked us to and we did. You can have them as soon as we drive the point home in Hell.”
“I look forward to that.”
Zander had no idea why the Ruling Prince of Powers wanted the heads, but wouldn’t argue or ask. While Michael ruled the Archangels, and remained a royal pain in Zander’s ass, Auriel was the scariest and most violent of the mighty seven.
“Can we be assured that you’ll eliminate the exposure problem with the same lethal result?”
Um . . . no? They couldn’t kill the humans who caught them on tape and chop off their noggins. That seemed excessive. “Rest assured, the exposure will be taken care of.”
“You have twenty-four hours.”
Kyrian materialized outside a boring suburban home that held no more character than any of the other boring suburban clone homes on the street. This would work. It had to. After the Archangels hauled their stuffy asses back up to the Choir, the garrison brainstormed how they could put a cap on the exposure of the pipe bomb night.
