The Angel Pack 10 - Home

by Walsh Maggie

  “No.”

  “Then you have nothing to worry about.” Zane tightened his arm around Demetrius’s shoulders and laid his head on top of the angel Nephilim’s.

  They sat in silence for a while lost in their own thoughts. “Can I confess something to you without you thinking terribly of me?” Demetrius asked in a whisper.

  “Of course you can. No matter what you tell me, I would never think badly of you, Demi.”

  “I do have a crush on the Heart, but…I also dream of…the Prime.”

  Zane smiled and kissed the top of his friends head. “There’s nothing wrong with that, sweetie. They are both very handsome men―very hot, in fact.”

  “I dream of them being mine. I dream of what it would be like to be a part of their mating, of their love―to have the Prime who is so big and strong, and then Jesse, who is so sweet and caring. That would be a dream come true to have the two of them.”

  “Or maybe two like them? What Micah and Jesse have, what they share, is probably the most beautiful love I have ever witnessed or even ever heard about. The love they have for each other is so beautiful, who wouldn’t want that? And being around them every day, watching that love, probably makes you associate what you truly want, with them. There is nothing wrong with wanting that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a crush on them or dreaming of them and what they have as your guide to what you truly desire.”

  “Then you don’t think there is something wrong with me?”

  “No, sweetie. There is nothing wrong with you, and I hope you find what they have. You deserve it, Demi.”

  “I hope you find your mate, Zane. You deserve to have someone to love you and call your own, too.”

  “Thank you. I’m sure that when the time is right, then Aurora will bring my mate to me. Until then, how about we go find out who your mate is?” Demetrius looked up at Zane with tear-filled eyes, gave him a happy smile, and nodded in agreement.

  * * * *

  “I really love this new kitchen,” Bailey said as he pulled a pan from the hanging rack.

  “I know. I’m loving this pullout spice rack, and the new bigger table is a godsend,” Jesse said.

  “It’s so sweet of Micah to have given us our dream kitchen, but now I never want to leave it.” Bailey chuckled.

  “I know, right? These four top-of-the-line ovens and sixteen-burner stovetop makes me want to cook all day, not to mention the indoor grill and brick pizza oven.”

  “Well, I love the outdoor kitchen he added on. That grill out there is sweet. I can’t wait for the weather to get better so we can do all the cooking and have our meals out there,” Laylen said.

  “As someone who does a lot of the dishes around here, I appreciate the three industrial dishwashers most,” Crew added as he sat at the new center island with Haven.

  “That coffee bar is amazing. I have never seen anything like it. You can get any type of coffee you want out of it. Speaking of…I think I want a cappuccino. Crew, your usual?” Haven asked as he stood and went to the coffee area.

  “That thing is so outrageous, it would make any Starbucks jealous,” Crew said and nodded at his mate.

  “Did you feel the floor?” Bailey asked happily.

  “No. What do you mean?” Haven asked.

  “Take off your shoes and walk around barefooted. There’s a heating element built into the floor, and it’s set on a timer. It goes on about a half-hour before we come in to make breakfast.”

  “Sweet,” Laylen said.

  “I’m glad you all like it,” Micah said as he walked in, going straight to Jesse. He wrapped his arms around his waist and brought his mate in for a kiss. “Can we get a tray sent up to Xander and Shelby?”

  Jesse laughed and nodded. “Sure. They’re still not coming out of that room?”

  “It’s been a week. Are we sure they’re still alive?” Crew snickered.

  “Oh, they’re alive all right, if the sounds coming out of that room are any indication,” Taylor added as he and Gabriel joined them.

  “I was going to head over to talk with Evan and the boys. Would you like to join me?” Micah asked Jesse.

  “Sure. I’ll come along. Is the rest of the council coming?”

  “No. I thought just you and me for now. I don’t want to scare anyone.”

  “Why would you scare them?”

  “They were able to get past the blockades and the spelled gate. I need to know how they did that. As much as I appreciate them coming and helping us, I’m a little worried as to how that was possible. No one, and I mean no one, should have been able to get to the old pack house like they did,” Micah explained.

  “May I come along, son?” Raphael asked.

  “Of course you can, Dad, but we’re going there on pack business, not a social call.”

  “I know, which is why I want to come along. You seem to make my mate skittish to begin with. If you’re there on pack business, questioning him and his boys, it may freak him out. I want to be there for moral support.”

  “Okay. Well, I’m ready to go whenever you both are.”

  Jesse and Papa Angel nodded their agreement, and the three of them left.

  * * * *

  “First, let me start by saying thank you to all of you for coming out and bringing us back to the new pack house so that we would be better protected. Jesse and I, as well as all the others, appreciate everything you did to help us,” Micah started as he sat in Evan’s kitchen talking to Evan and all his boys. “With that said, how the hell did you get through? You should never have made it to the gates to begin with, but then you were able to get through all the guarding spells cast around the perimeter. How?”

  Evan and the boys looked around at each other nervously. The intensity in Micah’s voice caused them all to be worried.

  “Micah, I understand how upset you are over this, but you need to calm down a little, son. You’re making everyone nervous,” Raphael said calmly.

  “Of course I’m upset over this, Dad. We put all those safeguards into place to protect the rest of the pack from what was happening. Having these young men there went against that. I did not want anyone from the pack put in jeopardy. We had no idea what exactly was coming. What if that sick fuck plagued the area with a killing spell? Then they would have unknowingly walked right into it, and then what? Would any of us be sitting here right now?” Micah stood and crossed the room as he ran his hands through his hair.

  “Micah, I understand more than anyone how much you stressed over keeping the pack safe from Minos’s attack, and as you said, my love, we had no idea exactly how he was going to hit, just that he was tunneling into the pack house from underneath. But I agree with Papa. You need to calm down. We’re not here to scare anyone. We just need to know how it was possible for them to break through all the spells.” Jesse spoke calmly, trying to sooth his mate.

  Micah turned back toward the group. “I’m sorry, Evan, gentlemen, if I made you anxious or nervous. It’s just that we all worked very hard on coming up with a plan so that everyone would be safe―not only us but all of you also. I’m just trying to find out how you got in so that we can cover that weak spot in the future, should we need to.”

  “We have no idea what happened, Alpha Micah,” Milo started. “When we drove up to the blockade, we thought for sure they were going to turn us around. Freaked us all out when they never even blinked at us.”

  “Yeah. When that one guard just got in the truck and moved it off the road so that we could drive through, it was the trippiest shit,” Tucker added.

  “So one of the guards just moved out of your way?” Micah asked in disbelief. “What about the rest of the guards posted there?”

  “No one did anything except watch us as we drove by. They never tried to stop us or question us about what we were doing there,” Evan explained.

  “Shit!” Micah growled. “We need to find out who was posted there at the time. How about the gates? What happened there?”

  “As
we drove up to the gate, we realized that we had no clue what the code was to get in. I was just about to call Maddy to ask him for the code when suddenly the gates just slid open. Shocked the shit out of us, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, you know?” Josh asked. “We were all a little nervous to go through. We had no idea what was happening. For all I knew, one of you saw us approaching the gates and let us in. So I just drove on. It wasn’t until we got closer and saw that the pack house was gone that we really started to freak out.”

  “So the gates just slid open? You didn’t see or hear anything?” Jesse asked in confusion.

  “No. Like what?” Evan asked.

  “I don’t know, like someone chanting or a flash of light. Anything like that,” Jesse said.

  They all shook their heads.

  “No. There was nothing like that,” Evan answered. He looked at Micah, then Jesse, and then Raphael with worried eyes. “When we got up that morning, and some of us questioned what the explosion was the night before, we tried calling the pack house. After multiple calls to all of you trying to reach someone, we got scared that something horrible happened. We just jumped in the bus and headed over to see what was going on.”

  Raphael could see his mate was getting very upset over all of this. He moved to stand behind Evan and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. None of you did anything wrong. You were just worried for our safety and came to see if we were okay. Thank you all, but as Micah said, we need to figure out how it was possible for you to get to us. Someone somewhere either screwed up or is not who they say they are,” Raphael offered.

  “So you think maybe there’s a spy in the ranks?” Syn asked with wide eyes.

  Everyone gave a small chuckle at his excitement.

  “Well, not exactly a spy, but maybe a traitor,” Raphael said.

  “Although a spy isn’t out of the realm of possibilities with Minos,” Micah added.

  “That’s very true.” Jesse sighed.

  “I’m sorry we couldn’t be of any more help, Alpha. We’re just as confused as you are,” Evan said. Raphael could feel the honesty coming off Evan and the boys as they answered their questions.

  “It’s okay, Evan. Thank you for talking with us and trying to figure this out. And again, thank you to all of you for helping us,” Micah said calmly.

  “If any of us remember anything or think of something we’ll let you know right away, Alpha,” Milo offered.

  “Thank you, Milo.”

  * * * *

  “So what has you so quiet over there, baby?” Micah asked Jesse as they drove back to the pack house in Micah’s truck.

  Jesse shook his head as if coming out of a daze and looked to Micah. “I don’t know what it is, Micah, but I felt something…strange at Evan’s.”

  Micah’s brows drew down into a deep V, and he turned his head to look at Jesse. “What do you mean? Like someone wasn’t being honest with us?” he asked and looked back to the road in front of him.

  “No. I didn’t sense anyone lying or trying to keep anything from us, well, not about this. I did get a sense that someone was hiding something. I felt this low-power signature vibrating through me, as if someone was trying to control the amount of power they released into the room, but none of those boys should have any power yet. Evan is the only one close to the age of having any powers. I got this feeling there was…something there, something I have never come across before. I have no idea how to even describe it.”

  “Was it a sense of another presence? Like someone was watching us from somewhere else?” Micah asked, taking his eyes off the road briefly to look at Jesse.

  “Yeah. That was exactly it. Like something was watching us, but not…not in a menacing sort of way, just a curious sort of way.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I felt, too.”

  “So what do you think it is? Do you think it had anything to do with them being able to get through all the spells?”

  “I don’t know, baby. I think we need to keep a closer eye on things, especially the occupants of that house. I’m not saying it’s Evan or any of those young men. I’m just saying that until we can figure out what that power source that you felt was, and what that presence was, we need to keep an eye out. I’ll add patrols around Evan’s so the enforcers can give them a little more protection, as well as snoop around.”

  “What about Papa? Will you tell him what we discussed? I’m sure he’d like to know if there was something strange going on around his mate.”

  “Yeah. I’ll talk to him when he gets home.”

  * * * *

  Maddy and Josh came through the back door. They each shook off and pulled their boots off, leaving them in the mudroom. They hung their coats on the pegs before entering the warm kitchen. “It feels like there’s a big storm brewing,” Maddy said as he went to the fridge.

  “How bad is it out there?” Sage asked. He was sitting at the table eating a snack of grapes and cheese.

  “It’s colder than a witch’s tit.” Maddy laughed as he turned, closing the fridge.

  “And you would know how?” Sage teased.

  “I grew up with the mother of all witches, and I don’t just mean her special gifts,” Maddy answered and then took a long drink from the can of soda he was holding.

  “Mine wasn’t a witch, but she wasn’t great either,” Josh mumbled as he sat at the table with his coffee. Maddy sat next to him and ran a hand over his thigh. He leaned in and gave his mate a kiss. Josh gave him a small smile and then sipped his coffee.

  “I hate that the two of you had such shitty parents, but as they say, everything that happens to us in our lives happens for a reason. All the people that come in and out of our lives help to make us who we are. So as much as I hate those that raised you both, in a way I’m happy, because it made the two fine men sitting before me,” Evan stated and gave them a smile.

  “Aw, Evan. You say the nicest things. You’re gonna make me blush,” Josh joked as he batted his eyelashes.

  Everyone chuckled at his antics.

  “Well, I second what Evan said,” Milo added as he walked in from the back door. “I hate that my mates didn’t have wonderful childhoods, but I’m glad they found you, Evan, and I’m proud of the men they are now.” Milo sat next to Maddy and stretched over, giving each of his mates a soft kiss.

  “Although I agree with your statement, Milo, don’t you try to butter me up, young man,” Evan admonished as he gave Milo a stern look.

  Milo’s eyes opened wide. “Me? What did I do?”

  “You fixed everything that was wrong with my clunker and made it almost brand-new again―not that I don’t appreciate it, but it’s going to take me a while to pay off that bill. Speaking of which, where is that bill?”

  “Um…” Milo looked at his mates for help.

  “Uncle Micah took care of it,” Maddy mumbled.

  “What?” Evan asked in shock.

  “Uncle Micah took care of the bill,” Maddy repeated, but then continued before Evan blew a gasket. “But he did it for everyone. He told Milo not to charge anyone who brought their cars in for service on opening day. He instructed Milo to fix everything on everyone’s cars that needed fixing and that he would cover the bills. So, technically, Milo was following Alpha’s orders.” Maddy gave him a bright smile.

  Evan just stared at Maddy and then Milo for a moment before sighing heavily. “Fine.” He turned, giving the boys his back, and began looking through his magazine again.

  “So has anyone heard anything about a storm coming? Because it’s getting bitter cold out there and the wind is starting to pick up,” Milo asked, quickly changing the subject.

  “Yeah, the guy on the TV said we may get over a foot. Some areas may get blizzard conditions,” Sage answered.

  “I knew something was coming. Smells like snow out there,” Josh added and stood. He took his cup to the sink and rinsed it before putting it into the dishwasher.

  “You smelled snow?” Sage asked skeptica
lly.

  “Yeah. You don’t know what oncoming snow smells like? You’re a wolf, Sage.”

  “I don’t get it either, Sage. These two are always saying things like that, and when it’s about to rain, too. I have to give them credit, though, because every time they say it, it happens. I figure I can’t smell it like they do because I’m human and I grew up in California. I didn’t grow up with snow.”

  “Well, I am a shifter, and I grew up in both warm and cold climates, and I don’t know what they’re talking about. I can’t smell snow until it’s dropping from the sky and smacking me in the face,” Sage said.

  “Oh yeah? Where’d you grow up, Sage?” Milo asked.

  Sage stiffened up for a moment before he relaxed back against his chair and popped a grape in his mouth. He shrugged his shoulders. “You know, here and there.”

  Milo chuckled. “No. Where is here and there? This is a big world we live in.”

  “I lived out west for a while when I was little. Then we moved down south for a while and then up north into the cold for a few years. Then I just went all over, wherever my feet took me,” Sage answered nonchalantly.

  “I know you grew up with humans, right? Were your parents military?” Maddy asked.

  Sage let out a grunt of displeasure. “Hell no. My dad would never have the balls for that. He was a useless piece of shit. I don’t know why my mom stayed with him. He was just always trying out some new get-rich-quick scheme or another. So he moved us around until he…” Sage stopped himself and shook his head.

  “Until he what?” Josh asked as he came back to the table carrying a tray of fruits, crackers, and cheese. He placed them on the table and sat down.

  “Nothing. I don’t want to talk about him. Even from the grave, the man knows how to suck the happiness out of a room. Anywho,” Sage said as he jumped up from his seat, “I’m off to the club. Shelby is going to start teaching me how to pole dance today.” Sage’s demeanor changed at the thought of learning how to pole dance. His face brightened up, and he seemed to float on air.