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That pissed me off, and flames tore through me, settling on my horns. The little shit didn’t even flinch, his eyes narrowed and his stance ready. He wasn’t afraid to fight me, even though I was taller and significantly more muscled. It made me wonder where he got his confidence from. Not that it mattered. He asked for a fight. He was going to get one.

At least, that was the plan. Until the boy I was looking for came out of the back of the shop, racing to stand in front of the tattooed man, his arms outstretched like he was going to protect him from me.

“Stop! Don’t hurt my brother!”

I stiffened, wide eyed as I took him in. He was a tiny little thing, scrawny and short, without an ounce of muscle to him. And based on the black eye forming and the red stains on his shirt, he didn’t come out of the fight the victor.

Spinning around, I gave Dante an incredulous look. “Seriously? He’s half your size!”

Dante wasn’t expecting my outburst, and he looked up at me with his mouth hanging open for a second before he remembered himself. He pointed at the little kid, screaming at me.

“He wouldn’t fuck off! I told him to mind his business but–”

“But you’re such a bigshot that you can’t just walk away? Your dad must be really proud.”

It made Dante wince, but I’d gone into this expecting someone bigger to have messed with him. Not some tiny kid getting a lucky shot. Dante had inches on him and outweighed him by at least twenty pounds. And demon kids weren’t weak. They built muscle young. He was a damn tank, and he didn’t care about using that kind of strength on people so much smaller than him. He was just like his old man. I wanted nothing to do with him if this was his future.

Turning my glare to the tattooed man, who’d tucked his little brother behind him, I scowled. Technically, I owed him an apology, but that wasn’t going to happen. I yelled at Dante in front of them. That should be enough. Grabbing my cousin by the arm, I teleported us home without a word.

“Pack your things.”

Dante looked shell-shocked, his eyes wide as he gaped at me. “What? Why?”

“You’ve pointed out plenty of times that I’m not like our family. I don’t pick on weaklings just to feel good about myself. You want to follow your old man so bad, you can go live with him. Or one of your older brothers. I’m done. I’ve tried with you, but I refuse to watch you go down that path.”

I’d need an excuse to hand him off, but I’d figure that out later. Maybe it was time for me to leave. I’d contemplated it in the past, but after what happened to my parents, I couldn’t pull the trigger. I also didn’t want to leave my friends unguarded. But they had each other, and I was tired of living a half life under my uncle’s thumb. I stalked to the bathroom, pulled out a healing potion, tossed it on Dante’s bed, and teleported away.

CHAPTER SEVEN

AZIEL

I couldn’t handoff my cousin right away. My uncle was busy, and I knew Dante’s brothers would just cause trouble for me without their father’s direct orders. I already had a plan for what to say. Since they already saw me as weak, I’d point out that Dante needed a stronger hand or he’d get kicked out of school. I doubted I’d get much disagreement on that.

Aside from feeding him, I mostly stayed away from Dante. I was still too pissed to look at him. I dropped him off with Athena Saturday afternoon without a word to him and flew to where Maya and Isla’s wedding was being held. I’d almost forgotten about it, but I figured I’d make an appearance and check in with my friends before heading to meet my uncle that night.

I’d expected someone to say something about my recent absence. I never normally went that long without seeing my friends. But with Dante at home, I was avoiding them to keep them safe. I thought for sure Felix would’ve said something at the very least. He always got pissed when people ditched out on our weekly poker game. But no one said a word about it. They acknowledged me, smiled and complimented the suit I waswearing, but no one said anything about me avoiding them. It was like they didn’t even notice. Which was probably true. Everyone but Hendrix was mated now, and I saw his eyes locked on a red-haired human more than once as the night wore on.

Hendrix checked in with me, but the conversation was short and he seemed distracted with the human and his kid. They all had their people. It hurt more than I’d expected, watching them move on without me. We used to be close. I never used to go more than a few days without hanging out with one of them or all of them. But maybe this was a good sign. I’d held off escaping from my family because I didn't want to leave my friends. My absence wouldn’t affect them in the slightest. Now seemed like the perfect time to leave.

I stayed until after the ceremony before teleporting back to Athena’s place. I normally met her at the farmer’s market, but it was closed by now and I knew where she lived. I knocked on the door, opening it without waiting for a response. She was ancient and didn’t want to have to come open the door every time I showed up.

She was sitting in her living room in front of her fireplace, her eyes glazed like she wasn’t quite there. I knew better than to interrupt her, so I sat beside her and waited. I could see Dante sitting on the bed in the guest room, his head hung low, but I ignored him for now. I needed to tell Athena I was leaving and then I’d bring him to meet his dad. If I wanted to survive, I needed a bag packed and a plan in place.

After a moment, Athena blinked and turned toward me slowly. “You’re making a mistake.”

After this many years, it didn’t surprise me anymore that she saw right through my plans. I sighed.

“I don’t have any other choice. I can’t keep doing this.”

“What about–”

“It’s handled. I have someone set to deal with it. It’s better that I stop going there so often anyway. I don’t want to draw attention.”

“Aziel…” she trailed off, shaking her head slowly. “I’ve been in your life for years. You have trusted in my counsel before. If you would let me, I’d like to give you a reading. If the spirits agree with your plan, I won’t argue with them.”

I didn't want to, but I also didn’t want to dismiss her. Currently, shewas the only person who cared enough to argue with me. I dipped my chin to acknowledge her and followed her when she stood and headed down the hallway. When we passed the room Dante was in, he curled in on himself, ignoring me completely. Probably still pissed I was bringing him to his dad.

We moved to a small greenhouse attached to the kitchen, surrounded by plants with the sky stretched out overhead through the windows. Close to nature but safe from the elements. There was a small table in the middle covered in multicolored cloth and an empty bowl in the center. I sat in front of it while Athena puttered around, grabbing random plants and objects from around the room. She sat across from me, dropping them into the bowl.