Page 28

I ron clutched Anna’s hand tighter in his as he escorted her over a particularly precarious mound of rubble. The structural disintegrity of the dilapidated strip mall had, to no one’s surprise, degraded to levels even disease-riddled rodents and starving dogs wouldn’t entertain for shelter, and yet there he was, setting up shop with his family as though it was a fucking Fourth of July picnic.

Bronze and Clara crested the patch of broken concrete behind them, paving enough of a way through the corrugated mess that, though not exactly red-carpet coiffed for the mates to traverse, was at least moderately more likely to get everyone to the center of the site sans broken ankles.

Beneath the paltry moonlight, Anna wrapped herself more fully around his arm. Then she pulled him up short, drew a happy face with her finger on the cap of his shoulder, and waited. While everyone else had started strategizing about where they were going to position, not only themselves but their mates during the celestial fireworks show, his Anna was tapping out a secret message on his body she knew he couldn’t ignore.

Mages, he loved her little quirks. This one meant she wanted a kiss and that he had to stop what he was doing to bend down and deliver the goods.

As if there was something that would ever claim so much of his attention when her lips were on the line.

There were so many of Anna’s small expressions of humanity that he adored, all crafted in a language she’d created and one he’d become a studious expert in over the past several weeks. They were nothing like Abigail’s blatant seductive pulls. No, any time Anna wanted anything from him, she always couched it under the guise of her particular brand of cozy cheerfulness.

Kisses in exchange for an extra splash of French vanilla creamer in her occasional contraband coffee. Writing her name with her finger across his bare chest, right over where his heart was, when she wanted to wear his flannel, and little else, after sex. The way she tried to keep her tone and demeanor so freaking serious during client calls when she knew he was listening to her from the kitchen as he prepared one of her favorite lunches: a grilled cheese sandwich cut into the shape of Mickey Mouse with a bowl of broccoli cheese soup served in a coffee mug.

It was all heart-achingly beautiful and had gone a long way to peel the ice chips off that leathered and near-calcified muscle that had passed for his heart for so long.

Iron leaned down and gladly kissed Anna, letting his lips linger on hers for however many moments the two of them had before the shard in his pocket called him toward a more pressing duty.

Given both the known and unknown nature of what they were all about to face, it had been decided that every angel, mates included, should be present for the next attempt at calling forth the Empyrean’s magic from the shard. Iron hadn’t kept his full bonding with Anna a secret, but he hadn’t felt ready to share its significance with his brothers just yet.

For the rest of the sentinels, they had all had time with their mates over the recent months and years, time to love and learn and cry and grieve with the women who’d sparked the fire within their chests.

Iron had barely enjoyed a handful of weeks. It was pitifully and unfairly short compared to the eternity he’d be staring down if the gift Anna had finally unleashed within him couldn’t live up to the hope his brothers had been harboring for so long.

Anna nipped at his lower lip, then pulled away and placed her forehead against his. “Don’t do that,” she whispered against his lips.

“Do what?” He smiled at the two words that had become their signature question to each other.

“Go places I can’t follow you.”

His world stopped short and his heart flung itself against the wall of his chest at hearing his decree fired back at him. Goddamn, this woman. There was a reason every single one of his recent days had been consumed with incessant thoughts of her. From what she was or wasn’t eating to whether any of the products from the home shopping channel chattering in the background of her living room would make her smile to how long her cabin went in between oil heat refuels. If a thousand thoughts ran through his mind at any given second, nine hundred and ninety-five of them were about Anna.

Iron hugged her fiercely and cupped the back of her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

And he meant it, with his whole fucking chest. He’d find a way to fulfill that promise to her, even if the fulfillment of that promise couldn’t look like what they’d both hoped.

It was Tungsten who took the center of the circle this time, with Tammy on his right side holding his hand, while Titan and Rose stood at his left. The male’s presence, with his staunch expression and unflinching frame, was a reminder to every single one of them why he wore the mantle of prime sentinel. Whereas skepticism-fueled duty had been the lifeblood of Iron’s will for so long, unabashed loyalty had been Tungsten’s charge. Despite his title being bestowed upon him by the prime mages, he’d earned his place fighting among the Empyrean’s legions regardless, not only as a leader but as a brother as well.

Bronze sidled up to Iron and whispered out of the corner of his mouth, “This has got to be the lamest family reunion we’ve ever had.”

“I didn’t pick this place for the ambiance, asshole.”

“Are you sure? Because I think, with such little cloud cover, our combined fire would look killer against that open sky.” Bronze nudged Iron in the ribs. “Admit it. You wanted to show off for your girl a bit.”

“You’re going a little hard with the humor there. Can’t say I’m entirely in the mood at the moment.” For the love of all the mages, couldn’t his brother read the fucking room?

Bronze scoffed. “Oh, please. You’re never in the mood.”

“I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“Tell me about it. Otherwise, you’d have catered the shit out of this affair.”

Whatever annoyance Iron had tried desperately to hold onto flooded from him, deflating his chest and carving out the exact right amount of room for the hard chuckle he couldn’t keep from shaking his shoulders. “You’re something else.”

“I’m a goddamn delight, is what I am.” Bronze clapped him on the back of the neck and squeezed deeply before stepping away to rejoin Clara.

It was another punch to the gut Iron didn’t see coming. Bronze’s ability to light up the scene—in their case, an abandoned strip mall—find someone’s pressure release valve, and flick it just enough so that the worst of the tension oozed out and went elsewhere.

Every angel there had an essential part to play in each other’s lives, in how they fought not only for their survival but for the survival of a race of beings that had no idea they even existed.

And whatever Anna had released within him was about to affect all of that.

“We’ve all come here today because the significance of what may or may not be revealed by the relic’s shard impacts all of us,” Tung said, his booming voice carrying the weight of his words far beyond the rubble. “Whatever decisions need to be made after this shall be formed by the findings.” Then he squeezed Tammy’s hand and kissed the back of her palm. “I cannot dictate how this will go, nor tell you what path you must walk down when it’s over. All I require is that we take the next step together, in whatever way that manifests.” His tone cemented a finality into their circumstances, illuminating a fact none of them had ever really thought they’d achieve. It was in the shifting of boots and the broken eye contact.

Somewhere along the journey, hope and happiness had become integral players in their eternal game of homeward bound, with none of them feeling ten kinds of confidence about the path to take anymore.

A path that had been so straightforward for so long was now clear as mud.

There wasn’t anything left to say, which was just fine with Iron. He needed things to move a hell of a lot quicker than they were. The sooner he had information, the sooner he could act.

Iron placed the small shard of the Empyrean’s relic on the same flat slab of concrete as before. One by one, the angels took their familiar places in a circle surrounding the shard. The mates wisely stood way the fuck back, covered largely behind a broken bit of stone wall.

That was good. He needed Anna to be out of sight, because if he caught one more look of worry-laced encouragement in those jade-green eyes, he was liable to walk out on the whole thing and kiss the concern right out of her.

Putting her from his mind, he focused on the shard in front of him and called his power forth. “Let’s light this candle.”

Iron roared his fire’s full release, pummeling the tiny shard with a power capable of demolishing cities. His brothers’ cries joined in, their beams of fire coupling with his and infusing whatever fate had planned for them all into a fragment no bigger than Iron’s pinky finger. He went on like that for as long as he could, until his muscles quivered and his abdominals strained with the force emanating from his core.

Like before, he capped off his fire and let his depleted body land on whatever it needed to. This time, it was Anna’s softness that supported him. She ran up behind him and caught his arm just as he fell to his knees. “I’ve got you.”

He smiled and appeased her caregiving spirit by leaning some of his weight on her and giving the rest to the stones beneath him. He was about as willing to risk crushing her as he was willing to let her know that her five-foot-nothing frame was no match for his bulk, regardless of her desire to think so.

Rhode was the first to his feet and, with Neela at his side, walked toward the relic. “That looks . . . different.”

This time, the small shard glowed with the vibrant light and health they’d all hoped for. It pulsed with a radiating energy that struck Iron hard in his chest.

“Holy shit,” he said, laying his palm flat on his pecs. “The realm resonance. I can feel it.”

But as soon as he said the words, he knew they weren’t right. The pulsing power that had once been so familiar to his body when he used to pass through the realms with ease now hummed a very muted cord, like a newborn baby plucking a harp string.

Chrome massaged his chest as well and frowned. “Something’s off.”

Iron eyed the shard, which still glowed as brightly as a proud daisy finally pushing out its petals in spring. The thing was powerful, there was no doubt, and far more so than last time.

What the hell was going on?

Around him, murmurings of confusion and speculation passed from brother to brother. Errant theories or posited outcomes made the rounds for good measure, but none of them landed with any sort of sense.

“You all feel it, too, right?” Bronze asked.

Steel nodded. “Yeah. It’s the hum of what used to pull me through the realms, but it’s so weak. I can barely sense it.”

“Should we try again?” Brass offered. “Give ourselves a few minutes, then hit it with more fire?”

Tungsten shook his head. “I don’t think that will do anything. It’s already glowing and maintaining what we fed it. I don’t see how it could hold more.”

Titan stepped forward, his fist curled beneath his bearded chin. “What if?—”

“It’s too small,” Iron replied, dropping the curtain on the hopes of everyone around him. “The shard is just too small to hold the power needed to transport us all back to the Empyrean.” He walked toward the shard and lifted the luminous thing between his thumb and forefinger as though he were examining a specimen. An awareness filled his soul, sparking its insistence straight into his core while effectively burying the rest of his hope beneath the rubble.

He knew at once what the magic was trying to tell him and wished like hell it had a different message to convey.

Fuck.

“There’s only enough power to transport one of us through the realms, and that’s being generous. Likely, it’ll be a one-way trip for whoever takes it.”

Chrome shook his head. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” Iron dropped his head and shoved the shard back in his pocket as if it were no more significant than a scratch-off lottery ticket.

Rose stepped forward, her hands out in a pleading gesture. “Is there really no guarantee that someone could return? If that thing is supposed to take you to the Empyrean, doesn’t that mean there’s a whole freaking host of Heavenly whoop ass waiting for you guys up there?” Tears brimmed her eyes, and Titan held out his hands to her, but she skirted around them. “No, I need to know this. You’ve been working your entire lives to get back home. Are you telling me, with all the wonders you’ve told us the Empyrean holds, that there’s no magic that could bring someone back here?”

“We sealed the gates for a reason,” Iron said. “Cyro’s armies were about to bust through. Who knows what kind of headway they’ve made since our time in the mortal realm. If we go back, there’s no telling what we’ll be walking into, what we’ll be able to access, if anything. We could be plopped into a battlefield with no backup, no support, and no way to punch through the gates without a flood of charmers entering.”

“But you’ve got your powers back!” She was screaming now, tears streaking down her face as she finally let Titan grab her and draw her against his chest.

“There are no guarantees, except that one of us has to make a choice. Otherwise, the rest of this realm might look a lot like what we’re standing on now.”

“Can’t we wait?” Bridget asked, her hands fisted in front of her. “Do we have to send someone now? Or at all, for that matter?”

“Cyro has the rest of the relic,” Steel reminded her softly. “There’s no telling how long before he uses his dark magic to crack the code on how to get that relic’s Empyrean magic to open the gates for him. We can’t let that happen, love.”

“But can’t we wait?” she yelled, echoing Rose’s hysteria. “A day? A week? This is all happening so fast. Can’t we just take some time to think about this, even if the outcome remains what it is?”

Iron knew what she was doing. Asking for more time with her soul bond. Buying precious selfish minutes where life could go back to the way it was, where ignorance won out over reality for just a little while longer.

He couldn’t blame her in the slightest, especially as Anna hugged him tighter, nearly squeezing his sanity right out of him.

Tungsten heaved a sigh, then said, “Bridget’s right. This is . . . not what any of us expected. Let’s take three days to consider how we wish to proceed. I do believe the mages owe us that much of a fucking kindness.”

Silence overtook their tired trip home. No one said a word or offered a look of encouragement for the shit sandwich they’d found themselves unable to stomach.

Which was just fine with him. Iron didn’t need to witness any more looks of pity or consolation passing between them. Not from his brothers or his precious soul bond.

Because he’d already mapped out his course of action the moment he’d pocketed that damn shard.

He’d give Anna and her baby the life he’d promised them. A life of care and comfort among his family who would watch after them for the rest of their days.

Which, if Iron had anything to say about it, would be a very long fucking time.

Because he was going home.