Page 16 of Castor

I had flown to the club instead of driving, so I took off my shirt before unfurling my wings and letting them take me into the air. The wind on my face as I flew home helped clear my head a little, taking away the haze of intoxication. Unfortunately.

As I reached the mansion, I realized that within the time I’d been with Kyo, I didn’t think about the underworld or any of the horrible things that had happened there.

He’d soothed that part of my mind.

***

Lazarus hadn’t changed at all since the day he took me from home and forced me to train as a warrior in his army. Same snow-white hair and blue eyes flecked with gold. Same stoic expression on his irritatingly handsome face, no wrinkles or imperfections on his smooth skin. His large wings matched the shade of his hair, pure white.

Did I still hate him? It depended on the day.

But I still feared him. He only kept me and the others alive because we served a purpose. Nearly every other angel wanted us dead. We were abominations in their eyes, the offspring of the angels who’d betrayed them all those years ago.

Lazarus had both saved our lives and put shackles on us at the same time.

He only appeared at the mansion to drop a bomb on us. Not literally. But he only came with bad news or when he wanted us to do something for him, which usually put one or all of our lives in jeopardy.

Alastair and I were sitting on the back patio steps, talking about my reckless behavior—again—when he arrived.

“Lazarus,” Alastair greeted him, bowing his head.

“Pride,” Lazarus responded, referring to him by the sin he carried. He liked to remind us who and what we were. He then looked at me. “Greed.”

“Has there been news of Asa or Belphegor?” Alastair stood from the steps and neared the angel.

“No. That’s precisely why I’ve come. Gather the others. I need to speak to you all.”

“Of course.” Alastair motioned to the back door. “Come inside. We’ll meet in my study. It’s more comfortable.”

I walked into the house and headed for the game room to tell the others. Raiden and Bellamy were playing foosball and looked up at me.

“Lazarus is here,” I said. “He wants to see us.”

“This can’t be good.” Raiden blew out a breath.

Yeah, I had that same feeling.

Gray was asleep on the couch, puffing out soft snores. I gently patted the top of his blond hair. He stirred from sleep and blinked up at me with big brown eyes.

“Hey, little sloth. We have to go talk to Lazarus.”

“Why?” Gray yawned as he wrapped his arms around my neck and let me pick him up off the couch.

“He hasn’t said yet.”

I used telepathy to tell Daman and Galen.“Come to Al’s study. Our favorite pain-in-the-ass angel is here.”

“Can it wait?”Galen growled.“I’m kind of busy at the moment.”

“Busy fucking your mate?”I grinned.“Hurry and make him come, and then get your ass to the study.”

“Stop fucking interrupting me, then.”

I laughed and walked toward the study. Gray snuggled closer to me and started to fall asleep on my shoulder. Daman met me in the hall outside the door, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. His brown hair was pinned back, and he wore black skinny jeans and a loose green tank top that showed off his bronzed skin.

“Let’s get this over with,” he said before going inside.

I followed him into the study and placed Gray on the floor in front of the fireplace. He cracked open his eyes and smiled at the fire before sitting up and looking around the room. Alastair leaned against his desk while Lazarus sat in one of the armchairs. Raiden and Bellamy stood against the bookshelf. No one spoke.