Page 61 of First Offense

Raven pressed her palm to Auric’s chest, making him growl in annoyance. Then his gaze dropped to her wrist as his eyebrows shot upward. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Likely,” Novak murmured.

“Fuck off,” Auric snapped.

Sorin chuckled. “It’s like we’ve fallen into the past, Z.”

“Right?” Zian smirked. “We’re just a little more colorful now.”

“Shut up,” Auric demanded. “Both of you.”

“Keep talking to my mates like that, Nora, and I’ll stop what I’m doing,” Raven threatened. “And trust me, that’ll make it hurt a lot more than it previously did.”

Auric clenched his teeth, his gaze moving heavenward before falling on the prison. Then his nostrils flared. I followed his focus and understood why. The flames had shifted to an odd blue shade, signifying intense heat.

They were destroying everything inside.

Which left me wondering where they intended for us to sleep.

“Almost done,” Raven said, her voice slightly strained as she closed her eyes.

Some of Auric’s tension appeared to leave him, but he never once took his attention away from the building. The hairs along his arms had all risen, as though he sensed something we couldn’t. Or perhaps it was just the healing energy warming his skin.

“There.” Raven dropped her hand and shook it out, then visibly shivered. “I have no idea how you were walking, let alonerunning, with that inside you. A few more days and you would have been dead.”

“Impossible,” he muttered. “Our kind don’t die that easily.”

“They do when beasts from other realms infect us,” she retorted, shuddering again. “That was some fucked-up magic.”

“Did you know he was infected?” I asked Novak.

He lifted a shoulder, neither confirming nor denying it.

“Yes,” Auric muttered. “He told me I needed a physician. I ignored him.”

“When?” I didn’t recall this conversation at all. I would have been on Novak’s side for this.

“While you slept,” Auric replied softly. Then he took a step toward me, placing his hand at my back again. “Something’s coming.”

Novak made a sound of agreement, his gaze following Auric’s to the building.

“What is it?” Raven asked, stepping into Zian’s side as all of us watched and waited.

No one spoke, but the energy around us shifted. I faced the ocean, sensing something in the distance. Auric turned with me, then Novak, their expressions grim as a dark shadow formed over the water.

A squadron, I recognized. At least a dozen angels, all led by my uncle.

He flew over our heads and landed in the center of the yard. Auric took a step forward, only for Novak to whip around me and push him back with a hand on his chest.

The two of them locked gazes. Novak’s expression was almost pleading in nature. Whatever he was trying to convey seemed to register, because Auric nodded, then placed his hand on my back again.

Sayir scanned the inmates in the yard, his dark gaze finding mine, and a spark of fury lit his eyes.

“Who did this?” Sayir demanded, his black-tipped white wings flaring.

He stalked over to a small group of Nora Guards who’d been standing near the side of the yard. I hadn’t noticed them before but suspected they’d been there the whole time, not caring at all that the prison had just ignited in flames.

It confused me greatly. Nora were meant to protect. But these guards seemed hell-bent on pain and violence, making me wonder how they’d not Fallen yet.