Page 37 of Wicked Bonds

“How many more Seraphim will they send?” There were only four here now. Three of whom were still battling somewhere up in the sky.

“They won’t send more unless Leek requests it.”

“Why Leek?” Sethios asked, studying the dead remains. He hadn’t seemed all that impressive, apart from his sharp swords. Had Sethios’s ability to compel worked, those blades would have been dust. And then where would he be?

Dead. On the ground. Like he is right now.

Yet he was in charge… why?

“He’s the highest ranked of this group,” Caro explained. “But Gabriel is technically ranked higher since he defeated his half brother a few decades ago.” She glanced at him. “In my world, power has nothing to do with age.”

He arched a brow. “What are you implying, angel?” He stepped into her personal space, his palm finding her hip. “Is my old age and experience not enough for you?”

“I’m saying the hierarchy in my world is different from that of your world.”

“It’s not different,” he said, his voice low as he brought his lips to her ear. “Because you’re my world, Caro.”

She snorted. “Are you seducing me? Here? In the snow? Next to a decapitated Seraphim?”Sadist.

He grinned, his lips skimming her neck to find her throbbing pulse.

“Blood turns me on,” he reminded her. “And I’m always seductive, angel. It’s part of my charm.” He nipped her tender skin before pulling back to stare down into her pretty blue eyes. “Doesn’t make what I said any less true, angel.”

Her lips twitched. “I missed you.”

His arms circled her waist as he pressed his forehead to hers. “I missed you, too.” A soft admission. But not exactly a secret.

His mate had been locked away in a reformation chamber for nearly two decades. Of course he’d missed her. And their reunion hadn’t necessarily been thorough, given everything happening around them.

“Did Osiris compel everyone to mist here?” he asked. “Or just us?”

Her brow furrowed. “He didn’t compel us. We chose to come here when we heard the wards fall. But the trackers anticipated it and followed.”

Sethios met her frown with one of his own. “No. Osiris compelled us here. I felt it.”

“I compelledyouto counter your untrained misting ability,” a deep voice corrected as his father landed near the dead body in the snow.

The olive tone of his bald head glistened beneath the moonlight as he glanced down at the Seraphim remains. He analyzed it for a moment, his expression giving nothing away.

“Hmm. Gabriel is far more useful than I ever realized.” He lifted his green gaze to Sethios. “It’s most fortunate that I didn’t destroy him as I’d originally intended to when I thought he was a council spy.”

His statement lacked emotion, as usual.

“Did you compel the Seraphim to follow?” Sethios asked, glancing up at the sky. The lights had stopped flashing, suggesting the battle was temporarily over. “Seems like it would have been easier to leave them in the Bahamas.”

“My compulsion wasn’t required, as they followed Caro.” Osiris’s gaze ran over the female in question. “They must have taken your blood while in reformation. Now the trackers are using it to follow you.”

“Perhaps, but how did they know I would be with Lizzie?”

“Educated guess based on you being the only Seraphim who could help her deliver the child,” Osiris said. “Or they’re aware of your daughter’s loyalty complex. In which case, she’s either being watched or informed upon.”

Sethios didn’t care for either option.

“How do the trackers work?” he asked. “Similar to Ezekiel?”

Osiris dipped his chin. “Yes. Once blood is imbibed, they can forever trace to the source. Unless the link is altered in some way.” He glanced upward as Vera joined them with her navy wings slowing her descent from above. “Which is where you come in.”

She sighed as her boots met the ground. “Yes, I can shift their memories toward a new objective. But we need to give them something to chase, or they’ll just return to the council, where my faltering allegiance will be discovered.”