Angel Kin (8 page)

“It’s going to be a slow flight, but I can help,” he told the Fallen.  He was grateful for Marius’s intervention.

“Thanks,” Marius wheezed, a pinched look on his face.

“The car just crossed into the sanctioned territory,” Dex said as he dodged another set of arrows.

“Good,” Cross spoke from above them. “Let’s get out of here  then, as quickly as possible, but be careful.” He pointed to Dex. “Fly  below them and block anything that comes their way. I’ll fly above.  You going to be okay carrying Marius’s weight?”

“Right as rain, boss. Let’s get moving. I don’t want the hunters to  swarm us if we slow down,” Michel shouted back up.

“Agreed. Move it.”

Michel spread his wings, flapping furiously to gain a breakneck  pace. Marius assisted as best he could, but the injury had probably  nicked a lung and was making it difficult for the guy to breathe.

“Take it easy, Marius. I’ve got you,” Michel commanded as he  saw the speed was getting to him.

“Are they okay?”

“They’re fine. They made it. Now we have to make it. Just a little  farther.” They were lucky the hunters weren’t pursuing too doggedly.  Their prize was obviously out of their reach, and a gaggle of angels  was of little concern to them unless they were Fallen or demon. The  fact that none of them had recognized them as Madigan’s mates was a  plus. They’d obviously caught them off guard. Azrael was going to be  pissed over the issue, but Michel frankly didn’t give a damn. If he  ever got his hands on the prick, he was a dead man.

“Thanks…for…helping…me,” Marius wheezed. “Thought…you  were…goin’…leave me…for a… second.” His breath was becoming  more labored.

“Try not to talk, man. I got you, and I’m not leaving you. Just try  and focus on breathing.” They were so close. Sweat poured off  Michel’s shoulders, soaking his skin and making it slightly harder to  hold onto Marius as his body did the same. He couldn’t remember  ever pushing his wings this hard.

“You’re lucky.” The words were pushed out of lips that could  only form whispers now. It drew Michel’s attention.

“What do you mean?”

“You have other people…to care for…your Madigan.” Marius  was starting to look decidedly pale. That was not good. The light tips  of the arrows were obviously affecting him adversely. If a weapon of  heaven struck an angel, it was fairly easy to heal given that they were  a part of heaven and therefore had certain immunity to its power.  Fallen angels were not so immune, it seemed.

“Must be nice…having other warriors as lovers…I’m scared…all  the time.” The admission cost Marius as he coughed so hard he nearly  sent them off course.

“Aw, but then you’d have to share your lovers with other men.  Now you get to keep them all to yourself.”
 
Distract him. Gotta  distract him from the pain for just a little while longer
. Relief filled  Michel as the town came into view.

“I’m not…all they…need,” Marius protested, his eyes beginning  to flutter shut in odd intervals. He was probably staying awake by  sheer force of will alone.

Michel wasn’t sure what he was asking, wasn’t even sure if he wanted to know what the Fallen was getting at.

“There is a landing zone in the middle of the town where the park is. The space is big enough.” Cross called out the orders, and Michel saw the area he was talking about.

Michel squeezed Marius’s waist gently. “Okay, bud. We’re going to land in a minute, okay? Just hang in there.”

“Easy for you to say…you’re not…inhaling arrows.” Marius might’ve been joking, but Michel couldn’t really been sure. Maybe it was the consistent look of agony on his face. Yeah, that was probably it.

“Not funny,” Michel said.

“Wasn’t…laughing.”

Michel was finally where he needed to be and began his descent

toward the gray-green grass below.

“Hey, Michel?”

“’Sup man?”

“I’m goin’ pass out.”

Michel cursed as Marius became a dead weight in his arms, and  they fell awkwardly toward the ground. Michel braced himself for  impact. They were coming in way, way too fast.
 
Yeah, this is going to  fucking hurt
.

Chapter Seven

“Where are they?” Madigan asked impatiently as they pulled into  the public parking lot beside the real estate office where they were  supposed to meet the other angels. They were still technically on the  outskirts of town, not the city center but far enough inside the  boundaries that everyone had felt that it was an okay place to meet.  Bren was wondering the same thing about the location of the rest of  their party but didn’t voice it aloud.

“They’ll be here,” Yuri reassured for the millionth time. He was  trying to hold it together, but Bren could see the edges of his surety  cracking with each passing second. As strong as he was trying to be,  the poison in his mind was going to win out if they didn’t have some  sort of reassurance soon. Yuri seemed to get worse under stress, and  waiting for their lovers to join them was definitely a stressful  endeavor. The inactivity was probably the worst part of it for him.  Bren pushed his mind out into the area, searching internally for the  mental writing of spells of sanctuary. Whoever had written them had  to have been at least a seraphim, the highest choir of angel. It made  him wonder who exactly ran this town. He supposed it didn’t matter  so long as they were all protected, but knowing a Fallen seraphim  could be around made him decidedly uneasy.

Bren glanced around until he found a suitable distraction.  “They’re going to be tired when they get here. There is a sub shop  right across the road. Yuri, why don’t you take Madigan and the boys  over there to get everyone something to eat?”

“Sounds like a great plan,” Levi piped up, a jittery smile on his  face. “Marius is always hungry after he flies.”

“We’ll pick up the key from the real estate office while we’re  getting sandwiches,” Erik said, speaking for the second time the entire  trip. The doors opened, and Yuri shot Bren a grateful look before he  climbed out of the car after the nephilim.

Bren took a couple deep breaths. He really hoped Cross got here  soon because he didn’t know how much longer he could keep the  nephilim and Yuri content.

A knock to the side window made him jump before immediately  feeling relief as Dex’s massive frame came into view. He hit the little  button on the side of the door that lowered the window.

“God, you scared the shit out of me. Is everyone all right?” Bren

asked. The serious look on Dex’s face made his heart do an

uncomfortable somersault. “Who got hit?”

“Marius. Michel and Cross are carrying him to a healer a few  blocks west of here. Cross sent me ahead to tell you because he knew  you all would worry. Did I see Madigan across the street?” Dex  leaned his arm on the top of the car and bent down so that he was  more eye level with Bren.

“Yeah. I had to do something to distract them. They were about to  freak out over not knowing where you guys were,” Bren explained.  “How bad was Marius hit?”

“Took an arrow through the arm that lodged in his right lung. He’s  lucky it went through his arm first. It slowed the momentum of the  shot enough to keep it from piercing his heart. It was a hell of a shot  to make. The archers were unexpected, but we muddled through  okay.” Dex’s eyes went across the street, keeping an eye on the  nephilim and Yuri as they came out of the shop and crossed the street  into the realty office. Madigan must’ve seen him because he waved.  Bren could practically see the tension fade from Madigan’s shoulders.  His lover was going to need a back rub from heaven to get all the  kinks out of his body.

“He’ll pull through?”

“Should pull through with no problem. It just has to be removed  and patched up before he gets sent home. Cross is also going to ask  the healer to see Yuri at some point. Don’t know if he’s going to be  able to arrange a home visit yet or not, but either way, he’ll make sure  he’s seen by one of the Fallen physicians that can heal the magic  damage as well as the physical kind.” Dex let out a breath that he  seemed to have been holding for a long time. “Other than that minor  glitch, we made it. That’s all that matters. We need to get to Marius  and his nephilim’s house and get everything arranged so that we can  get our own house situation taken care of.”

“Agreed. Cross and Michel will meet us there?” Bren reached up  and tugged Dex’s hair as it fell over his sweaty forehead. “You need a  bath, Dexirus.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve been sweating bullets.” Dex smiled a little  at that. “And yeah, they’ll be meeting us there.”

“Dex!” Madigan’s voice called out an instant before his arms  wrapped around the angel’s sweaty waist. Dex turned with a chuckle  to accept Madigan’s kisses of welcome.

“I should leave on missions more often if this is the greeting I get  in return,” Dex teased as Madigan babbled on about how worried he’d  been for Dex’s safety and how he wished that they had been able to  all travel together because he didn’t know if he hadn’t been sure if  he’d get to see them again and not to worry him like that ever, ever  again. The tirade was cute as hell.

“Everyone get in the car, please. We’re going to meet the rest of  the guys at Marius’s place,” Bren instructed as the other two nephilim  started looking uneasily around as if searching for their own angel.

At his order, everyone piled back into the SUV, but not before  Yuri stole a kiss from Dex. Erik handed up an address along with  some directions they’d gotten from the real estate office, and Yuri  read them off as Bren drove them to their temporary home.

“I’ve got some listings that the real estate agent gave me. Her  name is Julianna, and she was very excited to know that we were

looking for a place in the area,” Madigan offered as they took a right  into a quaint subdivision toward the outskirts of town. “Apparently,  she worked with Marius on finding their home and gave me a couple  printouts to look over, along with her card. Isn’t that great?”

“That’s wonderful, Madi,” Dex rumbled, tucking the nephilim  tighter against him. “You’ll have to show us the places you like when  we get there. We’ll make notes on which ones we think would work  and show it to Cross and Michel when they get there.”

“Is Marius meeting us there as well?” Erik asked, his voice tight.

Bren felt sorry for the two nephilim. All they had was Marius. At  least Bren knew that if he died that the other guardians would take  care of Madigan for him. What would happen to the two nephilim if  Marius was killed? Bren sent up a prayer of thanks to the Creator’s  genius in giving them all to Madigan. He didn’t know what he would  do if he ever had to face the possibility of leaving Madigan helpless  against the world. Of course, Madigan wouldn’t be helpless forever.  A nephilim, once he or she reached angelic maturity, could be a very  powerful being, but it was hard for Bren to picture Madigan without  his mortal fragility.

“Yes. He will be. He was getting patched up at the healers, which  is why I was late,” Dex said the words with confidence, obviously  trying to instill a sense of calm in the two nephilim. They weren’t  buying it.

“What the hell do you mean get patched up at the healer? He was  injured? Why the hell didn’t you tell us? Take us to him, now!” Erik  snapped, bristling from his seat.

“He told us to take you on to the house to wait, Erik. I’m only  doing as he asked,” Dex said, gently.

Erik snorted. “That is just the sort of thing that moron would say.  Fuck no. Take us to him. We belong beside him, not at home waiting  like a pair of dutiful cubs. I want to go see him.”

“Erik, honey, be reasonable. You know how fast Marius heals—”  Levi began.

“I don’t give a shit! This is exactly what I’m talking about. He  always leaves us out of the decision-making process!” Erik all but  growled at the smaller man.

“Don’t feel bad, man. All angels are like that. Trust me. You think  having one is bad, try having five. They are constantly beating their  chests and ordering me around.” Madigan added his voice to the  conversation, and Bren cringed. This was going to dissolve into a  nephilim bitch fest. He just knew it.

“We do what we do for your own good,” Dex said firmly.
 
Bad  mistake, my jolly green giant love
. Madigan’s nostrils flared, and Bren  nearly missed his turn watching Madigan fume.

“Two more streets,” he heard Yuri mutter as Madigan opened his  mouth to speak.

“See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. And they
 
all
 
do that.  I can’t get away with anything. For real.”