Angelic Ties [His Guardian Angels 2] (8 page)

The smaller man gave him a soft smile. “It’s in two weeks, and it’s for a hundred and fifty guests.” Bren nodded and jotted it down.

“Let me hop in back and check with Madigan about the time frame and whatever, and I’ll be right back.” Bren ripped out the order
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sheet and ducked into the back. It was then he realized he hadn’t seen the guardians for the two humans that had come into the shop. All morning the shop had been overrun with humans, their guardian angels, and even a few earthbound demons who were either tagging along with humans they’d bonded with or on their own, living human lives. Every human who had entered the shop had had a guardian in tow.

“Madigan?” he called, not wanting to alert the two “customers”

that he realized they were guardian-less. He didn’t even know if they knew, but he felt like it was suspicious nonetheless. Madigan was just coming out of the huge walk-in freezer wheeling a cart of cakes as he entered the back part of the kitchen. Dex was scrubbing the stainless-steel countertops on the island workstation of the remnants of some sort of icing. That had to mean that Cross and Michel were on patrol.

Yuri was probably still in the office sorting through the paperwork and organizing it for Madigan’s convenience.

“What’s up?” Madigan asked, taking one of the cakes off the rack and sliding it onto his workstation. His attention flicked to Dex. “Hey, babe, can you grab me a batch of fondant and color it for me? I need it to be hot pink for the Sweet Sixteen cake we’re doing.”

Dex smiled and winked. “Will do, Madi.” Gabriel’s guardian was really taking to this whole bakery thing.

“You might want to hold off on that,” Bren said, grabbing Dex’s shoulder to stop him from walking away.

Dex frowned. “What’s wrong, Bren?”

“I’ve got two people out here who want a wedding cake made,”

Bren began. “They don’t have guardians, angelic or demonic. I thought it was weird.”

“That is strange.” Dex’s frown deepened. “Do they seem hostile?”

Bren shrugged. “Their auras are really evened out. They feel pretty human.”

“Earthbound angels in disguise? Maybe they’re Cherubims.” The messengers weren’t unheard of but were usually only sent by the
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higher ups in times of great emergency. It wouldn’t make sense for them to be in Madigan’s bakery.

Yuri chose that moment to pop out of the office. “Could be nephilim. They have humanlike auras and aren’t granted guardian angels until maturity if the hunters don’t find them first.”

“What’s the chance of two nephilim wandering in here by coincidence? I just don’t know. Any known nephilim would scatter, especially given the high numbers of hunters in the area,” Dex said.

“Where’s Cross?” Bren asked. He didn’t like this, and he especially didn’t like the fact that they were divided. They’d expected an attack from outside. No one had thought that anyone would be arrogant enough to walk through the front door.

“Calling him now.” Dex started muttering to himself, invoking his powers to communicate with Cross.

Madigan, who’d been quiet the entire time, spoke up. “Excuse me but if they are nephilim, why would they try and hurt me?” He looked like he was getting scared, and Bren didn’t like that one little bit. He hated to see Madigan afraid of anything. He was theirs. Nothing and no one would be able to get to him.

“Sometimes other nephilim sell out others so that the hunters will let them live for a bit longer. They pay for their own lives by turning in someone else. It’s almost like a bounty. Some nephilim are ‘worth’

more than others. As a son of Raphael, you’d be worth quite a bit,”

Yuri supplied. He didn’t look happy about it and drew Madigan into his arms, cradling the smaller man into his chest.

“I’m beginning to hate being Raphael’s son,” Madigan grumbled into the material of Yuri’s shirt. Bren’s heart constricted. He’d do almost anything to take away the obstacles in Madigan’s life.

Selfishly, he couldn’t feel bad about Madigan being Raphael’s son, though. If he wasn’t, they most likely would’ve never met.

They all jumped as the back door slammed open to admit Cross and Michel. Bren couldn’t help but to appreciate the two shirtless men
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for a moment. They really were beautiful specimens of manhood.

Their wings disappeared in a small flash of light.

“Report,” Cross barked as he came around the counter and took Madigan from Yuri’s arms. He seemed to be checking to make sure everything was all right with him before turning his attention to something else. Bren gave a basic rundown of what had happened since he’d left shop.

“They’re still waiting out there?” Michel asked. Bren nodded.

“Then someone needs to go keep them occupied while we figure out what to do.” He grabbed the shirt he’d stripped off for patrol in the office and pulled it on. “I’ll go take their order or whatever and feel them out. Figure it out.”

“I’ll go with you to man the counter,” Yuri volunteered, following after Michel.

Madigan worried his bottom lip. “I need to take out some more cookies and stuff in about ten minutes,” he said.

“We’ll figure it out, bright eyes,” Bren assured. “No worries. The shop won’t suffer.” Madigan seemed content with that and gave Cross a hug before pulling out of his grasp.

“I need to knead my fondant,” he griped as Cross’s arms tightened around him. Bren smiled at the sight. His lovers were so adorable.

Dex cleared his throat. “The situation at hand, gentlemen,” he reminded.

“Right. Well, we’ll keep an eye on them, and if they try anything, we kill them.” Cross made the statement without batting an eyelash.

Bren’s stomach turned over. He knew Madigan was going to go off the deep end at his phrasing.

“You’re not killing anyone in my shop!” the nephilim hissed, right on cue.

“Madigan, it may become necessary. What if they attack?” Cross asked in a reasonable tone.

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“You. Are. Not. Killing. Anyone. In. My. Shop,” Madigan repeated, glaring daggers in his direction. He wiped his hands on his apron. “I need to go talk to them if they want a cake.”

“No!” Bren and Cross shouted in unison. On that they were in perfect agreement. Madigan’s safety was their number-one priority.

“Michel can handle it,” Bren said in a calmer voice. Madigan was already getting agitated. It wouldn’t do to needlessly upset him.

Dex spoke up. “What if they need help?” Bren turned toward him.

He’d lost his damn mind. That was the last thing they needed Madigan to worry about.

“What if they just want a damn wedding cake? Jesus. Can you guys relax for a minute?” Madigan snapped. “They didn’t even
do
anything.”

“Bren, go with him to talk to the two of them. If anything seems off, just let me know.” Cross’s unexpected words had Bren chewing on his lip ring.
Huh
. What was their fearless leader up to? Then he looked back at Madigan.
Ah, that explains it
. Madigan was fixing to flip his shit if they didn’t bend a little. Their youngest mate had them all wrapped around his fingers. “I trust you,” Cross added. Bren looked at him and felt his heart swell.
Christ, I’m falling in love with
him.
The realization felt sort of like being stabbed in the chest with a flaming sword.

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The sound of breaking glass sounded as the door crashed open and shattered from the impact.

“Christ!” Michel shouted, pushing back from the table by the counter where he was sitting with the two humans, taking their order for a wedding cake. He drew his flaming sword as one pissed-off angel with pale green wings and matching hair stormed in with his own sword drawn.

“Levi, Erik, come here,” he snapped at the pair of them. He glared at Michel. “How did you hide your wings, monster?” He bared his teeth. “If you hurt my lovers, I’ll kill you.”

“What is going on?” Madigan asked, coming through the door.

Michel’s gaze shot to Madigan and Bren, who was trailing in behind him.

“Get Madi away!” Michel snapped. Bren wrapped an arm around Madigan’s waist and tried to haul him back toward the swinging metal doors of the kitchen. Michel turned his attention to the other angel and the two humans who had run behind him. The angel they were with sniffed the air, his eyes widening. Michel took a battle stance. If he was here to try and harm Madigan, Michel was going to take him apart piece by burning piece.

“You’re angel bound to a nephilim?” the angel asked, lowering his weapon by small degrees.

Michel tilted his head to the side, studying him. “Yes.” Dex and Bren came back out the door, their own swords of light drawn.

“Be of ease, brothers. I am not one of the hunters,” the angel spoke, looking between the group gathered. “And I’m assuming by
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the fact that you have your nephilim’s scent on your skin that you aren’t, either.”

“Who are you?” Michel asked, tightening his grip on his weapon.

He was one of Archangel Michael’s, so fighting was in his nature. For upsetting Madigan and hurting his shop, Michel wanted to smash the other angel to bits. His men didn’t need this sort of added stress.

“My name is Marius.” The greenish-blond haired angel tilted his head back and motioned to his lovers. “They are my nephilim, Levi and Erik. We just moved here about a week ago.”

“Riiiiigght,” Bren rumbled sarcastically. “The fact that hunters have been saturating the area didn’t deter you?”

Marius frowned. “We’ve seen no hunters in the area around town.

I wouldn’t have stayed here if there were. Erik and Levi are everything to me.”

“You’re not of the Heavens anymore, are you?” Dex spoke. It didn’t sound like much of a question. The answer seemed fairly obvious to Michel.

“No. I’m one of the earthbound angels awaiting redemption. I met Erik and Levi in Memphis, and we’ve been together ever since.”

Bren growled. “Can’t trust the fallen.”

“I’m not irredeemable you know,” Marius snapped.

“We’re a bit outside of Heaven’s law to be judging him, Bren,”

Dex reminded, dispelling his weaponry. Michel eyed the action wearily. He didn’t know if he trusted the angel just yet.

“If you’re not here to hurt Madigan, why did you break our door?”

Michel asked.

Marius shifted, and the dark-haired male whispered in his ear. The words were too soft even for Michel’s superior hearing, and the angel nodded. “I sensed an angelic presence inside and thought it was the hunters. I panicked because I let them”—he nodded toward his lovers—“talk me into letting them go into the shop by themselves.”

He sighed. “They wanted to surprise me with a wedding cake. We’re
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having a ceremony in a few weeks, and they were very excited about the whole thing.”

“Well, see, they
did
just want a wedding cake,” Madigan’s voice piped up. Michel whipped around, slicing the corner off the counter.

It smoldered on the ground, and Madigan made a noise of frustration.

“Watch it please. I’ve already got enough of a mess to clean up,” he motioned toward the door.

Marius glanced at the broken doors. “I am sorry about that. I will pay for the damages.”

“That would be appropriate,” Dex continued. His eyes went to Bren. “Would you mind getting on Madigan’s laptop and looking up a replacement door?” Bren shook his head “no.” Good, Michel thought.

They shouldn’t trust anyone so easily.

“I can make the cake,” Madigan said, drawing Michel’s attention back to him. “Please, put your weapon down, Michel.” Michel tightened his grip on his weapon.

“Stand down, Michel. We outnumber them.” Cross’s voice joined them. Apparently, all the guardians had joined the fight for their charge. “Stand down, Michel,” Cross repeated. With a grumble, Michel did as he was told. If the fallen angel took a wrong step in Madigan’s direction, Michel was going to rip him apart.

* * * *

Madigan finally convinced his angels to relax enough so that he could take a seat with the two other nephilim in the back room of his office. The angels were sitting outside the door around the stainless-steel island, glaring at one another, when Madigan had left them in the other room. He hoped they had the sense to clean up the front room a bit because otherwise the customers were going to be put off.

Granted, he’d flipped the Closed sign around when they’d disappeared in back, but he didn’t want the front room trashed.

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“I’m really sorry,” the smaller blond-haired man said in a soft, sweet voice.

“It’s okay. I’m beginning to realize that everything in this world is a lot more serious than I originally anticipated.” He offered the man a smile. “You’re Levi?”

The blond nodded. “I’m still very sorry. Marius is very protective of us. We’ve had some bad run-ins with the hunters, and he’s been paranoid ever since. He considers us his charges.”

“So you really think that you can make us a cake?” Erik asked.

The other man looked nervous and uneasy sitting beside his lover. He was dark where his lovers were light. He had chocolate-colored hair, tanned skin, and plush lips. His eyes were dark brown as well, but they weren’t soft. He was a jaded man. “It’s very important to Levi that it be done in time. Marius may not show it, but he’s excited about it as well. He’s invited all of his family, and we’ve invited all of ours.

If you’re just wasting our time…” His fists clenched at his knees.

“I’m not wasting your time. I promise. I can make you a cake, no problem. I haven’t been back open long,” Madigan reassured.

“You’re my only big order, so I can get it done.” He looked at the pair in curiosity. So these were fellow nephilim. For some reason, he’d been under the impression that something would clue him in that they were different than the average human. He guessed he shouldn’t have been under that impression. He didn’t think he looked any different than he had a year ago, but he’d thought it nonetheless.