Page 134 of Conflicted

The effect was instantaneous. Micah’s orgasm crashed through the bond, his hole constricting around my cock.

“Micah…” My whole body was on fire. “Fuck,Micah!”

He reached behind me again, cupping the back of my neck. “I’ve got you, baby.”

I collapsed against him, letting him take my weight. “Thank fuck for that. I think that orgasm swapped my knees out for jelly.”

Micah laughed. “I’m just glad we paid to have the extra-large boiler put in.”

I eased myself out of him, unable to wipe the sappy grin from my face. “Yeah, a sudden icy shower might’ve put a damper on things.”

Micah turned, his hands resting on my chest, fingers idly twiddling the barbells through my nipples. “Hmm…somehow I think a horde of avenging angels could have burst in and we still wouldn’t have stopped.”

I nipped at his jaw. “Why would we when I have the most powerful avenging angel in here to keep me safe?”

Predictably, Micah flushed. “I’m not that powerful.”

I recalled how easily he’d knocked everyone from their feet. He hadn’t even used a fraction of the power he’d been holding, either—I’d felt it in the bond. If they’d continued, that was when he would’ve unleashed himself fully.

What they’d experienced was a miniscule percentage of what Micah was capable of. Andthathad my cock valiantly trying to rally.

“Mm-hmm. It’s okay, little angel. I’m not expecting you to be that angel around me. You know I’ll keep you safe.”

Micah snorted, turning away to grab a towel, but he couldn’t hide his feelings. Not from me. I knew just how thrilled he was about my unnecessary protectiveness. Micah wanted to be taken care of as much as the next person, and I was fucking ecstatic that I was the one who’d been given that honour. Micah didn’tneedme in his corner,but hewantedme there. It reminded him he wasn’t alone. That I loved him.

That I’dchosenhim.

He wrapped a fluffy towel around my shoulders, briskly drying me. I smiled at his attention. For all that Micah wanted to be looked after, he couldn’t turn off his natural caregiving instincts. So I stood silently, letting him dry me. Once he was done, I took the towel and repeated the action on him.

His eyes were shining as I finished, his throat bobbing. “Thank you.”

I kissed the end of his nose. “You’ve thanked me for some stupid stuff in the past, but thanking me for loving you? That has to be the most ridiculous one yet.”

His eye-roll was a thing of beauty. “You better get used to it, because I don’t think I’ll ever stop thanking you for it.”

Right there and then, I made it my mission to love Micah so much that expecting it became instinctual for him. I’d show him what it was to be loved every damned day, until he no longer remembered anything different.

I couldn’t fucking wait.

After a few days in bed with Micah, we both knew we had to return to the real world. The other Seraphim had been true to their word, stepping up to take some of the weight off his shoulders, but I could feel how he was itching to get back to it. I think it helped him to know I’d be there at the end of the day, or even during the day if he needed me.

As for me? Well, by the time I finally turned my phone back on, I had a barrage of messages and voicemails from my housemates. While it was usual for each of us to disappear for days, sometimes weeks at a time, they knew I had something going on with Micah. My sudden silence had been enough to raise concerns.

Once Micah was done with his meetings and paperwork for the day, he decided to accompany me to the house. Not that it’d be my house for much longer. After almost no discussion, I’d agreed to move in with Micah at the compound.

It was hilarious how nervous he’d been about asking me. It hadn’t even occurred to me that wewouldbe living apart now that we were bonded. I couldn’t imagine us spending a single night apart, let alone living in different houses.

It made sense for me to be the one to move in with Micah. He needed to be at the compound for his unit and, more often than not, to stop Theo and Nate killing each other. In the few days I’d spent there, I’d marvelled at how their brotherly affection could morph into murderous fury with the flick of a switch.

Moving into the compound was the logical next step, but as I let myself into the townhouse that evening, I felt a twinge of sadness. These demons had been my friends, my only family, for millennia. While I’d only be a few streets away, I’d never lived apart from them. Not permanently, anyway.

“You can visit them often,” Micah said, cupping the back of my neck as he read my emotions. “And they can come and see you. We’ll lift the wards so they can stop by whenever.”

I swallowed around the lump in my throat, kissing Micah’s temple. “Thank you, little angel.”

There was a crash from the kitchen before Quill appeared in the doorway, his hair in a nest and mismatched holey socks on his feet. “Oh, hey, you’re back! We were starting to worry.”

I eyed the overflowing cereal bowl in his hands. “Yep, I’m the one we need to worry about.”

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