Page 19 of Conflicted

Yep, that’s right—Knightsbridge. Micah and his angelic cartel occupied a prime patch of real estate in the most expensive borough of the capital. Something about that smacked of indulgence; something I was fairly sure their holy book was against.

Not that I’d ever read it—not all the way through, anyway. I had read chunks out on occasion to holier-than-thou humans who’d found their way onto my torture roster. Turned out a lot of them needed reminding of theactual beliefs they were touting, rather than twisting the words to suit their own needs.

I hadn’t expected it to take more than two ‘incidents’before he showed his face, but I’d underestimated the arch. To be honest, the graffiti was so low level that I’d been half expecting that to slip under the radar.

But the bank robbery? Come on. That sort of shit should’ve had Micah hauling me over the coals.

And didn’tthatsound like all kinds of fun.

Not only was he ignoring my behaviour, so were the rest of the Seraphim. That made me suspect he’d put an order out for them to avoid me.

The question was, why? Was it because I was so far beneath them that I didn’t warrant their attention?

It better not be because of that fucking pull between us. I didn’t want any special treatment, not from the likes of Micah. Believe me, if I’d had a way to rid us of it, I’d have done it in a heartbeat.

That was another reason why I was escalating my chaos. If he was protecting me out of some misguided belief that we meant something to each other, that was something I needed to rectify. Fast.

I didn’t give a fuck what fate intended. Angels and demons didn’t belong together. It was literally in their book of laws, or so the legend went. It was forbidden, and for good reason. Our belief systems were completely different. We fought and died for different sides.

Okay, so one of the sons of Lucifer was with a former angel from Micah’s very unit, but that didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t like Heaven could saynogiven who Dagon’s daddy was. Besides, the angel in question had fallen during the battle in Hell, so that had probably satisfiedthem.

Let’s be real, even if I was interested in someone like Micah, there was no way he’d fall for me. The fucker was too buttoned up. Too much of a stickler for rule following.

It wasn’t like I actuallyknewthat much about him…but I could tell. Everything from the prim press of his clothes to how he’d sneered at me in the casino, all of it suggested someone who was uptight.

Someone whodefinitelythought he was better than me.

All in all, Micah ignoring my antics was confusing. He was well aware of what I was up to—he kept appearing hours later to clean up my mess for me—so why wasn’t he stopping me?

It shouldn’t have intrigued me as much as it fucking did, but it was like an annoying itch I couldn’t scratch. I wouldn’t be able to until I had an answer.

I yawned as yet another window smashed. Dear me, these humans had some deep-seated anger. It had been disturbingly easy to draw it out of them. Mind you, if I’d been queuing for a clothing sale since four a.m., I probably would’ve been up in my feels too.

My skin prickled.Finally. A slow smile covered my face. Now things were about to get interesting.

And by interesting, I mean they stopped altogether.

Everyone around me froze. The woman with her handbag raised in her fist, her eyes bulging. The man holding an empty pushchair, inches away from breaking the glass doors to the nearby jewellery store. All of them went still, like someone had hit pause on the entire scene.

Silence reigned through the street, blisteringly loud after the racket my little rioters had been making. It made it easy to hear Micah’s clipped footsteps as he marched down the street towards me.

I didn’t push off the wall to greet him. Didn’t even turn my head to acknowledge his approach. I just stared into the middle distance, my hands deep in my pockets, nary a shield raised.

He stopped a few feet away. I watched him from the corner of my eye. Like every time I’d seen him, he was dressed like he’d walked off a university campus. A crisply ironed shirt, chinos, and shiny brogues.

It fit his image of staid, serious arch perfectly.

He surveyed the carnage and sighed. “Honestly, do you exist to cause trouble?”

I shrugged. “Pretty much. I am a demon, after all.”

“Well I’ve knownmanydemons, and never one quite as destructive as you.”

I grinned, finally looking at him. Like each time I’d done so, it felt like someone had socked me in the gut. Fuck, why did he have to be so handsome? It would have been easier to hate him more thoroughly if I could locate just one flaw in his perfect features. “You flatter me.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“Felt like one.”

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