Page 31 of Conflicted

The twins, Breann, Grace, Rami, and Noah all silently slipped back into their seats. Ez, however, didn’t move from his place before the windows. “I think we need to start with why you fucked off without saying a word and then proceeded to ignore your phone.”

I met Ez’s gaze coolly. “That’s a private matter.”

In my peripheral vision, I saw Nate whisper in his twin’s ear. Across from him, Rami held up two fingers.Grace shook her head, declining as she always did, while Breann held up five fingers.

Noah’s face swivelled between them all in confusion. Without looking up from the cube, Benji filled him in. He’d solved it several times since I’d sat down already, mixing up the colours before going again. “They’re placing bets on how many items of furniture will be broken.”

“Broken?” Noah asked, his nose wrinkled. “Why will anything be broken?”

I sighed. “Nothing is going to be broken.”

“Because Ez can’t control his temper,” Benji said, like I hadn’t spoken. “Micah’s always hiding things from us to protect us, so it’s unlikely he’s going to own up to where he’s been. Ez will get frustrated and lose his temper, which will lead to broken furniture.”

“I don’t hide things from you.”

“And I don’t have a temper.”

Benji’s lips twitched as the colours on the cube started to blur. “If you say so.”

Chatter arose around the table as everyone chimed in with their thoughts. I pinched the bridge of my nose, counting backwards from ten. That was the thing about being immortal angels—people mistakenly assumed that we gained wisdom and maturity with every passing decade.

Five minutes with this lot would dismantle that belief.

My mind flashed briefly back to the alley and Nox. The brief reprieve he’d unwittingly given me. It felt a million miles away now.

Rapping my knuckles on the table, I glared at them until they fell quiet. “Are we finished?”

I got a few murmurs and eye-rolls, but no one outrightcontinued.

Twisting my head to Ezekiel, I gestured at the chair to my right. “I’ll explain, but can you sit, please? It doesn’t feel right to not have my second at my side.”

Something flickered in Ez’s eyes, something that looked an awful lot like pity. It hadn’t been his seat for long, and before it had, it’d been empty more often than not. It was the first time I’d hinted at how much I hated it. Running the Seraphim alone was exhausting.

But insisting that the man I loved be here, doing his job, when I knew it was leagues away from where he wanted to be?

That would’ve been far worse.

Ez slid into the seat, inclining his head in understanding. I smiled at him gratefully.

There’d be no furniture broken. Not tonight, at least.

“Iamsorry about leaving earlier,” I said quietly. “I was concerned that one of the new local demons was going to cause trouble, so I went to his location to ensure that didn’t happen.”

“One of the demons…” Ez repeated slowly. “I’m assuming it’s the same one who’s been creating chaos recently?”

Seven sets of eyes burned into me. Benji hadn’t looked up from his cube, but his small smirk didn’t bode well for me. “Yes. Not that it matters, but it was Nox.”

“Why are we putting up with his shit?” Rami asked, his forehead furrowed. “We’ve never bothered giving more than a warning before executing. Is he just…not listening to you?”

“Maybe you’re not scary enough,” Theo said, swinging on the back two legs of his chair. “Bet I can scare him.”

“Only one you’re scaring is me by swinging on that chair,” Noah said, giving a delicate shiver. He’d slipped intothe unit seamlessly, meeting the shenanigans of certain members without batting an eyelid. “What if you fall?”

“Has no one told you that we’re immortal?”

The smile Noah shot back at him dripped with poison. “Oh, sweetie, I’m not worried about you. That rug though? It’s from the Byzantine period, if I’m not mistaken. It’s worth more than you, that’s for sure.”

There was a thud as Theo let his chair drop back onto all four legs. He leaned between his knees, getting up close and personal with the material that covered most of the floor. “Byzantine? Guess that makes sense. It was in our house in Constantinople.”

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