Page 10 of Conflicted

Privately, I thought my unit had a point—the performance so far had been beyond lacklustre. The issue was that most angels wouldn’t want to leave their current units. Being part of a team for centuries built unbreakable bonds. That left us with candidates who either hadn’t made it into a unit the first time around, or were looking to join us fresh out of training.

Neither of which made for a suitable candidate for God’s most elite unit.

I couldn’t let my disappointment show, nor my anxiety that we were no closer to finding Dimitri’s replacement than we had been five hours ago. “We’ll find someone. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

“That last guy had promise,” Theo said, rocking back in his chair.

Nate snorted, rolling his lilac eyes. “Please. You just wanna fuck him.”

Theo waggled his eyebrows at his identical twin. “Like you wouldn’t?”

“No, I wouldn’t. I like my men to be more capable than that.” He gave the door said angel had departed through a withering look. “Not prone to mishap. Clumsy men have no place in my bed.”

I leaned forwards, cutting off their argument before it could begin. “How many more, Grace?”

Grace’s keen eyes flicked down to the list in front of her. The sunshine antithesis to her mate, Breann, she was the only one in the unit with legible handwriting. I didn’t know where humans had got this idea that we all produced beautiful calligraphy—most of our attempts looked like the pen had vomited on the page. “Just the one. He’s a candidate from Juniper.”

A murmur of interest rippled throughout the room. TheJuniper unit was only one rung down from us—a fact their leader brought up any time we met. Something told me Lyle would jump at the opportunity to elevate his unit above the Seraphim.

Any member wanting to leave a unit was enough to pique our curiosity, but one where they were rumoured to be as loyal as we were in the Seraphim?

It was downright intriguing.

I looked at Benji. He might be the smallest of the unit, but he was also the deadliest, making him the best choice for delivering these tests. “Don’t go easy on them.”

Benji inclined his head slightly, the only indication that he’d heard. But when the door opened, he was ready.

White light exploded from him. None of us reacted, knowing the shield I had in place would keep us safe.

The same couldn’t be said for the candidate from Juniper.

Less than a second passed before more white light blasted into the room. It clashed with Benji’s with acrack.There was a tiny flicker of surprise on Benji’s face before he was sent flying backwards. The wall splintered, an ancient portrait falling to the floor.

Rami straightened beside me as I exchanged a quick glance with Ezekiel. Could this angel be the one?

The light cleared, revealing a tall, lithe male. Long dark purple hair fell to his waist, his high cheekbones making him appear more like the elves in human legends than an angel.

He paid us no attention, his focus entirely on Benji, who was getting to his feet. Smart man.

Benji tilted his head to the side, interest firing in his green eyes. The same interest that I knew wasmirrored in all of our expressions. We weren’t writing a candidate off in the first twenty seconds. That had to be promising.

Fuck, I hoped so. But we all knew Benji wasn’t done yet.

Moving as fast as the light that left his hands, Benji went on the offensive. He delivered hit after hit, never pausing, never questioning.

The purple haired angel parried every single one.

“Holy fucking shit,” Theo whispered. “Is this really happening?”

Nate, naturally, had to one-up his brother. “Is it bad that I’m turned on right now?”

The candidate paused, his hand poised to strike. He winked at Nate before unleashing his power.

We all watched, gobsmacked, as Benji careened through the air, slamming into the wall again. He slid to the floor and gaped up at the other angel in astonishment.

“That painting’s fucked.” Rami nodded towards the frame that lay in pieces. “Never did like it. Cherubs are creepy, I don’t care what anyone else says.”

Benji looked to me, an eyebrow raised in question. I gave a small shake of my head. No, we didn’t need to see any more. I got to my feet as Benji did the same. We switched places around the table, with me moving to greet the angel while Benji took his seat beside Grace.

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