Page 110 of Conflicted

Amusement pinged through the bond. Nox was loving this turn of events as much as I was.

Damon didn’t look away from Lyle as he addressed his fellow regents. “Either of you prepared to take this further right now?”

“No,” Arthur said, running a hand through his dark hair and smirking at Lyle. I decided instantly that I liked him. “I’m with you.”

“Same,” Amelia said, her eyes narrowed. “Everything about this mission has seemed fishy since the start. Us being summoned instead of the Seraphim. Only Lyle being present from Juniper. An arch asked to execute his mate. The other orders we’ve been given. Leaves a lot of questions, if you ask me.”

Her mention of “other orders”had me tensing, but I held my tongue. I couldn’t draw attention to myself, not when we were so close.

“I’m not asking you,” Lyle snarled. “You might outrank me, but that won’t matter when we get back upstairs. When they find out I followed orders and you didn’t, I won’t be the one being punished.”

He shoved past Damon, and for the first time, alarm bells began to sound. His powers were swarming him erratically. The controlled hold he’d had on them before was gone now as he stormed towards me.

Shit.This phenomenon was one I’d only seen a handful of times during my long immortality. When an arch was pushed too far, their powers became volatile. Uncontrolled. It could be catastrophic for anyone in the vicinity.

It was something we had trained out of us early. Archs who showed anything other than ironclad control under even the most stressful of situations were forbidden from entering the field. And for good reason. The few times I’d been witness to it on a battlefield, the casualties had been immense.

On both sides.

It was how Theo and Nate had come to join the Seraphim. An angel from another unit had accidentally lost control, taking half their members and two of ours with them. The loss of Tate and Cora had occurred several millennia ago, but still we remembered them.

I doubled down on my shields as the regents did the same. Knowing it would be useless in this situation, I threw my sword to the side and held my hands up placatingly. “Calm down, Lyle. You don’t want to do this.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Lyle’s pupils were huge, his voice distorting as his powers overtook him. “I’m fuckingsickof people telling me what to do.”

Light surrounded him as he tunnelled down into his powers. I didn’t dare glance sideways at the den where Nox remained hidden.Do not come out. This is definitely not the right moment.

While the bond worked very well at conveying emotions, apparently it didn’t do the same for thoughts. As Lyle’s power was unleashed, Nox burst from his hiding place. His shields were up, flames as hot as the river Styx encasing him.

Lyle turned, his powers switching direction at the lastmoment. Nox’s eyes were as unhinged as the angel attacking him, his demon fully in control.

But it wasn’t enough. Nox wasn’t strong enough to weather the storm being unleashed in his direction.

Everything happened in slow motion.

Me, pushing forward, trying desperately to get to my mate. My voice roaring in my ears as I screamed his name.

Nox.

Fear flashed through the bond the same second it did over Nox’s eyes. They moved away from Lyle, meeting my own.

I felt his fear. His horror. His sorrow. His grief.

We both knew this was the end.

Suddenly a dark figure dropped from the sky above.

A figure I knew all too well.

Fire burned so bright that even I raised a hand to shield my eyes.

When it cleared, Nox was alive, the angel who’d been about to end him forever now a heap on the floor.

And between them stood the demon I’d once considered my friend.

A demon I’d mistakenly believed myself in love with.

A demon who’d risked it all to save my mate.

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