Page 137 of Conflicted

If I hadn’t been looking at Jeremiah, I might’ve missed how he flinched. He covered it fast, smacking his hand on his head. “Shit, I’ve just remembered I promised to get Quill dinner.”

“Quill’s capable of ordering takeaway,” Dahlia said, frowning. “Or doing what he normally does and eating cereal.”

Jeremiah was already backing away, shaking his head. “No, it’s okay. He needs something with more substance. I’ll be back, I promise.”

We all watched in confusion as Jeremiah spun on his heel and full-on sprinted out of sight.

“What the fuck was that about?” Nox said.

“No idea,” Darius said. “He was fine until we turned the corner, then he got all squirrelly.”

“Oh well,” Dahlia said with a sigh. “Either he’ll tell us or he won’t.”

I was still puzzling over it as I lifted the wards, Darius and Dahlia making the expected comments about angels living the good life. As we led them up to the house, I frowned at where the wards started…had we already crossed them when Jeremiah waved? We couldn’t have done, but how had he seen us otherwise?

Unless…

No. It couldn’t be possible.

All thoughts of Jeremiah were shoved out of my mind as a body flew out of the living room window, sending glass in every direction. Nate followed out after his twin, snarling as he landed on top of him.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I sighed as the front door flew open, various Seraphim flowing out. “Welcome to the madhouse, I guess.”

Darius smirked. “I feel at home already.”

The party was well under way, but the birthday boy was nowhere to be seen.

“He can’t hide away all night,” Theo huffed. “Not after we went to all this trouble.”

I eyed the cake he was pointing at. It was one of those giant sheet cakes that you could have a photo printed on. Naturally, they’d chosen the most unflattering picture of Ez possible. It had been snapped in the gym while he was mid-lunge and then Photoshopped so it looked like he was about to jump off of a cliff.

“Can’t think why he doesn’t want to take part,” I said mildly. “Especially after he walked in and you and Nate let off those confetti guns.”

“Wasn’t like he got hurt,” Nate said.

Nox’s arm draped over my shoulders. “I have to say, adding the glitter in with the confetti was anawesometouch.”

I looked pointedly at the carpet, now sparkling like a rainbow had vomited on it.

“About that…You two are on clean up duty.” Both of them started to protest, but I held up a hand. “Nope, don’t wanna hear it. You made the mess, you clean it up.”

The twins rolled their eyes in unison before drifting off towards the regents. Breann and Grace had taken Amelia under their wing, while the twins seemed to have adopted Arthur and Damon.

“You’re awfully attractive when you’re being all bossy,” Nox murmured, pressing his lips to my neck. “Makes me want to spirit you away upstairs and do wicked things to you.”

Benji appeared before I could respond. “Nope. There will benosneaking away to fuck. Micah, you need to go and find Ez before the twins or Rami do. It’ll only lead to a fight.”

I sighed, reluctantly pulling away from my mate. “You’re right, I’ll go find him. Keep an eye on things here?”

Benji nodded, his attention drifting past us to Darius and Dahlia, who were beside Rami’s aquarium. “Why is the fish tank bubbling?”

“Oh Satan,” Nox said, striding off swiftly. “Can’t take the fuckers anywhere.”

Chuckling, I left them to it and set about tracking down my second. In the past week, Ez had really stepped up to the plate. It had made me realise that he’d been willing and capable of doing it all along; I’d been the problem. I’d been too focused on carrying everything myself to look around and realise there were others whowantedto help me bear the load.

Ez hiding now wasn’t a surprise—it was how most of these events went. With the size of our compound, it would take too long to search each room. Instead I let my power unwind, seeking under doors until it pinged back. Ifrowned. What was Ez doing in the library? Benji, Rami and Grace were the only ones who tended to use it.

I flung the door open to find Ez sprawled in a chair, his thumbs furiously flying over his phone. Wedged in the chair beside him, was an open bag of Jelly Babies. Since when had Ezekiel started eating sweets?

---