Page 70 of Conflicted

My brows shot up. “What?”

“You’re not exactly subtle, Micah. You’ve been disappearing for hours every day and you asked Benji to cover for you. He’s a terrible liar.”

Benji nodded. “He’s not wrong there.”

I was speechless. I’d had no idea that any of the others suspected a thing.

“But with how Nox reacted earlier…” Ez shook his head slowly. “This isn’t just about sex.”

I stayed silent for a long time. “No. It’s not.”

“Then what is it?” Ezekiel’s voice dropped to a whisper, like he was afraid of being overheard. “You can’t be serious about him, Micah. They’ll never allow it. You have to know that.”

“I do.”

“Then what are you doing?” Ez asked desperately. “Why can’t you keep away from him?”

I didn’t know what to say. How could I answer him when I didn’t know the answer myself?

“Well it’s obvious if you ask me.” Both Ez and I twisted to stare at Benji. “Nox and Micah are fated mates.”

16

Nox

“Want to talk about it?”

“Nope,” I said to Jeremiah, storming through the house. Quill and Darius were behind us, Dahlia having fucked off somewhere else on the flight home. “I definitely fucking don’t.”

I didn’t even knowwhyI was pissed. Had I been expecting Micah to slip his arm through mine and introduce me as his fated mate? I didn’t even know if I wanted that. It wasn’t like I’d ever envisaged meeting the rest of his unit…but still. I couldn’t help but wish it’d gone slightly better.

With hindsight, it was obvious that Ezekiel had been baiting me by killing Micah. The smart thing to do would’ve been to keep my cards close to my chest. To wait for Micah to reincarnate and deal with his second as he saw fit.

Obviously, that hadn’t happened. As soon as the steel of Ezekiel’s dagger slid across Micah’s throat, my demon had taken over. I’d lost complete control. It didn’t matter that Micah wasn’t really dead. It didn’t matter that he’d be fullyhealed in under sixty seconds. It didn’t matter that we were supposed to be keeping whatever the fuck was happening with us under wraps.

All that had mattered was that Ezekiel had hurt Micah. My Micah.

And he had to pay.

I’d managed to hold back my demon from executing him permanently, but that had been the extent of my control. It wasn’t until Micah opened his eyes that my demon receded.

So, yes. I understood why Micah was irritated with me. I may as well have pissed all over him and claimed him as mine that way. I even got why he’d asked me to leave—nothing was going to be resolved with his unit if I was still there.

I could understand it, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. Micah was the leader of the Seraphim. The needs of his unit would always come above his own. Above mine.

He’d always choose them. Over me, over himself, over everything else. They’d always be his first priority.

I’d always known that in a vague sort of way. But seeing it happen before my eyes?

That fucking sucked.

“Talking is healthy.” Jeremiah was like a dog with a bone as he trailed after me into the kitchen. He tutted as I pulled down the bottle of Adamanthea that we saved for special occasions. It was the only substance capable of intoxicating a supe. “Drinking away your problems isn’t.”

Ignoring him, I poured myself a healthy glass. Before I could take a sip, there was a loud crash in the living room, followed by Darius cursing.

Putting my glass down, I jogged after Jeremiah. We skidded into the living room to find Quill unconscious onthe floor, Darius kneeling over him. Panic shone in his eyes. All of us were friends, but Darius and Quill were closer than the rest of us. “He just collapsed. Eyes rolled back in his head and he was gone.”

“Shit.” I knelt on his other side, my power leeching out from me. “He’s alive. If I had to guess, he’s exhausted. He’s been running on fumes for weeks now—even with all the sin flying around earlier, it won’t have been enough to restore his powers.”

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