Page 88 of Conflicted

Because you’ll always be my little angel.That was what I wanted to say, but I wasn’t that cruel. Not where Micah was concerned. I wasn’t about to give him hope when neither of us could have it.

You know as well as I do that this will never work. It’s better to cut our losses now before someone gets hurt.

I’m already being hurt by this, Nox

Fuck.The pain in my chest was visceral. I couldn’t stand the idea of Micah hurting. He’d weathered so much agony in his life already.

Before I could respond, another message flashed up from him.

Micah

Forget I said that.

No, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to forget it.

Micah

You’re right. This is for the best.

My screen went black. I slumped to the roof, letting the phone fall beside me. Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I reminded myself that thiswasfor the best. Asmuch as I wanted to reassure Micah that he wasn’t alone in his feelings, that I wanted his happiness more than I’d ever wanted anything before, I couldn’t. Not without giving him false hope.

It was better if I died with him hating me. His heart wouldn’t break then. He’d get over me faster.

My screen lit up again and I scrambled to check it. It wasn’t Micah this time, but Dimitri.

Dimitri

We’ve all agreed that the deal won’t be broken if you do this. Go get the fucker.

Finally.I shoved all thoughts of Micah out of my head and focused on the only thing that mattered.

The angel who’d hurt him was in this building.

And it was time for him to face his judgement.

I could’ve simply entered through the front door, but what could I say? Like all demons, I had a flair for the dramatic.

Crashing through the window, I heard a scream as glass went in every direction. Throwing up my shield, I protected the poor girl who’d been unlucky enough to be selected by Emilio before compelling her to leave the room and forget everything she’d seen.

The angel, who was arrogant enough to not even have warded the room, gaped at me in confusion. “Who the fuck are you?”

I let my demon surface fully. “Your worst fucking nightmare.”

20

Micah

It’d been days since I’d seen Nox. He’d walked out of that hotel room, and I’d known it was goodbye.

That hadn’t stopped me reaching out to him though. The knowledge that he hadn’t returned to his home was burned into my mind, nagging at me whenever I closed my eyes. The bond didn’t give me any relief either. It was a constant pull in my chest, begging me to seek him out. To try and reason with him that we could make it. That maybe we could persuade the higher-ups to take a chance on us. A mating bond was supposed to be sacred, so that had to count for something…

Right?

If I could have made myself believe that, maybe we could’ve given it a try. But there was no way. You just had to look at Ferry to know that. He’d been separated from his mate for over four thousand years. He’d been imprisoned in Hell to transport souls over the river Styx while his mate lived out many lifetimes without him.

If Ferry, one of the original archs, could be punished inthis way, there was no way they’d make an exception for me.

I shouldn’t have messaged Nox. Call it a moment of weakness. Insanity. Delusion. Whatever it was, it wasn’t the right thing to do.

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