Page 173 of Devoted

“Three. No”—Nox’s eyes widened as he glanced back at his phone—“make that four.”

Micah’s brows shot up. “What?”

Nox’s gaze flicked around the circle before he answered. “Jeremiah is back.”

“Fuck.” Micah blew out a breath, glancing at everyone as well. “Well that’s going to throw a spanner in the works.”

Apparently I wasn’t the only one confused. Nate raised a hand. “Um, why? Who’s Jeremiah and why is it bad that he’s coming?”

“It’s not bad as such,” Nox said hesitantly. “It’s just…”

“Oh my god,” Theo groaned when Nox fell silent. “You’re killing us, dude. Spill the tea.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “Spill the tea?! Theo, you need to get off TikTok.”

“Maybe we should tell them,” Micah said to Nox. “It’s not fair to keep it from them, whoever it is.”

I glanced at Zeke questioningly, but he shrugged, just as in the dark as I was.

“Okay.” Nox took a deep breath. “We think one of you is Jeremiah’s fated mate.”

There was a long pause, and then all Hell broke loose.

“How do you know?”

“Who?”

“Wait, you’ve kept this quiet all along?”

“What the fuck?”

The cacophony had me slapping my hands over my ears. From the corner of my eye, I saw Benji wincing too.

Zeke gave a sharp whistle, glaring at them all. “Maybe if you all shut the fuck up, Nox and Micah can give us some answers.”

They fell silent, all eyes turning to Nox.

He shifted uncomfortably. “A few weeks back, Jeremiah came with the others to the house, but as soon as he saw it, he refused to enter. He took off and hasn’t come back since.”

“So?” Rami said. “That doesn’t mean he has a mate here.”

“He could see the house,” Nox said. “Before Micah lifted the wards.”

A ripple of understanding and shock went through the Seraphim, bypassing me entirely. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You can only see past the gates, so the drive and the house, if you’ve either had the wards lifted for you, or if your mate is a member of the Seraphim,” Zeke explained quietly.

“Hang on,” Noah said. “Did Jeremiah know this?”

Micah exchanged a look with Nox before speaking carefully. “We believe so. He asked if we’d already lifted the wards and, when Nox confirmed I hadn’t, he suddenly took off.”

“So, at the very least, he suspects his mate lives here,” Noah said, his delicate features arranged in a frown. “And his response was to fuck off somewhere far away?”

Silence lingered for a beat before Nate spoke. “Well, whoever his mate is, I feel sorry for him. Fancy knowing they’re that close to you and running away. You’re supposed to runtoyour mate, not from them.”

“Hang on.” Rami scratched his head. “Jeremiah…didn’t we all meet him at?—”

We didn’t get to hear the end of that sentence. Every head snapped suddenly towards the gate.

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