Page 179 of Devoted

Are you the mate of someone here?

He couldn’t be, right? We’d all met him all those months ago, before he’d fled to fuck knew where. We’d have known then?—

There was a quick indrawn breath from my left. A stumble back as he caught himself.

All of us turned to look at Noah in unison. Noah, whose face was bloodless, his eyes fixed on the demon only feet away.

Noah, who I suddenly realised hadnotbeen there the night of the rescue.

“Fuck,” he whispered, not looking away from Jeremiah for a second. “Fuck.”

Jeremiah stiffened, his cheekbones colouring. Yet he didn’t so much as glance in Noah’s direction.

There was no time for anything other than a brief pang of sympathy for Noah before our attention was dragged back to Gloria. To her, and the swaggering demon now cradling her shocked face.

“Come on, Glo,” Dahlia crooned mockingly. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

Gloria froze before shoving the demon off with a growl. “I’m never happy to see you, Dahlia.”

The demon laughed, the sound cool and sinister. “Not what you said when you were riding my face five years ago, but sure. Go with that. Good to know you’re the same stone-cold bitch you were then.”

Rami had to cough to cover his laugh, while the twins didn’t even bother to try. Micah and I exchanged a bemused look. Seemed like Gloria wasn’t as prejudiced against demons as she liked to pretend.

“Why are you here?” Gloria demanded. Her fake smile was long gone now as she recognised that the situation was slipping away from her. “No one invited you.”

“I did,” Nox drawled.

Gloria shifted on her feet, calculating. “Because you were planning on attacking us.”

“Because you can’t be trusted,” Micah said, stepping forwards and lifting his chin. “Once again, Gloria, you’ve overstepped your bounds. Your issue is that you cannot see the bond, and no other supe can see the bond. Here we have four other supes. Let’s ask them.”

“I can see it,” Darius said, not even waiting for the question.

“As can I,” Quill said, his voice quiet but firm.

Dahlia waggled her fingers at Gloria tauntingly. “Three for three, clear as day. Are you having power issues, Glo? Maybe we should go a few rounds and find out.”

From the venom dripping from her words, she didn’t mean in the sack.

Sam was stiff against me, holding his breath as we all looked to the final demon. Really, we didn’t need him to verify it too, but the more who did, the better.

Jeremiah’s gaze flicked up, immediately meeting Noah’s before darting away. “The two are bonded. This is just a fucked up power play that’s wasting everyone’s time.”

Noah lurched forwards with a whimper, a pained expression on his face. He barely took a step before seeming to catch himself and coming to a halt.

The demon didn’t so much as look around. It was as though Noah didn’t even exist to him.

Shit.

“Well, Gloria,” Micah said bracingly. “You’ve got your proof, not that you need it. Benji?”

“Article two, paragraph three, line five—mates fall under the protection of all archs.”

God love Benji and his studies of the lawbook.

“Meaning if you threaten my mate, we will have just cause to put you down. Doing so won’t be considered an act against God.” I smirked before once again calling on Benji. “Article?”

“Article sixteen, paragraph eighteen, line six. No arch is above judgement. If an angel believes justice being delivered is not honest and true, they are permitted to intervene however necessary.”

---