Page 22 of Consorting With The Enemy

The second I knew Marchand was safe, I turned toward where Ariel had been standing, but before I could even focus, his body collided with mine. Both of us tumbled to the ground, his body ending up on top of mine. Straddling my waist, he glared down at me and said, “If you ever fucking do something like that again, I’ll…I’ll…well, I don’t know what I’ll do but it’ll be bad. I don’t need you fighting my battles.” He glanced around at the rest of us. “Any of you.”

“We were trying to protect you, Ari,” I said, trying to unruffle his feathers. Well, wings. He was so damn gorgeous…so beautifully safe. “I’m sorry,” I finally admitted. “That wasn’t fair.”

“No. It wasn’t. Don’t do it again,” he snapped. “I had to take a fucking Uber to get here, Az. An Uber. Do you know how humiliating that is?” He glanced toward Julian and Valen. “You let those fuckers nearly drain me dry.”

“Maybe.”

He pulled me up to claim my lips. The kiss was both dominating and submissive at the same time. Ari’s gifts were more powerful than I could have ever imagined, yet he was always submissive with me. I grabbed a handful of his silky hair and pulled his head back just an inch, and whispered, “I love you, Ari. I love you so damn much. I couldn’t risk letting your brother get his hands on you. I just couldn’t.”

“I’m still mad,” he growled. “I’ll probably be mad for days, weeks even. You’re gonna have to do stuff for me—rub my feet, stroke my wings…shit like that.”

“Done.” I agreed immediately.

He dipped his head again and nibbled on my bottom lip. “And I’m going to pout because I’m really sexy when I pout.”

“Agreed.” His sexy pout was pure perfection. There was no denying it.

“Why would you be foolish enough to submit to Tantrum, Az? Did you think I’d let him have your feather to be used against you? Did you think me capable of that?”

“No,” I answered quickly. “I knew that if Tantrum had my feather, then he had to have stolen it from you.” I cradled both his cheeks with my hands. “I never once doubted you, Ari. Even though we were at war with one another over Marchand, I still didn’t believe you’d use my feather to destroy me.”

“We were never at war, Az. I protected Marchand as much as I could while still pretending to do my father’s bidding.”

He placed a soft kiss to my lips, so different than his usual either playful or demanding kisses.

“That wasn’t your feather, babe. He was lying to you. From the moment you gave it to me, it has never left my side. I…I felt like I would always have a part of you with me, even if I might not ever have all of you.”

He was blushing and it looked like tears were threatening to fall. I hadn’t thought it possible to love him more, but he’d proven me wrong. Looking into his eyes, which were turning lighter with every passing day, I don’t know how in the hell I hadn’t been able to see the love. All the years we’d missed because of my own stupidity and arrogance.

“Where’s my feather?” I asked, but my heart already knew the answer—the same place where I’d placed his.

“Inside me, near my heart,” he answered in a shy, uncertain voice. “I know it sounds foolish, but it was the safest place and kept you close to my heart. If I was destroyed, the feather would be destroyed with me, so you’d always be safe.”

I smiled. “It’s the same for me—your feather is near my heart. I knew what I wanted long before I was angel enough to admit it.”

Suddenly, Marchand dropped to his knees next to us. “Uh, listen, everybody enjoys a love story and a happy ending, but I’ve got guts all over meandthe real demon army just arrived. We aren’t finished yet.”

****

Ariel

We hadn’t even had a full minute to celebrate the victory before another demon army appeared. This time it was led by the rest of my siblings and their spouses. Several demon lords flanked them. Their minions stood strong beside them, sending waves of fury in our direction. What was left of Tantrumonious’ army quickly moved to stand by my brothers.

“Fuck,” Az muttered in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He looked at the army and then at me. “Let me guess. This is the rest of your family.”

“Not his family,” Nic hissed as he moved to stand by us. “He’s our family now.” He looked at me. “Can you buy us some time so we can try and build our magic back up?”

“That’s not what I meant, Ari,” Az quickly amended as he moved his body to ensure he was between me and my siblings. “I know you aren’t like them, that they were never your family.”

I looked around at our group—they were damaged but still alive—for now. After what they’d just endured, they couldn’t face another battle. I couldn’t let them—not for me. “Let me talk to them,” I said to Az. “They aren’t like Tantrum. I might be able to reason with them.” I held zero hope that they could be reasoned with, but there was no reason to share that with my new family.

“Not without me by your side,” Az growled possessively.

“Let me do this alone, Az. Just give me a chance.”

Nic, Thibeau, Gabriel, Julian, and Marchand stepped forward. Valen stayed back with Sacha, who seemed to be struggling with his recovery. Nic’s familiar, Taylor, was the only one not present. He was still on his honeymoon, or I knew he would be standing with the rest of us, too.

“We do this together,” Nic stated firmly. “Or we don’t do it at all.”

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