Page 69 of Wings of Strife
While she’s heading toward the door, I adjust my erection enough so that it’s hopefully not visible.
“Hey man,” Theo says, his smile wide like he knows what he’s walked in on. Ugh. I might not hate him anymore, but he’s too damn nosey. Like yes, I’m glad he talked some sense into me, but for fuck’s sake, let me enjoy this moment before sucking all the fun away.
“Hey. Thanks for getting her away from that psycho.”
“Of course. You’d have done the same. How’d things go at the guild?”
Shit. I totally forgot about that. “Azrael finally offered an update on the body we found. Went off about Roderick and how he wanted my thoughts before going to the guild.”
“He can’t!” Hayliel says while she slings a bag on her back.
“That’s exactly what I said. I had to tell him a few things, but I excluded any mention of you, the blade you survived, or Seraphim.”
“Thank you. I know it won’t stay secret for long, but I’d prefer we keep it to ourselves for a little longer.”
“I’m confident he’s an ally, but it might not hurt to get him out to the cave to be sure. And now that he’s aware of a mole, we have someone else on the inside looking out for evidence of who it might be.”
Theo nods. “Let’s do that. Having him fully on our side is a win for us. Even your dad too, if you trust him.”
I consider it. From the start, I never thought Azrael or Dad were involved, but part of me is a little scared to learn the truth just in case I’m wrong. “Maybe,” I reply instead.
Time is ticking down for the asshole that wants to take down his own kind.
Whoever it is, we’ll find them.
30
The closer we get to Friday, the more worried I become.
For Theo and Castiel. For Raphael and meeting his family. It feels like we’re making big moves. I just hope they’re going in the right direction.
Despite my woe-is-me attitude, the sun beams down on us with not a cloud to be found like it’s mocking my inner thoughts. My usual bodyguards are withheld elsewhere, so I’m having an early dinner with Gagiel, Yofie, Tabbris, and Sidriel. We sit on the benches around an unlit fire pit. Sidriel talks between bites of food, telling us the grand love story of her mom and dad. Gagiel is enraptured. He’s barely chewing what little food he’s managed to put in his mouth.
I take another bite of pasta to hide my smile. Someone has a crush. But are his affections returned? I’ll have to find out, thenmaybe do a little matchmaking to see if I can help speed their growth along.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here? The mutant away from her guardians?”
The same group of Fallen dickwads we know are working with Uriel close in on us. There are six of them surrounding the benches and smiling like they’ve finally succeeded in getting me alone. If it were anyone else here with me, I might say the odds were fairly even. There are five of us and six of them. But these angels with me today aren’t guild-trained. They’re victims of previous bouts of bullying and are now about to experience it again. Shit.
Since this whole ‘get shit on for sport’ thing isn’t exactly new for me, I’ve gotten damn good at multitasking.Fallen bullshit happening at the firepit. Any chance one of you could come back me up? I don’t want the others to get hurt.I push the message through the mental pathways with my friends, hoping at least someone is now free. At the same time, I lock eyes with the big foreheaded guy who must be the leader of this little band of misfits. “Your obsession with me is growing tiresome, dude. I get it. You don’t like me. I’m different. Don’t you have better things to do than ruin our meal?”
“Don’t you have better things to do than dirty this school with your filth?” Thin eyebrows glares at me.
“Good one,” I say, deadpan. I’m so fucking sick of these assholes. Sick of their taunts. Their games. And I won’t stand by for a second if they try to harm my friends. “Look. You wanted to get me alone, right? Well, let my friends go and you’ve got me. Deal?”
“What?” Gagiel and Sidriel say at the same time.
“Hayliel, no,” Yofie and Tabbris echo.
I stand and set my food down on the empty bench behind me. “I’ll be fine. I’m enjoying having you on campus too much to riskyou going back to virtual studies, so really you’d be doing me a favor. Please.”
“Alright, the nerds can leave,” big forehead says. “Then we’ll make you regret ever thinking you could come here and pretend to be one of us.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I mutter. To my four friends, I say, “Go. I’ll message you later, okay?”
The Fallen group disperses enough to let my friends out, but quickly closes around me once they’re gone. I watch them walk away slowly before finally turning back to the fuckers ruining my day. “Well? Let’s get this over with, then.”
They all move as one, stumbling over each other in a bid to grab me. It’s almost laughable. I avoid getting caught by everyone except for thin eyebrows. She looks more than pleased to have caught me, but if she thinks I’m giving up easily, she has another thing coming. Catching sight of my half-eaten bowl of pasta, I lift it with my mind and dump it on her head.
