Page 28 of Wings of Strife
I won’t let him leave this damn cave without having a conversation.
Zeke’s slate dings, and I watch the emotions flit over his face. Resignation, worry, and finally, fear.
“Mira’s on campus. She’ll be here any minute.”
13
Mira.
The name is beautiful, and likely so is she. As hard as I try not to think about it, my mind can’t help but conjure images of this badass, gorgeous angel who’s far more on Zeke’s level than I am.
He’s been acting weird all week. Staying away from us as much as possible and even avoiding eye contact with me. Now he’s even more fidgety, barely bothering to look anywhere aside from the floor. Is it because of her? Are they together or something?
It shouldn’t bother me. Things between Zeke and I have finally gotten to a place of friendship, or they did before this odd change in behavior, and even though the greedy woman inside of me wants more than that, I don’t know if he’d be interested. I certainly can’t imagine him sharing me with Raph and Theo, socan I really be upset if there’s more between him and Mira than he’s letting on?
Shit. Who the hell am I? This isn’t like me at all.
Footsteps approach from beyond the cave entrance and I hold my breath, my hands turning clammy.
This is it.
A tall woman walks in with hair the color of wine and an air of confidence about her that almost makes me envious. The new rune we just finished painting glows an iridescent blue before fading back to normal. What the hell does that mean?
“Zeke! I see you put the rune to good use. I’m impressed.” Her voice comes out unexpectedly raspy, but not in a bad way. “Hopefully this means you’ll trust me now.”
Zeke grumbles something, but the angel cuts him off. She definitely takes no shit.
“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Mira Harlow. Whoever made that deterring ward, kudos. It’s strong as hell.” She shakes her hands like she’s trying to rid the feeling.
“That would be me. I’d feel better about it if we didn’t have to deal with the damn thing, too. I’m Dina.”
“I can help with that,” Mira offers with a smile.
Raphael clears his throat, eyebrow raised in suspicion. “Really? You can stop us from feeling the effects of the ward?”
“Yup. And you are?”
“Raphael.”
Dina claps her hands together, clearly excited. “As much as I want to figure outwhyyou’d offer to help, I’d rather we fix it more. Maybe you can help us with our other ones, too.”
“I’m with Dina on this one. Nice to meet you, I’m Theo.”
Mira gives him a smile, revealing a pretty dimple in her cheek that makes me want to hate her. Except I don’t think I can.
She walks over to me with the stride of a runway model. The bracelets on her arm jangle, and I can finally read the word onher shirt.Fake. Let’s just hope it’s not a sign of who she is as an angel.
“Something tells me you’re the glue that holds this group together. Is that true?” she asks, her gaze quizzical.
I’d be offended that Zeke hadn’t already talked about me if it wasn’t painfully clear he didn’t tell her about anyone. “Uh, I don’t know about that. I’m Hayliel.”
She leans in, her voice lowering so only I can hear. “Well, don’t worry, babe. I’m not here for any of your men.”
My eyes widen. “I’m not—”
“Oh, so it’s like that? Interesting. Regardless, I’ll stay in my lane.”
It takes me a moment to get my shit together. How the hell can she tell I have men she needs to stay away from? We’ve barely spoken, and it’s not like she walked in on me with any of them. Did Zeke tell her? Is he included in my lane, the one she just promised to stay out of? Archangels, I’m a mess.
