Page 25 of Wings of Valor
Except it’s not me they’re after anymore.
No.
They turn to Zeke, who grunts as he’s grabbed by an angel with metal-tipped wings.
The lieutenant moves too fast for me to get a good look at his face, but the tinkling of metal is unmistakable.
“No!” I shout as the guild lieutenant covers Zeke’s mouth with his hand. Zeke tries to fight him off, but something is wrong. His movements are too slow. Too weak.
I blink, and suddenly the demons and the lieutenant—who’s holding Zeke’s ever-weakening form—are beside Auriel. I meet his eyes for the briefest moment, catch his smirk, and then they’re just gone. Vanished, as if they were never there at all.
“Zeke!” I yell, racing forward to the spot where he just was, hoping forsomething. A rift in time and space. A portal. Fucking anything. But all I do is walk through sand and air.
I crumble to the ground, defeated.
This can’t be fucking happening.
I look up at the sky and scream.
“Hayliel.”
I hear my name and turn to find Theo and Raph.
“This is why I didn’t want you here. This is why I told Mira not to share the location. Fuck!” I bury my head in my hands, a sob ripping from my throat.
How did things get so bad? And why can’t anyone fucking listen to me? I throw my hands out on either side of me, and a stream of golden heat arcs across the sand, burning all of the vegetation in its wake.
“We’ll get him back, sunshine,” Raphael says, but I ignore him. We said the same thing about my parents, yet here I sit, covered in blood and sand and despair while they’re held captive who knows where. Now Zeke is gone, too.
Theo clears his throat. “It’s not safe here. We have to leave and tell the others what happened. About the mole and about Zeke.”
I don’t move. Ican’tmove. My fingers sift through the sand, cupping a handful and letting it slip between my fingers. If only I could stop time. Turn it back. I could save them all. I could protect them all.
The flapping of wings has our heads turning and hope fluttering in my chest. Did Zeke escape somehow? Is he coming back to me?
But it’s not Zeke.
The sight before me turns my stomach as I catch sight of four white wings spread wide.
Castiel lands beside the Archangel, face set in a grim line. It’s not Auriel, yet I can’t help the unease that settles over me.
An Archangel stole my parents and just took one of my boyfriends.
What the hell will this one do?
10
Something slithers through my veins.
It mixes with my blood, much too fast for me to stop it, causing my limbs to fail me, making my mouth unable to form words and my eyelids so damn fucking heavy.
I need to tell them about Atlas. About him being not only the mole but Mira’s dad, too. If I can’t look into it, then someone else has to.
My mind is foggy, but I put all of my energy and focus into my connections.
Atlas is the mole. Do you hear me? Lieutenant Atlas is a traitor to the guild. And he’s also Mira’s father. Don’t trust her. I don’t know if she’s working with him or not.
In front of me, no one’s expression changes. Or at least, I don’t think they do. Everything is a bit blurry. Whatever that assholeinjected me with beckons me to close my eyes, to rest, to sleep and forget about the rest of the world.
