Maybe.
But first, I had to face my family one more time. Try and make amends. I didn’t know if my brother would ever forgive me, but I had to try.
Raven flew high above the clouds since we were flying in daylight. No nighttime to hide us. She glided down and the Mississippi River flowed into the ocean. She flew toward the bayou and landed in the same place where we’d parked the cars.
I got off first and helped Selena down. Her feet hit the ground and she went still. Her face drained of color, her eyes locked on something behind me.
Oh fuck.
Angelo.
He emerged from the trees like a shadow given teeth. The look in his eyes was the kind that preceded funerals. Enzo and Dimitri flanked him, faces blank, hands ready — soldiers awaiting an order.
I stepped in front of Selena. "She didn't have anything to do with this."
"That's not true." Angelo closed the distance between us, each step deliberate, unhurried. The walk of a man who never had to chase anyone because no one was stupid enough to run. "You shouldn't have betrayed me. None of you should have."
I reached for the dagger tucked in my belt behind me.
"Don't." Selena stepped around me. "They're for demons. Not vampires."
You could have fooled me. Angelo looked like a demon ready to rip us apart.
A massive black bat swooped down in front of Angelo and shifted into Costin. He straightened, brushed off his jacket like he'd just stepped out of a car instead of the sky, and fixed Angelo with a look that could have frozen hell itself.
"The shard belongs to me, Angelo."
Things just went from bad to worse.
Rose held her head high and stared them both down. "We've split the shard. One for Angelo. One for Costin."
Costin cocked an eyebrow. "How did you split it?"
"We didn't," I said. "The Archangel Michael did."
Angelo's eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't lie to me."
Thunder cracked overhead. Lightning split the sky — not distant, not a warning, but right there, striking the ground between us. The air reeked of ozone and divine fury.
Michael appeared. And he wasn't alone.
Serenity stood beside him. The sunlight glistened off her blonde hair. Angelo's mate. The mother of his child. And the look on her face went beyond fury. It was the cold, quiet rage of a woman who had just learned exactly what kind of man she'd given her heart to.
Angelo went white.
"I'm going to say this once, and only once." Michael's voice cut through the silence like Excalibur itself. "I split the shard. If you kill any of them, you'll deal with me." His gaze fixed on Angelo and held. "And she knows everything."
Serenity’s white wings flapped out behind her—not for flight, for fury. I’d seen Nephilim angry before. This was something else entirely. She stormed over toward Angelo and pointed at me. “Did you tell Rocco that if he didn’t steal this shard for you, you’d have Enzo kill his mother?”
Angelo cast a furious gaze over to Michael, but then faced Serenity. “I would do anything to protect our daughter.”
No apology. No it was amistake. No remorse.
Serenity shoved his chest. “How many times do I have to tell you that she can protect herself?”
Angelo folded his arms. “I’m not convinced.”
He really liked to tease an Archangel who could cut him down with the snap of his fingers. Total arrogance. Or was it foolishness?
