“Shh,” Arat said again, brushing his lips along the shell of my ear. “They’re okay now.”
“But I—”
“I know, baby, I know. We’ll hug the fuck out of them in a bit. But right now, we need to let the glow sticks do their thing.”
A snort came from behind us, and I glanced up to look at Hadrian. He’s their one and only seraphim. A class of angel that’s really high and strong. With a glow so bright it can melt metal. I’ve seen him do it and heard stories about how he was with the Wyns almost a year ago trying to find their wife.
We’ve had a lot of kidnappings. Daemon’s new wife, Aves’ husband and new wife, Wyn’s new wife, and three of our friends. I was almost beginning to think it was a rite of passage. I was glad for no more kidnappings. But this…. I’m not sure this was any better. Because those times, we’d managed to get them all back with none of them dying.
I swallowed thickly and continued to watch as the Nephilim moved between my injured husbands. They spent the most time with Kohara and Tempest, of course. Once Raiden stopped trying to throw up the contents of his empty stomach, he seemed to recover quickly. Tara had been in his net longer, though, so that shit had burned into his skin.
He insisted it was just a flesh wound, but I wasn’t so sure. I saw what it did to him. It forced him from his monster. It made him into a man again and then continued to eat at him. I hadn’t gotten a good look at his back yet, but I’d caught glimpses. It was bad. He was going to be scarred.
Hands on either side of my face forced my attention away, and I was staring into the dark eyes of Notus. They were filled with concern as he looked at me. “Are you hurt, Bronte?”
I shook my head. Mentally, maybe. Emotionally, fuck yes. But not physically.
His fingers rubbed over my skin. After several moments of staring into my eyes, he rested his face on my forehead. “Arat, check him.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
But Arat did as Notus requested. His hands roved all over my body with a business-like touch, examining every inch. Satisfied that I was, in fact, in one piece, he pressed to my back again and wrapped his arms around my stomach.
“You’re scared, yeah?” Arat whispered.
I nodded.
“Everything’s okay now. Our husbands are… alive. We’ll be fine,” he assured me.
That wasn’t the fear that filled me. I knew that it was over. For today, anyway. I knew we were safe. But the fear of losing even one of them, husband or wife, sat heavy on my shoulders. It had bothered me since the monster came in for sanctuary last week. Just a little niggling feeling that filled me with breathless fear.
But it must have been an omen. I’d been convinced that the worst thing in the world to happen would be if I lost all my husbands and wife. But losing even one of them would be devastating. Crippling. I won’t survive that. Not a single one of my family was expendable.
“Laz,” Notus said. “Come here, please?”
The shiny man stopped at my side, and his hand landed on my neck. A gentle touch. He hummed quietly, a warmth spreading through my body.
“I’m fine,” I said, slinking into Notus and Aratiri’s holds. “Not hurt.” But as the warmth spread, the pounding behind my eyes eased. I hadn’t even noticed that was happening. The overwhelming thoughts of all my husbands and wife dying blurred, and I sighed.
“That’s better,” Laz said. He pressed his lips to my temple, leaving me with a light kiss. “Relax, honey. Everything is okay now.”
“We have heaven on our side,” Arat said, and I could feel him wink.
I tried to muster a smile, but all that left me was a sigh. Arat and No arranged me in their arms; they tucked me in tight and with hooded eyes, I watched the rest of my family.
Gale had Hadley wrapped tightly in a blanket in his lap. He sat pressed against Raiden’s side with Zilan on Raiden’s other side. Though Hadley was primarily in Gale’s arms, Raiden and Zilan leaned in close, taking comfort in each other.
Tara and Neph were sitting with Tempest, who was still lying on his side, his head in Neph’s lap. Tara curled around him, also using Neph’s thigh as a pillow. Nephele carded his hands through their hair while my two injured husbands looked like they were asleep.
That left Kohara, still not having moved from the ground. Saar knelt at his side now, his hand resting over Koh’s. They were talking quietly, a smile tugging at Saar’s lips. I could see his tension, the fear in the way he held himself.
And the Malaks surrounded us. A ghost, a seraphim, two angels, and a human while their two Nephilim continued to move around my family, checking on injuries and just making sure we were okay.
It was only when I heard a noise in the forest behind me that I shifted my gaze. Though my eyes had been hooded in lazy drowsiness, they widened. The trees were gone. No bodies even littered the ground anymore. The only thing left behind was smoke rising from the ground.
I felt the heavy charge still lingering in the air from whichever bit of storm had done this. Overhead, a deep rumble of thunder filled the silence. And in the distance, I heard the howls and the thud of large paws.
My heartbeat picked up once again.
