“You ready to get down the mountain?” Hadrian asked.
Saar looked at Kohara before turning his attention to Tempest and Taranis. He sighed, running a hand over his face.
“We’ll stay with you,” Hadrian said, resting a hand on Saar’s shoulder.
“Same,” Anakin said. “We’ll cover you from the sky. Gannon and Shiloh will be back and join up when they’re done.”
“When we get to the bottom, we’ll hunt around for their transportation,” Miller said. “And likewise, we’re right here, honey. Not going anywhere.”
My chest ached for a minute. I’ve always thought that these were the kind of friends I had. When in crisis, they came running and never left my side. I supposed that now I needed to consider that the kind of crisis I was presented with might define the type of friends I should call.
Which seemed really unfair. Perhaps there weren’t any ride-or-die people in my life. Also unfair, I shared something happy and a ‘friend’ shit all over it. I’m not sure I want that kind of friendship.
We forced our injured to remain where they were. Kohara, Tempest, and Taranis didn’t complain, though Raiden was largely unimpressed. It took the threat of Edison pinning him to the ground for him to remain there. Though, he didn’t stop scowling.
Astro prowled around and the angels remained looking outward while everyone else tried to pack up what was left. We did a bunch of mumbling that we should just leave it at this point. We’d lost so much of it in the winds we’d created, anyway.
“You must have spent a fortune on this gear, though,” Aden, the Malak’s human husband, said.
“It’s just money,” Aratiri said.
Aden snorted. “As someone who came from absolutely no money, I’m not sure ‘only money’ has the same connotation to me as it does you.”
Arat smiled. He took Aden’s chin in his fingers, giving him a flirty smile. “Sweet boy, I’ll give you three companies and you’ll never have to worry about money again. Yeah?”
Aden flushed and pulled away. “N-no. No! That’s not necessary. We have money too, you know.”
“Yes, I know you do. But clearly there’s still a part of you that worries financially. I can make that a non-issue,” Arat said. His expression said he was completely serious.
Aden must have seen that too. He swallowed, eyes wide. He blinked several times, shaking his head as if he were trying to force the thought away. “No, Aratiri. I don’t need your—”
“If you say charity, I’m going to sweep you away in a fucking hurricane, boy,” Arat growled.
Chuckles moved around the group. Lazarus stopped behind Aden and wrapped an arm around the front of his shoulders, pulling Aden’s back to his chest. He kissed the side of his head. “You know, monsters live a long time. Gaining wealth is easy for us. And giving it to those we care about is likewise easy.”
“I don’t need—We have plenty of money,” Aden argued. Insecurity flashed across his face and he turned his head to look at Lazarus. “Don’t we?”
Laz pressed a kiss to Aden’s lips. “Yes. Not as much as Arat, but plenty.”
Aden looked at Arat with narrowed eyes. “How much money do you have, exactly?”
Arat winked.
“Enough to buy the country,” Anakin teased as he walked by.
Aden’s eyes widened. “The whole country?”
Aratiri rolled his eyes. “No. A handful of states, probably.”
“Like, states? United Statesstates?”
Arat’s nod was absent. Then he frowned. “I haven’t looked at my portfolio in a while but yeah, last I knew.”
Aden blinked at him a few times before shaking his head. “That’s a stupid amount of money.”
“Agreed,” Aratiri said before a smile brightened up his gorgeous face again. “So I won’t miss the companies I give away.”
“Table this conversation,” Hadrian said, clapping Arat on the shoulder. “We’re about done here and need to get your husbands to the bottom of this mountain.”
