Týr snorted. “Should have killed the lot!”
“What?” Her gaze did a tennis ball match between all three. “I couldn’t kill them all. There were too many.”
“You could have,” Nik said. “But you did better. We tracked you to the deadland and heard of a female who’d singlehandedly vanquished an army of demon guards, sending them to Purgatory.”
She blinked, then shrugged. “I did? Oh, good. I would have killed anyone who stopped us from leaving. I just wanted to get Nate out of there without any more obstacles. He was more important than worrying about those who disappeared and would have killed us.”
Maybe she had become ruthless like her Guardian brethren after all.
Reynner came back into the loop, his eyebrows drawn in a V. “What?”
“My abilities have awakened,” she answered quickly. She understood now that Nik and Týr had gone to Ys, looking for her and learned what happened, but Michael? “How do you know all this?” she asked him.
A rare smile tipped up the corner of the Arc’s mouth. “I have…eyeseverywhere.”
Of course, he did.
Michael had angels and Fallen working for him, patrolling other parts of the world. So, why not a few winged beings in the Dark Realm, too?
“It was quite something to behold, I’ve heard,” Michael said.
“Aye,” Aba agreed from the doorway, dragging Ely’s attention away from the archangel. “Especially when she trapped two malevolent wraconis. In the face of peril, she was calm, collected, and dealt with the situation swiftly, making it easier for me to kill the beasts.”
Everyone’s stares swung back to her.
“From the Infernii Realm? Good.” Michael nodded. “It’s an ability that can be used on this realm if needed, instead of weapons, which can sometimes be a liability.”
She cast Aba a grateful smile. This demon, reviled by many because of his species, had a gentle heart and was capable of immense love. No wonder Nate would go to any length to protect him, and she would, too.
“And Nate, mymate?” she finally asked the most vital question. “He’s…wasa human given a wraconis symbiont when he died as a child.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed.
“He no longer has it,” she said quickly. “The symbiont was consuming him, taking over, evolving. To save him, I dug it out…” The terror she went through daggered her chest, remembering the horror of how close she’d come to losing him.
“The symbiont’s dead now, but the other ones he has, have activated…” She laid it all out, then waited for the other shoe to fall. Because the Arc’s easygoing manner didn’t mean he had forgotten the crux of the situation. Demons weren’t allowed into the castle, let alone to live there. And shehadgone AWOL.
“Then we will wait and see what this symbiont turns out to be before I decide. And Ely?” His stern gaze held hers. “A violent, demonic being cannot live at the castle, let alone in this world. I know what the wraconis are capable of.”
And there it was.
“But it’s dead,” she protested.
“I’m aware. We will wait,” he reiterated. His attention shifted back to the apartment behind her as if scanning for said demonic vibration, then back to her. “And what you did without consulting me…” She froze. “I’ll let it slide for now. You were off duty.”
She exhaled in relief, thankful for the reprieve. Then she realized she hadn’t introduced Aba, who remained in the doorway. “This is Aba, Nate’s sire,” she said. “He saved Nate as a child after he was shot and left for dead.”
“And Nate saved me,” Shadow spoke up, coming to stand next to Ely. “I lay dying in the alley after those demons tore out my throat. He did the same for me, gave me my symbiont, as I breathed my last.”
Michael pinched the bridge of his nose, then shook his head as Kira stepped to her other side and slipped her arm around Ely’s waist.
Michael raised an eyebrow at her reinforcements. “Very well. Let’s hear it, Kira?”
Týr sighed, but his stare was of a male utterly besotted with his mate, waiting patiently for this to play out.
“I brought food,” she said with an irrepressible smile, dimples flashing. “Oh, I left it in the kitchen, Ely. You must be hungry, yes?” Concerned hazel eyes flashed to hers. “I don’t think you stopped for a meal—I mean, a proper one in the Dark Realm?”
“No, not really.” Heck, hunger was the last thing on her mind.
