It was for the greater good. It was to save he… Heaven.
She halted at the door and her beautiful hair twirled with her as she turned to me. “Are you coming?”
A jolt of joy prickled my skin. She still requested my presence even though she might think she no longer needed my assistance. I gave her a curt nod and joined her.
She gazed at my face, at my mouth, and the rhythm of my heartbeat fluctuated. “Is there something you wish to say, Belle?”
“It’s the first time I see you smile. You look really nice when you do.”
I was smiling? Of course I was. I was enjoying the extended period of time she was allowing me in her company more than I should have, but in this moment, I let myself feel every emotion induced and evoked in me by Belle’s power. Too soon, I would no longer have such delight as we both set in separate ways. Hopefully, where I would return to Heaven, and she would remain on Earth. “That is very kind of you.”
She chuckled. “Okay, Archangel from the eighteen hundreds. In all the paranormal books I’ve read, ancient creatures who visit Earth have to speak like they’re from a different time. Well, English isn’t even your first language. When they send you to someone on Earth, shouldn’t they update you with the current version of the language they speak?”
She might have a point. “I shall take your note to the heavenly personnel responsible, Professor.”
The sound of her giggle warmed my heart. Then her squeals and involuntarily bounces and spasms of her body when she saw her friend altered my emotions entirely. Why did females of human origins do that when they saw each other?
I waited the exaggerated greetings and extensive questioning about Belle’s wellbeing out. Then Katrina looked at me with suspicion. Only a witch would be skeptical of an archangel. “I’ve never seen an angel before.”
“That is not true. You have worked closely with Damien many times,” I said.
“I meant a real angel not a fallen one.”
“With your line of work, fallen is most likely the only kind you get to see.”
“Zava,” Belle reprimanded, “could you not be an asshole to my friend?”
Alec’s nose twisted as if he detected a bad smell. “Zava?”
Belle centered the room. “Okay, can we all try to put everything that has been happening in the past couple of days along with our differences and mixed feelings aside for now and be nice to each other? At least, until I get a good understanding of this goddamn prophecy and what the fuck it has to do with me? Because I’m doing my best not to freak out here, but I’m on the verge of having a supernatural nervous breakdown, and your bickering is the last thing I should be dealing with right now.”
The alpha wolf stepped toward her, and with one move, he carried her, giving her a kiss rather insolent to be seen in public. “How’s that for putting everything aside for now?”
A chortle escaped her mouth as he placed her in a chair at the table. He cradled her face between his hands. “We’re all glad you’re back…safely, and each one of us is here for you, sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about a thing. Just let us protect you, Belle. That’s all we’re asking.”
Her eyes glistened as she nodded, patting his hands. Then she glanced at the rest of her men and her friend. “I love every single one of you so much.”
Indeed. There was so much love in this house, in her heart and theirs. Another emotion I had never experienced before crept inside me. Another sin.
Envy.
I envied each one of them. I envied the sweetness of their love for her. I envied the beauty of her love for them.
My head and heart swarmed with the notions of a mad angel. I spiraled in endless foolish thoughts and desires that I must find a way to obliterate before I went out of my mind.
“Zava, is this right?” Belle’s voice hauled me back to her. I was too immersed in my line of obscene thought to have heard what she was talking about.
“I fear I have missed the earlier conversation. What are you asking about?”
“The prophecy. Touched by the Devil, they rise. An offspring with the power to unite darkness against light. The Devil’s cursed passion tumbles the kingdoms of heaven and hell with equal force. The Child of Gloom builds and destroys until there’s chaos, no dark or light. Whose side they take shall have the power to again rise,” she recited. “Joshua says the offspring is Vixen’s girls, and I am Damien’s cursed passion. And Katrina says the Child of Gloom is my future baby. Is that right, Zava?”
Her voice shivered with awful fright that tore at me. I moved to her side, a nagging forbidden urge to comfort her driving me. I sat next to her and touched her shoulder. “Do not fret, Belle.”
“How when I’m the malice that threatens not only the apocalypse but also a celestial one? When I’m gonna be the mother of…doom?”
“You are not. Trust me.” I glanced up at the rest. “You have done a good job with the translation, but you have missed a few things.” My eyes fell on the yellow pages of the book with the original Angelic scripture. I tapped on the word they had translated into the Devil. “This word doesn’t mean Damien. Not in particular.”
“How do you mean?” Joshua asked.
