“My word, how on earth do you cope with the stench in here?” Zagan looked up to see Raziel waving a hand beneath his elegant nose; the light from his wings casting an eerie glow over the darkness of his throne room. Botis was a hulking shadow beside him.
“You’re too late,” Zagan dismissed them, going back to his tablet. “The orgy finished an hour ago. Demons do need sleep, you know.” Indeed, the floor was littered with snoring demons; most of them naked. Zagan didn’t care. He got to sit on his throne and pretend he had a life, without being pestered.
“Lucifer’s been looking for you,” Raziel stepped gingerly over a body and then another one. “He wasn’t impressed to hear his favorite angel had been left broken-hearted by one of his own. I hear he’s on the warpath, looking to kick your ass.”
“Broken hearted angel? Lucifer? What the fuck?” Zagan slipped his tablet in the ether and pushed himself out of his throne.
“You upset Head Office,” Botis taunted. “And now Lucifer’s hunting your ass and he doesn’t want to fill it with his dick.”
“Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Zagan appealed to Raziel. “I’ve been down here minding my own business for over a week. There’s no way I can get into trouble with Lucifer for that. I’m handling my demons which is what I’m supposed to do.”
“Not much handling going on,” Botis laughed. “You’re dressed. They’re not. Having a bit of trouble in the dick department? Can only get hard when you think of a special dancer?”
“Are you trying to get me killed?” Zagan hissed as he zapped his friends, and he was using the word loosely, to his private apartment. “You know what will happen to me if those demons think I can’t get a hard-on anymore. It’s hard enough quelling the rumors now.”
“Nice place,” Raziel said airily, looking around at Zagan’s black and gold décor. “The white bed sheets clash though, don’t you think? I’d have picked you more for a red satin type of guy.”
“I’m trying something different. I find them soothing.” Zagan was not the type to blush and he wasn’t going to start now even if the eagle-eyed angel recognized his sheets. “Now what the hell are you doing here and why are you telling tales to Lucifer about me?”
“We haven’t said anything to Lucifer yet,” Botis said easily, pulling Raziel down into a chair with him. Slamming his boots on the coffee table, he grinned. “Fact of the matter is, as I am sure you know, you’ve been drawn into the grand design by Head Office who wants to see certain demons mated to specific angels. You met said angel. You even got upset when said angel was simply doing his job. You scored said angel’s address from Lucifer and left him with the impression you were about to make said angel a very happy being. But you didn’t, did you?”
“We met. We talked. I left. End of story. I didn’t touch him. I didn’t break the rules and said angel, was fine when I left.”
“I’m going to seriously recommend to Head Office that you demons get some relationship pointers.” Raziel shook his head. “Let me get this straight. You’ve been offered the sweetest, sexiest angel in existence as a permanent mate as part of a scheme by Head Office to avoid what could only be described as the end of days, and you turned him down. Is that right?”
“It’s not a big deal. I just didn’t want to be tied to a single person for the rest of my existence.” Zagan scratched his nose.
“Are you sure about that?” Raziel didn’t give him a chance to answer, conferring with his mate instead. Zagan had to admit they looked good together but he wasn’t used to being ignored. “Okay, Zagan’s a big fat no so that means Anael needs someone else to mate with. You know how this works. I’m not sure if Zagan will be called on again because he’s obviously an ass and Lucifer will probably kill him when he finds out how upset Anael is. But Gabriel made it clear angels have to do their part. Who do you think would be the best demon to mate with Anael?”
“Well, there’s Haures, he’s really the only demon leader I know personally and face it, Anael deserves a ranking demon; none of the lower misfits will ever treat him right. They’d trip over themselves just meeting him.” Botis is actually thinking about this! “Haures oversees the spirits of the damned, as opposed to Zagan who leads the damned. Haures has a lot of ghostly warriors. He fights a lot of the time, but he wouldn’t break Anael’s heart.”
“Wait just a dog-danged fucked up minute here!” Zagan roared. “Are you telling me angels have to accept the mate they’ve been given?”
“We have free will the same as you,” Raziel said, flicking him a quick glance. “But I’ve seen the visions of what will come to pass if the gulf between good and evil gets wider. Anael knows about it too and he was so excited when he realized he’d not only been honored as part of this scheme, but that you were his intended. He’s had a crush on you for years.”
“Then he’s a fool.” Saying it didn’t make Zagan feel any better. “Anael doesn’t need to be mated. He’s young and perfectly happy the way he is.”
“You’re questioning Head Office now?” Botis put his head back, roaring with laughter. “Your ass is toast, man. Come on, my angel, let’s go and see if Carmine can give us some pointers on who would make a substitute mate for sweet Anael. Lucifer will want an update too, seeing as it’s his lesser demons who are running amuck and taking advantage of the lack of love on earth.”
“Will you wait just a fucking minute.” Zagan’s head was spinning. How much had he missed in the week he’d kept to his palace? “What’s the matter with Anael? Why isn’t there love on earth?”
“Because you broke Anael’s heart, you ruthless ba….” The swear word was on the tip of Raziel’s tongue and Zagan’s finger itched to push him to say it. But Botis glared and he decided it wasn’t worth making an issue out of it. Inhaling sharply, Raziel said more calmly this time, “Anael has spent the past week holed up in his apartment, refusing to see anyone or leave his rooms. Because the love he shares with others through his happy smiles and cheerful disposition create a ripple effect among the humans he comes into contact with; that joy and happiness are now missing. Humans aren’t meeting their soul mates; friendships are being disbanded; families are splitting up and humans generally are one step away from fighting on the streets.”
“Anael controls all that?” Zagan was impressed.
“He doesn’t control it,” Raziel said sharply, “it’s part of him; it’s who he is and you broke him as surely and as precisely as if you’d stabbed him in the heart.”
“I didn’t intend for any of that to happen.” Zagan slumped in the nearest chair, his mind a whirl. “We’d just met. I swear I didn’t touch him. I didn’t do anything. There’s no reason for him to be so upset.” And yeah, it was killing Zagan that he might have caused so much harm to a being that didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t going to say so.
“You saw your connection and refused it anyway. He’s the angel of love and his own mate ran away from him. How do you think he’s feeling right now; knowing he’s brought hundreds of thousands of couples together in his lifetime, and yet wasn’t good enough for the one chosen for him.” Raziel stood and shook out his wings. “I’m done talking to you. I have complete faith in Lucifer’s ability to punish you for what you’ve done. He’s got a soft spot for Anael. I heard word Lucifer even asked the Master to ensure Anael would not be hurt by being part of the Head Office’s plan. He’s going to be shitting bricks on your head when he catches up with you.”
Shit. This is so much bigger than I thought. Suddenly, Zagan’s desire to be a free demon, roaming and fucking at will like he had for millennia, seemed pathetic. It was made worse by the fact the fucking part of the equation was completely off the table unless he wanted to embarrass himself.
Zagan wasn’t stupid. He’d considered what life would be like having someone like Anael by his side. He’d even dreamed about it and in the loneliness of his palace, he admitted how much brighter his life might be with Anael in it. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t lop off a few heads if any of his demons took his mating as a sign of weakness. Botis coped with the fallout and was even stronger because of the connection he had with an angel.
“Give me a day,” he said quickly. “Twenty-four hours. Don’t say anything to Lucifer for twenty-four hours. I’ll woo Anael, court him and beg his forgiveness.”
“If you’re just doing this to save your own ass, then forget it,” Raziel snapped. “Anael’s never done anything wrong and he doesn’t deserve you sticking your dick in him just so you can stay in Lucifer’s good graces.”
“I underestimated the pull to be with him. You’re doing me a favor, pushing me like this. I should never have left Anael in the first place.” Zagan hoped angels had an inbuilt bullshit detector because he didn’t know how to convince the archangel of his honesty any other way.
“But are you going to claim him?” Botis asked bluntly. “’Cos if you ain’t, then leave him alone. It took us over an hour to convince Anael to go back to work this evening and even then his heart wasn’t in it. I don’t want you making things worse.”
Zagan hesitated just long enough for Raziel to swish his wings. Honestly, he’d done nothing but think about the angel every waking moment since he left that tidy apartment. He was lonely, sick to his stomach and suddenly scared for the first time in his life. But as soon as the word, “yes,” fell from his mouth he felt nothing but the desire to be in Anael’s presence. Hell, he’d sit at the boy’s feet provided no one else was around to see it. “Yes, if he’ll have me, I’ll claim him.” His cock got up and did a happy dance.