Chapter Two
CAM
Cam paced back and forth like a madman after Thea left. He knew other angels were giving him a wide berth but he didn’t care. It was best they did—anxiety and anger threatened to burst out of him.
How could the Dominion League have known about Thea? Under the orders of his commander, Zakiel, Cam hadn’t told anybody. In fact, Zak was the only other being who knew about Thea and her unusual powers. Cam halted—that had to be it. For some reason, Zak must have shared information with the Dominion League. Hadn’t Asteroth said he’d spoken to him earlier?
Cam’s rage sparked within him; Zak had put his relationship with Thea at risk. She was now on the Dominion League’s radar, and they were going to keep her separate from Cam rather than by his side where she belonged. He took to the air, a ball of jagged rage, unable to stop himself from powering toward Zak’s quarters.
The Dominion League’s intentions for Thea caused such panic and fear in Cam, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He had wanted to go after Asteroth and tear him apart, rather than let him take Thea away, but even in his anger, he knew that was a horrendous idea. His existence as he knew it would be over, and there was no way he would ever be able to see Thea again in the way he wanted to.
Cam landed on Zak’s building and pounded on the door, knowing Zak was off duty today. He only waited a few seconds before agitation forced him to pry the door open and barge inside.
Zak had been on his way to open it and stopped, confusion and shock on his face. He only wore a pair of casual trousers as though he was just getting up.
Cam strode toward his commander and shoved him hard, his anger and frustration overwhelming him. “What the fuck did you say?” he snarled.
Zak danced back and then blocked Cam’s fist as he tried to hammer it into his abdomen. Cam landed a heavy punch to his commander’s ribcage and grunted as Zak swung one into his jaw. They grappled each other, staggering around Zak’s social room trying to get the upper hand. Zak slammed Cam into a wall, and Cam managed to pound Zak’s thigh until he fell heavily onto his knee.
Finally, they reached a deadlock grip in a heap on the ground, limbs and elbows twisted around each other, golden skin on cinnamon bronze, squeezing the breath out of each other. Cam cursed. He had forgotten Zak used to be a warrior, too.
“Camael,” Zak said, his voice sounding calm even though he breathed heavily. “You will calm down.”
“What the fuck did you say?” Cam repeated from his bent position, although this time it was in desperation.
“You will calm. Down. No one will win here.”
Cam exhaled and forced himself to relax his grip.
“I understand something has happened,” Zak said, still holding his grip firm. “I will release you now. But if you attack me again before discussing your problem, it is the end of our friendship. Do you understand?”
Cam made a strangled sound in his throat in response.
Zak slowly released him and backed away, his chest heaving. “What are you angry about?”
Cam righted himself on the floor, breathing hard. He worked his joints, still struggling with his anger. “You told them about Thea,” he glowered. “The Dominion League took her.”
“I did nothing of the sort,” Zak said, firmly.
Cam narrowed his eyes at him. “They knew all about her enhanced abilities. They want to train her further and put her on assignments.”
“Of course they know about her, Cam,” Zak said, his voice harsh. “They’re the ones that give me your assignments. Did you expect them not to be aware of her?”
“You told me not to tell anyone,” Cam snapped. “Why would I assume they knew?”
“They are the Dominion League,” Zak said, exasperated. “I told you they didn’t tell me everything about the girl, didn’t I? I told you that when I gave you the assignment. I didn’t want you to tell the Thrones because it would interfere with you mating her, but I never once said that the Dominion League wouldn’t be aware of her abilities.”
Cam rose from the floor and met his commander’s eye. Zak looked wary, shocked and disappointed, but his usual open honesty was clear to see. The raw edge of Cam’s rage fell away. He stiffly made his way to the couch and dropped down onto it. “Please accept my apologies, Commander. It was not my intention to assault you.”
Zak stood watching him from the center of the room, but Cam couldn’t bear to look at him. What he had done was outrageous. Attacking his commander? He had never heard of any Power committing such an act before.
After a long while of silence, Cam glanced up at Zak. He remained in the center of the room observing Cam, his expression cool.
Cam stood. “If you wish to discharge me, I understand, Commander.”
“Sit down.”
Cam lowered back to the couch, his whole body tense with sorrow and exhaustion. The day had started as one of the best in his memory and had now turned into a nightmare.
Zak moved slowly to sit on the couch opposite him, flexing his muscles. He clasped his hands together, clearly in deep thought. “Tell me what happened.”
Cam took a breath, composing himself. “I was showing Thea around the Empire. Asteroth arrived and welcomed her, explaining he was taking her to her new home and for further training. He said he had spoken to you.”
Zak nodded. “He came to the office a few hours ago and requested that you bring Elithea in.”
“Thea,” Cam corrected him. “Did he say why?”
“No. I quizzed him as much as I could, but it seems he gave me less information than he gave you.”
Cam closed his eyes for a moment, his mouth tightening before he opened them again. “I told her she could hunt,” he muttered. “I told her she could work as a demon-hunter. And I told her we would be mated.”
“Why?” Zak’s voice was harsh. “Why did you tell her all that? I never told you she was going to be a hunter. She was only to be trained and protected, that’s it.”
“I assumed that’s what she would do,” said Cam, frustrated. “That’s what all Nephilim do, isn’t it? It was the only way I could get her to even begin training with me.”
Zak exhaled harshly. “And as for your mating… You still haven’t spoken to the Thrones. You cannot promise her anything in that regard.”
“I know,” Cam snapped. “The meeting is in two months but it doesn’t change anything. Whether they agree or not, she is mine.”
Zak stood abruptly. “You’re being irrational, Camael. You made assumptions and now you’re annoyed that they didn’t come to pass. Use your fucking intelligence and you won’t be caught by surprise.”
Cam glared at him, unable to find the words to respond.
Zak strode out of the room and came back with a pitcher of beer and a couple of glass mugs. Zak had always been partial to beer when he used to visit the human world and somehow he always managed to have the beverage stocked in his quarters, even though he didn’t frequent the human world anymore.
As he poured, Cam brooded. Yes, he had made assumptions, but they weren’t unreasonable ones. All he wanted was to live a simple life with Thea; everything else was unimportant and could be figured out later. But if she wasn’t with him, if she was going to be put in constant danger, he couldn’t abide that.
Zak handed him a mug and Cam took a long drink of the malty, fragrant liquid.
“What’s really bothering you?” Zak asked. “You couldn’t have been so angry because of withheld information.” He took a few gulps of his beer but kept his eyes on Cam.
“Asteroth revealed to Thea that I never wanted to train her,” he said, his voice low, “and that I requested to be removed from her protection.” He closed his eyes, remembering the surprise and betrayal on Thea’s face. She wouldn’t even meet his eye before she left; she probably thought he’d been trying to get away from her the entire time they’d been falling in love with each other.
“She will understand, Cam. That was before you opened up to each other.”
“She told me it would break her if I hurt her.”
“You haven’t.” Zak sounded so sure and Cam wanted so much to believed it. “It was a misunderstanding, and she was shocked. She probably didn’t know how to act.”
“You didn’t see her eyes,” Cam said. “There was something in them... She didn’t even look back at me when I called out to her as she was walking away.”
“Cam.”
“I’m trying to build her trust in me,” Cam insisted, “and this has just made it seem like I’m some idiot that doesn’t know what I’m doing, fucking around with her life and her feelings.”
“Humans are complicated,” Zak said. “She may have acted that way, but it doesn’t mean it’s as serious as you think.”
“I don’t even know how to find her,” Cam said. “I don’t know where her quarters are, where she’ll be trained… nothing. It’s like she’s been completely taken from me.” He clenched his fists hard. “This is not how it was supposed to be!”
Zak observed him thoughtfully for a few minutes. “There’s still a way for you to make everything right with her.” A few long seconds passed as he took a long drink of his beer. He was so casual and nonchalant, Cam almost growled at him in impatience.
Zak lowered his mug, smacking his lips. “You can request to be partnered with her.”
Cam straightened. Yes, that was a good idea. He had always argued against taking a partner before, but if it was Thea… that would be perfect. And they did actually work well together against demons in the few times they’d fought together. “How do I do that?”
“We need to see the Dominion League,” Zak said. “Together.” His stare turned hard. “And you will let me do most of the talking. Judging by how angry you were when you came in here, I’m guessing you were rude to Asteroth?”
Cam clenched his jaw. “I wasn’t entirely—”
“You were,” Zak shot at him. “I can tell.”
Cam quieted; it had been surprising that Asteroth hadn’t been more affronted by his behavior. He had never had any cause to speak to him that way before and generally found Asteroth to be one of the more reasonable Dominion League members. “I’m sorry for my behavior, Zak. I was… distraught at the thought of losing Thea. I apologize for accusing you and attacking you.”
Zak sighed. “Accepted.” He was silent for a long while, staring into his mug. “Dealing with natural mates is always a tricky situation.”
Cam frowned, questions crowding his mind. “Have you dealt with natural mates before?”
Zak topped up his drink and didn’t respond.
“How do you know so much about Thea’s reactions?” Cam said, curiosity taking hold of him. “Have you dealt with humans in such depth before?”
Zak took another drink and held Cam’s eye. “I will allow you one question.”
Cam thought carefully. Zak had always been closed about his past before he became a commander, and it was inappropriate for Cam to ask. In truth, he had never wanted to know before. “What is your experience with humans?”
“When I was a warrior, I was fascinated with them,” Zak said. “I spent many months in the human world, observing them, learning about them. I learned a lot about human relationships and interactions. I began to interact with some of them, and I learned that the seemingly irregular patterns of their behavior is always based on their past experiences. Many of them cannot separate their feelings from old experiences to new.”
Cam nodded. “So Thea’s past experiences affect how she will deal with me?”
“Yes. I don’t know why the Creator made them that way. Angels of the Order and Archangels receive specialized training on human behavior, and this is the kind of thing they learn.”
They sat in a calm silence, swallowing their drinks until the pitcher was empty. Cam thought over his time with Thea and realized that she had always been distrustful of him, even from the beginning when he clearly prevented her from being killed. He had tried to combat that by showing her he knew she was capable, that he respected her independence when he let her fight the Asmos demon on her own, but her issues ran deeper than that.
She should realize that anything that happened before their reconciliation was unimportant and yet she was definitely upset by Asteroth’s words. Any trust he’d managed to rekindle in her after he’d left her for months could have been extinguished in those few minutes. Yet he wanted to give her the benefit of doubt. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought.
He swallowed the last of his beer and stood, wincing at the thudding ache in his balls. He had forgotten he hadn’t come earlier when he’d taken Thea in desperation among the clouds. The thought of her legs around him, her moans—
“We will see the Dominion League in a few days.” Zak’s stern voice pushed the thought out of his head.
“Why so long?” Cam’s agitation came through in his tone.
Zak glared at him. “Because we are asking them for their good will, and I need time to sweeten them in our favor. And another thing, I recommend you don’t speak to her until I’ve spoken to the League. You need to be careful about making anyone aware of your relationship.”
“No.” Cam shook his head. “I need to find her and correct her opinion of me.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to do that when you’re partnered,” Zak said.
“I have to speak to her, Zak. I cannot leave her alone again.”
Zak’s jaw clenched as he exhaled. “Fine, but wait for a week before you speak to her. And do not engage her sexually until after you’ve been partnered. The Dominion League will be watching her, and they will notice if you’re spending nights together.” He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t mess this up, Cam.”
Cam nodded and lowered his head as he headed to the door, trying not to make the pain in his crotch obvious.
When they reached the door, Zak stopped him. “Before you go, Cam, I need to know something.”
Cam turned to him and met his stare, dreading what he was about to say.
Zak’s hazel eyes didn’t waver. “Do you truly believe that I would do anything to jeopardize you or your mate?”
Then the shame arrived. Cam forced himself not to break eye contact with Zak, out of respect for him. Earlier, Zak referred to them as friends, something neither of them had mentioned before, and yet, Zak was the only friend Cam would want. “No,” he answered. “I know you wouldn’t. I was panicked and fearful, and I’m not used to feeling that way. It will never happen again, Zakiel. I swear it.”
Zak dipped his head in a nod, appeased. He bid Cam farewell and told him he would be in contact.
Cam walked out onto the landing and looked over the Empire, thinking about his reaction to Zak. He searched himself and found that hot rage simmering under the surface, as though waiting for a chance to consume him. He pushed it down. He no longer found comfort in it. It was the feeling Thea inspired that he wanted to revel in, but that came with the unfamiliar emotions that invaded him when he worried about their relationship. It made his rage find a way in, which was what had caused him to attack Zak.
He adjusted his trousers, trying to find some kind of relief, and found Thea’s panties in his pocket. Her potent scent hardened him again in an instant, and he moaned at the intense pleasurable pain. He shifted into his angel-form and took to the air, heading for his quarters. He would find Thea and he would make everything right with her. He had to.