Chapter Nine
CAM
Cam lost count of how many times they made love that afternoon. They had a lot of time to catch up on, so it didn’t matter. All he knew was that he needed to continue to make her feel wanted, respected and desired. He hadn’t realized how important it was to her to hear it. She didn’t realize that the things he did with her, he had done with no one else. He hadn’t ever nestled with anyone the way he did her, he hadn’t kissed anyone the way he did her, he hadn’t caressed or touched anyone the way he constantly did her, and he hadn’t made love to anyone the way he did with her. She wasn’t to know that, so he told her as he fucked her.
He didn’t give her cause to demand anything from him, no time to think or wait for her pleasure. He simply took her every way he wanted, and she responded with a fierceness that kept him constantly hard. She moaned, whispered and screamed his name, kissing every part of him he allowed her to, surrendering to his attention.
Eventually, they were spent, and he lay next to her in bed, tracing her beautiful body with the tips of his fingers, enjoying the scent of her all over him.
“Elithea.” He looked down at her as she stared at him, his voice hoarse. “If you are feeling agitated for any reason, you must talk to me. No more rebellion. No more shutting yourself off.”
She held his gaze for a long moment, then lifted her face to his to give him a soft kiss on the lips. “I’m sorry, Camael. I truly am. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
Cam watched her settle back onto him, a small satisfaction kindling in his chest at her apology. She had calmed from her earlier anger, and he hoped that her disturbing behavior had been corrected. Still, he could tell there was a sadness in her he hadn’t reached. Part of him wanted to demand she tell him so he could comfort and help her, but he knew that was not how things worked with Thea. He had to let her open up in her own time. Her inner unhappiness put him on a slight edge, and he held her tightly trying to ignore his frustration.
“But… I feel like you don’t talk to me either,” she continued. “You don’t tell me everything, and you make a lot of assumptions. That’s not how I want our relationship to be. I want you to talk to me.”
He lifted her chin. “Thea. If you truly trusted me, if you really believed that you are the one important thing to me over everything else, you would know that my behavior is only ever for the benefit of us. You have to trust that I would never betray you.”
“It’s not about trust, Cam. It’s about respect. It’s about making me aware of what’s going on so I’m prepared for anything that might happen. It’s about making me feel like you value my opinion by allowing me to form one. Why would you want to keep me in the dark about things?”
“That was never my intention—”
“I know.” Thea squeezed him tighter. “I know, Cam. But things don’t always pan out how you intend. And it makes me feel… unsettled to keep wondering what might happen, wondering what decisions you’re making for us when we’re not on the same page.”
Cam digested her reasoning. Humans were much more complex than he thought. In the Angel Realm, trust and respect went hand in hand and was given freely. Even though Powers tended to be more suspicious than most, there was still a level of respect and trust between all angels. It was only once an angel had shown questionable behavior that they were treated differently.
He stroked her back. “I’m sorry, Thea. That is not how things work in the Angel Realm. I will try to improve.”
They lay in silence
“Is there anything I need to know?” she asked quietly, gazing at Cam’s face. “I want you to tell me everything, Cam.”
He gazed at her, brought his hand to her cheek and stroked the soft skin over her cheekbone. “It is unusual for an angel to be natural mates with a Nephilim. I am worried that the Thrones won’t approve it.”
Thea frowned. “But the Creator made us natural mates?”
“Yes, and I think that works in our favor,” Cam said. “But I don’t think this kind of pairing has ever occurred before, and there are complications.”
“Like what?”
“Because you are part human, you can get pregnant. It is not normally the case for angel females to go through pregnancy. The fact you can live in the Angel Realm, with a child… it just becomes complicated, even if we are natural mates. The right thing to do is to seek advice.”
Thea was silent for a moment. “So angel women don’t have children but angel men can? Seems unfair.”
Cam struggled to find the words to explain. “When we are training, we are told that humans are the Creator’s children, and we exist to help her to look after them. It is not naturally within angels to want to procreate. It would make us vulnerable and possibly incapable of doing our duties. The angel men that have children with human women can shield and protect them while still carrying on with their duties, whereas I assume angel women would need to nurse their child and look after them for a longer period. There are angel women who have fallen in love with human men but I don’t know how it is resolved for them. I have never really taken an interest in it before.”
Thea was silent, stroking his torso as she thought.
“So it is extremely important that we have permission from the Thrones before mating,” Cam continued after a while. “Zak said we should keep the fact that we are natural mates quiet in case it affects how the Dominion League deal with us. Apparently, they don’t normally let natural mates be partners on assignments. That is why I haven’t touched you intimately in public or spent time in your quarters. Even though it fucking killed me not to.”
She nuzzled his neck, settling her face against him while she wrapped her body around his. It was the best feeling ever. Her smooth skin on his drove Cam crazy, and he couldn’t caress her enough.
“Zak?” she murmured. “We have to report to a Commander… Zachery, I think.”
“Zakiel, yes that’s him. He has been my commander for millennia.”
“He’s your friend?”
“Yes,” Cam said, realizing that he had always been. “He has looked out for me, advised me and protected me, even when I didn’t deserve it. He is someone I greatly admire. You will like him.”
“Okay,” Thea said. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Neither Zak nor I knew why the Dominion League wanted a Power to protect you. They didn’t tell us anything about you or your family. I thought you could live and work as a demon-hunter like the other Nephilim. I’m sorry for making those assumptions. It made me unprepared when we came here and Asteroth approached us.”
Thea sighed. “Okay.” She was quiet for a moment, the pads of her fingers running along his chest. “What’s the difference between the Dominion League and the Thrones?”
Cam thought for a moment. “The Dominion League are made of twenty Dominion angels and oversee all angels’ duties through the commanders they appoint. The Thrones are an entire order that oversee the Angel Realm and all the angel orders as a whole. Both the League and the Thrones work closely together, but the Thrones have more a direct connection with the Creator, I think.”
Thea hummed and nodded.
They lay for a long while, entwined with each other, watching the clouds out the window morph from baby blue to gold. Cam ran his fingers through her hair beginning each time with a scratch at her scalp.
She relaxed until she was limp against him. “They want me to find my mother.”
Cam froze. “She’s alive?”
“Apparently so,” Thea breathed out. “Apparently she had better things to do than look after her daughter and mentally challenged human.”
Cam’s mind raced. Obviously, Thea had assumed her mother had died but the Dominion League would have known for sure. Her mother had been alive all that time, leaving Thea to grow up in such dangerous circumstances? This is what had distressed her. “You don’t know what happened. Until you investigate, you don’t know her reasons. Don’t make assumptions; it didn’t help me.”
“I find it hard not to feel…” Thea struggled for words, her body stiffening with tension. “…fucking angry about it. And at the same time, I feel… bitter, resentful… lost even... I can’t understand how an angel would become sexually involved with a human with memory problems, have a child with him and then leave that child to be brought up by him. Surely she would know he couldn’t manage it? Surely she would realize that that neighborhood wouldn’t have been the best place for me to be? She didn’t even have any other angel look out for us or tell me what I was. She was happy to just let me suffer. I don’t know if—”
She stopped abruptly; the tremble in her voice made him hold her tighter. He waited for her to continue.
“I don’t know if I can truly handle seeing her.”
“You won’t have to, if you don’t want to,” Cam said softly. “I can detain her if you wish.”
Thea was silent for a moment. “What will the Dominion League do to her?”
“I’m not sure,” Cam said. “They will want to hear her reasons before judging her.” He stroked her shoulder. “And I suggest you do the same, Thea.”
She nodded, her head brushing against him.
“We should go and see Zak,” Cam said, regretfully after another long stretch of comfortable silence.
Thea gave a soft groan and stretched, yawning, then they both got up and got dressed. Back in her plain Angel Realm clothes, Thea looked like a pure angel only better, and Cam just wanted to peel them off of her again. She must have recognized the look in his eyes because she shot him a heated look that almost dared him to pull her back into bed. He chuckled and turned away. They would never get to Zak at this rate.
“Do you think Zak will know anything more about my mom?” Thea asked.
Cam nodded. “Every time I get a pursuit assignment, Zak is given all the details about it. He should be able to give us a place to start, at least, which is what we mainly need if we can only narrow down her location to the entire human world.”
Thea nodded in agreement, chewing her lip. She was nervous. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to have been abandoned by her mother her whole life only to find out that the woman was still alive somewhere, that they could have had a relationship all this time if the angel had just been more responsible. However, Cam intended to prepare Thea as much as possible. That kind of behavior was unusual for an angel, especially an Archangel. He needed to make sure she was ready to meet her mother before putting her in that situation. He would support her every decision and protect her as much as he could.
***
Zak answered the door of his office and immediately turned to Thea. “Elithea,” he said, gesturing to welcome them in. “It is lovely to meet you. Come inside. Camael, it’s good to see you.”
“It’s great to meet you too,” Thea said as she and Cam made their way into his office. They sat at the wide desk that filled most of the space. “And it’s Thea.”
“Yes, Thea, of course. I’m Zak. Would you like a drink?”
As Zak fetched juice for Thea, she peered around his office.
“It looks so… normal in here,” she said.
Cam chuckled. “What did you expect?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Zak placed a glass down in front of her and sat on the other side of the desk. “Normally, Cam and I meet by the Stream, but it’s good if you know where my office is.”
“Well, I can’t fly,” Thea said, ruefully, “so I’m not sure it would make a difference.”
“You’ll get there,” Zak said. “You’re able to levitate and glide, so you are already using that ability—it just needs to be strengthened and honed. It will just take a little while. Strong willpower helps.”
Thea nodded and smiled. “That makes sense. I haven’t been practicing as much as I should have.”
Jealousy twinged in Cam. How is it that Zak could be so casual and encouraging so easily? He threw off the feeling as it arrived. Zak had already explained he spent years in the human world, and without his advice, Cam wouldn’t even be with Thea. “Have you found out anything about Thea’s mother?” he asked. “We’re not quite sure where to start.”
“I do have some information.” Zak picked up a file folder on the desk between them that could have come from some home office in the human world. “Your mother was an Archangel,” he said to Thea. “Archangels look after a number of humans, providing them with guidance, courage, and inspiration. We have a list of her charges and I think you should start there.”
“Has anyone spoken to any of the charges?” Thea took the folder from Zak and flipped through it.
“Nobody has tried yet,” said Zak. “It has to be handled delicately. The Dominion League feel that as her daughter, you will get the best results.”
“Did they know about her?”
“This is the problem,” Zak said. “Some of them knew about her, even if semi-unconsciously, but others didn’t. I suggest you lead with asking about your mother and then saying she was assigned to them. If they knew about her, they would surely know that term.“
Thea stopped flipping, looking at a page with the picture of a man on it. She ran her fingers over the image of his face. “My father was one of my mother’s charges.”
Zak nodded. “Looks like it. That’s probably how they met.”
“I see.” Thea handed Cam the folder and he looked through it. There must have been nearly three hundred charges in total, a range of different ages and backgrounds. Most of them were located in and around Thea’s home city but some were across the other side of the world.
“I recommend starting with the charges in your hometown,” Zak said. “They might have seen her more.”
“Let’s get going,” Thea said, briskly with a strong, business-like resolve. It seemed she was going to approach the assignment objectively, no matter how it affected her personally. That was a positive start.
Zak showed them to the door. “Good luck,” he said. “Report in with any new information.” He smiled at them both. “I’m glad to be working with you both… together.”
Cam couldn’t help but smile at him. He was trying to make Thea feel welcome and Cam appreciated it. After Thea said goodbye, he lifted her up and flew to the Stream garden so they could discuss a strategy and plan for any unexpected surprises before they entered the human world. This was a new type of assignment for her and it needed to go well, for her own wellbeing.