Kai

He is so sweet now.

Clumsy.

Nervous.

So absolutely mine.

I’m sprawled on his chest with my ear pressed against his heart area. His heartbeat is as strong as the warrior inside him.

His palms land on my ass, massaging, squeezing, and stroking. I love his touch. I love him.

“How did that happen?” I ask.

“I have no fucking idea.”

“I’m madly in love with you.” I lift my head and plant a kiss on his chin.

“Good. That’s what I want to hear every day.”

I chuckle then freeze as my tummy fills with heat. I have a sensation of bursting bubbles then a tingle shoots down my back. My mermaid knows what that means.

“We’ll have a baby,” I say.

“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.”

A screeching sound grips my attention. Ettrian stiffens beneath me then sits up rapidly, holding me in his arms. Our glances travel to the gate. The smoke thins and dissipates, replaced by a mirror-like surface. It looks like the surface of a lake on a summer day. Two figures appear in the gate like two black shadows then they jump out of it. They stop just in front of the gate and our glances meet. My eyes travel to a tall man. My heart stops beating.

“Dad?” I ask.

The man looks like my dad. But that’s impossible. My dad doesn’t jump out of the gates of the past. Only archangels can cross these gates. Ice fills my veins.

Ettrian tumbles me behind him and jumps to his feet. His naked body shelters mine, as the girl standing beside the man winces in disgust at the sight of his cock. She looks sixteen at most.

“Are you my dad?” I ask the man.

Everything feels surreal like a dream. Ridiculous. Is it another curse?

“I’m not,” the man says like my dad. “But if I was, you’d be grounded for two hundred years, young lady.”

“What do you want?” Ettrian asks.

The girl bends, picks up his jeans and throws them at him. She shakes her head, a smile of pity playing on her full lips. Her skin has a delicate glow—crystal and blue like water in a mountain stream.

“Twenty archangels are coming for you,” she says. “We’ve come to help.” She bobs her head and glances at Ettrian. “Please dress, sir.”

I pull my knees to my chest. “Who are you?”

Ettrian slides into his jeans as the man removes his leather jacket and throws it at me.

“Put it on,” he barks and shakes his head with his palm pressed against his forehead. “Kids,” he mutters to himself.

I sense something warm from him and it’s laced with a streak of familiarity. I kind of trust him even though I don’t know him. He exudes the same strength and love as my dad. He is like my dad. He looks exactly like my dad.

“Dad,” the girl says. “Can you feel it? He loves her so much. We’ve never seen an elf loving like this.” She folds her hands as if praying and beams at me. “This is wonderful.”

I realise she reminds me of Talia.

“Who are you?” I shriek, covering myself with the jacket.

Ettrian steels himself as I stand beside him.

“I’m your cousin,” the girl says. “I’m Heather. My dad’s name is Conah. He’s your dad’s twin brother.”

“Kadmiel has no brothers by blood,” Ettrian says and moves me behind him.

He leans slightly forward, knees bent, like he’s going to rip the man’s throat out at any moment.

“We are family,” Heather says. “We have only you. Our club has been erased. Just the two of us survived.”

“Your club?” Ettrian asks.

“You think you are the only ones on the run?” Conah says. “There were three compounds like yours. And only the two of us survived.”

Ettrian’s eye twitches and I have a vague impression he’s not surprised at all.

“Hurry,” Heather says as she steps forward and extends her arm towards me. “The archangels are coming for us all.”

Ettrian inhales deeply and winces. “They’re right. I can sense those motherfuckers.” He looks at me and nods. “We have to go.”

A chill goes down my spine and I feel it too—the delicate pricking of danger, the exhale of eternal power, the ultimate authority. My primal fear. It urges me to flee and hide. It’s like a tsunami is coming closer and closer to us, but I can’t see the waves. My consciousness is just grasping the rumble, the warning, and the inevitable.

I know deep down we’re going to die if we stay here.

“Yes, we have to go,” I say and nod at Ettrian. “Something is coming. Whoever those two are they’re better than what is coming for us.”

Heather grabs my hand then Ettrian’s. “Take a deep breath, you two.”

I blink and the explosion of white light hits me like an enormous sea wave. My breath stops in my throat and I feel like I’m in an elevator that’s going up. The moment I open my eyes, Ettrian’s face blurs above mine.

“Cool, isn’t it?” Heather’s voice rings in my ears.

“What was it?” I shriek.

“My own unique teleportation ability,” Heather says. “I can take four people in one go.”

My body drifts up in Ettrian’s embrace as my eyes sweep over my surroundings. We’re back in the compound. I can see my family pouring out of the clubhouse. Their faces turn into rigid masks and they freeze in fighting positions at the sight of us. Silence layers us. Hostility oscillates in the air. Time seems to stop.

“Who the fuck are you?” my dad rumbles.

“We’re family,” Conah says and grins.

“You’re not my family,” Dad says.

Conah steps forward.

“Don’t fucking move,” Dad says. “I’m good at decapitating.”

“We’re friends not enemies,” Conah says.

“Since when?” Dad says.

“Since we were born,” Conah says. “You can sense me. You know I’m your ally.”

“I know,” Dad says and puts his hand on the back of his neck then turns his face to Micah. “Any ideas?”

“Nope,” Micah says. “They feel like family. Like you, Kadmiel.”

Dad juts his chin towards Conah. “That dick even looks like me.”

“I’m two minutes younger than you and more handsome,” Conah says.

There’s silence, harsh and dangerous like winter in the mountains.

“Leave the compound,” Dad says. “Now.”

“We need shelter,” Conah says as his eyes flick over Heather. “My daughter—“

“I don’t give a fuck,” Dad says. “Leave.”

“Let’s talk, Kadmiel,” Conah says. “We’re outnumbered. We’re no threat to you.” He runs his fingers through his hair. “We have useful information. We have useful skills, very useful for your club.”

My dad turns into a born killer. His forehead wrinkles and he huffs out. “Alright. Talk to me, dick, or I’ll kill you.” He flicks his eyes over Ettrian and me. “You two will talk to me later.”

I stiffen in my husband’s embrace. Ettrian wrinkles his forehead and kisses mine.

Heather and Conah exchange glances.

“We saw you in the gates,” Heather says. “That’s how we found you. We’ll protect the compound in return for your hospitality.”

“We have to strengthen the protection wall around the compound,” Conah says. “Or we’ll all die here.”

“You have to do the fuck what?” Dad growls.

“I’ll only add a few incantations,” Heather says and steps back and spins. “As soon as possible. If you agree of course.”

“Don’t fucking move,” Dad says in a cold voice and steels himself. “We’re going to talk first then I’ll make my decision.”

“You have to trust us,” Heather says. “Please. We’ll explain everything. We’re allies.”

I see the boys forming a wall behind my dad. The atmosphere of hostility simmers.

“You trust me, don’t you, Kadmiel?” Conah says, “You trust me the same way I trust you. Interesting, isn’t it? We’re brothers. I feel like Micah and the rest, right? You feel the same for me. Kadmiel, trust your instincts. They’ve never failed you, right?”

“Dad,” Talia says. “The ghosts are saying they are allies. My ghosts are never wrong.”

Dad looks over his shoulder and Talia nods at him.

“The ghosts’ whispers can’t be influenced by anyone,” Talia says. “They’re the whispers of truth. They want us to trust those people.”

“Alright,” Dad says. “Let’s talk like civilised people.” He looks at me. “Ettrian, take your hands off my daughter and all of you to church. Now.”

Ettrian

We spread around the table whilst the women start cooking for us.

Conah and Kadmiel are seated at the opposite edges of the table, staring at each other.

“Who are you?” Kadmiel asks.

“Who are you?” Conah says.

“We’re good at killing,” Kadmiel says, “so you’d better start talking.”

“Gadreel is our father,” Conah says. “Our mother was a human princess. Micah is Dantanian’s son. The others? I have no fucking idea. That’s all my daughter and I have managed to discover so far.” He puts his elbows on the table. “My compound was burned to ashes. My boys were slaughtered.”

“By whom?” Kadmiel asks.

“By archangels,” Conah says. “Heather’s mother is one of them.”

I steel myself at his words as do all the boys. Only Talia’s words wavering in my head prevent me from leaping to Conah so I could grab his throat.

Conah’s jaw muscles twitch. “I took my baby and hid her in the compound like yours. But, our wings made us more traceable for the archangels. Heather’s mother came one day with twenty others of her kind and they killed my whole club. Heather saved me and since then we’ve been on the run searching for others like us.”

“Your wife?” Kadmiel says.

“She wasn’t my wife,” Conah says. “She was a one-night stand, but Heather is everything to me.”

“That’s all very fucking unbelievable to be honest,” Kadmiel says.

“So tell the elf to look into my head,” Conah says. “I have nothing to hide. Nothing except my daughter.”

My president juts his chin towards me, so I rise to my feet and stand behind Conah, my palms raised a few inches from his head. I whisper an elven incantation and dive into Conah’s mind. Elves are better at exploring minds than angels. We need permission though. I can sense Conah’s willingness to allow me to explore his mind, so I sink into his thoughts and memories deeper and deeper. The angel inside him fights against my intrusion and I feel it like a hand is trying to claw my brain out. Conah steels himself and silences his inner warrior.

I’m not in the clubhouse any longer.

I’m in Conah’s castle perched on the black rock of a mountain peak. He’s flirting with a female archangel. Her name is Tamara, her shin shimmering with crystal blue. I’ve seen a few of her kind, males and females, but she looks the most ruthless of them all. A ruthless evil beauty. She has big boobs though.

I skip the part in which Conah and that bitch mate then I drift to the moment in which she’s telling Conah she’s with child. He’s deliriously happy, but Tamara is going to get rid of the baby in her womb.

I feel his love for her turn into hatred when he summons his boys and they chain her to the wall of the cell in the dungeons.

Tamara gives birth to Heather there. Conah takes the baby from her. Tamara swears to kill them all. Conah gathers his men and they flee.

Then I see the archangels smashing Conah’s club. Heather is five. She holds her dad’s hand and they vanish.

I pull out of Conah’s mind, sweat trickling down my face. A fat drop hangs on the tip of my nose and a few invade my eyes. Exhaustion spreads in my body like a wave of cold weakness.

I turn to Kadmiel and wheeze. “Looks like we have a new prospect, Prez.”

Kadmiel nods. “Make his wings untraceable.”

I salute him. “Aye, Prez.” I drop into the chair and lean against my elbows. “Heather can cross the gates to the past. She’ll be a very useful asset to our club.”

“Good,” Kadmiel nods. He juts his chin towards Conah. “So, I should introduce you to my family.”