MARCUS

“I don’t like this,” I growled for the third time in as many minutes. Two of the three males in the room released irritated groans, while Lacedaemon just glared at me, the fires of Tartarus in his dark eyes.

“You should not like this, vlakás! You three decided it was an intelligent move to send our women to the surface without even my protection? Whilst Michael roams free?” He spat incredulously. “Suffer the worry. It is a natural consequence of your foolishness.”

Raphael vaulted to his feet at the blatant insult, shouting, “So, it’s just fine for my solis to leave to hunt fucking Nephilim, but when Amirykal and Kaiah are in danger, that’s when you draw the line?”

The Spartan watched as the angel approached, only cool irritation in his eyes. “I draw the line when Michael hunts for their heads. As should you. I was tasked by my Basileus to watch over the women. As a strategos-”

“Who couldn’t even win a battle against a few Persians,” Raphael interrupted with a sneer.

Instantly, Lacedaemon had him pinned to the wall by his throat, rage unlike any I’d seen in a long, long time darkening his expression. His arms bulged as he held the angel to the wall, his jaw clenched.

“It was an honorable death,” he hissed. “Ares was chained in our city square. The spirit of war never left me, even to my dying breath,” he cocked his head. “But even if I were to draw my sword and kill you now, you would find no honor in the Underworld.”

Ah, Spartans.

“Must we fight like children?” Lucifer snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose in a signal that he was close to losing his shit. “My mate is not without protection, Lacedaemon. Both she and Megara can hold their own in a skirmish. And as for Kaiah…” He trailed off.

My gut clenched. I knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to say that she was just as dangerous. That she was more than experienced with killing, that she’d lived a life soaked in blood. But he didn’t see what I saw every time I looked into those haunted blue eyes of hers. How delicate and fragile she was beneath that cold exterior she was always trying to don when we were alone. Oh, I had no doubts that she could dispatch any enemy that arose, easily. Michael had even thought her capable of killing Luce.

But she should never be forced to kill. Never again. It hurt her every time, chipped away at her gentle soul, and I would not allow that any longer.

If you were a god, you could be certain that she’d never have to again.

I forced the thought down brutally. I wasn’t a god anymore, and though I might have allowed myself to wallow in self-pity before I’d found my Kaiah, I could do so no longer. In order to give my mate everything she deserved, I had to strive to be a male worthy of her. And that included learning to adapt to what I was, what I had become.

No more childish whining. No more pining for the past. I was what I was, and if I didn’t accept that, how could I expect my sweet Kaiah to?

“I just…” I searched for the correct words.

“Don’t like this?” Raphael replied dryly. I glared at the infuriating angel.

I know it irritated everyone – Lucifer, Ammi, and Meg – that Raphael and I so consistently butted heads. But we’d never taken to one another, especially since on our first meeting, he threw me across the room in an attempt to attack Amirykal. And then he’d fucking done it again, and nearly killed her. He was arrogant, he was smug, and he thought himself better than anyone outside of his family.

He was like a toxic combination of both Hera and Zeus; and I couldn’t think of two beings I despised more.

Or, it could just be because he threw me across a room, and then had the audacity to act as if I owed him a thank-you for healing my wounds afterwards.

Either way, he deserves my ire.

“I have never heard you sound so eloquent, healer,” I replied with an obviously fake smile. His eyes narrowed briefly, before he turned away, ignoring me as if I weren’t worth his time.

Lucifer growled under his breath, a long-suffering expression etched into his features. Finally, he stood.

“We’ll drive ourselves insane, sitting here worrying,” he said in that decisive, no-bullshit way he had. “We need to distract ourselves. Start strategizing.”

“How can we strategize when all I want to do is scoop up my female’s sweet ass and deposit her back here where she belongs?” I grumbled below my breath. Of course, all of the other males in the room heard me clearly.

“We could do it,” Raphael agreed thoughtfully, and I almost perished, right then and there.

Had the angel just agreed with me?

“No,” Luce snapped. “You won’t tempt me. I promised Amirykal that I’d be more considerate of her wishes.”

I grumbled, but I forced down my brutish instincts. He was correct, as much as I fucking despised that he was. Hadn’t I promised myself I wouldn’t follow in Luce’s footsteps? Hadn’t I promised my Kaiah that I would give her the space she asked for? That I would give her time?

I fucking hated that I’d promised her that.

But I’d been right to, hadn’t I? I needed to resign myself to what I was and give her what she needed.

“Fine,” Raphael spat, crossing his arms in a manner almost identical to his brother. “But this is the last fucking time I let her do this.”

Benjamin snorted. “You were there. You could’ve stopped her. You didn’t. And you won’t.”

Raphael’s eyes narrowed at the soldier. “I’d like to see you fucking try to tell my Megara ‘no’.”

“Or Amirykal, for that matter,” Lucifer agreed, the pride in his voice unmistakable. For all his bitching, I know he wouldn’t have Ammi any other way.

I thought for a moment. How would my Kaiah react if I told her “no”? I didn’t know. I’d never tried, and my sweet mate wasn’t what I would call predictable. However, at the mere thought of my Kaiah at my command set my blood on fire.

But I couldn’t push her. I had to wait until she was ready.

If she’d ever be ready.

She would be. She had to be.

But I wouldn’t be the one putting the pressure on her. I wouldn’t become that male, no matter how much her hesitation hurt. It wasn’t about me; I couldn’t make it about me. Knowing this did not help, unfortunately. Especially when my instincts screamed that I not let her out of my sight—that I not let her more than a fucking foot away from me. They were domineering and brutish, but I couldn’t help them. I liked control—in life, and while fucking. It was a need, not a want. And with my mate in danger…

It was a fucking miracle I was so composed.

“Fine!” Lucifer snapped. “I’m going to tear my hair out if we sit here talking about them. Michael. How should we approach this?”

Lacedaemon grunted. “Armed warriors, shielded with long weaponry. In a—”

“Don’t you fucking dare say phalanx formation,” I growled, narrowing my eyes at the Spartan.

He looked back passively. “—phalanx formation.”

“Michael would destroy any formation we made with our troops. He needs to be taken care of quickly if we have any hope of defeating them,” Raphael countered. “We can sit here all day debating the advantages and disadvantages of troop formations. But unless we can figure out how to combat Michael, it’s all moot.”

“I can take our brother, Raphe,” Lucifer snapped, obviously offended.

I rolled my eyes. These angels had egos as big as Ares, and that was no small feat.

“You know damn well he won’t let you draw him out into direct combat—don’t be stupid, Luce. He will outfight, darting in and killing off swathes of our troops and disappearing before either of us can engage. And we can’t be everywhere at once.”

“Enough bickering, children,” I interrupted before Lucifer could unleash on his younger brother. “You’re getting ahead of yourselves. Before we can even begin to strategize, we have to locate the slimy fucker, and he isn’t going to make it easy.”

Raphael just snorted. “My mate is more than capable of finding him. We archangels aren’t exactly subtle.”

I bit my tongue before I put him in his place. Arrogant fucking angels. Being the voice of reason was an annoying mantle to bare; luckily, Lacedaemon was there to help struggle beneath the weight. We Greeks had always been burdened with superior intelligence.

“We have no leg to stand on, Raphael,” Lacedaemon reminded him. “Michael is aware of every one of our assents, Megara included. He will not be so sloppy as to not protect himself from her magics.”

Raphael’s brows furrowed in anger, but I was quick to defend the Spartan. “Benjamin is right, and you know it, healer. Arguing won’t accomplish shit.”

“Then how do you suggest we proceed, Marc?” Lucifer asked, crossing his arms.

Shit, having the ear of the King of Hell was both a blessing and a curse. Unfortunately, all I had to give were half-assed plans and long shots.

I took a deep breath. “Well, I would recommend—”

Suddenly, Lucifer stood, so swiftly that his chair crashed to the ground. The panic in his eyes was blatant, and I knew immediately what had happened. Ice-cold terror gripped my heart in an iron fist, sending it stuttering against my sternum.

I gripped his forearm, and Raphael did the same, moving faster than thought.

“I will take care of matters here,” Lacedaemon, always quick on the uptake. “Go. Summon me if you need reinforcements.”

Then, without any further delay, Lucifer warped us out of the realm and onto Earth.