The opening that leads to the kitchen and living room comes into view. Arguing and the sounds of a struggle fill the air.
My monster is not in the mood to be fucked with today, especially not when our uterus is pretty much trying to kill us. No one else gets to try when my own body is attacking itself with zero mercy.
I slide around the corner in my socks, and my eyes bulge. There’s so much to take in that I’m not sure where to look first.
Zephyr is on his knees a few feet in front of the couch. His long hair falls around his face as he glares at the angel that towers over him. His arms fall at his sides, but it’s the silver glowing chains wrapped around his wrists that make me gasp.
An unfamiliar angel holds the ends in his grasp with several coils of chain wrapped around his own wrists.
Fury pulses through my system, and it takes everything in me not to pounce without a plan. If I severed both his hands, it would solve one problem.
Fifteen or more feet of distance separates us, but I can hear Zephyr’s skin sizzle as the chains dig into his flesh.
“I told you that I would go with you peacefully if you agreed not to harm the incubus,” Zephyr growls, pulling his shoulders back despite the extreme amount of pain he must be experiencing. “Release him and honor your word.”
My eyes dart to the side, taking in Annex. He’s held to the chest of another angel with a gilded angelic blade pointing directly at his heart. His palms are up, and he looks genuinely afraid, which only infuriates my monster even more fully.
“Did we agree to that? Or did you simply delude yourself into thinking we would accept your offer?” the angel holding the chains asks, his tone dismissive.
“It might be a good time to do the thing,” Annex says, smiling tightly.
Fuck.
There’s no way that I’ll be able to stop time with three angels in the room. Even if I left Zeph out of the bubble, I don’t know if I could freeze two archangels. Probably not with how hungry I’ve been lately.
“Just so you know, my mate is about to destroy your asses,” Annex says.
Well, super fuck.
My monster fights for control.
I’ve always been the one in control of my body, even when my demonic sides are present. On a very rare occasion, my reaper will snap, but I’m always gone completely when that happens. Almost like a mini-blackout. This isn’t like that at all as my reaper takes full control of my body. Our body? Whatever. She takes matters out of my hands completely.
I blink and time freezes, but it’s a tenuous hold at best. The next thing I know, I’m siphoning across the room.
I land in front of Annex, and my monster guides my body, tilting my head.
“No, please!” Zephyr chokes out. “Don’t get involved, Hazel. They will kill you without a second thought.”
My reaper directs me to glance at Zephyr over my shoulder and grabs the arm of the angel restraining Annex. “They can try, but what they won’t do is harm either of you.” She focuses back on the adversary to avoid seeing Zephyr’s disgust, and she prepares to take every bit of her frustration out on the unfamiliar angel’s arm. “Once I devour them, they’ll be gone for good.”
“Wait!” Zephyr hisses.
I freeze, but I can’t bring myself to look at him. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper before I can stop myself. Just in case these angels do manage to kill me, I need him to know that. “I planned to tell you. I never meant for it to go on this long. Except you bit me, and I couldn’t bring myself to decline the bond. I understand if you hate?—”
“I could never,” Zephyr says firmly. “None of that matters. Not now. You won’t be able to hold time indefinitely. I need you to look at me.”
The reaper is still in control as she slowly turns to face the angel.
“I should have figured it out, but I didn’t.” His head shakes. “Gods, so much of what we were taught was inaccurate. Listen to me, sweet girl.” Seeing him on his knees, bound by angel chains, tears me in two. I need to ensure that angel can’t stab Annex, but I also ache to free Zephyr. “I know you could devour them, but that wouldn’t be the end. Heaven has an army of angels who all believe the same things that I was taught. If you kill them, more will come. A never-ending line until one of them gets lucky and wipes the three of us out.”
“I’m very good at what I do,” my monster says in her raspy tone.
“You really are,” Annex says. “But I think you should listen to the expert on angelkind.”
“I won’t allow them to punish you and kill Annex,” I say, and that’s very much me in control.
“Angels can harvest other angels, similarly to how a reaper reaps other demons, but do you know what we don’t have? Anything similar to a devourer.” Zephyr’s light-gray eyes stare straight into mine. My face is still the monster, but he doesn’t glance away or seem disgusted. “The universe gave that ace in the hole to demonkind alone, and it scares my people to their very core. Angels have feared devourers more than anything else across the ages. Angelkind celebrated when they realized the last devourer had gone extinct. Fear is far more dangerous than hate. Do you understand what I’m saying, Hazel?”
