Archangel Michael’s, so fighting was in his nature. For upsetting Madigan and hurting his shop, Michel wanted to smash the other angel to bits. His men didn’t need this sort of added stress.
“My name is Marius.” The greenish-blond haired angel tilted his head back and motioned to his lovers. “They are my nephilim, Levi and Erik. We just moved here about a week ago.”
“Riiiiigght,” Bren rumbled sarcastically. “The fact that hunters have been saturating the area didn’t deter you?”
Marius frowned. “We’ve seen no hunters in the area around town.
I wouldn’t have stayed here if there were. Erik and Levi are everything to me.”
“You’re not of the Heavens anymore, are you?” Dex spoke. It didn’t sound like much of a question. The answer seemed fairly obvious to Michel.
“No. I’m one of the earthbound angels awaiting redemption. I met Erik and Levi in Memphis, and we’ve been together ever since.”
Bren growled. “Can’t trust the fallen.”
“I’m not irredeemable you know,” Marius snapped.
“We’re a bit outside of Heaven’s law to be judging him, Bren,”
Dex reminded, dispelling his weaponry. Michel eyed the action wearily. He didn’t know if he trusted the angel just yet.
“If you’re not here to hurt Madigan, why did you break our door?”
Michel asked.
Marius shifted, and the dark-haired male whispered in his ear. The words were too soft even for Michel’s superior hearing, and the angel nodded. “I sensed an angelic presence inside and thought it was the hunters. I panicked because I let them”—he nodded toward his lovers—“talk me into letting them go into the shop by themselves.”
He sighed. “They wanted to surprise me with a wedding cake. We’re Angelic Ties
65
having a ceremony in a few weeks, and they were very excited about the whole thing.”
“Well, see, they did just want a wedding cake,” Madigan’s voice piped up. Michel whipped around, slicing the corner off the counter.
It smoldered on the ground, and Madigan made a noise of frustration.
“Watch it please. I’ve already got enough of a mess to clean up,” he motioned toward the door.
Marius glanced at the broken doors. “I am sorry about that. I will pay for the damages.”
“That would be appropriate,” Dex continued. His eyes went to Bren. “Would you mind getting on Madigan’s laptop and looking up a replacement door?” Bren shook his head “no.” Good, Michel thought.
They shouldn’t trust anyone so easily.
“I can make the cake,” Madigan said, drawing Michel’s attention back to him. “Please, put your weapon down, Michel.” Michel tightened his grip on his weapon.
“Stand down, Michel. We outnumber them.” Cross’s voice joined them. Apparently, all the guardians had joined the fight for their charge. “Stand down, Michel,” Cross repeated. With a grumble, Michel did as he was told. If the fallen angel took a wrong step in Madigan’s direction, Michel was going to rip him apart.
* * * *
Madigan finally convinced his angels to relax enough so that he could take a seat with the two other nephilim in the back room of his office. The angels were sitting outside the door around the stainless-steel island, glaring at one another, when Madigan had left them in the other room. He hoped they had the sense to clean up the front room a bit because otherwise the customers were going to be put off.
Granted, he’d flipped the Closed sign around when they’d disappeared in back, but he didn’t want the front room trashed.
66
Jana Downs
“I’m really sorry,” the smaller blond-haired man said in a soft, sweet voice.
“It’s okay. I’m beginning to realize that everything in this world is a lot more serious than I originally anticipated.” He offered the man a smile. “You’re Levi?”
The blond nodded. “I’m still very sorry. Marius is very protective of us. We’ve had some bad run-ins with the hunters, and he’s been paranoid ever
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