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“Yeah, by myself. I wanted to see how high I could fly on the broom.”

“Was that better, or this?”

Uriel’s pulse quickened. “This.”

There was a smile in Bruiser’s voice. “Why?”

“You’re warm. I didn’t think to bring a blanket up with me, when I flew alone.” That wasn’t the complete truth, though.

The truth was that Uriel felt safe. Back then, he only had himself to rely on to get home in one piece. Now, he had Bruiser, and Bruiser would not let him fall.

Bruiser laughed, his wings flapping slowly in the air.

Maybe he could hear what Uriel wasn’t saying.

This high up, they could see for miles. Uriel traced the lines of traffic going in and out of Cartfalls, linking his home to small towns and large cities, everyone connected to each other. He curled his fingers into Bruiser’s forearms, holding onto his alpha.

“I like this better too,” Bruiser said after a while. “It’s better when I have someone to share this with.”

Uriel ducked his head, his heart too full for words. What was this feeling, an ache and a blossoming sweetness rolled into one?

He saw the bolt almost too late.

One moment, everything was right with the world, the night peaceful around them.

The next moment, a spot of blinding light swelled in the night sky.

It grew bigger and bigger, and Uriel realized it wasn’t slowing down.

“It’s heading straight for us!”

24

DREAM TEAM, PEEN TEAM

Bruiser gripped Uriel against his chest, doing a barrel roll to spin them both out of the way. “What in the blazes is that?”

“An attack. Someone’s targeting me, or you. Probably me.” Uriel’s heart pounded loudly in Bruiser’s ears. “We have to get home.”

“Wouldn’t that just lead them straight to where Cassie is?”

Uriel cursed. “What do you suggest?”

Then he looked over their shoulders, and cursed more loudly. “Fuck, it’s changing directions!”

Bruiser had never seen an attack change trajectories. To do so meant that the caster was powerful enough to control a missile across this distance.

That wasn’t good.

“Damn it! Keep me facing that thing, but watch out for more,” Uriel said. He drew shimmering runes in the air, then pressed his palms against them and pushed.

The runes collided with the magical bolt and exploded.

Bruiser tucked his wings around them, letting them fall through the sky in favor of physical protection.

“Do you think it’s Xenowen?” he asked when there seemed to be no more explosions, and he’d flown them to a safer spot.

“Fuck.” Uriel groaned. “If he saw that explosion, he might come here to investigate. I don’t want Cartfalls to be caught in the blast radius.”