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I slammed a folder shut and dust swirled up in response. I didn’t have time for this shit. I pushed away from the desk and left the office. The mess would still be here when I returned.
In the back, everyone crowded around tables and stood along the walls. It wasn’t often that this many people got together in one room. Usually I handpicked whom I was going to talk to about a certain job, but I wanted to see everyone face-to-face tonight.
I looked over everyone, scanning to see who was here and who was missing. “Where’s Nacio?” I asked Thomas, who was sitting just to my right.
He gave me a questioning look. There were at least half a dozen guys missing. I hadn’t given a lot of notice, and while I expected everyone made an effort to show up, I didn’t expect everyone to be here. Nacio wasn’t one of my top men. He was a good kid, and with his parents’ status, he was good at getting into places not everyone could, but he was too young and too high-profile for most of my jobs.
“He’s with his family,” Thomas answered.
My heart lurched at the words. I’d tried very hard not to think about Nacio’s family over the years since I’d let Piper Amato drive me out of Boston.
At first I’d thought I could just forget about her. Boston was a big place, and she was one teenaged girl. But after I fucked up and kissed her that night, the temptation to seek her out again called to me. I needed the distance. So I went to a different club, got a new apartment, and stayed far away from the little sorceress. It gave me enough time to come to my senses every time the urge to find her reared its annoying head.
I pushed away thoughts of the Amatos and focused on the people whowerehere. “There’s been an abnormally high amount of demon activity in this area. We believe it might have something to do with Dantalion and everything he wrought last fall.” The duke of Hell and his sons had been attempting for years to steal a key to one of Lucifer’s armories. Nearly a year ago, a human girl had gotten mixed up in their mess when she killed one of Dantalion’s sons. He’d sent demons after her in revenge and to make sure she didn’t know anything that could ruin his plans.
One of my brothers had been sent to act as her guardian, and then the rest of the secret order had gotten involved when Nathaniel had done the forbidden and fallen for his human charge.
Most of my people hadn’t played big roles in anything that went down, but they’d known about the demon and helped when asked.
“How can Dantalion be involved?” Thomas asked. “He’s dead, right?”
“And all three of his sons as well.” I leaned back in my chair. “However, there are any number of demons who could be behind this. Dantalion had friends.”
“So what’s our game plan?” Jules asked from where he stood along one of the walls with his arms folded.
“For right now, we’re only monitoring.” By the way several lips curled, no one liked that idea any better than I did, but it wasn’t my call. I answered to Micah, and he’d said to monitor.
“In the meantime, I want everyone training hard. You all need to be ready for anything, and I won’t hesitate to fire anyone who isn’t up to my standards.”
“Are you here to stay then, boss?” someone asked from the back of the room.
“Yes.”
We talked for a little while longer about what exactly I expected from everyone before calling it a night. I stood, planning on returning to the nightmare that was my office.
“Sam,” Thomas said, following me out. “It’s good to have you back.”
* * *
The viewof the city from the rooftop garden was breathtaking. Almost as beautiful as the view when I was flying. Wind blew through my hair, urging me to let my wings out. I could here. No one could get to the roof without a code, and the only people with that code knew what I was.
I stripped out of my suit jacket and button-down so I wouldn’t ruin my clothes and gave in to my body’s desire. My silver wings stretched out from my back a second later, the feathers ruffling in the wind.
When I was in the second order, I never kept my wings tucked in. There was no need in Heaven. As a guard, keeping my silver wings out on display gave me authority.
Supposedly, I gave up a lot to join the secret order. I hadn’t had to answer to angel princes when I’d been a guard. I was above that hierarchy, only accountable to the perfectly-laid-out law. I had status and honor, and I hated every minute of it. I’d never felt like I fit in there. I wanted more than that life.
I’d jumped at the opportunity to join the secret order even if it meant taking orders from an archangel and hiding what I was when I spent time on Earth. But I’d gained a fresh start. And that was worth everything I’d supposedly lost.
My eyes closed, and for a minute I just drank in the August night air. I’d spent the past nine months wrapped up in my brothers’ lives and needs. Between Nathaniel falling in love with a human and getting her pregnant with a forbidden Nephilim child and Joriel’s trip to Hell that he still refused to talk about, I’d been a little busy with their problems.
And now Micah was worried more demons were coming for Nathaniel and his brand-new family. I couldn’t allow it to happen. He was the only one of us in the secret order who had a family, who’d found love and happiness. I was going to make sure he got to keep it no matter what it took.
The sound of feet hitting the rooftop behind me made me turn. Joriel stood several feet away, his pure white wings spread out. His long hair was a mess from the wind, and he was dressed in his usual faded jeans and T-shirt.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Nice to see you too, Samuel.” He crossed his arms, blue eyes studying me. “What areyoudoing here?”
