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“Kiyomasa,” Auren drawled, smirking at whatever the old man was yelling down the line at him. I couldn’t make it out, but the tone and volume were enough to let me know it wasn’t good. “I know, but—Ginkgo. We can’t portal back, and we need a room. No, I don’t have my wallet. No, I can’t—we already did that to get the phone. Payphones don’t exist anymore, remember? Just put us up somewhere for the night and worry about it tomorrow.”
Hearing only one side of that conversation was definitely strange.
We all sat on a nearby bench, eyeing the streets critically while he worked out our accommodations for the night. To his credit, it only took about twenty minutes after Kiyomasa handed the phone over to Zuzanna.
The rooms were in a sketchy motel, but nobody complained. Neo and Atlan decided to bunk up with Aria and I while Kiran and Reese were across the hall with Johnny and Marilyn. Auren grumbled something about making some calls before disappearing into his own room.
Part of me wanted to chase after him just to evade the uncomfortable realization that I was going to have to actuallytalkto my mate.
We were out of Hell, safe, and now that my body was coming down from the endorphins rush I’d gotten earlier over it, everything was rushing in again. My wolf was antsy in my chest, and I could feel the prickling of my skin when I walked into our bedroom.
“We’re going to run and grab dinner,” Neo blurted out, and Atlan gave him a withering look. “Any requests?”
“The demon just fed us before you guys came to the rescue.”
I smirked when he chuckled darkly, nodding. “Got it. Well, we’re starved, so you guys just… hang out here, I guess.”
Neo hurried Atlan out with a bump of their shoulders. I was curious about why Neo and Reese hadn’t decided to bunk together, but… that issue seemed so distant when the door clicked shut behind the pair.
Aria looked at me with pursed lips, hands trembling in front of her, and I let out a long, tired breath.
She couldn’t go on this way—thinking I blamed her orhatedher for what had happened to us—but those thoughts were written all over her.
I opened my arms, and she made a strangled sound before falling into them.
22
A RIFT
ARIA
"How long were we gone?" I wondered into Sariel’s chest.
He shrugged. "We can ask the others later," he said his exhale tickling. "Hopefully, not that long. You couldn't have been there any longer than the last time we were dropped in."
So a month, tops, was what he was guessing. I shuddered at the idea.
"Are you—I mean, do you want to talk about… what happened?"
He stiffened in my embrace, and tears immediately started forming.
He hates me.
The thought reverberated through me and rattled my teeth with its intensity; my wolf's anxiety only managed to highlight it.
"No. I… I just need some time,” Sariel’s voice is a warble that I feel in my bones.
My angel rebelled at the thought of giving him any kind of space, but he just smiled softly at me. "Not space, pup—I never want to be away from you again, if I can help it—but definitely time. This was all… it was a lot. I don't think I'm ready to really talk about it."
I nodded, trying to be understanding, when he reached out and brushed a few stray tears from my face.
Obviously, he would need time to heal from this; it was traumatic and nasty, and even I was having a weird array of feelings behind it, especially given the fact that Barimuz had sent us home of his own volition—against Lucifer's orders.
"I'm sorry," I said.
Sariel shushed me, pulling me into a hug and kissing the top of my head. I hugged him back fiercely, pressing my face into his chest and willing him not to pull away from me.
He didn't, simply standing with me as I cried into his chest for everything that had been done to us.
