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This path must have been traced by hundreds of us over the years, the grass having been beaten down into a small line of dirt that made it easy to follow. It led me through the training grounds, around the outside of the forest, and back down around the cafeteria into the new block we’d added for the refugees.
The houses were a mixture of dilapidated and brick buildings like everywhere else on the compound, varying in size and shape. Nobody seemed too bothered, though.
It was nice to see the kids running around in this area that weren’t being trained up to be little soldiers, but theydidall pause to stare when I passed, and that made my skin crawl a bit. I’d never enjoyed being the center of attention, and ever since Azazel had set his sights on me, it seemed like I couldn’t escape the spotlight no matter how hard I tried.
Tiana spotted me and waved from her place on her porch. I waved back with a grin.
That seemed to settle the children enough that they could ignore me, going back to their game of tag—or what I wasassumingwas tag, since one of the older kids just tackled their friend. There were soft curses and hissing arguments happening that I didn’t think they wanted the adults to be privy to, so I just ignored it.
They probably hadn't had a moment to relax and just be kids ever since Azazel stepped into their lives, either. The thought that we could offer them somewhere that did so made my heart swell.
Sariel relieved me like clockwork a few hours later, giving me a sweet kiss before he went on his way, and I was left standing in the middle of the training field with a stupid grin on my face.
“You two are so precious,” Reese sighed, swooning theatrically, and I rolled my eyes as she passed me a water bottle in preparation for our workout together.
“Speaking of people being precious…” I waggled my eyebrows, and she turned to set her drink down with a sigh. “How are you and Neo doing?”
She looked wounded for a split second before shrugging, her lower lip caught between her teeth.
“We’re not… I mean, we never labeled it, but we’re definitely nothingnow. I think I’d be better off dating someone human, you know? You supernaturals live too damn long.”
Her teasing felt a bit forced as she bumped my shoulder, and I forced a giggle in return.
In my opinion, it was terrible that she’d decided not to pursue Neo. The angel was clearly crazy about her, and she looked at him like he’d hung the moon and stars just for her—but if she was convinced, then I vowed to be supportive. Lord knew Neo was probably taking it poorly.
“I get it.” Barely. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, even if it's not Neo. He’ll get over it.”
Especially if he eventually ran into Rory again. Now that I’d learned how Heaven and Hell worked courtesy of a very blunt Barimuz, I wondered if his dead fiancee was trying to become an angel and come back to him. Could they do that? Did becoming an angel work like becoming a demon?
“He didn’t seem too bothered when I talked to him, which…” Reese huffed, looking around with a frown. “It shouldn’t bother me, but it does. I guess it also just proves my point. He’s not as into me as I’d thought, and that’s—it’s fine. I know he lost the love of his life and all that, I’d just thought… ugh.”
She settled, groaning dramatically and then shaking it off. The beaming grin she gave me nearly made me flinch.
“Anyway, enough about me.” Reese waggled her eyebrows. “How are you and Sariel doing now that the bond is sealed?”
“We’re good. Great, even.”
If you ignored Sariel’s nightmares, my own, and the weird discomfort that settled between us sometimes, that was. Oh, and all the guilt that tried to eat me from the inside out every time that pit of darkness inside him opened like a hungry maw, threatening to consume every good feeling he’d ever had.
Reese gave me a look like she knew I was full of shit.
I had to sigh. “We're still a little tangled up after the Barimuz fiasco. I feel terrible.”
Terriblewould be an understatement if I ever gave myself a moment to really linger on the memories. Sometimes it was easier to pretend it had never happened at all than try to address the sick feeling that overtook me.
“You couldn’t have known, Aria,” she consoled. “That was the whole reason they did it.”
It felt like Ishould have, though. I was his mate, destined by whatever higher power specifically to love and protect him. I should have been able to spot someone pretending to be him from a mile away.
“Besides, you two barely know each other,” she continued.
It was my turn to look incredulous, but she waved it off. “Seriously. You met, what? A month or two before all this? Ignoring the weird time difference between Hell and Earth, you guys have only been on the run for about that long, too. It’s a baby relationship. Although, with all the trauma and the bond, I’m sure it feels like it’s been years.”
She made a fair point. Sariel and I could have barely been consideredfriendlytoward one another when everything had started, and our ups and downs were expected.
“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” I admitted. “It does feel like we’ve been together forever.”
Longer than forever, even. The bond basically gave me a direct line to his thoughts and synced the beating of his heart to mine; sometimes, it felt more like we were a single person than two these days. It was all incredibly unnerving.
