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I supposed the thought had some weight to it, and hewasthe one who’d been dealing with an ornery angel most of his life. That didn’t mean I had to warm up to her any time soon, though. He hadn’t been able to feel her complete disregard for morals or ethics, nor the way I’d been forced to be background noise to her in her desperation to protect him.
I understood it, of course, but that level of devotion combined with so much anger was dangerous.
“We can let the angels play together next time,” I reluctantly agreed, if only to get away from this topic. I’d been able to keep my angel at bay since we’d returned from Hell, and I would have preferred to keep it that way, as she was unfortunately unpredictable and full of rage—not something any of us needed running around when there were so many other ticking time bombs sitting in one place.
Sariel was content with that, pressing a kiss to my temple and then plucking free a leaf that had somehow ended up tangled in my hair. It would have been mortifying if my wolf wasn’t so pleased with our recent romp; the fact that our mate was grooming her was just icing on the cake, according to our instincts.
Feeling that complex tangle of emotions made him laugh, and the two of us made our way up to the cafeteria.
“You two are the worst,” Zuzanna announced as we rejoined her in the kitchen, grinning at one another when she glared at us. “Do you know how hard it is to cook for this many people by myself? It’s ridiculous.”
I glanced at the array of dishes roaming about in our absence and couldn’t help but wonder how hard it wouldactuallybe with powers like hers, but her sharp look kept me from asking.
After very guilty apologies for our random romp in the woods and tentative explanations, the witch settled for grumbling as she began moving food out for everyone to collect. It was easier just to do things buffet-style at this point, letting people move through the different lines until they were satisfied.
“Next time you two decide to have a romantic stroll, do it after we get dinner finished, please,” she begged.
Our agreement earned us a small smile before she headed out to get her own food, and Sariel and I followed suit with clasped hands.
The following day, I got the pleasure of meeting Ashe—officially, and not on the other side of a bond.
He was just as I remembered him; beautiful in a classical kind of way, though I got a weird, subtle feeling from him that I couldn’t place again. Out in broad daylight and much closer to him, the feeling was even more obvious, and weirdly put my wolf and angel both on edge. Neither were being aggressive, though, so I just ignored them.
Obviously, he hadn’t expected me to pop up next to him on the road to the compound’s center, because he chuckled when he turned in surprise at my sudden appearance. Elias had been telling him something when I’d been walking up, but by the time I scurried closer, the larger wolf was already headed on his way.
“Hi! I’m Aria. Aria Gribald,” I said, beaming at him. I stuck my hand out and he shook it gently, a toothy grin pulling onto his face at my enthusiasm. “But I think you know that already.”
He laughed again. “Ashe Olskin, but you know that already, too.”
Nodding, I barely resisted the urge to ramble about whether he was feeling his bond with Auren yet. Lord knew that the baby Ambrose would be mortified if I started acting like a concerned parent over him, but that didn’t stop me from being excited to meet his potential other half. What I’d heard second-hand from his long conversation with Sariel had painted the shifter as friendly and open, if still a little bit mysterious.
He must have noticed my fidgeting, because he sighed, looking more amused than put out. “I can tell that there’s something you’re dying to ask me, so go ahead.”
I bit my lip in thought. If I asked too blatantly, Auren might not appreciate it, so I tried to get to the point in a roundabout way. “Did you maybe feel anything weird when you arrived here? At the compound, I mean.”
Ashe’s grin turned into a quirk of the lips and a tilt of his head. His dark eyes seemed to stare into mine for a second, which made my wolf and angel go even more on alert, setting me on edge. They still weren’t pushing to take control, so I wasn’t sure how to interpret the signals they were giving me.
Once he seemed to come to some conclusion, that easy smile was back. “Are you talking about something specific, Miss Gribald?”
Even though I didn’t feel like I was in any danger around the man, I did feel like I was coming under intense scrutiny of some kind while his eyes stayed on me. “A tug, a pull, an urge, or something like that. Anything that wasn’t there before,” I answered.
“And why do you want to ask about that?”
I faltered a bit. Should I be honest about being nosy, or should I make up a little white lie? I was now realizing that I hadn’t quite thought this through.
“There’re… spells around the compound that affected some of the fallen-bloods, so I was wondering if maybe some blessed-bloods felt anything, too,” I lied. I was somewhat surprised with my own ability to think up a semi-plausible excuse, actually.
Ashe hummed, his eyes curving as his smile grew. “I didn’t feel any spells, but I’ll ask the rest of the pack.”
He’d deflected me without answering my actual question, I noted with some frustration. However, a part of me acknowledged that this made sense if he was some kind of spy, and another part noticed that while he hadn’t confirmed anything, he hadn’t denied anything, either.
“Enough about me,” Ashe said, giving me a conspiratorial look. “How’s your angel boy doing? Any new nightmarish paintings?”
“Oh! You know, I haven’t been keeping up with it. We’ve been busy,” I admitted somewhat guiltily.
He hummed. “What a shame. I used to be a good sculptor, so maybe I’ll have to make my own stuff. Do you think the nicer fae wolf would let me use him as a model?”
“You mean Kiran? Maybe.” I looked at him strangely. “Do you like the way the twins look?”
