AllFreeNovel
Share Us
John led, and Theo followed a tad slower, his bruised ribs kicking up a fuss at the brisk pace.
“Slow down, John. I’m in pain here.”
John’s abrupt stop meant Theo had to pull up short to keep from bumping into him. His commander’s gaze raked him from head to toe. “How hurt are you? He’ll understand if you need to hit the pool of healing first.”
Theo shook his head. “I can’t. It was hard to fake not being injured last night. Mary and El worked some crazy make-up magic that let me pass, but Jay suggested I not let Him heal me. Just being here is helping with a lot of the discomfort.”
“So… you’re not hurting?” John cocked an eyebrow accusingly. He huffed and turned without waiting for a reply. Theo chuckled until his body protested again.
John’s silence meant Theo was left to his own thoughts, and since he was on his way to meet with Adonai and Joseph, His words about change from earlier spiraled back around. If everything and everyone needed to change somehow, how should he? Changing Daniel’s mind from liking him to loving him topped Theo’s mental checklist. When the sun set and he returned to Atlantic City, it would be the sixth night of Chanukah. Only three nights remained to convince Daniel of his sincerity, his commitment to being with him forever.
How to do that, however, remained an unanswered mystery. Spending more time with his other half that wasn’t cloaked in secrecy? Not having to waste the precious minutes and hours of the night separated by locker rooms, crowds, and a brutal cage fight? Perhaps the fights were a test of his faith. He’d never truly felt like he fit in with the other angels. Perhaps that’s why Adonai andYofiel, the archangel in charge of the Angels of Love, allowed him to train and fight with the warriors. While he felt more camaraderie with the angels of God’s Army, he was never fully comfortable among the warriors, either. A foot in both worlds.
Theo stifled his snort of amusement. A foot on the side of Love, another foot waging war against the demons and imps of Hell. A foot in Heaven’s clouds and a foot on the tar-packed streets of Earth. Forever straddling the line, and neither had ever felt “right.”
He heard the fountain in the center of the garden before he saw it. Theo rarely walked the white paths, and so took a moment to look around. Green shrubs and trees with low-hanging fruit dotted the garden. The paths were lined with wooden benches interspersed between flower beds bursting with color. Brightly colored butterflies flitted from one stem to another, while lazy bumbles bounced here and there amid the blooms.
A trio of bunnies hopped across the path, squirrels chased each other up and down a nearby tree, and a red fox with a bushy tail stopped to stare at him before jetting off into the underbrush. He searched for more creatures, big and small, as he headed toward the center of the garden, but other than a doe and fawn in the distance, he saw no more.
The path opened up into a large circle; the center occupied by a giant fountain. It took him a moment to parse out the statuary spouting water. Two men wrestled: a larger man pinned his smaller opponent, whose feet stuck in the air, water spewing from his soles. The image was meant for him, but was it a reminder of the past few nights or a foreshadowing of what was to come?
The swish of Joseph’s technicolor robes as he entered the circle and knelt by Adonai prompted Theo to consider “sooner” rather than in the past.
“Come closer, Thelial,” Adonai beckoned.
Theo joined the circle around Father, kneeling on John’s right, which put him front and center in His view. Father wore a tight smile on the face of a fifty-something-year-old man with close-cropped graying hair, and sat ramrod straight, reminding Theo of a military general.
“Sir,” he teased.
Joseph hissed in disapproval, but God smiled at him before nudging the prophet with his toe. “Tell them about your dream.”
“Yes,Abba.” Joseph studied John and Theo a moment before he spoke. “Troian knows who and what you are, Thelial. He will seek to surprise you by siccing the worst of his demon minions upon you. Thelial, I saw you covered in blood, your eyes closed, but I don’t know if the blood was yours or not. I sensed the fear of many, saw a turned back by one who betrayed another. I also saw help from an unlikely ally.”
Theo shuddered. Blood covering him, his or not, would send his mate into a tailspin. He would have to take care to make sure it was someone else’s. Theo focused instead on Joseph’s information about a betrayer and ally. “Who is the ally?” He leaned forward, breath held to hear who he needed to be cautious of or who he could approach to help them.
Seeing Joseph shake his head, Theo sank to his heels. “I don’t know. I didn’t see the face, but it was one person. Male. Broad shoulders, short hair.”
That description encompassed any number of people in Troian’s employ. Sabre came to mind, foremost. He seemed overly protective of Daniel, at least more so than that other guard, Bull. Glen, the medic, has also been helpful. He wasn’t an “unlikely ally,” though. More like a sure thing.
“You suspect who the person might be?” Father asked.
Theo nodded.
“Good. Even if it isn’t them, befriend them. Redemption is always granted to those who seek it.”
“I will.”
“Excellent. With that taken care of, Theo, would you like me to heal you? I’m gentler than that pool you all seem to less-than-enjoy.”
John snorted. “It’s painful for a reason, my King.”
Adonai gazed at John, his features softening into a more youthful man of his thirties, hair lengthening and darkening into a soft brown shade. “Pray tell me what reason you could have to hurt more after you’ve been hurt battling those Hellspawn my evil counterpart keeps sending to cause trouble?”
“It’s a reminder to do better. To not get hurt in the first place.”
“Ah. Well, I suppose if it works as an incentive, I’ll let it go, but that is not the case here, hm?” His gaze returned to Theo. “That Aussie inflicted quite a lot of damage.”
“He did, but Judah and El said I shouldn’t let you heal me. Being truly bruised and in some pain will require less of me and them to help disguise who I am.” Theo stared at Joseph, remembering that the prophet had said his cover was blown. “For now, at least, until we know for sure what Troian knows.”
