Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(121)

Silence blanketed the gathered, and Fox stopped a half-dozen steps away from the assembled. After a squeeze to Jubilee’s waist, he let her go and edged in front of her. She pressed her hand to his back but made no attempt to pass him.

He loved her all the more for it.

No one said anything immediately, and Sage threw up her hands with a disgusted snort. “Men.” Focusing on him, she smiled. “You’ve mated, Kitsune.”

“Milady.” He bowed his head slightly. “Yes.”

“And to an angel.” Her sharp gaze traveled past him to Jubilee. “How do you come to be amongst us, Seraphim?”

“I’m assuming your buddy Enoch dragged us here.” The tart response was so Jubilee that Fox was hard-pressed not to laugh. “As for how I met Fox, well, I was running from some drug dealers.” And she was worried about her brother. An image of the young man, a teenager from his mode of dress and attitude, flashed through Fox’s mind.

“We will find him,” Fox said in a low voice meant for her ears alone. “And we will deal with Andropov.”

“Really?” Kincaid snorted. “You’re making plans, Fox? You haven’t even heard our judgment.”

“If you were going to kill us, you wouldn’t put us through this show.” Of that, Fox was certain. He’d had two hundred years in their company. They weren’t melodramatic. If Enoch wanted someone dead, he simply killed them and moved on. “So we have a future.” He said that as much for Jubilee’s comfort as to spell it out for the founders.

Kincaid glared at him and paced away, but Enoch shook his head. “Chaos from a kitsune. Only you would find an angel in a hotel in New York.”

“He found one, and he’s mated to her, but the bigger question is why didn’t she know she was an angel and how did they bind her wings like that.” Sage pursed her lips and closed the distance between them. “May I see your foot, Seraphim?”

“My name is Jubilee. Jubilee Spector. And the last time someone wanted to see my foot, I ended up with wings. So forgive me if I’m not in a hurry to repeat that experience.”

Sage giggled, and her gaze warmed. “I like her, Fox. She has spirit. Nowhere near as dry and self-righteous as the others I’ve encountered.”

“Sage won’t hurt you.” Fox glanced at his mate. His mate. He didn’t care what other label they put on her; she was his, and possessiveness flared in his blood.

“You said Enoch wouldn’t hurt me either.”

He couldn’t blame her for protesting.

“Enoch didn’t hurt you, little one.”

The nephilim in question moved up to join them. “The marking on the bottom of your foot was in the angelic language. And it was a binding of your true name. When I touched it, I unlocked the binding, and you were yourself again.”

“That makes no damn sense.” Jubilee shifted, but, instead of coming out from behind Fox, she pressed closer to his back. “I grew up. I remember being a kid. You’d think I’d remember being an angel.”

Enoch shrugged. “Pet, we don’t even know how they snuck you over the line. We monitor the gates of heaven and hell. We know when they open. They haven’t in years beyond your counting.”

“He’s right. Our task is to keep the balance. We would know if the host had sent an angel. That you are even here…” Sage let the words drift off, and the puzzled frown on her forehead deepened. “Though if you are here.”

Kincaid pivoted, and a fresh thread of tension coiled through the room. Fox heard the unspoken words. If heaven had acted, then so had hell.

“Is it possible for an angel to be born?” Fox asked into the taut silence.

“We don’t know.” Sage answered before any of the others could respond and spread her hands wide. “The automatic response would be no, and those born of angels and humans are among us already. What she is, well she is pure angel. Even I can see that. She glows with the light of heaven. It shines from within. You’ve mated with her, and the light is burning in you.”

Which explained why the demons were all keeping their distance. Even the shifters looked uncomfortable. Only Enoch and Sage came close. Jubilee seemed to make up her mind, and she moved out from behind Fox, grasping his arm for balance, and lifted her right foot.

“You can look,” she told them. “But don’t touch.”

Fox agreed with that sentiment, and he watched through narrowed eyes.

Sage sighed. “It’s gone.”

“Probably erased when it was broken.” Enoch sounded as though he’d expected that result. “Does your brother have a similar scar?”

Disappointed, Jubilee put her foot down and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. I always thought I got it because I stepped on glass as a baby. My mom told me I was very clumsy when I was young, and that it took me longer than most babies to learn how to walk.”

“Because you expected to fly.” Again, Enoch made it sound reasonable. Fox stared at his oldest friend.

“Watchers will go on alert. Send word out. If she is here, there is the possibility of other angels and demons. They must be found and…”

“And what?” Jubilee asked, worry climbing in her voice. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, Pet.” Enoch shrugged. “We may do nothing. Like you, they may be locked into a human existence. We’re not going to let them free if we need not. As for you? You have to choose.”