Page 5 of Angel's Smoke

With thumb and middle finger cocked and ready, Iron hefted any amount of deftness he might have had against the mocking little mystery and let loose his annoyance, flicking the thing into its spin cycle. On gentle, of course. Contrary to his brother Chrome’s loudmouthed opinion, Iron wasn’t so moody as to send a relic of Heaven shattering across the dining room floor, no matter how hard he wanted to. He wasn’tthatstupid.

“You still fondling that thing?” Titan’s question preceded his commanding presence into the great room, followed closely by the air and faintly smug swagger of any male who’d enjoyed the company of his soul bond for far too many fortunate hours. Which begged the question Iron in no way needed to ask but would anyway because he didn’t want his pissy mood pissing off others . . .

“Where’s Rose?”

The sentinels’ second-in-command grabbed a mug of coffee and joined Iron on the bench seat across from him. Despite the male’s meaty fists cupping the sides of that fifteen-ouncer and creeping up over the rim to conceal the liquid within, they couldn’t stop the pungently artificial perfume from wafting through the air and sawing off what remained of Iron’s regularly trimmed nose hairs.

Peppermint mocha creamer. Motherfucker. Et tu, Titan? Damn.

“Still sleeping.” Titan took a bracing sip, careful not to let—Jesus Christ, was that whipped cream?—too much of the drink decorate the hair on his upper lip.

“No one’s going to kill you for liking that crap, you know. There’s no need to hide the bottle of creamer in the back of the fridge. Just don’t park it next to the steaks or anything. Wouldn’t want the cows knowing what you turned their milk into.”

A smooth smile carved out a knowing look of compassion on Titan’s face, one that said, in no uncertain terms,I’m whipped, and I like it. “It’s dairy-free.”

“Of course it is,” Iron muttered.

“And Rose likes it. I’ve gotta say, it’s not so terrible on occasion. The whipped cream is fun, too.”

“Agree to disagree, my brother. I prefer to eat my ice cream, not drink it.” Then he scratched the back of his neck, because his nerve endings justlovedsmall talk. “But, yeah, I get it. Make her happy.”

“Wouldn’t dream of doing anything otherwise.” Titan’s smile slipped, and his tone glided into the one he often donned when he preferred to use his words as weapons.

Shit. Here it comes.

“It’ll happen for you as well, if that’s what’s been bothering you lately. Your soul bond, your other half, I know they’re out there for you. I refuse to believe the prime mages have granted us all this joy, even among the sorrow we’ve seen, yet would not?—”

Iron’s hand flew up. “Save the pretty speech, all right? It’s too early in the morning for pity.”

“It’s not pity. It’s encouragement and hope.” Then Titan leaned in closer. “Look, I know it’s on your mind. We all do.”

Aaand that’s just great. Fan-fucking-tastic.

“You don’t have a fucking clue what’s on my mind,” Iron gritted out, no longer giving a shit about breaking the seal on his soul’s secret anger.

Titan wanted to talk? Wanted him to open up and spill shit like his back was flat on some therapist’s couch and his heels were kicked back instead of making headway? Fine, he had no problem playing along.

“Or have you all forgotten that we had a home once, and newsflash, this ain’t it?” Iron spread his arms wide to encompass all the granite around them that had begun to grow colder with each passing minute. “I’ve got all the goddamn pieces to get us back to the Empyrean, back to where we had duty and a purpose, back to where we fucking belonged. And for the life of me, I can’t get any of these pieces to fit where they should.” Hot rage singed his throat as he let the words that had been haunting him these past few months fly free. “You and the others have a choice, Titan. You have Rose. Tung has Tammy. Everyone has a reason to make a considered choice, and it’s the giant elephant in the fucking room that no one wants to talk about.”

It was Iron’s turn to lean closer, and it was a testament to Titan’s long-held calm honed on the battlefield that the angel didn’t flinch.

“Are you staying or going? That’s the million-dollar question none of you want to acknowledge is hanging over your heads. If I crack this relic and she gives up her secrets of how to finally get home, then you all have a choice to make. But as long as I stay stuck on this puzzle, you and the others get to live out your happy mortal dreams with your soul bonds, while I just stay stuck. Never mind the fact that Cyro’s behind-the-scenes scheming is the ass ache none of us need, but as long as that bastard stays quiet, you can all pretend that life with your woman in your arms is how it always will be. Well, I don’t have that luxury,” he said, jamming a finger into his chest. “I can’t pretend that I’m not losing my fucking mind watching you all act like the wonderful bubbles you float around in aren’t about to burst at any moment.”

Iron stood from the table and dragged his tense hands over his beard, stopping just short of yanking the thing off his face entirely. “I’ve . . . I’ve seen someone.” And goddamn, did he hate the ring of torture and tension enveloping his words.

Titan straightened his shoulders but wisely stayed put. “You have?”

“Yeah. Been dreaming about her. For months. Never saw much of her face or heard her voice, though. Not until last night.”

A knot of concern wrinkled Titan’s brow. “What happened? Where? What’s her name? Who is she?”

“All excellent questions, and hell if I know the answer to any of them. The only thing I do know is when I’m so dead tired after racking my brain all day trying to figure out the key to getting this relic’s magic to fire up, she’s there at the end of it to rattle my brain even further.” Then Iron scoffed and shook his head. “It’s almost like shewantsme to be exhausted, to ensure I’m so tired that I won’t ever have the energy to find a way back home.”

The silence between them stretched on, until he was pretty sure Titan kept quiet on purpose to draw out the tension of Iron’s shitty circumstances into a rope just long enough to fit snugly around Iron’s thick neck.

But Titan didn’t pull that rope. Instead, he looked into his coffee cup for answers, pensive but for the briefly stricken expression that skittered across his features. Finally, he spoke, his words thick with a subtle sadness. “Why do you think you don’t have a choice, brother?”

Iron didn’t miss the fact that the angel dodged the original subject by firing it back at him or how the second-in-command’s features smoothly slipped into a mask of indifference.

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