Page 10 of Providence

When he was finished, I gave Cara back the bottle, put the baby on my shoulder and patted his back, like I’d seen in the movies. When he made a little burping noise, I grinned at Sammie and Cara. Fuck yeah. We’d fed the baby. We were winning at this parenthood thing alright. I rocked back and forth and Cara sat on the bed beside Sera, singing a song from a kid’s movie that I knew all the words to because she’d watched it a billion times. She had a pretty voice, a gift from God or good genetics, but her tiny high pitch voice always brought tears to my eyes. Not that I’d ever admit that to anyone. The baby seemed to like it, because his eyes watched her even as they blinked closed slower and slower.

When Sammie gave me the thumbs up that he was asleep, I slowly lowered him back into the cradle, giving it a little rock and holding my breath. When he stayed asleep, I went around to the kids and fist bumped them.

Hell yeah. You guys rock! We are nailing this babysitting thing,I signed and they grinned back. Cara had brought two Barbies, so she sat on the bed beside Sera and played quietly. Sammie pulled out a book about an unlikely child superhero, happy to read in the relative silence of the room. God, they were such good kids. I’d gotten so lucky.

I looked at Sera, her cheeks slightly more flushed then the last time I’d been here a few hours ago. She’d looked better than I’d seen her before last night. When she’d first arrived on my doorstep, she’d been emaciated, her body skeletal and riddled with wounds. She’d looked like a corpse.

Then she’d miraculously recovered, and her beauty had slowly come back, and it was like she had emerged from her battered cocoon. But by that time, I was already more than a little in love with her sass. Even half-dead, she hadn’t taken any of my shit, but had been endlessly soft with the kids. She challenged me on my attitude, refusing to take my silence as a crutch I could hide behind. She’s learned sign language from Sammie, enough that she could communicate the very basics to me. Stubborn. Beautiful. I hadn’t been able to forget her, even when I should have been concentrating on keeping the kids safe. Even when I told myself that she’d be safer here.

Now I might lose her permanently, and I was so angry at myself for wasting time. For giving up the precious days I could have been making her fall in love with me and only me. Now I had to share her with these fucking assholes. She gazed at them with big eyes that seeped with so much raw feeling it hurt to watch.

But I’d walked away once, I wouldn’t do it again. I would fight for her, or share her, or whatever the fuck she wanted. As long as she woke up. As long as she gave me a little of herself.

Years of training my reflexes to respond without conscious thought had me up on my feet, my gun raised, before my brain even comprehended the change of air pressure in the room or the two people standing in the corner. I shifted my hand up, too late to stop myself from pulling the trigger, and missed them by mere inches.

Jesus fucking Christ, Hope. Do you want to die?I roared in my mind.

Hope was pale, but she gave me a shaky smile. The motherfucking Angel of Death by her side looked like he wanted to rip my heart out through my asshole though.

“Sorry, sorry. I probably should have appeared downstairs, but it looks like it’s getting rowdy and didn’t want them to shoot first and ask questions later.” She looked up at the hole in the wall that was precariously fucking close to her head. “Though perhaps I should have tried my luck.”

The Angel growled. “You fucking piece of shit. I’m going to murder you.”

Hope laughed, actually fucking laughed. “Calm down, Azriel. We probably should have called first or something.”

You might want to stand behind your angel for a second,I signed.

As if I’d timed it perfectly, the door burst open and the fucking bikers appeared, guns raised.

I signed furiously at Solomon, hoping he was looking in my direction, before they pissed off the Angel of Death by shooting his fucking lover.

It’s okay. She’s no threat to either of them. Stand down.I signed it over and over, but Judas seemed to recognize the big angel, his body relaxing but not lowering his gun.

“What are you doing here?” he growled, as the men behind him spread out through the room, protecting the baby, Sera and even my kids.

That kind of felt nice, if fucking unnecessary. I could take care of my own damn kids. Hope popped her head around Azriel’s wide shoulders. “My bad. I thought I could help with your angel predicament. I’m good with angels. And sleeping women.”

I laughed, though it was more of a huffing noise.

Hope walked around Azriel, coming to stand beside me, her delicate fingers wrapping around the wrist of my gun hand. I shifted the gun to the other one, then holstered it back across my chest. Hope, she was fucking special. She never told me exactly what she was, empath or angel or something, but if she was touching me, she could read my thoughts.

All Hail Hope, Queen of Sleeping Women and Fallen Angels,I teased, and she laughed. Every set of male eyes in the room stared at where her hand touched my skin. Pretty sure the big angel was still contemplating ripping some part of me off.

“Gusion told me about Serendipity. About who she is.” There was such sadness in her voice, but something else as well. It would be cliché to call it hope, but that's what it was. “I thought I might be able to pull her out of her sleep, or at least check she was okay in there. And I’d like to see the baby, if I could?” The beautiful thing about Hope was she never presumed. She was steel coated goodness, even if she did tie me up and leave me in the back of a car. She looked up at me, her eyes flashing. “Are you okay? The kids?” She looked over at Sammie and Cara, who smiled at her a little awestruck. Yeah, she had that effect.

I’m good. Terrified. Afraid I’ve missed my chance. Afraid that the kids will have to mourn someone else. Afraid she’ll run and won’t let me come too. Afraid these fuckers will take her from me. The kids act like I’ve taken them to a fucking playground, running around this place like they own it.

She grinned up at me. “Ah, Luc’s Horsemen. Gus had a lot to say about these guys too.”

Judas’ eyes narrowed

Did he say they were psychotic assholes with way too much ownership over Sera?

Hope just laughed, taking her hand off my arm and walking toward Sera. Her face was soft. They’d been through a lot, Serendipity and Hope. Both victims of a morally-bereft organization that apparently had an Archangel for a leader. But they were both so strong.

She perched on the edge of the bed, looking the other woman over for obvious injuries. Sure, she was subtle, but I’d trained hard to recognize even the subtlest of body language. She was double checking that the leading members of Damnation MC hadn’t been mistreating her. I could have assuaged her fear in an instant. They were mean, murderous motherfuckers, but they loved Sera with all the softness that was remaining in their black-as-pitch souls. Even Goliath, the fucking psycho.

Hope cupped Sera’s cheek, a small frown creasing her brow. She bit her lip, and then raised her eyes to look at Azriel, who was glaring at us all like he’d rather be sentencing us to Hell right now.

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