Page 28 of Providence

I stood like a sentinel on the porch, but I didn’t interrupt. I lived by my gut, and it said that whatever the Archangel’s problem was, he wouldn’t hurt a child. But I’d been wrong before, so my gun was still tucked into the waistband of my jeans.

Sammie was playing is his Hell approved fucking tree palace, pretending to be a pirate. He’d made several villains walk the plank, watching GI Joe’s fall to the ground. I was a little worried he was going to fall out of it and break his neck, but the kid needed to have fun. I was relieved to see him acting like a kid, instead of a miniature adult, with all the miniature stresses and responsibilities.

Raphael held a small pink tea cup to his lips. Cara cocked her head at him. “You have to make the ‘mmm’ noise, like it's delicious,” she prompted gently, and the motherfucking Archangel of Healing promptly responded with the appropriate noise. Cara beamed up at him, pouring him more tea as soon as he put his teacup back on the saucer. She handed him a doll, and he tucked it into the crook of his arm.

His lips curled as Cara continued to talk incessantly, pretending she’d invited him to tea and making random small talk about Susan from next door, and her best friend Carli. Sometimes, she sounded like her mother, and I winced. I worried that I made the wrong decision, moving them in here with four guys who were basically strangers and a woman who we all barely knew, no matter how much we all loved her.

But watching Sammie play, to see how much Cara had just molded all these hard men into putty, I knew it was the right decision. As much as I hated it, they needed her more than me. I was anti-social at the best of times, always preferring to be a lone wolf. Besides, what the fuck did I know about raising kids? I’d been winging it for the last six months. It took a village to raise a child, and a fucking small suburb to raise two.

As if to prove my point, Cara looked over at Raphael. “Do you have a girlfriend, Raffle?” Sammie had tried to explain to her that wasn’t how you pronounced the Archangel’s name, but it had made the first genuine smile cross Raphael’s face, and he’d told them both it was fine. Now he was Raffle forevermore.

Raphael’s back went straight. “Uh, no, little one. No girlfriend. I’m not really allowed to have a girlfriend.”

Cara looked aghast. “Why? Sera has five boyfriends. Why can’t you have one girlfriend? You’re handsome like the man on the billboard near my old school. You could have a girlfriend if you wanted one.”

Raphael blinked rapidly. “I will keep that in mind.”

Cara pursed her lips, and nodded approvingly. “You should. You could give each other hugs, and she could tell you you’re handsome and you could buy her ice cream.”

Fuck. This kid was already giving me gray hairs. I was confiscating all her barbies and putting them in tiny nun outfits. Banning her from going on dates until she was thirty. Maybe I’d find a tower somewhere and lock her in it until she forgot the word ‘handsome’.

Raphael nodded, his face smiling but his eyes so desperately sad. “What you describe does seem lovely, little one. I shall think about it.”

Cara nodded again, and then thrust a toy bottle at the Archangel. “Okay. That’s good, but now you gotta feed your baby ‘cause it's hungry.”

My phone rang, and my shoulders tensed as I looked at the name on the screen. I stepped back into the house, closing the door between myself and the backyard. I kept the kids in my line of sight, but when I answered the phone, there wasn’t any doting parent left on my face.

“Marco? Just listen. Tenebrae are moving, some weird shit is going down and I’m getting out.” The voice on the other end of the line had a faint edge of panic to it. “The organization died down for a month, but something happened to shake the hornet's nest, and everyone is acting crazy. I can’t be here any longer. I’m cutting and running on this shit, and I suggest you do too.” Leslie had been my insider source at Tenebrae for a while now. Disillusioned with the organization, he’d fed me intel on my former employer’s shady business dealings. That whole thing was a fucking mess. Sammie’s dad had been a piece of shit, balls deep in everything rotten in the world. Cara’s mother hadn’t been any better. The only thing that was good she ever created were Sammie and Cara.

When Maximoff Richards, my former employer, had ended up dead, no one had cried. When his wife, I couldn’t think of her as Cara’s mother or my former lover, ended up in prison and then was shanked in the prison bathrooms, I hadn’t shed a tear either. More importantly, neither had Sammie or Cara. That’s how awful she really was. They needed a shit load of therapy, and one day I’d get it for them. When shit settled down. When we could breathe.

Because Tenebrae were still there. They wanted Cara and Sammie, wanted the billions of dollars that they’d inherited on their parents' death. Because ultimately, that was what Tenebrae was about; greed and pain.

I let out a low whistle, letting him know I’d heard him. He sighed heavily on the other end of the phone. “Be safe man. This shit feels big.”

Then he hung up the phone and I frowned, staring down at the home screen on my phone. As much as I hated losing an asset within the organization, I was glad Leslie was safe. I wasn’t soft, I’d had all the softness kicked out of me early in life. But I respected Leslie and the lengths he went to, just to help me for no other reason than he was a good fucking person. I felt like that kind of altruism could only end in two outcomes; a brutal, painful death, or ruination.

I turned at the sound of Sera. “Are you okay, Marco?” she asked, frowning. I realized I was standing rigidly straight, white knuckling the technology in my hand. She looked so beautiful, standing in front of the window, the morning light hitting her head and making her look like she was haloed in gold. If I didn’t know she was Nephilim, I would have sworn she was an angel here to steal my soul. She already had my fucking heart.

I gave her a small smile and nodded.

My source just called to tell me something is happening over at Tenebrae,I signed slowly. She was picking up more and more, especially when Sol was around to translate for her. The fact she even wanted to learn, back before any declarations had been made, was one of the reasons I wanted her so badly.

Sera froze at the name, her hands subconsciously clutching the baby in her arms closer. I knew the feeling. I just wanted this bullshit with Tenebrae to be over. There was no thrill in the game when you had two small children to worry about.

I looked over at Sera and Madoc. Three small children, and one beautiful mother.

Fuck, this living together shit was making me soft as hell.

She chewed her full lower lip, the one I’d sucked on last night. “Do we need to tell the guys?”

I nodded. It couldn’t hurt. If there was one thing me and those angry fucks had bonded over, it was keeping Sera safe. It was nice to have an army, the backing of something more powerful than my Glock and my bad attitude.

She looked past me, her frown morphing into shock. I had my gun out and pointing in that direction even before I’d finished spinning on my heel, turning in the direction she was pointing. My eyes scanned the surroundings for intruders, things that didn’t belong.

“Is the Archangel Raphael wearing a tiara?” she whispered, sounding slightly horrified.

I hissed out a laugh and let my body go loose.

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