Page 92 of Galen
Galen hurried out of bed and tugged on a pair of jeans. He’d just zipped them when there was a banging on the door.
“Galen!” Gray said, his voice cracking. “Cas is hurt!”
Galen opened the door, and my heart ripped wide open at seeing the tears streaking down Gray’s cheeks. As quickly as I could, I pulled on the jeans Galen had torn off me last night and tugged on a sweater.
“Stay here,” Galen told me. He had completely changed in mere seconds. The seductive, gentle male I’d been in bed with just moments ago had been replaced by the warrior he was raised to be. Authority radiated from him.
“Let me help.” I wasn’t surewhatI could do, but Galen wasn’t the only person in the mansion I cared about. I cared for all seven of them. If Castor was hurt, I refused to stand there doing nothing.
“You’ll do as I say,” Galen growled, guiding a frantic Gray out of the room. Beneath the harsh tone, I sensed his fear. “Don’t leave this room. Do you understand?”
My pulse thrummed through my veins, and I felt a bit light-headed. An argument was on the tip of my tongue, but the hard look in his eyes stopped me from voicing it. “Okay.”
The door slammed as he exited the room.
I rushed over to it and put my ear against the wood, hearing heavy footsteps in the hall and indistinct voices before everything got quiet. Tires squealed not long afterward, followed by the sound of an engine getting up to speed. Another car followed. Since it was broad daylight, they drove instead of flew.
Was I alone at the mansion now?
Was Castor okay?
Athudon the balcony made me snap my head around. My heart was in my throat, and fear gripped me. But then I saw a familiar set of white wings on the patio.
I ran over and flung open the door. “Lazarus?”
Blood pooled from a wound on his head, coloring sections of his blond-white hair red. Deep gashes were on his arms and chest, and when he tried to stand, he slumped back to the balcony floor. A part of his left wing had been torn, staining the once pure white feathers in blood.
“What happened?” I dropped to my knees beside him.
“An attack,” he answered with a gasp. “In the celestial realm. Why did he do this? Why would he betray us this way?”
“Who?”
“Ramiel,” Lazarus said, clutching at the wound on his side. It looked deep. The angel’s gold-flecked blue eyes landed on me. He grabbed my hand and placed something on my palm. “Please. Take this. Guard it with your life.”
The ring.
My dream came flooding back to me. The shadows. That unsettling feeling that I wasn’t alone. The red eyes.
“I don’t understand,” I said, my voice rising in pitch like it did every time I freaked the fuck out. “I thought the ring was safe in the celestial realm.”
“It was. But Ramiel betrayed us. He and a group of angels stormed the vaults and tried to take it. They’ve been Belphegor’s eyes and ears this entire time.” Lazarus stared off into the distance, blood smeared on his cheek. “It explains why we could never get ahead of their plans. Why Belphegor always seemed to evade us. It explains everything.”
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Panic filled my chest. “If it wasn’t safe up there, what makes you think it will be safe with me?”
“I have no other choice,” he responded, trying to stand again. I jumped to my feet and helped steady him. “I’m too weak to keep running from them. They shouldn’t be able to reach you here though.”
“Why not? You’re able to get inside the veil.”
“I placed protections up long ago,” Lazarus said, wincing as he put weight on his injured leg. “The other angels think the Nephilim are monstrous abominations and wish to destroy them. They’ve wanted to since the day the boys were born. So I blocked them from knowing this location.” He gazed up at the sky. “I need to leave. Time is running out. They’ll still be able to track me, and if they do and I’m still here, I’m afraid no amount of protection can keep any of you safe.”
He took off into the sky after that, his bloody wing faltering a bit before gaining strength. The heavy flaps of his wings faded the higher he soared, and then he was out of sight.
My mind whirled. First something bad happened to Castor. Then Lazarus showed up bloody and saying angels had betrayed him. What the actual fuck was going on?
Trembles attacked my whole body as I walked back inside Galen’s room and sat on the edge of the bed. I didn’t consider myself an overly anxious person, but my nerves were fried. The smallest noise had me jumping. When my palm tingled, I glanced down at the ring still clutched in my fist. I opened my hand and examined it.
The gold band had smears of blood, and the large green stone in the center appeared to faintly glow. I leaned in closer. My hair ruffled a bit right before a deep chill settled in my bones. And then I heard it… whispering. A deep voice spoke in a language I didn’t understand. The hair on my nape stood on end.
