Page 53 of Seraph's Tears
“It’s not your fault,” Castiel quickly added.
“I might eventually believe that,” I answered. “That’s why I built this.” I gestured across the gallery. “I’ve been so caught up in how I failed everyone that I have been failing you all over again. If we’re stuck here, it’s my responsibility to make it as pleasant as possible. I bought this manor for us all to gather, but then never made it habitable.”
Castiel shot me a sly look. “What does Eve mean in all this?”
The ayim in my body pulsed faster at her name. “Nothing.”
“Truly? Because what I saw isn’t nothing.”
I rubbed my chest. “She’s the best humanity offers. Kind, patient, cheerful. Industrious.” A smile slid onto my lips despite my best efforts. Part of me was glad we were trapped here, so I could stay with her.
“Pretty,” Castiel added to my list.
My wings ruffled. “She’s beautiful. And you don’t need to go seducing her.”
He held his hands up in surrender, a human gesture. He smirked. “I would never go near another seraph’s mate.”
My mind screeched to a halt. I blinked. “Wh-what did you say?” I stammered.
Mate?
“Your mate,” he said easily, as if he wasn’t cracking my world apart.
“She’s not my mate.” But the ayim pounded through my veins. Eve was incredible and lovely and I cared deeply for her, but she was human.
“Gabriel.” Castiel’s voice grew serious.
Azrael stared between me and Castiel, eyes wide.
“I d-don’t see how that’s possible.” My wings shifted and I crossed my arms. I tried to think back to everything I knew about seraph mates.
Castiel’s wings hitched up against his back. “Does the idea so displease you? I thought you loved her.”
I shifted my weight from foot to foot. “Yes, of course I do.” But my confusion and panic was overriding all other emotions. “But humans do not have mates.”
Castiel stepped toward me. “Think. You’ve been rubbing your chest anytime she leaves the room.”
“That’s because it hurts.”
“When did it start to hurt?”
I fall silent, thinking back. It hurt the very first day I met her, when I stood in the shadows of the gallery and looked down on the most beautiful human I’d ever met. And the pain didn’t go away until we were touching one another—either sleeping against one another or making love.
I was possessive of her in a way I’d never felt with past lovers. My chest lightened whenever she was near. I craved her.
“A human as a mate?” Azrael’s face was expressionless, but disdain and disgust echoed through his words.
I whirled. “Don’t talk about her like that!” My wings flared behind me in an aggressive stance. My body had known, even if my mind refused to acknowledge the possibility.
Azrael’s eyes widened. “Forgive me, Captain. I see she truly is your mate.” He swallowed hard. “I…I can accept that, if I must.”
I bristled and opened my mouth to castigate him.
“Have you ayim-bound to her yet?”
The question gave me pause. “Um, no?” In mating ceremonies mates would cut open a vein and mix their ayim and blood.
Castiel grinned. “I suppose you won’t be looking for a way back to Aerie anymore. Unless she’s willing to go with you.”
