I turn to Delta. “So, what’s with these weird pants? You a Hell’s Angel or somethin’?”
“Technically, yes,” Tazreel answers before takin’ a prim sip from a tea cup.
I chuckle. “I meant the biker gang,” I correct, but he just raises one eyebrow at me.
I’m not really sure what to make of him. Judgin’ by what I heard him sayin’ to Nefta, he didn’t know he had children—or progeny as he likes to call us. I feel bad for him in that sense, but he doesn’t seem paternal in the slightest, and I can’t help but wonder if his seemingly self-absorbed nature is the reason Nefta kept me and my sisters hidden.
They explained to me how Delta met her demons and discovered what Ring we’re from and who our birth parents are, but I can’t help but feel like I’m missin’ somethin’. Like they left a sliver of the backstory out. I’m not sure if my instincts are right on that, but somethin’ about this whole we were hidden thing is scratchin’ at me. Is it really as simple as Nefta didn’t want to raise us or give us to Taz either? Somethin’ tells me no. I think there’s more to it.
“Apparently, those pants are the official uniform for all female Hellgate Guardians,” Delta announces. “Although, they’d never had females before us, so why they’d even have a uniform ready just in case seems suspect,” she declares, sendin’ her demons a look that says she’s not buyin’ their story. “Anyway, I felt like you should also get to wear the official uniform and reap all the benefits of it.”
I chuckle at the cheeky look Delta gives me as she says that, and I make my way back to my chair with a now edible plate of delicious smellin’ food.
“They’re very...noisy,” I tell Delta, movin my hips just right so the pants give a shrill squeak of protest.
Delta and all her demons laugh. “Just be glad you didn’t have to try the shirt on that came with it. I spared you that much,” she tells me, and I become instantly curious.
She answers my unspoken question. “I was almost squeezed to death, and then when I tried to get out of it, the top fought me. It was a close one.”
For some reason, I can just picture Delta rollin’ on the ground, wrestlin’ with a leather shirt. The image makes my lips curl up.
Between Flint and Alder, I dig into my food while the others finish up. It’s not until I’ve polished off my plate and fed the beast that I sit back and look around at everyone. “So, elephant in the room...those demons attacked us yesterday and nearly got us. Possibly under Morax’s orders.”
My eyes are on Delta, but I see everyone look over at me from my peripheral. “Yeah,” she says with a stiff nod. “And his fucking minions damaged my house,” she grits out, her gray eyes glitterin’ with anger.
I see her mate Echo send over a shadow to curl around her shoulders in comfort. “We’ll fix your house,” he promises her, and she shoots him a grateful look.
“Did y’all come up with a plan?” I ask, movin’ my gaze to our birth parents. It’s strange to think of them like that. I mean...aside from seein’ similarities in their faces, they’re strangers. And not just strangers...but strange too.
With Delta, it’s different. She feels familiar. Maybe it’s the sister sharin’ a womb thing, or that we were both raised human, but it’s very clear that Taz and Nefta are not like us. Everythin’ about them screams different, like they don’t look at the world the way I do. Plus, they have some serious demon and angel vibes goin’ on.
“I asked the same thing just before you came down,” Delta tells me before flashin’ our birth parents an annoyed look. “These two couldn’t give me a straight answer without bickering. So I’m still waiting on that.”
“I do not bicker,” Nefta puts in, tossin’ her long purple braid behind her wings. She’s dressed in full armored gear, lookin’ just as fierce as before, swords and all. “I am the Colonel of the Angelic Legion. Bickering is beneath me, and I do not lower myself to such base things.”
Taz cocks an arrogant brow. “Strange, since I remember you lowering yourself beneath me when I was fuc—”
“No!” Delta cuts in, snappin’ her fingers together like she’s tryin’ to get the attention of an errant puppy about to have an accident on the carpet. “Don’t start.”
Tazreel gives her a churlish look.
I see what Delta means about the bickerin’. I don’t know how in the world these two managed to stand each other long enough to procreate, but it’s clear they have some serious issues with one another.
Nefta tips her chin up. “Anyway, I’ve already handled the issue.”
Taz narrows his eyes on her, while Delta and her mates share a look.
“What do you mean you’ve handled it?” Tazreel demands. “You can’t have handled it, because I’m fucking handling it!”
Nefta gets to her feet, shovin’ her chair back so she can prop her fists on the table, leanin’ in toward him. “No, you’re not. This is Legion business.”
“The hell it is!” he snaps, already on his feet and leanin’ in toward her too. “Your Legion keeps fucking losing him!”
“Good Lord,” I grumble to myself.
“Yep,” Delta says to me from across the table. “This is what I’ve been dealing with. Our birth parents are assholes.”
“Hey!” They both say, turnin’ their fierce gazes on her.
Delta doesn’t even seem troubled at gainin’ their ire. “What? It’s true.”
“This is a task for the angels,” Nefta argues, her gaze once more swingin’ to Tazreel. “You have an errant demon who attempted to create his own realm and fill it with mindless followers to do his bidding.”
“Exactly. He’s a demon,” Taz stresses, “which means
