Malachi stood and stretched his shoulders. “It doesn’t hurt, but I feel them. I don’t know how to describe it.”
“You really remember everything?” She didn’t know why she was having a hard time believing it, but she was. “Really?”
His smile turned wicked. “Yes. Even that thing you told me you like when—”
A quiet knock came at the door.
“Oh look.” She jumped up and threw on her robe. “Sounds like Damien. You better go.”
His low chuckle followed her out the bedroom door.
Yes, her mate was definitely back.
Malachi waited at the door until he heard Damien’s quiet voice, then he cracked it open and greeted his brother with a solid embrace. Damien started in surprise until he pulled back and looked into his brother’s eyes.
“You’re back?” he asked. Damien’s warm eyes turned to Ava. “He’s back. Sister?”
Ava shrugged. “We completed our mating ritual. And when I gave him my magic, it just…”
Damien clapped Malachi on the shoulder. “And your talesm?”
“Complete.” He patted his left chest. “Except for one very important one here.”
“This is a beautiful day,” Damien said. “I’ll call Sari after you’ve left. She’ll want to plan a mating feast for you.”
Ava said, “That’s really not necessary. I mean—”
“It is,” Damien said. “Part of rebuilding our people is recovering our traditions. Sari and I have already claimed you as a sister. Please let us, Ava.”
Ava threw her arms around the big man. “Thank you.”
Damien kissed the top of her head. “I hadn’t planned to let you go, you know. Just because he came back. You’re our family now.”
“Give me my mate,” Malachi pulled her away from Damien. “A kiss before I go.”
It was sweet, lingering, and long. Malachi paid no mind to his audience, even if that audience was his watcher and the man who’d claimed Ava as a younger sister.
He only pulled away when Damien started laughing.
“Go,” he said. “Put her brand on your chest before you see her again. I’ll keep her safe.”
“Stay with Damien,” he said, his hand on her cheek. “I’ll be back soon.”
She nodded and he slipped out the door.
Then Ava took a deep breath and turned to Damien. “Coffee?”
“Please. And you need to tell me about this angel you met. Malachi called, but I want to hear it from you.”
“Fine.” She started the water. “But I want to know about this rumor I heard about the Templar Knights.”
“Damn gossiping Irina,” he muttered.
HE was silent for a long time after she described the fight she’d had with the four Grigori at the cemetery.
“All the humans disappeared?”
She nodded. “Jaron did the same thing once. He said something about them being in a dream.”
“We know the Fallen can manipulate time and human perception. It must have something to do with that.”
“Whatever his reasons, Vasu did protect me. I didn’t even know the Grigori had followed me, and I’m usually pretty good at spotting a tail after years of having bodyguards when I travel. I’d let down my guard.”
Damien shrugged. “Or he led them to you to see what you’d do. We have no idea what his motives could be.”
“He was… oddly honest. I think he’s an ally of Jaron’s. He could have hurt me anytime he wanted. I’d let him in the apartment when he was a cat.”
“A cat? Malachi left that part out.”
Ava explained as she downed another cup of coffee and devoured the breakfast pastry Damien had brought. If it weren’t for the typical voracious Irina metabolism, she’d blow up like a whale. The sweets in Vienna were out of this world.
“I’ve never heard of one shifting to an animal before, but that could be something unique to this Vasu. Perhaps the same talent that allows him to transport you over distances.”
“Aren’t angels basically the same?”
“No.” Damien stood to get himself another coffee. “They were created to perform different duties, therefore they have different talents. That’s why a daughter of Leoc has visions, but a daughter of Ariel has an affinity for the elements, like Sari.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Can you move rocks and wood?”
Ava grinned. “That was pretty cool at the Library, huh?”
Damien’s mouth lifted in the corner. “She was a vision. I was the envy of every scribe in that room.”
“I love that you’re not intimidated by her power. By how outspoken she is.”
“Why would I be? It only makes me stronger.” He sighed. “You lived in the human world for too long.”
“I’m better now.”
“I remember when I first met you.”
“You were so suspicious.”
“You were so jumpy.”
They both smiled, and Ava was glad—as painful as Malachi’s loss had been—that she’d found Damien.
She put a hand over his. “It’s good to have a brother.”
THE mating feast at Damien and Sari’s house wasn’t quite the grand event that Ava had imagined. It was more like a really fun, really long dinner party with lots of speeches and blessings. Everyone stood up to say something really eloquent or really funny. All the scribes from the Istanbul house were there, along with Renata and Mala. Orsala, Sari, and Damien were the hosts. Sari and Damien’s brother-in-law had also been invited. Gabriel was the mate of Sari’s sister, who had died during the Rending. Ava could see the tension between him and Damien, but she didn’t ask questions.