“Do you really want to risk Madigan’s safety because you were both unwilling to try?”

  That shut them up. Michel had to agree with Madigan. If they could just get over their distrust of one another, Cross and Bren could make something infinitely beautiful with the rest of them. He looked 16

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  at the two of them beneath lowered lashes. He wouldn’t mind being the one to get them used to each other, either. Both angels were strong and sure and loyal to a fault. But, while the relationship between Madigan, Dex, Yuri, and himself had grown with each passing day, the two of them just seemed to be growing farther apart. It was tragic really.

  “What do you propose we do?” Cross asked after another moment of silence. Michel considered them. They were both so tense a loud noise would probably send them bolting. Slowly, he walked to the door.

  “Join me upstairs in our room and we’ll discuss it.” It was a gamble, but Michel knew if they bucked here there wasn’t a point in discussing anything.

  “We’re just going to talk?” Bren asked. He wasn’t being his normal snarky self for once. He looked almost afraid. Which was ridiculous because it was a well-known fact that he loathed more than feared Cross. They were equals as far as strength went.

  “We’re just going to talk,” Michel reassured. “We won’t do anything that we’re not all prepared for, all right?” Bren nodded but didn’t look up. “Cross?” Michel posed the question. Was he in or out?

  A lot hung on his answer. The red-haired angel nodded.

  “Lead the way.”

  * * * *

  “Do you think they’ll be all right?” Madigan asked from his perch on the barstool as they heard the telltale sound of multiple pairs of feet stomp up the stairs in the direction of the bedrooms. He couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of what was going to be going on in just a few short minutes. Maybe. The idea of it got him hot at any rate.

  “They’re in good hands with Michel. He’s quite soothing and nonthreatening when he wants to be, and that’s just what they need,”

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  Dex reassured. He placed a sandwich, minus the crust, in from of Yuri and then got out another two pieces of bread. “PB and J, love?”

  Madigan nodded. Dex knew his food tastes so well, he could predict down to the salad dressing what Madigan would want on any given night. He was a great cook, too. It was really nice not to be the one in the kitchen all the time. He glanced at Yuri, who sat reading a copy of Sports Illustrated and drinking a Monster energy drink. He was probably the angel he knew least. He knew he was the scholar and could communicate with Dex via a telepathic link. Beyond that, he knew Yuri had a foul mouth and a really strange sense of humor but little else. He was also the “consort” that he had spent the least amount of time with one-on-one. It was hard getting to know all of his consorts individually when they were all cooped up together. Plus Yuri tended to spend a great deal of time in the angel room poring over texts he got from God only knew where.

  “If you keep staring at me like that, Madigan, I’m going to take it as an invitation,” Yuri said, not even looking up from his magazine.

  He flipped the page. Madigan blushed. He hadn’t meant to be caught staring. “You can stare at me anytime, babe. Just warning you, listening to them screw is going to turn me on.” There was the crudity that Madigan had grown accustomed to in Uriel’s angel. He didn’t even bat an eyelash when Yuri said it now.

  “So do you think they’ll actually go through with it?”Madigan asked. He was curious as to what the other angels thought about the situation with Cross and Bren. Yuri shrugged and raised his eyes to meet Madigan’s.

  “I think that anything too intimate is going to send one or both of them back to ground, but if Michel runs interference, I think they’ll get it done.” Dex put a sandwich in front of Madigan on a small white plate. Yuri turned his head and gave Dex a kiss of thanks. The bigger man relaxed into it immediately, and Madigan watched the beauty of the two of them kiss with a sigh of happiness. His men were so damn 18

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  beautiful together. He loved watching them almost as much as he loved them touching him. Almost.

  The two pulled back when Dex nipped at Yuri’s full bottom lip.

  “Eat your sandwich,” Gabriel’s angel commanded. “I worked hard on that.”

  Yuri snorted. “Slaved over a stove all day. I pity you.” He reached out and pinched Dex’s ass. Dex laughed and stepped out of his reach.

  Those two were very comfortable with one another. Madigan wished all of his lovers would be so easy together. Dex turned his attention on Madigan as he took a bite. He made a happy little noise as the taste of apple jelly and peanut butter hit his tongue. Yuri laughed at him.

  “The noises you make when you eat are not normal.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Sex comes to mind.”

  Madigan finished chewing his bite and swallowed. “Hmph,” he said. “Sex always comes to mind with you. Doesn’t matter what sort of noises I make.”

  Yuri shrugged like that was beside the point. “I can’t help that you are adorable. It is your burden to bear.” He picked up his own sandwich and took a bite. “Hmmm, though in your defense,” he murmured through a mouthful of sandwich, “Dex makes a mean PB

  and J.”

  Madigan was surprised when Dex picked him up off his stool and sat down in his once-occupied chair, settling the nephilim in his lap.

  “I enjoy the fact that you enjoy the food I give you,” the big angel admitted. He was Madigan’s unexpected sweetheart. Out of all his angels, Dex was probably the most tenderhearted. Madigan settled back into his angel’s embrace as Yuri continued to make remarks about sex and food being linked and let Dex feed him from his fingertips. He imagined that they were trying to distract him from worrying over Cross and Bren. He licked the peanut butter off of Dex’s finger as he offered a bite of sandwich to him. The big angel shifted underneath him, the massive cock Madigan was sitting on starting to stir. The half angel smiled at that. It didn’t take much to get Angelic Ties

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  any of them going. Thank God. As a nephilim going through puberty, Madigan had a sex drive that would rival any horny teenager. In the two weeks he’d been under house arrest, he’d become very familiar with the multiple O.

  A groan sounded from the bedroom above them. “Well, that sounds like a good sign,” Yuri commented dryly, turning his attention back to his magazine. Madigan took another bite of sandwich. He sure hoped so.

  * * * *

  “Bren, you have to relax just a little bit,” Cross soothed as Michel kissed his way down Bren’s rigid chest. “You’ve done this with me in the room with you before.” He genuinely wanted to mend the tension between them. He hadn’t expected to want to, but he did. And it wasn’t just for Madigan’s sake, either. Over the past few weeks, he’d grown much more accustomed to the touches of the other angels, all of them except Bren. For some reason, either one or both of them just started fighting whenever there was even a hint of intimacy between them. Maybe it was because of the bond that was growing between them, but Cross felt like his circle was incomplete without the other angel in this with him.

  “Yeah, well, you’re not usually looking at me like that,” Bren snapped. His characteristic flare of temper wasn’t an unexpected reaction. He lashed out when he was uncomfortable. That was just the way he was. Cross just needed to learn not to let the other man goad him. “You’re not fucking me. So get the idea out of your head.” The added snarl surprised him. So that was what Bren was afraid of?

  Cross fucking him?

  “Bren, he’s right. You need to relax just a little bit,” Michel murmured against Bren’s neck. His hands smoothed down Bren’s chest and played with the hem of his pants. Even from where Cross stood, he could see that the other angel was hard.

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  “I thought we were just going to t–talk,” Bren stammered a mild protest. Cross watched his face flush with desire, and he had to admit that it was a beautiful sight. Out of everyone here, besides Madigan, Bren was probably the most attractive to Cross. His long, black eyelashes and deep eyes reminded him of the thickest part of night.

  That coal-black hair was just thick enough to fist. The attraction had, at first, made Cross uncomfortable. He had been anticipating his attraction to Madigan, had looked forward to it, in fact. But wanting another of the angels had never seemed like a possibility when he’d signed up for the mission.

  The leader of the angels had originally thought the true conflict would come from the strained relationship between Bren and Michel, but apparently, Cross was more suited to be the object of Bren’s animosity. Most of Lucifer’s angels tended to be a little standoffish when it came to the other choirs. Bren was no exception.

  Bren closed his eyes and let Michel pull his shirt up and then off so that his muscled chest was bare. His sienna-colored nipples were already puckered as if begging for attention. Cross sighed. He wanted to put them in his mouth, suckle the tips until they were even more flushed with excitement. Bren would look beautiful astride Cross’s lap as he rode out his pleasure on Cross’s hard cock…

  “Stop fucking thinking about fucking me, Cross!” Bren snapped, drawing Cross’s gaze upward to Bren’s flushed face. Was he being that obvious? “I’m not ever going to be your bitch.”

  “I don’t recall asking you to be,” Cross returned dryly. A thought occurred to him. “That’s what all this anger is about? You think I just want to use you like my bitch?” His nose wrinkled at the word. It seemed so derogatory.

  “Oh, why don’t you just admit it? You all want to put me in my place, and that would be the easiest way to do it,” Bren said. Michel backed off his chest and looked at him, wide eyed.

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  “That is not at all what we want,” Michel said. He placed a soft hand on Bren’s chest. “We want you to be happy with us. This relationship isn’t going away, and it involves us all.”

  Bren snorted. “Yeah? I don’t see High and Mighty Mr. Cross volunteering to bottom for me.”

  “You think being on bottom means that you’re less of a man or something?” Cross asked. He was getting annoyed with Bren’s attitude and was trying very hard to keep his temper in check. What Bren really wanted him to do was say forget it and walk away. If he did that, Bren could go to Madigan and say that he’d tried. Really Bren had just tried to get out of this by goading Cross.

  “Well, it certainly doesn’t help,” Bren snapped thoughtlessly. A look of hurt crossed over Michel’s face an instant before he smoothed it over to a mask of indifference. The fact that he’d hurt Michel finally pushed Cross over the proverbial ledge.

  “You better say you’re sorry to Michel in three seconds, or else you’re not going to like what I do to you.” Cross’s voice was deadly, and he knew it. He was very close to losing his temper completely.

  A downright nasty grin slid onto Bren’s face. “Why don’t you make me?”

  Cross was on him before he finished his sentence, tackling him to the ground and pinning his arms over his head. Bren hissed, kicking his legs out, which only served the purpose of letting Cross between them. The hard press of Bren’s cock against him was not lost on Cross. He rubbed against the hardness deliberately, eliciting a yowl of denial from Bren. The other angel bucked, managing to half dislodge Cross from on top of him.

  “Guys! Stop!” Michel shouted. “This isn’t helping anything!”

  Cross looked over at Michel. Whether the angel saw it or not, this was going to have to happen this way.

  “Go, Michel. I’ll not have him hurting you again. I’ll call you back in a bit. Go take a shower or something.” The shower was usually where they went to have a few minutes to themselves. Despite 22

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  the relative spaciousness of the house, it was still crowded with six grown men.

  The determination Michel saw in Cross’s face must’ve reassured him or something because he gave a nod and turned on his heels before disappearing into the bathroom. The shower started.

  “You are going to learn how to play nice, or I’m going to kick your ass in whatever way necessary,” Cross said, tightening his hold on Bren’s arms until the other man winced.

  “Screw you!” Bren snarled.

  “Is that your final answer?” Cross asked. He watched as a look of absolute terror stole over Bren’s face. He was scared of this and scared of wanting this, and Cross knew it.

  “You don’t really want me.” The words were quiet. “The only reason you’re doing this is because of Madigan. I understand that, but I don’t want that. I love Madi, and for his sake I tolerate the others but—”

  “This is way beyond tolerance, Bren,” Cross interrupted.

  “Madigan did not get your dick hard right now.” To prove his point he rubbed against Bren’s hard-on, eliciting a gasp. “What scares you is that you can actually care for us the way that we all want you to and the thought of the possible rejection is one you just can’t handle. So you snarl and bitch and act like an asshole to keep us at arm’s length, especially me. But I see you, Bren. I see through all this shit you put up around you and so does Madigan.”

  “No,” Bren protested. Were those tears in his eyes? “Let me up.

  Let me go. I don’t want this.”

  Cross smiled wanly. “Bren, you’re just as strong as I am. If you wanted up, you’d be up by now.” Cross watched as Bren’s resistance crumbled and was replaced by a reluctant resolve. Once he felt the last fight go out of him, Cross loosened his grip. He brought his hands up and cupped Bren’s face. “I’m not asking for an overnight change, Bren. I’m asking for a chance and for you to try. Really try.”

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  Bren sighed. “I’ll try,” he allowed. He licked his bottom lip. “I think I dislike you most because you make me the most jealous.” The admission was unexpected. “Everyone likes you, respects you, loves you. Even Yuri looks up to you. They want me, but they don’t like me.”

  “I think you’re wrong about that. When you’re not being a snarling ass, you’re actually quite loveable.” And he was. Bren in a good mood had a wicked sense of humor and a delightful playfulness that teased and provoked everyone near him. He’d taken to showing Madigan magic tricks in the living room after supper, and he had great taste in movies. He was also thoughtful, though he tried really hard not to let anyone know it. Cross genuinely enjoyed watching him with the others and had felt a little excluded because Bren changed the instant he realized Cross was present.

  “Really?” Bren seemed so vulnerable to him at that moment.

  Gone was the warrior angel that could give Cross a run for his money when it came to physical strength. This was the man underneath.

  “Who hurt you, Bren?” Cross wondered, pressing a kiss to the side of Bren’s neck where Michel had been kissing moments before.

  “Who made you feel like you couldn’t be loved?”

  “It was a long time ago. I don’t want to talk about it now.” Bren sighed and tilted his head to the side to give Cross better access. It was an improvement from his earlier attitude. Cross pressed another kiss to Bren’s jumping pulse, this time using a little tongue.

  “Hmmm, you’re beautiful, Bren,” he whispered against his flesh.

  Bren gasped and started moving restlessly. “Think I want to suck you.

  Is that okay?” Bren closed his eyes and nodded, trembling. He was so damn beautiful like this. The wall between them was down at last.

  Even if it went back up after this, Cross would hold on to this memory like a shield for future battles with Bren. They would have this moment.

  Cross kissed his way down Bren’s chest, finally getting a sample of the puckered tips of Bren’s nipples as he went. The other angel 24

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  gasped softly and arched a little into his mouth. He was sensitive there. Good. Cross went down the center of his lover’s chest, tracing the tops of his abdomen with his lips and his teeth. Bren’s skin was surprisingly soft. It was an unexpected delight.

  Bren squirmed as Cross moved farther south. He tongued the indent of Bren’s navel and the other angel laughed. “Ticklish,” Bren admitted with a sheepish smile. He was loosening up. Cross smiled against his skin and unbuttoned the top button on his jeans. Bren lifted his hips to help as Cross slid the heavy denim down his thighs and off his feet. He sighed happily as Bren lay beneath him in nothing but a silky pair of blue boxers.

  “When you first came into my lord Raphael’s study to do the binding, I imagined what you’d look like like this.” Cross couldn’t resist the impulse to nuzzle his cheek against the silk of the material, burying his nose in the apex of Bren’s thighs. Bren made a noise of want. The soft skin of his sac was just beneath Cross’s mouth, and Cross indulged himself by taking first one delicate ball into his mouth to suckle through the material, then the other. Bren moaned then, the noise low and needy. Cross lifted his head as his fingers began to peel back the silk. “You seemed so removed from everything that was happening. So frigid. I wanted to devour you.”

  “I hated you,” Bren whispered. He was panting lightly now, anticipating what Cross was going to do next. “I thought you’d take Madigan away from me before I even had a chance to court him.”

  “When did you stop hating me?” Cross asked. He peeled Bren’s boxers the rest of the way off and sighed in appreciation at the gorgeous cock inches from his face. He’d seen it before. They’d been sharing a bed with Madigan and the others for weeks now. But he’d never been this close. He inhaled the musky jasmine scent that was all Bren.

  “Fuck. Me. Are you going to stare at it all day?” Bren demanded, he was trembling harder now, like he was already on the edge of Angelic Ties

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  pleasure. Cross reached out and took a lick, his hand going between Bren’s thighs to fondle his balls expertly.

 

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