Mated (The Queen's War #1)

Chapter 31

"This is so crazy."

Perci tried to calm her racing heart enough so she could breathe properly but all the information that had been thrust into her brain this past week threatened to overwhelm her. Again.

"I don't know if I can do this."

Lucan gathered his shaking mate into his arms and tried to find some resemblance of control. The thought of sending his mate into his enemy's territory was tearing him apart inside and more than anything he wanted to fly her away from the alleyway they stood in. The narrow and dark passage was as close as they both dared to be to the stronghold Nikolas had pointed out.

"Perci, if there was any other way I could guarantee your safety you know I would do it, but I refuse to repeat my past mistakes."

Gently, he tucked a wayward strand of his frightened mate's white-blond hair into the helmet that framed her face. The silvery metal covered her entire head and most of her cheeks and forehead. That along with a full set of seraph armour clothed her body in as much protection as possible whilst making her look like she belonged in the enemy's army.

"I can't lose you." He murmured and drew her in for a kiss.

"I'm scared." She whispered once they broke apart.

"Perci." He sighed.

"I know, I know." She thumped her fists on his chest softly.

Over the past few days she'd lost her confidence in her ability to keep herself safe in Ascension. All the possibilities of her demise and that of her unborn child overwhelmed her. Common sense warred with her belief in her mate. She knew that Lucan was correct and that she had to follow Orion's vision, but it was difficult to follow fate so blindly. Only the knowledge of Maya and Braxion's deaths and the role fate played in them, was enough to push her forwards.

Perci laid a hand on her abdomen and stroked the slight thread of their child. Lucan's hand quickly covered hers.

"The thought of something happening to me in Ascension and you not being able to do anything about it, I can't-"

"Don't." Lucan's voice was a whip in the silence of the early dawn. "I have to believe that if your death was fated to be, Orion would have seen it."

Perci broke his fiery gaze and looked out onto what she could see of the street beyond the alleyway. When a small flock of pigeons flew by and broke her stare, she shook off the worst of her bad feelings.

"Okay. Let's do this."

Lucan saw the brave front his mate was trying to don, and instead of comforting her, he slid into the Commander-in-chief that he was and hardened his face into a scowl he reserved only with his legion.

"To reiterate the conversation we had earlier. You must remember to only refer to me by Lucifer or traitor, the seraph do not accept the name I have chosen for myself. Be respectful of those with power and give them as wide a berth as possible. If you gain the opportunity, prove yourself a seraph so they come to trust you. And finally, listen to your instincts. You have a power inside of you that is your greatest asset if you know how to listen to it."

"I understand."

She coughed to clear her throat and checked that Abaddon's daggers were safely tucked away at her lower back. They were hidden beneath a short piece of fabric tucked into her trousers that had an emblem of a blue fire and wings. According to Nikolas different seraph wore different 'colours' to differentiate a certain seraphite's troops. The seraphite she would be pretending to work for was Haran, and he was rather famously known for being dangerously unhinged.