A sigh escaped me as I took a seat on the blanket, grabbing one of the sandwiches. “They said no. Trying to teach me some lesson or something.” He snickered and I punched his arm. “You like when I’m mad!” I accused playfully.

Taking a big bite of his sub, he nodded. “I really do.”

“How’s the pack?” We didn’t talk about his second life very much, but I wanted him to know I was there for him no matter what.

He shrugged. “Mostly good.”

A frown pulled at my lips. “Mostly?”

“When I’m a wolf, I want to be a human, and when I’m human… I feel like an imposter, like I was born to be a wolf.”

My stomach sank. It was hard to watch loved ones go through their own problems. I wanted to fix everything for him, but I couldn’t, and it pained me.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with that.” I took another bite, thinking of what else I could say.

He shrugged. “Better than being tasked with killing the Devil.”

I scoffed. “I wasn’t tasked with it.”

“Prophesized. Whatever.” He gave me a long side look, one that was less jovial and more solemn. “But seriously, how are you going to do that?”

I was regretting this lunch already. “I don’t know… but I have to.”

“Why? Why can’t you just fight the demons he creates like everyone else? If the archangels can’t kill him, then maybe you can’t either.”

That was a very real fear I had as well, but I couldn’t let it get to me. I had to believe in what I’d been hearing for almost four years now, that I did have what it took to bring him down, that I was his only equal for some weird reason.

“The war will only grow, Mikey. It’ll only get worse unless I end him. Angel City will fall, and Mom and everyone else we love will die. Life as we know it will cease to exist.”

We sat there for a long moment, until finally Mikey reached out and squeezed my hand. “Well, if you’re planning some crazy suicide mission, then I want to be by your side.”

No way. I could never let my mother lose both of us.

“Mikey, I really appreciate that, and it’s so sweet that you want to help me, but I could never let you do that.”

Mikey growled animalistically—in warning. “Have you seen me in battle? I can rip a demon’s head off in seconds. The Fallen Army has already promoted me to lieutenant.”

Lincoln had mentioned that, and he’d told me that my brother was proving instrumental in the raids in the war zones but… it was Mikey.

“I’ll think about it,” was all I could offer.

There was no way I would allow it. Not my baby brother.

He scoffed and was probably about to retort when I heard Lincoln call my name. Maybe it was the fact that Lincoln was supposed to be on duty, or maybe it was the high-pitched panic in his voice, but even before I turned to face him, my stomach was in knots.

Getting up quickly, I rushed over to him. He was in his Fallen Army uniform, black soot and blood covering his skin.

“What happened?”

If Shea or anyone I cared about was hurt, I would lose it. We’d made it this far….

“We need all hands on deck. The demons are executing all humans who live in Demon City and won’t sign a slave contract.”

Bile rose in my throat.

“What!” The world spun on its axis for a second as I processed his words.

“I made the mistake of leaving you behind before, and I won’t do that again. This could be another ploy to lure the army away from the school.”

I nodded. “We should leave a good number behind on campus in case it’s exactly that.”

“We’ll definitely help you,” Mikey told Lincoln. His voice was gruff, and I looked over to see patches of fur crawling up my brother’s arms. The wolf was close.

I’d never gone out fighting with my little bro. Hell, I hadn’t been out on army duty since I got back. I’d been sheltered and kept safe here while everyone else did the fighting for me.

That time was over.

Scooping Sera up, I tucked her into her leather sheath at my thigh, and we all started to jog toward the parking lot. Word must have spread fast, because both students and faculty were running around in panic. Even on a Saturday, when the campus was normally dead, it was crawling with people.

“Attention, Fallen Academy.” Raphael’s voice came over the loudspeaker, which played out into every classroom and hallway, and even projected out into the quad. “All army personnel, please report to the parking lot. We have a situation in Demon City that cannot be ignored.”

With a high-pitched whine, the transmission went dead.

Oh God. Lucifer had finally lost it. He was upping his game, and I wouldn’t stand for it.

“Lincoln!” Catia’s voice called out, and we followed the sound to a big Fallen Academy bus. She, Noah and Shea were waiting right in front of the open doors. Archangel Michael was perched on the roof, wings spread out as he spoke to Emberly and Grace, who stood below him.

As we passed them to make our way to the front of the bus, I overheard Michael asking Emberly, “How’s your pain today?”

“I’m fine!” she growled. “Let me kill some demon scum, Dad. You can’t baby me anymore. I’m sixteen now!”

He groaned, while Grace promised she would stay with their daughter on the mission. I didn’t know all the details of the technology Metatron had given her, but Grace was sporting a new sword that had some kind of button on it to activate a laser light, which could cut through flesh and bone. She was probably stronger and more capable than her husband with that thing.

Passing their family, we made it onto the bus, and huddled into the first few seats, joining Catia, who looked shaken.

“How bad is it?” Lincoln asked her. Then, his gaze shifted to me. “She was on duty at the border and witnessed it firsthand.”

Catia’s eyes were red rimmed, and she looked sweaty. “It’s… it’s genocide. The demons are asking humans to take the mark and become a slave. If they refuse, they’re openly killing them… young teenagers included.”

My stomach rolled with nausea, which quickly turned to rage. Those freaking bastards!

“Why now, after all this time?” I growled.

Demon City was mostly filled with demons and their slaves, but a good 30 percent of the population were humans who were either married to a demon slave, or were too poor to live in Angel City.

Catia shook her head. “I overheard a Brimstone demon saying it was some new initiative. Only the loyal could remain.”

Lucifer.

I’d never felt so much rage for a single person in all my life, until that very moment. It was a combination of every single thing Lucy had done to bring evil to my life or the world, and this was the last straw. I simply couldn’t tolerate the mass killing of innocents. Hell, I couldn’t tolerate the killing of a single innocent. This was going to end once and for all.

“Let’s go. Every second we sit here another innocent dies!” I shouted.

Lincoln nodded, getting into the driver seat as Catia called out the door for any available personnel to jump on the bus. It would take Raphael at least twenty minutes to assemble the army and sort out who was staying and who should go. In that time, too many would be dead. This bus was leaving now.

I spotted Darren and Blake across campus near the gates. It looked like they were in charge of protecting the academy during this latest issue; it could be another trap to lure us away, and then they’d probably burn this place to the ground.

Grace, Emberly, and a handful of others jumped on, including Mikey, Tiffany and Luke, and we made our way to Demon City.

“Weapons and armor are under the seats. Suit up,” Lincoln called out over the PA.

We were going to war.

Seventeen

We pulled the bus up to the border gate, which had been fully closed.

“Open her up!” Lincoln called out to a guard, who was taking cover in a cement tower.

The man looked hesitant for a moment. “Sir, it’s a full-on riot over there. My orders were to shut down the border,” he shouted through the fence.

A thump sounded on the roof.

“Open the gates!” Michael thundered, and the guard looked like he was going to piss himself.

“Yes, sir,” the guard mumbled to the archangel, and with a shaky nod he pushed a button, making the solid steel begin to part.

I was wearing a bulletproof vest over a thin chain mail top. Even though modern weapons like guns were often used when fighting demons, they mostly preferred swords and knives, so you had to be careful. A chain mail top was a lifesaver when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

Mikey had already disrobed in the back, shifting into his wolf form, and Luke had done the same. It was completely unnerving to have a massive wolf and bear just chilling behind you, watching you—even if they were family.

“What’s the plan, Linc?” Tiffany asked my husband.

I wanted to punch her for calling him by a nickname instead of ‘Captain Grey’, or even ‘Lincoln,’ but now was not the time. Besides, Michael and Chloe had taught me that coming to Earth was all about love, and I was determined to love Tiffany. A little. Sort of. Never mind.

‘Screw her, she wants your man,’ Sera snarked, and I just grinned. Although I couldn’t fight with her, it was amazing to just have her around again.

Ignoring her, Lincoln pulled the bus into the city, and my eyes darted around for any sign of the chaos. More people than normal were out on the streets, most of them demon bound; and I recognized the red slave mark tattoo on their foreheads. They looked hurried, walking fast to wherever they were going.

“The bus is bulletproof and built like a tank,” Lincoln assured us. “We’ll get as many innocents on here as we can, and then ferry them back to Angel City.”

Okay, so it was a loose plan with a lot of crap that could go wrong. Awesome.

Where were the people going? It looked like the demon bound were all heading in a certain direction. When they’d look up and notice the academy bus—and probably Michael riding on the roof, considering that was a bit conspicuous—they just put their heads back down and walked faster.