unless I had Smurfette with me, and Aeron or Leif was in the room. I’d gotten settled in California when I ran away from my father. I eventually stopped looking over my shoulder. I knew he was planning something big that involved inserting himself as president, but I never drew the Rage Mutation, and I thought he was done with me.
If I hadn’t stopped looking over my shoulder and been more careful when I met up with Aeron, I might not be missing my memories right now. If I hadn’t insisted on taking Aeron to my favorite place to eat before we left and had him meet me at my apartment, maybe he would have been there and could have stopped them when they snatched me. I couldn’t even remember what happened that day and how it went down. I would have fought; I knew that much.
“No, Leif. I want to be here with you. I feel safer here with you, and I enjoy talking to you. I think the more we talk, the more I’ll remember. I want to remember everything we all talked about.”
“It’ll come back. You’re already making progress. It just takes time. We’ll stop your father, and you’ll get your memories back.”
“You seem pretty sure we will beat him.”
“He got pretty far this time. None of us will deny that. But all four Horsemen are here now, and we have a Harbinger working with us now. We’ll beat him.”
“If I’m a Harbinger, why didn’t I see the Rage Mutation so I could warn you?”
“Harbingers don’t see everything. It would be too much to process. You might not have seen it, but another Harbinger probably did. All they would have seen was the first person turning. They may not get involved, but they wouldn’t have known the history of how it was created and by whom. You’ve still seen a lot that has helped.”
“Can I control it? I’ve never been able to before, but I never knew why I could do it. Is there a way to force it so we can prepare better?”
“I don’t think so, Ariel. Most Harbingers have it pretty rough. It’s never-ending visions of disaster that they have to witness, and they can’t get involved. Aside from the massive amount of Grigori who fell when they sired an entire army of Nephilim, Harbingers are usually the ones that fall now. It’s hard to see that and not try to help constantly. It’s different for you because you have human blood. You get a break from the visions, and you can operate by different rules.”
“Still, it would help if I could just sit down and predict what his next move will be.”
“Ariel, you just saved a ton of lives in Mexico. You aren’t in this alone. Let Dice and Asher do their thing while we do ours. They were created just for this. We all have a purpose.”
Why did he have to say that? He was right there at making me feel better, and then he had to ruin it.
“My purpose was to create the Rage Mutation,” I pointed out.
“Someone used you to create the Rage Mutation, but they can’t take away your choices or the fact that you’ve got Harbinger blood. You have choices angels don’t have. You are more than what they created you for. You left and joined us. You’re helping end things. You do realize you could be right by his side right now, helping him end the world, correct?”
“Why would I be by his side? He was an abusive shit stain and a totally rotten father.”
Leif just shrugged.
“You could be some confused girl wanting his approval. Instead, you chose not to be. You became a badass instead.”
Okay, that was the right thing to say. I felt much better now. I also totally wanted to kiss Leif. I craned my head up at him and gave him my best bedroom eyes. Leif’s pupils dilated, and his sexy black eyes became hooded. I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down to me.
“Kiss me, Leif.”
He didn’t hesitate. He went straight for it. Leif kissed differently that Aeron. It was playful and sensual. Aeron kissed like we were both about to die. Leif took his time like we had an eternity to do this. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. I had this kinky idea of him sweeping all his lab equipment off the table and taking me right there. That would be so fucking