by Heather Long
And as sweet as he was trying to be, I still didn’t want to hand them all the answers just because they ask.
“What did Seth do?” Tarus edged so close to Bish’s side, his chest touched his arm.
“Look, this has nothing to do with you. Honestly, I’m tired of being Dahlia-napped. While I appreciate what you are trying to do, I’ll be fine with Seth.”
“What did Seth do?” This time, Tarus directed his question to me.
“Nothing that I didn’t want. I—”
Grabbing Bish’s shoulder, Tarus gave a small shake. “Bish, I swear, if you don’t tell me what Seth did, I will end you. Then there will be no precious Keeper around to fill your duty.”
They clearly weren’t in a mind to listen to me. Whatever.
I turned and walked across the beach, leaving them to their conversation. If I was lucky, they might not even realize I had left.
Two very distinct flashes of light appeared in front of me, leaving behind two very angry men. Men who had murder on their faces.
“Dahlia.” Seth’s voice was rigid in a way I hadn’t heard before. That was actually saying something, considering how dry and literal he was.
“Seth,” I returned. Zhan stepped forward, but I kept my gaze on Seth. No way was I about to look the crazy hot guy who tried to attack me in the eye. “I’m ready to go back to your place.”
A teensy bit of tension drained from Seth’s posture, but it was such a small amount, I couldn’t actually be sure. No, he still had a crazy glint in his eyes, so I had probably imagined it.
He looked over my head at the other two angels fast approaching my back. I knew that because they were kicking sand around like it was all that stood in the way of cracking the code.
Sliding around me, Seth curled an arm to hold me to his back. “Bish, Tarus. Which one of you fuckers took Dahlia off of the balcony?”
Yep, Seth was pissed, and someone was about to get their ass beat.
11
‘All is fair in love and war.’ Sure. Fair. The problem with fair? It’s definitely not on the table when it comes to love or war. So far, these guys seem far more geared for war, no matter how hot they are. Wonder if I could stoke those passions in another direction? I would happily take that hit for the team. - Dahlia
Dahlia
Pressed against Seth’s back was a pretty damn nice place to be. His muscles rippled, even when he stood so perfectly still.
“I asked a question,” Seth said, after all of a second and a half from when he asked the first time. “I won’t ask again.”
“Great,” Bish retorted. “Then you can leave and take your irritating brothers with you. My guest and I were settling in to talk.”
“Your guest was stroking your wings,” Tarus ground through his teeth. “And she’s not yours. She’s mine. She said she was.”
“No,” Zhan snapped. “Actually, she said she was mine. You just happened to be there. It was my knots holding her.”
I rolled my eyes as I pressed my cheek to Seth’s back. Why weren’t his wings out?
“Dahlia,” Seth said my name so softly, I sighed.
“I’m not going to point a finger,” I told him, and the tension crackling in the air ratcheted higher. “Because the minute I do, someone is going to hit someone else and then some other angel is going to show up here on the beach, and I’ll end up in Timbuktu or spread over an altar or maybe tossed down several flights of stairs in Egypt.”
Zhan pivoted and stared at me.
“No one is going to take you,” Bish said. “Not on my watch.”
“She’s not yours,” Tarus snarled, and there was a thud of flesh hitting flesh. Then the air around us shimmered even brighter, and I closed my eyes against the sudden swelling of light.
“Damn it, Seth,” Zhan swore. “Knock it off. You’re going to hurt her.”
It didn’t hurt, not really, I just couldn’t see. I dug my fingers into his back, and then it wasn’t his shirt I was touching anymore but feathers, and I forced my eyes open to see the wild array of sunset shades spreading out from his back. He still had an arm twisted behind him to wrap around me, but his wings blocked the light.
That was much better. Spreading my fingers, I stroked down two of the longer feathers and then let out a breath. They were like silk, soft and almost downy in places, but other feathers were stiffer and angled.
A groan rumbled from Seth, and the light cut off abruptly.
“Fuck,” Tarus swore. “I hate when you…”
“If you think I’ll tolerate you three idiots…”
“Hell.”
All three voices crashed over each other and faded as I stroked the feathers on Seth’s wings. They were an absolute marvel. Bish’s had been nice, and I’d enjoyed touching them, but this…I could do this all day.
“You need to stop,” Zhan said, his voice choked and lacking any of that seductive persuasiveness he’d tried to use before.
Why? It was amazing, and Seth issued no complaints.
“Dahlia,” Tarus said carefully. “Time to stop, beauty.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Bish appeared in my periphery and gripped my hand to pull it from Seth. One moment, I was there, the next, I impacted against Zhan as light exploded and Bish went flying. Tarus ducked, wings covering himself as the sand erupted like a storm.
The tempest came straight at us, but Zhan locked his arms and wings around me as he twisted us around, and the sound grew in pitch and volume. It was worse than the light had been blinding. Zhan’s hands came up and covered mine where they pressed against my ears.
It seemed to stretch on for an eternity, and then just as suddenly, stopped.
The silence seemed almost brutally loud. Zhan shifted behind me, and he eased his hands to my shoulders as his wings parted. Blinking rapidly, I stared at the debris strewn beach. Had a hurricane hit? It was kind of possible, right?
Anything seemed possible with these guys. As Zhan turned, I twisted with him. My hands were still over my ears, but there was nothing. Not even a whisper of a breeze. Had I gone deaf? When I would have turned the rest of the way, Zhan locked a hand on my arm and kept me next to him.
Tarus stood up, sand shedding off of him. He took a step forward and then thrust his hand into the disturbed sand and freed Gingersnap, who shook herself off and snapped at him. Without another glance at her, he headed straight for us.
“Oh no,” I said, swinging my gaze around. “Where’s Seth?”
“Give him a minute,” Zhan said, caution in his voice.
“I say we give him a few centuries,” Tarus advised as he took my other arm. “Let’s get her—”
“No,” I said firmly. “I am not going anywhere with you. No. More. Dahlia-napping.”
The corner of Zhan’s mouth kicked up. “Dahlia-napping? My plans didn’t involve naps.”
Snorting, I gave him a beat before I stomped my foot down on his. One, that did absolutely nothing to him. Two, it really fucking hurt my foot. Dammit.
“Easy, Beauty,” Tarus said as he pulled a pin from my hair and freed it from the messy bun. Great, now I was going to be windblown to hell. I yanked my head away from his hand.
There was a distinct pop, and Bish reappeared, fury etched into his normally kind face. The look he pinned in our direction had me falling back a step and both Angel-Dee and Angel-Dum snapping their shoulders up, and oh look. Wings.
Everyone had wings.
Head back, I stared at the sky. “Where is Seth?”
Of course, no one answered.
“We’re going,” Tarus told Bish. “Don’t come near her again.”
“Really?” I turned my head to glare at him. Granted, I still had to look up, because apparently, angels only came in giant-sized, which while promising for other parts of their anatomy, was going to give me a crick in the neck at this rate. And all I wanted was to go back to Seth’s apartment.
Trust me, I got the irony. All I’d wanted was out of it, but now I just wan
ted to go back.
For a few minutes, we’d really connected. Flying had been incredible. Then Zhan the buzzkill showed up to have a temper tantrum.
“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Bish stated. “My island. My rules.”
“She’s ours,” Tarus reminded him.
“Mine,” Zhan corrected.
And great, I was back to being the dog.
Fine, I growled.
Bish cut a glance to me, and he gave me an almost sympathetic smile. “Do you want to go with them, sweetheart?”
“Not particularly.”
The men at my side didn’t like that response. Zhan’s gaze practically drilled into me, and Tarus snorted. “Too late, Beauty, you already said you were ours.”
“I said that when I thought another orgasm was on the table, then you both backed off like a pair of scared little bitches and dumped me back at the bar with a kiss off. So, let me think about this, how about fuck and off?”
Oh, I was so done with this.
“And I told you I changed my mind.”
“Enough!”
Suddenly, both brothers were no longer holding me. Or maybe I’d moved.
Whatever the deal, I was pressed with my back against Seth’s chest. Had to be Seth. I could see the other three. Tipping my head back, I checked. Yep. Seth.
Relieved, I leaned into him.
“I’ve had enough of all of you bickering.” Pure frustration etched into Seth’s voice.
“I agree,” Bish said, his tone uncharacteristically sober. “In fact, I don’t care about your brothers at the moment, Seth. I want to talk to you.”
“Are you sure about that?” Seth asked, a warning in his voice. “You took Dahlia from my balcony. That’s a crime.”
“Right, and you shared your grace with her, big guy. I’m thinking you’re in the biggest cluster fuck of all.”
“You did what?” Zhan burst out.
Tarus said nothing, he just stared.
Hmm. Something told me this was a no-no. Probably an angelic felony or Keeper crime. Keeper crime. Crimes against the Keepers. Oh! A Keeper feature. The laugh working its way through me burst out, and I giggled.
The corner of Tarus’ mouth kicked up. Zhan groaned as he rubbed a hand over his face and closed it over his mouth, as if he could hide the smile peeking through. But it was Bish who chuckled. “One thing it has done is free your spirit to be who you always were.” The admiration in his voice made me grin, even as I giggled.
“The laughter…it just keeps happening.” Not that I minded at the moment. It was much better than all the freaky tension and the sudden sand explosions. Oh. I sobered. Head tilted back, I tried to twist to look up at Seth, but his arm was like steel against my midriff, and he locked me in place. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“That’s it? Just…yes?”
“You asked if I was okay, I am.”
“Thank you, Captain Literal.” I bit back the snark. I had told him I would try. “Everything kind of blew up.”
“A build of energy that needed to be purged,” Seth murmured. “We’ll discuss it later.”
Energy.
Right.
Zhan studied me intently, then flicked his gaze up to his brother. Tarus stared at Seth as well.
“Why did you share your grace with her, Seth?” Bish’s question broke the standoff.
“Because I chose to,” Seth stated, and Tarus dropped his chin and shook his head. Disbelief seemed to radiate off him in waves.
“Is it so hard to believe that one of you assholes actually decided to do something about me dying? I know you three couldn’t be bothered, but Seth, at least, tried.”
“For him to have tried, Beauty,” Tarus said. “He would have had to have been there at the moment of your death, which means he had to watch it happen.”
The sad reality of that struck me.
He’d watched Alex kill me. He hadn’t stopped it, but he had given me time at the end.
“I also didn’t know it before,” Seth corrected him. “You both saw it and did nothing. The only reason I followed her was because you were both so focused on her and did nothing.”
And he’d wanted me to punish them.
“You involved a human in your war with your brothers,” Bish yanked their attention back to him.
“There is no war,” Seth stated. “They’re traitors. They fell. They wanted to be gone. Let them stay gone. Dahlia goes with me.”
Oh. Here we went. Again.
“This is a conversation we should have,” Zhan said abruptly. “You. Me. Tarus.”
“Then leave Dahlia with me,” Bish said with a grin. “I’ll take care of her, and you three can have your little conference.”
“No,” Seth stated. “Dahlia and I are leaving.”
“Is that what you want, Beauty?” Tarus suddenly focused on me. “To go with him?” Everything in those eyes locked on me. He was asking so much more than just that one question.
“I…”
“Dahlia,” Zhan interrupted as he took a step toward us. “I was wrong to walk away from you.” The soft words trapped me more than his gaze. “I was wrong to leave you and let Tarus take you away.”
The curious elation proved short-lived however.
“So you’re only sorry you didn’t get to fuck me.”
He blinked abruptly, the spell broken. “No.” Then, “Well, yes. But that’s not what I meant.”
“I’m sorry I left you at Sinner’s,” Tarus said, cutting in. “When I kissed you and told you I hoped I never saw you again, it was because I thought you’d survived. I wanted you to have your life. But now…”
“Now I’m already dead, so why not have your fun?” All of the laughter drained away. “Or what, now that it’s convenient for you? Sorry, Dahlia, we totally screwed the pooch when it came to saving your life, but hey—how about a consolation fuck?”
Old me would have been appalled at the crudeness. There were so many better ways to handle this situation. Diplomacy and delicate negotiation peppered with smiles and an attempt to create peace.
Fuck.
That.
“I died,” I said. “Get over it. I am. Or I will in a few weeks. It’ll all stop. Until then, I’m not a bone for you three to fight over.”
Bish sighed.
Oh.
Shit.
I glanced at him. “I’m sorry.”
He gave me a small, if truly genuine smile. “So am I, but it changes nothing for me. I am still your friend. I still care.”
“But you're not the one she wants,” Seth stated. “Which means you have no place in this conversation. Now release her tether.”
“My what now?”
“I will release her when I think she’s safe,” Bish stated. “She died, remember?”
“No,” Seth said. “One breath away. Her last breath. I gave it back to her. She is not dead, yet.”
I might as well be. This was all well and good, it had even been kind of fun at times. But now it was just depressing. Seth spread his hand against my side, his fingers brushing the bare skin where my shirt had dislodged.
“She would be safe with me,” Bish urged him. “You and your brothers will tear her apart.”
Tarus glared at him, and Zhan took a step forward, but Seth raised his free hand. “Stop. Dahlia? You wanted to go back to my place?”
Looking directly at Bish, I nodded. “Yes.”
He sighed. “If you need me, you have only to call my name.”
“Bishop? Or Bish-you-well?”
A faint smile touched his lips. “When you need to know it, it will come to you.” Then he transferred his attention to Seth. “Take care of her. Or I will come for you.”
“Release her tether,” was his only response, and Bish slid his hands into his pockets and withdrew three steps. Then the world twisted in a shattering stream of color. We were back in his apartment, and I let out a small sigh of relief.
Course, that didn’t la
st long either.
Zhan and Tarus appeared in the middle of the living room with two bright flashes of light.
Fuck.
I was never getting laid, not when these three desperately needed some family therapy.
Tucking me tighter against his chest and curving one glorious wing around me, he growled under his breath. He must have thought if his brothers couldn’t see me, they’d forget I was here.
Ha! Tough chance of that.
“How the fuck did you two get past my security?”
I stood on my tiptoes to get a sneak peek at the brothers. Seth’s fingers flexed on my hips, but he didn’t stop me, nor did he lower his wing. Zhan had his chin slightly dipped and his gaze locked on me. Something dark sparkled in Tarus’ eyes as his lips curled into a sardonic smile.
“I think, dear brother, that you forgot to update your security system after we parted ways.”
“Like hell, I did.” If Seth gripped me any harder, I would be fused to him. Not a bad thing. Who would complain about being plastered all over a six and a half foot tall, gorgeous Viking of an angel? Not this bitch.
Tarus tilted his head to the side and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh? Hmm. Well, I must have cracked the system and made sure if we ever wanted inside, you couldn’t keep us out.”
I perked up. Tarus was a nerd like me? I mean, I wasn’t a super nerd, but I made websites for a living. He just got a little hotter.
Seth spun me out of his hold as he advanced on Tarus. I fell right into the couch, and stayed there while I watched this play out. Seth already demonstrated with his energy purge that I couldn’t hang with the big boys. Zhan stepped in front of Tarus as if to protect his brother and stopped Seth with a hand to the chest.
“You know as well as we do that we never would have come here if it weren’t for Dahlia.” Zhan’s gaze flicked to me, then back to Seth. “But I think you owe us a little explanation on why you used your grace. Then maybe you can share how you let her out of your sight when I stole her.” Zhan, my emotional angel, was feeling too much. Every other word, his eyes cut to mine and sizzled me on the spot.