by S Lawrence
I draw him into my mouth, sliding slowly until he bumps the back of my throat. All the while, my hand is working, circling the part that won’t fit.
Over and over, up and down, slow then fast.
“Lali.” A plea.
I respond by taking him as deep as I can while applying pressure, pushing him closer and closer. I watch his body, his muscles tightening as he fights. His head moves side to side.
All the while, I can feel his pleasure, and just underneath is the thought that he doesn’t deserve what is coming.
I push further as I reach up and pull the blindfold from his eyes, letting him see the pleasure I feel at having him.
I lock my eyes on his as I draw him deeper, feeling my throat convulse around him.
I worship him with my mouth. His body tightens even more as his hips thrust up, and I smile around him. Finally. Finally, he believes me.
Thrusting harder, forcing himself even deeper, he keeps his hips flexed, holding himself deep within the heat of my mouth. I swirl my tongue over the underside, and it is his undoing. He roars, and I let my eyes fall closed as his hot seed fills my mouth. I swallow as I hear the rope rip apart.
I glance up just as his hands close over my arms. He drags me up and over him. Wiping the pad of my thumb over the corner of my mouth, I smile. He growls. Red flickers in his eyes, and I realize I’ve freed them both.
That’s my last thought as he flips us. I catch myself on my arms as he pulls my ass into the air. Oh yes. His hand tightens on my hair as he pushes my head down. Fuck.
A finger glides through my folds. Soaked. Another growl is my only warning. He’s hard already. Magic. Angel. Demon.
Thank you, God. I might go to Hell for that thought alone. He presses into me and grabs my hip with the hand free of my hair, pulling me back as he slams forward.
I muffle my scream in the velvet that now smells of him. I’m frantic, pushing back as he pounds forward. I ride him hard as he drives me higher and higher. Releasing my hip, he trusts me to continue my backward thrusts. That hand is everywhere—between my legs, on my breast squeezing my nipple hard, pushing the pain while a fierce pleasure begins to spiral out of control.
I’m chanting. More. Harder. Please.
He complies as he curves over me, his fingers playing over my swollen nub, and as I feel my body begin to break apart, long teeth sink into my shoulder, and I explode. I think I can see the birth of the universe. Stars and planets streak by. He comes again, my name on his lips.
We collapse, and he pulls me against him, still locked in me. I look back, and his lips caress over mine gently.
“I love you.” I blink at the words.
I see him breaking apart as he pulls away, sitting up.
I’ve done exactly what they said I would.
Chapter 18
ARKYN
I love you. I just said that out loud and I mean it, but the look on her face says the words surprised her. Shock wiped the look of satisfaction that had been shining in her eyes completely away.
Eradicated it.
My heart stutters, but I’m not surprised she doesn’t feel the same. Releasing her, I sit up but I force myself to turn and watch her. Something miraculous begins to happen. As I watch her catch her breath, her face softens and her eyes fill with tears.
Pulling herself up, she stops when her face, her lips are a whisper away from mine. Our breaths intermingle as we watch each other.
“Why are you crying? I’m sorry.”
She shakes her head.
“Arkyn, do you believe in the whole soulmate thing?”
I don’t know what to say. I want to believe. If it’s true, it means she is mine.
“I do because the second you connected with me, I saw your soul and I think mine recognized yours. I don’t know how this works or how I could love you without even knowing the little things but I know… I know in my heart that you are mine and I am yours.”
My heart actually stops at her words. They are more than my I love you; they are a declaration, a choice, and as I feel something settle inside me, I watch as her eyes widen. That widening is my first hint that something big is happening. It happens in a flash of light. Glorious, silver wings erupt from her shoulders.
“Oh my God!” She grabs at me, the weight of them throwing her off balance.
I smile and I think maybe it is the first one that is real in hundreds of years. A sense of joy fills me. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this type of happiness.
Those shining silver wings wrap around me as I realize she has been connected with my soul this whole time. Something happens as they close around us.
Tears glide down her cheeks. They glisten like diamonds, and I can’t look away from them.
‘Pretty.’ The gravelly voice of the demon whispers, and I agree they are.
“Aren’t they though?” My brows draw down at her words.
“Did you hear him?”
She nods, like it’s something that happens all the time.
It’s not. As far as I know, no one can hear him but me.
Warmth begins to spread through me, like it did when I tasted her blood. I still can’t believe I bit her and she didn’t seem to care. She, if I’m honest, seemed to like it.
“Oh, I did.” I blink. “I’m still in here.” She taps my head while laying her other palm over my heart.
And just like that, I can feel her there and I follow the feel of her right back to her. I let my mind connect with hers again.
Love. Love shines as brightly as her wings.
I look up at her eyes, and she is once again wearing that smile. I think I will never tire of it.
“I will spend eternity proving just how much I deserve you,” I whisper against her lips.
“Do you believe that you do?” Once again, I let myself connect with her and look at myself through her eyes. I don’t recognize the man she sees. “Maybe not completely, not yet, but…”
I pause, trying to think of the words, words that explain that for her I will be better, I will believe. Her eyes widen, I shift back a bit, and then I feel them.
Tears stream down my face instantly as I flex them. So long. So very long.
“Are they black?” I don’t dare look back. Not yet. She shakes her head. Wait, what? I jerk my head right and peer behind me. They are silver like hers but mercury, dark with black tips. “I don’t understand.”
‘I told you, Arkyn. You are so very special. Always have been and it seems always will be,’ Luc’s voice whispers through my mind.
Standing, I pull them around me, inspecting them, letting my fingers glide over the stiff but still incredible softness of them.
The warmth and sense of wellbeing I had felt while cocooned within Lali’s fades, but I feel different, deep inside.
I stay here hidden within the feathers as I try to figure this out. Everyone has black wings now, Torryn and Dagen both. Why are mine different? Special. That word can have so many meanings.
I hear her stand. Peeking through a tiny opening, I watch as she learns to balance, even as I drink in the sight of her gloriously naked with those magnificent glistening wings arched so high behind her that they are rubbing on the ceiling. Even as I notice, she looks up, and I stifle a laugh at her completely exasperated expression.
“The others had to go to Heaven to learn about their wings, but maybe you can learn from them,” I offer as I tuck my own away. I’ll worry about their appearance later.
“Heaven?” She practically yells.
I’ve apparently found her breaking point. Her breaths speed up, and I watch as sweat forms on her face. Panic. Sheer panic twists her face. Fuck. I reach for her, but she stumbles back. Spinning, I look for my pants and see them in a corner where she had tossed them earlier.
Grabbing them up, I fumble for my phone in my pocket then hit Dagen’s number.
He answers on the first ring. Had they all been waiting to see if I screwed up? I push the thought away.
&n
bsp; “I need help. She’s scared. Panicked.” I vaguely hear his response before I drop the phone.
Something is happening. Something bad.
“Luc!” I scream, knowing he will hear.
He appears, looking at me, his face rippling as he fights to keep his power under control. Upset, worried, ready to kill. For me. I feel something I can’t quite understand. Suddenly, he turns and looks at her, and I feel a growl rumble up from deep within me.
She stands there naked, bared to him, and I hate it. Hate him for a second, afraid she will change her mind about choosing me. Lightning crashes to the ground outside. He shakes his head, and a long, flowing dress appears on her. It’s lilac. My eyes narrow as I wonder about his color choice.
“For fuck’s sake, Arkyn, do you want my help or not?” His hand whips out, and one long finger points at the chair, where her lilac bra and underwear lay. I’m an asshole.
“Of course. I’m sorry. I’m a complete dick.” I finish then spin around as a door crashes open somewhere in the house.
“It’s the others.” He doesn’t turn. Instead he steps toward her, and she makes an awful sound that draws my attention to her face. It flashes to something else.
“What the fuck?” Dagen’s voice is overly loud in the bedroom.
“Ugh, it smells like sex and death in here,” Torryn mumbles, just before he makes a choked sound. I glance back and see Lillian glaring at him and shaking her head. I think he might have Tourette’s.
I look back at her. Her face is flashing between her own and the other. It’s like her flesh became translucent.
Luc takes another step. She turns her head and focuses her now fiery eyes on him. Eyes set in a skull glare out at him even as she still fights for breath.
Power hits us like a shock wave as she loses total control. It knocks us to our knees, and even Luc stumbles back. In seconds, I understand her new powers.
Healers can kill.
She can give life or take it away.
Luc looks back at us, and we must look like fucking shit, because I see something I’ve never seen in his eyes.
Fear.
Refocusing on the Angel of Death standing in the corner like a dark queen, he calls out to her, “Citlali.”
Nothing. No response.
A wet cough fills the silence, and I look behind me. Oh God no. Lillian is staring down at her blood covered hand. Torryn has a stricken look on his face just before his demon takes over, grabbing the woman and lifting her into his arms. He forces himself to his feet and stumbles from the room. I hope he doesn’t stop until he’s far from here.
I lock eyes with Dagen. “Go. Run, you idiot. Take her and get free from here.” As he shakes his head, blood runs down from his ear.
Charlie screams, grabbing at him and dragging him from the room even as I watch red tears start to track down her cheeks.
“Lali!” I yell at her, trying to get her attention to focus on me, praying she lets them go. Images of whole tribes dying from smallpox and tuberculosis play on a loop in my head as I begin to cough. “Luc,” I call out to him. “Luc.” His head turns back to me. “Go. Before it’s too late.” He starts to shake his head but whatever he sees stops him. He turns, but not before I see the first trickle of blood running from his nose. “Hurry.”
She watches him go, eyes blazing.
A deep wracking cough takes hold, and blood sprays from my lips, dotting the floor in front of her feet as I crawl toward her.
I make it within a foot and collapse, unable to draw a breath. Wheezing, I reach for her, and she blinks. Slowly and for a second, I see her true face.
“It’s okay. Don’t ever blame yourself.” I try to tell her everything I can before it’s too late. “I love you, Lali. Thank…” I can’t finish as a fit of coughing takes my voice and my breath. Blood splatters over those silver wings.
I’m thankful for the moments of peace and joy she brought me and grateful I didn’t fail my last task.
I awoke her powers, and they are beautiful destruction.
Chapter 19
CITLALI
I am eternal death.
No mercy.
I can take you quietly, peacefully letting you drift away, or I can slaughter you in a haze of pain.
None can stop the Reaper.
“...you for making me feel worthy.” The words cut through the haze of anger and fear, and I hear a sound I’ve heard often in the emergency room. A final breath.
“No!” I blink and try to focus around the flames dancing in my vision.
When I finally do, I see him. Arkyn. He’s lying on the floor, blood still running from his mouth and eyes. No. No. No.
I feel myself rocking back and forth. I don’t know when I fell to my knees but I’m here, his blood on my skin and the revolting wings. I open my mouth and shriek like a banshee.
I hope someone hears my cry.
Sitara appears, and I cringe at her gasp. “I didn’t mean to.” Looking up, I feel tears start to pour from my eyes. “I tried to help him. I thought I was, and then he said something about Heaven and I got scared.” She comes and kneels at my side, reaching for him.
“He’s gone.” She shakes her head. “There’s nothing I can do.”
A sob breaks from my throat. “Please.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t, but maybe you can. Raphael was the Bringer of Life and Death. The second, very few knew about or witnessed. You are his descendant. Only you might have the power to bring Arkyn back to us.”
A sound draws my eyes toward the door. They all stand gathered, watching. Judging. Fearful.
Of me. They are terrified of me now. I shake my head. “I didn’t mean to.” My breath speeds up as I get more upset.
Lillian and Charlie both shake off the hands of their mates and rush forward.
“We know,” Lillian murmurs, her hand gripping one of mine.
“I almost burnt Dagen to ash. I really understand.” Charlie grabs the other.
“Arkyn said you connected with him when he was hurt, when he had…” She doesn’t say the rest. She doesn’t say when he had decided to die. She doesn’t need to. I wonder if that’s why I was able to reach him. “Try again.”
Lucifer appears, and I jerk back. He holds up his hands, and I feel like such a bitch when I see the hurt in his eyes. I can hear Charlie grinding her molars and I glance at Lillian. I realize in that instant how protective these women are of him. Satan.
“You have to try to find him in the darkness, Citlali.” His tone is imploring. Does Lucifer beg?
I look up into his eyes and wonder for a moment if this version is the true Lucifer. Did my fear of a creature I didn’t even truly believe in kill Arkyn?
“Connect, Citlali. You don’t have much time.” Sitara’s words jerk me from my thoughts.
I pray to a God I’ve never worshipped. Please help me. Please don’t let me fail.
Opening my mind, I close my eyes and block everything out, searching for the thread that links us. As I search, I hear Charlie start to tap out a beat while she hums something beautiful. The beat reminds me of those at powwows, which reminds me of Arkyn. Thank you, Charlie.
I take a deep breath, holding it before letting it out slowly. Arkyn.
Pain. Sadness. Love.
The emotions hit me like a train.
Arkyn.
“I feel him. So much despair. So much pain.” I choke on my shame. “I did this.” Hands tighten on mine.
“Raphael was a healer, Citlali. You are a healer. Focus on that.” Sitara’s words cut through my self-pity, my disgrace.
I think of when he had stared at my wings in wonder and I had wrapped them around us.
“Holy shit.”
“Oh my God, it’s beautiful.”
“I can feel it.”
I ignore them all.
“Lillian, your scar.” The uncertainty in the man’s words forces my eyes open and to my left.
The red, raised scar I had noticed when first
meeting her is smoother. Healed. The fingers of her free hand come to her face and tears form in her eyes.
“Thank you.” The one called Torryn’s voice is thick with emotion, and I look over at him but he only has eyes for her.
“Focus on Arkyn.” Sitara is stern but I recognize her intention.
Closing my eyes once more, I try to send that power through the connection I have with his soul or essence, whatever.
I have no idea how to do this. The thought plays over and over in my mind.
“You are doing it.” Lucifer’s breath whispers over my face as he leans near. I open my eyes and focus on his. This close, I’m amazed at them. There, swirling in their depths, is the cosmos. Breathtaking. I’m so focused on him, I connect, my power reaching for the part of him so broken by his past. By his Father. “No, Lali.” He shakes his head. “Not me. Arkyn. Bring him back.”
He shoves me out, breaking the connection. I consider how he did it, how he forced me out.
Pulling my hands free, I place them on Arkyn in the spots I would place a defibrillator in the hospital. Magic, power, electricity, it’s all the same. I stare at my hands. Time to bring him back to me.
Deep cleansing breath, in then out, repeat. I let the warmth of the power build in me. I shape it, feeling my wings stretch up and curve around all five of us there on the floor. I hear Charlie sigh and I wonder what they see.
One more deep breath and then I send it like a bolt of lightning down through me.
“Arkyn!” I scream his name at the same time and hear glass shatter.
“Fucking hell,” one of the men shouts.
I draw more power, sending it streaking down into Arkyn’s body, sending it searching for his soul.
I yell his name again, making my voice as commanding as possible.
I feel his awareness in my mind the same moment I feel him draw a breath. I collapse over him sobbing.
I am sweet salvation.
Eternal mercy.