Country Estate.
He stilled and lifted his head, revealing his face to her as the hood of his thick black coat fell back.
“Dive!” She yanked on Rook’s breastplate as blue light burst from Country Estate’s hands, twin orbs of magic shooting towards them.
Rook shifted her in his arms and dropped, pinning his wings back. Icy wind battered her, instantly freezing her as they rocketed towards the lake so fast she felt sick and wanted to hide against his neck, shutting the world out. Only she couldn’t. She couldn’t take her eyes off the witch below her as he launched two more blue orbs at her and Rook, spells meant to freeze them, slowing them so they would be vulnerable to attack. She was already frozen stiff as it was, her teeth close to chattering as the frigid air buffeted her.
She gasped as Rook suddenly pulled up, twirled in the air and beat his wings, narrowly avoiding the first blue orb. He grunted and growled as the second struck his injured wing and a scream tore from her throat as they plummeted towards the lake.
Rook twisted beneath her.
Intending to take the brunt of the blow when they hit the ice.
Isadora wasn’t going to let that happen.
She chanted words, felt the power in each one as the spell built, and let the magic flow through her as she focused on the lake.
She pulled her right hand from Rook’s shoulder, releasing her death grip on him, and cast it towards the sheet of thick ice coming at them fast.
A pale shockwave erupted from her palm, rolling across the land and blasting the trees with enough force to make them sway and shake the snow from their branches. The ice shattered, the sound tearing through the stillness of the evening like thunder, and water burst upwards, spraying towards them.
Rook hit the geyser and she focused on it, using the spell to hold him in the air and gently lower them both. The water bent, forming a wave that cast them onto the untouched ice and sent them skidding across it.
“Well, shit… that was…” He stared up at her as they slid to a halt, a twinkle in his blue-green eyes she liked, one that said he was impressed, and maybe a little proud of her.
“You can tell me how amazing I am later.” She stilled as a sense of déjà vu ran through her, as if she had spoken those words to him before.
Country Estate caught her with a blast of power that sent her flying across the lake.
She hit the ice and skimmed across it, heading for the bank nearest the cabin.
“Isadora!” Rook started after her, furiously trying to fly despite his injured wing as he skidded around on the ice, in danger of losing his footing.
She opened her mouth to tell him to run.
A second blast struck his right wing, tearing a howl from his lips as he was spun around to face Country Estate, and she could only stare as blood sprayed across the white. She scrambled onto her feet, a spark igniting inside her as she pushed off and sprinted towards Rook.
Country Estate’s dark eyes narrowed as he grinned, a flash of victory crossing his features that chilled her blood. The longer lengths of his fair hair and the tails of his black coat whipped in the wind that swirled like a vortex around him as magic sparked in his palms and his expression darkened.
Isadora pushed herself harder, the power she could feel building in the air driving her to reach Rook before it was too late. Her boots skidded on the ice, hindering her progress as she desperately tried to close the distance between her and the angel.
The witch hit him with another spell before she was even halfway to him, ripping a bellow from him that shook her to her core.
Had that spark becoming a wildfire in her blood.
Rook fell to his knees, shaking violently as he reached for his right wing and tried to move it. Blood dripped from his crimson feathers, a shade darker than them, and soaked into the snow covering the ice, forming a pool that rapidly spread outwards beneath him.
“Rook!” She reached for him, heart clenching and eyes widening as Country Estate suddenly appeared before him and grasped him by his neck.
Darkness flashed across the witch’s face as he glared down at Rook. A memory surged almost to the surface of her mind before it shattered, leaving broken pieces of a moment she had definitely wanted to forget.
One where she had been in a terrible place that was darker than night, where something important had been stripped from her by creatures who wore that same look, hungered for violence and bloodshed as viciously as this witch did.
Country Estate’s dark gaze slid to her and a knowing smile tilted his lips.
Rook growled, clamped his hand around the witch’s wrist, and wiped the smile from his face as he shoved to his feet and flashed sharp red teeth.
Another memory flared in response, a clearer picture of the creatures who had hurt her, had stripped her strength from her piece by piece to break her all those centuries ago before they had destroyed her.
Darkness rolled over Rook’s skin, snaking up from his wrists and his ankles to devour the bronzed warmth of it and leave it as black as midnight.
He snarled and his hand shot out and closed around Country Estate’s neck. That snarl became a grin as he hauled the witch into the air, sending shock rippling across his face. It didn’t last long. The witch rallied, grabbed Rook’s arms just above his elbows and grinned right back at him.
Rook unleashed an unholy roar as his big body juddered. He threw his head back, the harrowing sound tearing through the falling night as he sank back to his knees on the ice and struggled to keep hold of the witch.
Isadora started running again, determined to reach him, to help him.
Country Estate yanked his left hand away from Rook’s arm and pressed it into the ice.
“No!” She cast a teleportation spell, desperation flooding her as a circle of the thick ice beneath Rook disappeared.
She appeared just as Country Estate leaped clear of Rook and threw herself forwards, skidding across the ice to reach Rook as he plummeted into the frigid water.
Her hands hit the edge of the hole as he went under.
The ice reappeared.
“No… no… no!” She scrambled on her hands and knees, rubbing her palms over the ice, trying to see through it.
Rook banged against it from the other side.
Her heart clenched.
The wildfire became an inferno.
Her thoughts blurred, a cacophony she didn’t hear as power surged through her and darkness consumed her, a black need to bloody her hands and destroy that she couldn’t control.
No one was going to take him from her.
Not again.
She slammed her fists into the ice, shattering the area beneath her into tiny fragments that sprayed into the air all around her, and dropped into the icy dark abyss of the water. It instantly froze her skin, sapped the heat from her muscles and had her entire body cramping, but she wouldn’t let it stop her. She swam downwards, kicking as hard as she could as her legs stiffened, following the beat that drummed inside her, one that grew stronger as she neared the faint power she could sense below her.
She fumbled in the darkness, fingers touching nothing, water rippling between them as she desperately searched.
Her hands hit something.
Solid. Warm.
Rook.
She grabbed him and kicked, pumping her legs and swimming in the direction she had come. She switched her focus to the trees, using them to guide her to the surface. Her lungs burned and she couldn’t keep her mouth closed, gasped as she swallowed the vile water and it froze her from the inside too.
But it couldn’t kill her.
She had tried drowning once.
Never again.
She breached the surface, spluttered and coughed as she purged the water from her burning lungs and struggled for air. She pulled Rook with her, tugging him towards a solid area of the ice as she shook violently, her body in danger of shutting down as the adrenaline that had surged through her, giving her the courage to go after Rook, f
looded out of her.
She leaned against it when she reached it, clinging to it and to Rook as she tried to gather her strength. It leached from her, the cold stealing it together with fear. She glanced at Rook, terror gripping her in icy claws that pierced her heart as she saw how pale he was.
How still.
“Don’t you die.” She hauled herself onto the ice, rolled and pulled him with her, using a little of her power to assist her with his dead weight.
When he was out of the water, she collapsed next to him and feathered her trembling fingers over his throat, seeking a pulse.
She couldn’t find one.
Isadora tore his breastplate off and pressed her ear to his chest.
Sighed and sank against him as a faint heartbeat thudded against it.
That relief washed from her as she grew aware of the witch on the other side of the lake.
One who had almost taken Rook from her.
She rose onto her feet and turned slowly to face him.
One who would pay for hurting him.
Darkness surged through her, power so strong it felt as if it was tearing her apart as it blazed in her veins, lit up her blood and stole command of her body again. She gave in to it, let it flow through her and fill her mind and heart, because she needed it.
Country Estate’s hands began to glow crimson.
Isadora didn’t give him a chance to attack.
She threw both hands forwards, her wrists touching as she thrust her palms towards him, and screamed as she unleashed every drop of her strength, every molecule of the writhing fury that boiled inside her.
A blast of violet blazed from her palms, shooting in a thick beam of lightning across the lake, stilted ribbons of it snapping at the ice as it rocketed towards the witch.
It exploded in a dazzling dome of white as it struck him and a smile slowly curled her lips as his scream rent the air and echoed around the mountains. The ice beneath her shook, trembling violently as she funnelled more of her strength into it, gave every piece of herself to the magic in the hope it would give her something in return.
Revenge.
The echoes of the scream faded and the beam stuttered, shrinking until it was only a thin faintly glowing line in the falling darkness and then nothing.
She breathed hard, every inch of her cold but on fire at the same time, her muscles liquid beneath her chilled skin and her bones on the verge of breaking.
“Isadora.” A deep voice came from behind her, laced with pain that had a need to destroy welling up inside her again even when she was too weak to satisfy it.
She looked back over her shoulder at him.
Her beautiful angel.
Her one true love.
Magic chased around her wrists, faintly pulsing along lines invisible to her eyes, ribbons that tied her to him, entwined their souls and gave them one life, shared between them.
“Rook,” she murmured, heat flooding her, joy that pushed the cold out and had her taking a step towards him so she could satisfy the ache to hold him and kiss him.
Pain erupted on her arms and she looked down.
Fire chased over the markings and bruises broke out on her pale skin, black and ugly, as her magic gained strength again and the spell she had foolishly cast drew on it, reinforcing itself.
Her eyes leaped to his.
“No.”
She didn’t want to forget him again.
Cold swept over her, stealing the last of her strength.
Darkness devoured her.
CHAPTER 12
Rook caught Isadora as she fell, stopping her from hitting the fractured ice. A grimace tugged at his lips as pain ripped through his right wing and he dropped to his knees, landing with her in his lap.
He curled over her, clutching her to his bare chest, and breathed hard, trying to shut down the white-hot fire pulsing through his bones, ricocheting along the length of his wing and into his shoulder.
“Fuck,” he muttered, his voice raw from screaming when the damned witch had come close to killing him.
He could still taste the water of the lake. It laced his tongue together with the tang of his own blood.
Next time he fought a witch, he wouldn’t underestimate them. He would go all out from the start, regardless of the consequences.
He drew back and gazed down at Isadora, canting his head as he took in her ashen cheeks.
When she woke, would she remember what she had seen?
He had been close to going fully demonic and he was sure she had witnessed it, had seen the transformation coming over him.
Would she despise him? Fear him?
The thought had crossed his mind at the time, but he had pushed through the pain it had caused him, reaching for his other form because he had needed the strength it granted him.
He had needed the power to protect her.
He gently rubbed her cheek and then her arms, trying to get some warmth into her frigid skin. She was too pale, looking too close to death despite being apparently immortal. He curled his left wing around her and held her closer, attempting to warm her with his body despite the fact his wings were soaking wet and he was freezing, his limbs shaking violently as the cold sank deep into his bones. He needed to get her somewhere safe, and warm, where she could recover.
He slowly rose onto his feet, agony rolling through him as he straightened his tired legs and lifted Isadora in his arms. He struggled for breath, fought to shut down the pain and keep it under control, and trembled as he held her close to him.
He couldn’t give in to the exhaustion washing through him. Not yet.
Isadora still wasn’t safe.
He needed her safe.
He needed to protect her.
He gazed down at her again and how vulnerable she was struck him like a thunderbolt, had him holding her closer and aching to curl both of his wings around her.
Another feeling struck him too.
How good it felt to hold her.
When she had cuddled up to him last night in the cabin, seeking his warmth, he hadn’t been sure what to do. In the end, he had sent his breastplate away and surprise had claimed him when she had snuggled closer to him, coming to press against his bare chest. Her delicate hands had scalded him as they had settled against his pectorals, and her scent had invaded his lungs, branding itself on his heart, a soft fragrance he found impossible to describe, but one that was the opposite of everything he breathed in Hell.
She was light. Flowers and sunshine. Blue skies and the infinite ocean. She was nature in its most beautiful form.
Hell was nature in its ugliest incarnation.
He could see that now he had met her.
He lowered his head and breathed her in, the scent of her surprising him once again as it seemed to restore some of his strength, gave him back a sliver of it, enough that he could move with her.
He walked towards the edge of the ice and his black heart ached when she gave him a sweet sign of life by shifting closer to him, seeking his warmth.
Rook had been greedy last night when she had sought his heat, and he was just as greedy now. He eagerly used the excuse of warming her to hold her closer still, to encourage her to burrow her face against the crook of his neck. Her warm breath skated across his skin, sending a sharp thrill through him that had his blood heating so fast he no longer noticed the cold.
Every inch of him heated in response to the feel of her, how she pressed against him and how good she smelled.
He lowered his head as they reached the shore of the lake and hesitated for only a heartbeat before he brushed his lips across her forehead. She tilted her head up, a little sigh escaping her.
“Rook,” she husked, her voice barely there.
“I’m here.” Where he would always be.
Where he was meant to be.
He felt that deep in his bones, in the pit of his soul, as he gazed down at her again.
This was where he belonged.
And that terrified him.
What if the reason the Devil wasn’t calling him back was because he was right where his master wanted him to be?
She had said angels like him had taken her before.
He cast that thought aside. He wouldn’t take her to Hell. He wouldn’t do it. His master could use the most powerful compulsion at his disposal on him and he wouldn’t do it. She had been through enough.
He couldn’t cast his next thought aside so easily.
Why had the Devil wanted her?
Whatever the reason, he couldn’t have her.
He was weak right now, but he would protect her.
He gently set her feet down on the snow, kept her tucked close to him with his right arm and held his left one out before him. The air shimmered a metre in front of him, causing the trees in the distance to ripple violently as the portal built. A dark spot formed in the centre and spread outwards, threads of it chasing through the swirling air to devour it. When the oval was as tall as he was, the oily black burst into white flames and a glow lit the night, throwing the shadows out long all around him.
He looked down at Isadora to check she was still out cold, because while a part of him was aware she had already witnessed what he was, the rest held on to hope that she didn’t know. He didn’t want her to see the portal. He didn’t want her to discover he was a Hell’s angel. Foolish dreams that would never come true.
It was too late to try to hide it from her.
Although, there was a chance the forgetting spell that had come back with a vengeance to bruise her fair skin and tear a pained cry from her ashen lips would steal the memory from her.
Would she remember what she had seen when he had been fighting the witch?
Would she remember him?
He had seen the flicker of recognition in her eyes after she had turned the witch into a smouldering black streak on the ice. She had known him. Really known him. Not just the Rook she had known since he had rescued her, but the one she had known before. The Rook he couldn’t remember.
But then those bruises had formed and panic had crossed her delicate features, and she had collapsed.
Damn, he wanted her to remember him, even when he knew she wouldn’t.
Bound Angel (Her Angel: Bound Warriors paranormal romance series Book 4) Page 12