“Look.” Erin nudged him, obviously oblivious to the harm she had done with her careless words.
He glanced up to see what all the fuss was about. A lush green island rose from the water ahead of them. Water that gradually lightened, turning as bright and clear as a jewel around him. Large villas lined the white shore, shaded by towering palms. Three of the single storey dwellings were reserved for them. One for him and Erin, one for Marcus and Amelia, and one for Einar and Taylor. They were due to arrive two days from now.
Erin looped her arm around his and he reacted on instinct, tugging his free. She looked at him and he felt the pain beating in her heart. Good. Perhaps now she knew how he felt. He stared at the water, ignoring her look, knowing that she wanted him to explain. She could figure it out for herself. She was a big girl.
She didn’t need him to explain everything for her.
Or take care of her.
The water began to pale and Veiron was tempted to leap overboard and swim the rest of the way to shore, desperate to get away from Erin and get some air. He needed some space to recover from the verbal kick in the balls she had just delivered.
Evil.
“Veiron?” she whispered and touched his arm.
The boat docked, giving him a reason not to acknowledge her. He breathed hard, struggling to keep it together. He couldn’t lose control, no matter how much he wanted to fling his head back and roar his fury at the bright blue sky.
Evil.
It chanted inside his head. Tore at his soul.
Erin thought him evil. Nothing good. Everything bad. Spawn of a place that had left her tortured and scared. Servant of a man who had abducted her and tried to bribe her.
His mind tormented him, throwing flashes of her reaction to the fact that he was a Hell’s angel.
He grabbed her arm, ignoring her gasp of pain, and dragged her from the boat. Red bled into the edges of his vision as he stalked along the jetty, his heavy footfalls shaking the weather-beaten timbers.
“Veiron?” she said again, louder now, as though volume had been her failing the first time.
He prowled onwards, casing the island and everyone on the jetty. They moved out of his way as he approached. Wise. The mood he was in right now, he was liable to beat the crap out of anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way.
“You’re hurting me.” Those three hoarsely spoken words had him loosening his grip and stopping in the middle of the narrow jetty, blocking the path for those behind them.
He turned towards her and bit back his desire to say that she had hurt him first. He just stared at her instead, trying to remain unaffected by the tears that beaded on her dark lashes, hoping she would see his pain in his eyes and realise why he was suddenly upset with her.
Erin soothed his savage side by stepping into him, tiptoeing and kissing him. Sweet mercy. He couldn’t stop himself from snaking his arms around her waist and drawing her closer, kissing her deeper and trying to steal a piece of her.
“I wasn’t talking about you,” she whispered against his lips and slowly drew away, her eyes meeting his. “You know that, right?”
He shrugged. “Right.”
“No, you don’t...” She sighed and trailed her hands down his arms to his elbows. “Am I ever going to stop messing things up with you?”
Only she had the answer to that question so he didn’t bother to answer it for her. Maybe it was for the best that she said things that drove him away and hurt him. Maybe this was some sort of subconscious defensive tactic to get him out of her life or perhaps it was just fate giving him a helping hand so he could continue his mission.
Either way, it sucked.
Veiron took hold of her hand and led her to the thatched main building. The resort was glamorous, a beautiful pristine island with limited and spacious villas on the shore, a small block of apartments off the main set of buildings, and smaller huts that lined a jetty over the water. Whenever he had met Amelia and Marcus in the past, it had been at remote islands with no facilities, all of them uninhabited. It was a nice change to have a bar and restaurants on site, but it also increased the risk of discovery. Or worse, it increased the risk of mortal casualties should they come under attack.
He checked them in at reception, ignoring the congratulations that staff tossed his way but taking the champagne flute they offered him. Erin sipped hers. Veiron necked his.
The moment Erin had finished her drink, he led her away, passing a huge pool with only a few couples occupying it, sitting in the water at a small bar that lined the edge in one part. He crossed the patio and headed towards the beach and their villa. It was the first in the row of detached single storey thatched cabins, larger than the rest.
He unlocked the wooden door and entered ahead of Erin, gaze scanning over everything. No sign of trouble in the large apartment style villa. The bedroom was at the back, a sliding glass door looking out onto the deck and the sea beyond. Everything was wood. The floor, the walls and the ceilings. All rustic and what he supposed was meant to be appealing and natural. Considering his home in Hell was a black hut with no electricity and a stone slab for a seat, everything in the mortal realm looked luxurious and appealing to him. He opened the patio door and checked out the deck.
There was a hot tub set into it, partially hidden from view by a short wall that covered half of the deck on either side. Thoughts of kicking it into life and soaking with Erin under the stars filled his head. Pleasure later. Business first.
He slid the glass door closed, turned back around and walked through the bedroom to the living area off to the left. A small kitchen occupied one end of it. Closer to the entrance was an enclosed bathroom.
Erin was still standing outside.
“Something wrong?” He stepped outside and looked around in case she had seen something that had made her nervous about the whole location. Mortals were coming and going along the path between the back of the villas. No danger.
Erin cleared her throat, rocked on her heels and shot an expectant look between the door and himself.
He didn’t get her problem. “It’s safe. I’ve checked it over. No beasties.”
She sighed and flicked her black hair from her face. “I thought we were just married?”
“Only in Einar’s head. Fuck knows what the man was thinking.”
Her face fell and then she rallied. “I take it you won’t be carrying me over the threshold then?”
Veiron laughed. So this was her problem? Her doting husband wasn’t doing much doting or following tradition.
“I carry you everywhere else, why not into the villa, eh?” he said and she didn’t look as though she appreciated the reminder that she had spent more time in his arms than walking recently. He went to grab her and she evaded him.
“I’ve changed my mind.” She turned her nose up at him. He was coming to hate it when she did that.
When she tried to pass him, Veiron grabbed her around the waist and hauled her over his shoulder. She punched his backside and flailed, and he clamped one arm down over her bottom and wrapped the other across the backs of her knees to hold her in place.
“Put me down!”
Veiron laughed again. “I thought you wanted me to carry you? Make up your mind, woman.”
He ignored her as she cursed him and carried her inside, kicking the door closed behind him. He trudged forwards, heading for the bedroom.
“You can put me down now,” she said and he shook his head.
“Not yet.” He entered the bedroom and grinned at the huge white bed. “Now.”
Veiron dropped her onto it and covered her body with his, pinning her to the soft mattress. She gasped.
“Mr... Veiron? I don’t suppose you have a last name?” she said and smiled up at him.
Veiron shook his head. “You’ll just have to settle for Mrs Veiron.”
She giggled and twined her fingers through his hair. “I don’t recall us having our first kiss.”
“I thought we had th
at on the dock.”
She frowned. “Stop spoiling my fun and kiss me.”
Veiron grinned. “Yes, Wifey.”
He lowered his head and closed his eyes.
The patio door slid open and a gasp broke the silence.
“What the hell are you doing to my sister?”
Veiron grimaced and then cracked one eye open and looked at Erin beneath him. Her cheeks had turned deep pink and she was cringing too. She bit her lip, turned her head to her left, and smiled.
“Hi, Amelia.”
He thought she would have waved had she not still had her fingers tangled in his hair. Amelia stormed into the room and shoved Veiron so hard that he hit the pillows and slammed the headboard against the wooden wall.
“Fuck, woman... put a leash on that temper.” Veiron glared at her and sat up. “It’s not as though I was doing anything against her will.”
Erin lay on the bed staring at Amelia, a puzzled look on her face. Amelia turned her black look on her sister.
“Is he telling the truth?” Amelia said, her voice higher than Veiron had ever heard it, a squeak that blended horror with anger into something that sounded a lot like outrage and disbelief.
He had been working with Amelia and Marcus for over a year and a half and she still didn’t trust him. That was nice. He had thought that throwing himself into Hell on a suicide mission to save someone precious to her might have gained him a little favour from the angel.
“What happened to your hair?” Erin said, her frown sticking, and sat up on the bed, propping herself up on her palms.
“Answer my question.” Amelia looked ready to pull rank in the age stakes. Her grey eyes flashed brightly, a sign that she was losing her temper and liable to change at any moment. He just hoped she didn’t deem him worthy of having a blue fireball tossed at him.
What she had seen was nothing compared to what she could have walked in on if she had given them five minutes more. He had intended to have her little sister naked and sweaty by then.
Erin nodded. “Of course he is. He’s not a liar, Amelia. Apparently we’re newlyweds.”
Amelia gaped in horror, her silvery eyes as wide and luminous as full moons. “What the fuck, Veiron?”
She was across the room in a flash, grabbing him by the collar of his t-shirt and hauling him onto his feet.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing with my sister?”
“Lay off, Amelia.” He grabbed her hand and yanked it off him. “It was Einar’s idea of a twisted joke. He signed us in as newlyweds. Jesus. Get off the power trip before I knock you off it.”
The edges of his vision bled into red and he towered over her. Amelia looked as though she was going to square up to him and then backed off a step and returned her attention to Erin.
Who was smiling.
“You think this is funny?” Amelia snapped.
Erin’s smile faded and then came back broader than ever. “You have to admit you are flying off the handle a bit.”
“He’s a Hell’s angel, Erin... a demon!”
Erin gasped and turned horrified eyes on Veiron. “You took my virginity and wed me and you’re a demon?”
Veiron laughed. Amelia didn’t look amused.
“Now I know you’re being stupid.” Amelia folded her arms across her chest, squashing her breasts together in her pale cream summer dress.
Marcus poked his head around the door. “I take it the family reunion is not going well?”
“He was about to kiss her, Marcus,” Amelia said, pinning Erin and then Veiron with a vicious glare.
Marcus turned silver-blue eyes on him, looking a little lost as to an appropriate response.
Veiron shrugged. “It could’ve been a lot worse.”
“Gross.” Amelia grabbed Erin’s hand and pulled her onto her feet, dragging her towards the deck. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
“You’re not my mother, Amelia,” Erin groused and tried to get her hand free. “And he’s smexy as hell... and really nice... and will you let me go... and why is your hair silver?”
Veiron wanted to follow her but the look in Marcus’s eyes said to give them a moment alone to catch up and argue it out. At least the former guardian angel wasn’t giving him the third degree about what had clearly happened between him and Erin.
Marcus nodded towards the deck and turned away, and it was then that Veiron noticed what he was wearing. Or not wearing. The man was dressed in nothing but a pair of black swim shorts. That was a little too much Marcus on show for his liking. Whenever they had met in the past, Amelia had been wearing a summer dress and Marcus had been wearing linen trousers at worst or trousers and a shirt at best.
Marcus sat down on the edge of the wooden deck, legs dangling over the short drop to the white sand below. His dark hair was wet and slicked back from his face. Come to think of it, Amelia’s hair had been wet too. Had they been swimming together when they had sensed his arrival, or in the hot tub at their own villa?
Veiron looked down at the one on his deck, wishing he’d had a few minutes alone with Erin so they could have tried it out before her sister had invaded their lives. He sighed, toed his boots off and removed his socks, and then yanked his black t-shirt over his head and tossed it onto the bed. He stepped out onto the deck, the boards warm beneath his bare feet, and sat down next to Marcus.
“You are in trouble.” Marcus glanced across to his left.
Veiron followed his gaze to the next villa. Erin and Amelia were sitting on the chairs on the deck there, having what looked like a heated debate rather than a sisterly catch up session full of ‘I missed you’ and ‘I’m glad you’re safe’.
“Don’t I know it?” Veiron sighed and pressed his palms into the wooden boards of the deck, curling his fingers over the edge. He stared at Amelia and Erin, his gaze constantly wandering back to his impish beauty. “I’m always in trouble one way or another. I thought I would at least get a thank you.”
Marcus settled his hand on Veiron’s shoulder and Veiron tore his gaze away from Erin. “Amelia came over with the intention of thanking you but whatever she walked in on, she wasn’t expecting it. What were you doing to Erin?”
“Exactly what Amelia said. I was kissing her... or about to.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“She was beneath me on the bed at the time.”
Marcus’s black eyebrows rose. “Ah.”
“It could have been far worse.”
Marcus’s expression said it all. “At least you didn’t barge in on us.”
Veiron chuckled and Marcus laughed along with him. “A pot and kettle situation then. I wonder if Erin knows it.”
He looked back across at her. The heat seemed to have subsided and the two women were now chatting animatedly, Amelia toying with her silver hair and waving her hands around. Was she explaining everything to her sister? He hoped so. Erin deserved to know everything.
“Marcus.” Veiron turned back to face him. “There’s something different about Erin.”
“Different how?” Marcus frowned at him and then looked beyond him to the women. Veiron didn’t need to look back at them to know that Marcus’s gaze was locked on Erin rather than Amelia. “She’s mortal.”
Veiron nodded. “She is, but she’s had visions her whole life... and a few days ago she fought back against a man claiming to be her guardian angel.”
“Visions aren’t that uncommon.”
Veiron frowned at the white sand and then at Erin, and finally at Marcus. “No... but hurling fireballs is.”
“Fireballs?” Marcus’s focus shot back to him. “Like Amelia can use?”
“No, different somehow. They are almost the same but they’re red and they’re damn powerful. She almost took him down but he did the disappearing trick.” Veiron glanced back at Erin. “Another thing... the little fucker came to her in Hell. He must have wanted to bargain with her about something. I’ve had Hell’s angels on my arse since leaving it. I
use one iota of my power and they’re coming for me... for her. She was more than bait, Marcus. I know the Devil. If she was just bait, he wouldn’t have tried to bargain with her and he would have changed tactics once she escaped Hell. He wouldn’t send his men after her every time we popped up on his radar. He would’ve waited for her to meet Amelia.”
Marcus frowned. “What are you saying?”
“He was trying to take her back.” That thought left Veiron cold inside. It was the only logical conclusion. It hadn’t made sense before but now that he knew Erin had a power of her own, one that could challenge Amelia’s, it was something he couldn’t deny and something that turned his blood to ice.
“You think he wants her power?”
“It’s a possibility, and not one I enjoy entertaining.” He stared across the open stretch of beach to her and she looked over at him, her smile quick to come but just as quick to fade when she saw how serious he looked. “We need to figure out where her power comes from, why she has her own guardian angel, and what the fuck the Devil wants with her.”
“Easier said than done,” Marcus murmured and cast a glance around them. “And this isn’t exactly the place for it. I know one thing though... if Heaven assigned her a guardian angel, then they knew about this power.”
“The angel didn’t. It shocked him.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” Marcus practically growled the words. “I swear they enjoy keeping us in the dark so we obey them. My only wish is that we could expose the whole thing and make the angels see we have all been used by Heaven and Hell.”
“I hear you,” Veiron snarled and glared at the horizon. “I want nothing more than to end this crap.”
“Soon.” Marcus squeezed his shoulder, a show of solidarity that warmed Veiron and thawed his blood. When the time came, Marcus would stand beside him. Would Amelia too? The others? Erin? Together they could form an army and could perhaps recruit other angels into their ranks. Amelia was Marcus’s new master and had made him like her. It was possible that she could do the same with other angels. “First we need to learn what the Devil wants with Erin and why Heaven has her under the protection of an angel.”
Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5) Page 18