Felicia uncrossed her legs and folded her arms. “I just don’t want to be caught helpless again.”
Odessa lifted her chin, silently challenging her sister. There was more. What was Felicia up to? “And Julian?”
“He’s an ass. An arrogant one. Both of his parents were senators, and he thinks I’m not worth his time. Blames me that his little elite girlfriend got all jealous and dumped him.”
“You’re mad at him because he had a girlfriend and turned you down?” Odessa’s respect for Jagger increased a little. She didn’t want a male that hated her sister to guard her, but if he had strong morals, then maybe he wasn’t a terrible choice.
“Of course not,” Filly denied, offended. This was the most time Odessa had spent with her in years. She hadn’t known how complex her sister had become. “It was the way he did it. ‘As if I’d debase myself with you.’ Or my favorite, ‘I’d bathe a sword in angel fire and fall on it before being associated with the likes of you.’”
Harsh.
Odessa’s heart sank. Maybe Jagger shouldn’t be responsible for her sister’s safety. “Well, if he talks to you like that again, I’ll hold his wings while you kick him in the balls.”
Felicia grinned and held out her fist. “That’s my bloodthirsty little girl. I knew we made progress with you yesterday.”
Odessa bumped knuckles, smiling just as broadly.
“Seriously, though.” Felicia grew serious. “I don’t want to interfere with you two sealing the deal. Bryant’s a good male and you act like yourself around him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” What else would she act like?
Those beautiful deep blue eyes rolled. “You know what you were like with Crestin. Helpless. Needy. Ring any bells? And who was the male you dated before him?”
Ugh. Odessa’s track record with jackasses did not need to get brought up. “Okay, I get it. But Bryant isn’t into the sync with me.”
“Oh, he’s into you.”
“The sync. He’s not into the bond.”
“A guy like that, with his scars, probably has some hang-ups.” Felicia nudged Odessa’s shoulder. “We know about those right?”
Did she ever.
“Do you want to stay synced with him?” Felicia asked.
Odessa’s gaze dropped to the floor. With Director Richter’s help, and a whole warrior team rotating protection detail around her mansion, she might soon be free of the threat. Did she want to be free of Bryant, too?
“I…don’t know. We’re kind of stuck at an all-or-nothing point.”
“Ah. If you two do the deed, you’re stuck together forever. Well, you will have a lot of time to get to know each other in the upcoming weeks. Take advantage of it. Bryant is sister approved, FYI.”
“You’re awesome, you know that?” Odessa’s heart soared. Just days ago, they’d been basically estranged. Now, their camaraderie was much like it’d been before that night, fourteen years ago.
A polite knock barely rattled the office door. Director Richter stepped inside, leaving the door ajar. Bryant and most of his team waited outside.
Five faces full of interest peered over Bryant’s shoulder and it was clear which one was Jagger. The tall, formidable male glared at her sister, his jaw so tight he could crack nuts between his teeth, his wings folded together and rigid. All Numen had an innate air of elegance, but the higher class exuded superiority. Jagger had it in spades, along with an intoxicating rebellious cant to his features. Felicia likely wasn’t the only female who’d thrown herself at him.
He stood well over six feet tall, and his shaggy sun-bleached hair hung down to his chin instead of being combed back into an austere look fitting his station. The eyes boring a hole into the target of his consternation glowed a soft mint. Normally they probably gave his strong face and powerful size a laid-back quality, but today they were two blazing jade stones.
Filly had been correct. He really disliked her.
“Ladies,” the director announced. “Bryant’s team has been updated. Bryant will accompany you”—he nodded toward Odessa—“to your office to gather as much information as you can while the others search for the missing watcher.” He flicked his gaze to Felicia and his expression turned grim. “Miss Montclaire, we ask that you stay with your guardian until the dust settles on this situation.”
Felicia stood. Her shapely legs in the short hot pink shorts caught the attention of the other male members of Bryant’s team. Jagger’s glare intensified.
“Call me Felicia, please.” Her sister sent her trademark dazzling smile the director’s way before turning on Jagger. “I need to head to the earthly realm and get my things. Think you can suck those wings in and blend, Julian?”
“Miss Montclaire.” His tone was hard, punitive. “We’ll be collecting your items and going straight back to Lady Vale’s home.”
Her sister’s answering smile said we’ll see about that. She strutted toward him and latched onto his arm. When he flinched, she clung to him tighter. “Unless you know where I live, I’ll need to descend down there with you.”
Odessa could’ve sworn he growled as Felicia descended with him to the human realm.
Chapter 13
“It’s gone.”
Bryant jerked his attention from the snaked patterns in the rose marble floor in Odessa’s office. He’d accompanied Odessa while one of his team, Dionna, was stationed outside the door. Sierra and Urban were looking for Magan, and the rest of his team was stationed at the mansion. His mate frowned from behind her desk, jabbing her finger into the top to press the flat buttons built into the surface. Her forehead creased and her movements increased in agitation.
“What do you mean gone?” Bryant was afraid he knew exactly what she meant.
“Like all the work I did last week never happened. In fact, all of Magan’s notes have disappeared. I’ve been consolidating and studying her observations from the last few years.”
If they needed any more evidence there was a conspiracy, that would do it.
Or it would invalidate any of Odessa’s claims there was a conspiracy.
Bryant crossed to stand behind Odessa. Leaning over her, the tips of her wings brushed his belly. He resisted the urge to stroke their downy softness—an intimate gesture, and inappropriate in her office.
How would they feel? Satiny feathers sliding under his fingers… Would they be as soft as her skin?
Odessa slapped the top of her desk in frustration, shaking him out of his reverie. He needed to keep his edge, otherwise he’d have to assign another member of his team to guard Odessa. And…that would bother Bryant. Even if it was one of the females on his team, it should be him. It needed to be him.
“Look.” She scrolled through all of her documentation from other watchers, but nothing from Magan. They scanned through every file since she’d started as an analyst. The date she landed on was the afternoon before his gala. It was blank.
“That’s when Cal requested I take a look at some of Magan’s concerns right away. To see if there was anything we needed to warn the senators about. I had to stay late and almost missed your offering.” Odessa glanced back at him, a light blush highlighting her cheeks.
“Good thing you didn’t have to wait in line.” Bryant only meant his words to be humorous, but a little crinkle creased her forehead.
“It’s not your scars, you know. It’s your don’t-fuck-with-me-or-I’ll-rip-your-head-off demeanor that scares women off.” She turned back to her desk. “At least, the weak ones.”
Did she really think so? When he thought about it, he hadn’t been a popular catch before his injury. If he had wanted something more with the females he trifled with, they were usually on their way out the door. If Odessa hadn’t feared for her life, would she have ever considered him?
“Odessa,” he said quietly. A slight shiver traveled through her wings. “You don’t have to be bound to me anymore. I’ll still protect you, regardless.”
She stilled, her head bowe
d toward her desk. Would she take him up on his offer? He wanted to reassure her. Tell her it was okay, he would understand. He wasn’t good for a refined, elegant beauty like her. She was intelligent, kind, and had her whole life in front of her. He lived for his violent work. When he wasn’t hunting and killing demons, he was teaching new warriors how to hunt and kill demons.
How could he come home, drenched in demon blood and venom? Would he give her a peck on the cheek and leave smears of organ remnants on her pristine white robe? Then ask “what’s for dinner” while he was cleaning guts and angel fire char off his weapons?
“That’s a mighty nice offer. If you want to dissolve our union, then I should have another guard.” Her bitterness caught him off guard.
Wasn’t he being generous by offering a way out of an arrangement she had felt was her last choice? She would be free to choose another mate, one she wanted, or wait for her destined mate to show up with a matching sync brand.
Another male claiming Odessa made Bryant want to snarl. But, no. She wasn’t for Bryant. She was light and beauty. He was harsh and damaged. If Odessa cut ties with him, and he kept his head during the investigation, then maybe Richter would drop his insistence that Bryant sync. Bryant’s stomach bottomed out at the thought of settling with another female. Making a home, one where it wasn’t Odessa’s radiant face greeting him through the door, didn’t set well with him.
Eventually, they’d have to talk about their future, her future.
A commotion sounded outside Odessa’s office.
“Wait here.” Bryant rushed to open the door. An irate male was on his tiptoes, trying unsuccessfully to intimidate Dionna, who stood at least three inches taller and was packed with considerably more muscle mass.
“I need to talk to her.” The male’s voice rang with desperation. “I just need to ask her if she knows anything.”
Bryant stepped out, pulling the door shut behind him.
Dionna worked to calm the man, holding her hands up and speaking low. If she didn’t have the male in a choke hold, then she must not think he was a threat to Odessa.
The harried male turned to him. “Please, is Odessa in there? I need to talk to her.”
“About what?” Bryant planted himself in front of the closed door.
The stranger wrung his hands together. “My mate, Magan. I haven’t heard from her for days. Something’s happened, something bad. I can feel it.”
Shite. The male felt what everyone else suspected.
A scream from the office cut through their conversation.
Odessa’s shout had been repressed for fourteen years. She stared up at her attacker from where she’d landed on the floor after sensing someone behind her and diving over her desk.
With a thump, the guy jumped to the top of her desk and loomed over her. Her scream had given him enough pause as his sinister gaze landed on the door.
The sneer on the male’s face was all too familiar. It had been dark that night all those years ago, but she had seen enough of the black-clad figure in the moonlight streaming through her room. The same male from her nightmares was making due on his promise to come back and hurt her if she talked.
A blur sailed over Odessa and tackled the male on the desk. She was yanked up and backward by a vice grip around each bicep. Another scream almost ripped from her, but it was Dionna yanking her off her feet and dragging her to safety out of the office.
“Bryant,” Odessa gasped. She righted herself with Dionna’s help and peered through the doorway as Bryant grappled with the attacker. Sharp grunts of pain from both males could be heard. Odessa wished she could be of more help, but Bryant was better off if she stuck close to Dionna.
Dionna edged in front of her and pulled a knife. The female warrior’s tarnished pewter wings flared to cast a wall of protection around as much of Odessa as they could reach. Magan’s mate Phillip inched next to her to watch the struggle. He didn’t seem to be a threat, but Dionna warily eyed both him and the fight in the office.
Odessa strained to get a glimpse of Bryant, but the warrior female was taller than her. Growls of outrage and crashes of furniture emanated from the office, and then…silence.
“Is he all right?” Odessa whispered.
Dionna barely turned her head back to acknowledge she heard the inquiry. Her ink-black gaze riveted around the room; her hand tightened around the knife. “Vale!”
A heartbeat passed.
Then two.
No. Odessa would be able to tell if something was wrong with Bryant. Wouldn’t she?
Dionna didn’t dart into the office, so Odessa’s assailant must’ve been taken down. Odessa chewed her lip, unsure her assumptions were accurate.
Maybe he’d answer for her instead. “Bryant!”
“It’s clear,” Bryant rasped.
Relief poured through her. Dionna lowered her weapon. Odessa surged to move around the solid warrior, but a flap of a wing kept her in place.
“Stay behind me,” Dionna commanded. Odessa dared not go against her.
Dionna eased her wall of protection but motioned to Phillip to stay right where he was. Odessa stuck close behind, peeking around as much as possible.
They entered her office and the metallic tang of blood stifled the small space. Her desk was cracked and scattered papers littered the floor. Empty spots dotted her bookshelves and while the fate of the books wasn’t a priority, she hoped they weren’t destroyed.
Odessa’s gaze landed on the crumpled form of her mate on the floor. He was trying to push himself up, but dropped, catching himself with one arm before he face-planted.
“Go to him.” Dionna stepped aside so Odessa could rush to Bryant.
She dropped to her knees next to him. He pressed his free hand into his side. Blood oozed between his fingers, and his breathing was labored.
“Go ahead. Heal him,” Dionna ordered. “I’ll signal for an enforcer.”
Dionna crossed to the male Bryant had fought and kicked at him with her booted foot. The male didn’t move, a pool of blood spreading from under him. No angel could recover on their own from blood loss that significant. If he didn’t have a mate to aid in his healing, he would bleed out and die.
Was it wrong of Odessa to hope for such a thing? One facet of her nightmare would be gone.
Bryant let out a rattling wheeze. He was wrestling to get onto his back, as if he wanted to stretch out on the floor. Odessa helped him shift to sit on his butt. She used her body to support his weight as he reclined back.
The cloth of his black shirt was plastered against his chest and belly. It was soaked, and from Bryant’s weakness, most of the blood was his.
He sank into her. She had to brace herself to keep his massive form from toppling to the floor.
Dionna had said to heal him. Yeah, she could do that. She was his mate.
She scanned his form, the paleness of his face. Was the process instinctual? “I don’t know how to heal,” she finally admitted. The urgency wiped out any embarrassment she’d otherwise feel.
She flinched as a shadow approached on her right. Bryant was weak, deeply injured, but he flipped a blade up, ready to defend her.
Phillip held his hands up. “I can help.” He gestured to Odessa’s wings. “Wrap them around his body and just think about lending him your strength.”
Odessa’s nod was shaky, like the rest of her felt. She extended her wings and curled them around Bryant.
She met his half-lidded gaze. Metal clattered when he dropped the knife so he could caress her face. She turned her face into his touch and focused on healing his body.
Did he have more injuries? Any that were also mortal? Did she have to think about them individually or as a whole? For Heaven’s sake, why didn’t mating a warrior come with a healing manual?
Magan’s mate coached her. “Envision skin melding together, the healthy glow of a strong body.”
Bryant’s hand fell away and he arched, a strangled sound ripping from his throat. Odessa’s gut
clenched. She was doing it wrong! But Bryant closed his eyes and relaxed with a sigh. Odessa could no longer hold his weight and she lowered him until he was flat on the floor.
For several agonizing seconds, he didn’t move. Then his eyelids popped open.
“Dionna,” Bryant barked out.
He slowly rolled up, gently moving her wings to the side. His breathing was normal, but the shake in his hands was noticeable, if only to her. She folded her wings back behind her, frowning at his reaction. She didn’t expect groveling thanks, or his complete adoration, but something other than him calling for his fellow warrior.
Dionna stood guard over the downed male who had attacked Odessa. “Sir.”
“Is he dead?”
“Almost,” she replied. “Do you want me to try to save him for interrogation? The enforcers should be here in a moment.”
“No,” Bryant’s reply was clipped.
Dionna only inclined her head.
“That’s one of the males from…” Odessa didn’t want to continue talking around others. The words choked her, and her lower lip quivered. Bryant caught her meaning.
“Then it’s best he’s gone for good.”
Odessa fought with guilt and utter relief. A portion of the nightmare she had experienced could never come back to harm her. But a life was ending and they were doing nothing about it.
Bryant suppressed a groan as he stood and studied her demolished office. “How did he get in?”
Odessa scrambled up, keeping her expression neutral, unlike her emotions. Adrenaline waned and tremors threatened to take over her body. “All of our offices form a circle with the innermost chamber being our supervisor’s. Cal’s office is through that panel.”
Bryant glanced at the panel that had whispered open and caused the breeze that had alerted Odessa to trouble.
Her mate turned back toward her with an incredulous expression that probably taxed the range of movement of his scars. “You didn’t think of telling of us there was another entry point to your office?”
Angel Fire: Angel Fire, Book 1 Page 12