Redemption: A Realm of Flame and Shadow Novel

by Christina Phillips

  But he had to tell her something.

  “The island is protected by an energy field.”

  “I’ve never encountered anything like it. It’s unnatural.”

  She had no idea how close to the truth she was, with it being alien to all known laws of the universe.

  “It’s the only thing keeping the Guardians out. They can’t see this island.”

  Her eyes were dark pools of desire and need pulsed from her with every heightened heartbeat. All he needed was one taste of her tempting lips, and all her questions would incinerate.

  He barely managed to swallow his groan at the visceral image. His chest was constricted, his skin on fire, and his cock was hard as iron. I’ve never craved a kiss so badly.

  “You said they’re aliens? ” Her voice was hushed, and he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his forehead against hers. His breath rasped against her face, and he couldn’t control it. Couldn’t mask how much he wanted her, or how fucking hard it was to not just kiss her senseless until she couldn’t even recall her own name.

  He could hardly remember his own.

  “Yeah.” He ground out the word. “About as alien as you can get.”

  She shuddered, but he didn’t trust himself to toss away the cushion and pull her fully into his arms. That cushion was his last line of defense.

  This is crazy. He was an archangel. She was a human. This shouldn’t be happening.

  “Gabe.” She breathed his name in a seductive sigh. It was the sexiest damn thing he’d heard in years. Her breath caressed his jaw, and he couldn’t ignore it, no matter how hard he tried. “I need to contact my parents. To let them know I’m okay.”

  “I know.” He had promised her, and he would keep his promise. But it wasn’t that straightforward. First, he had to get her a laptop and then configure it so it could penetrate the energy field. The way his did.

  She could use mine.

  Not happening. No one touched his laptop but him.

  He released her and shoved himself to his feet. She gazed up at him, looking so sweet and vulnerable he nearly lost it. It took more willpower than he’d ever admit, but he backed up a couple of steps and dragged in a lungful of oxygen.

  She wanted him, but she never lost sight of her primary goal. Her ability to resist him fascinated and frustrated in equal measure. If he didn’t get away from her, he was going to beg.

  And that was unthinkable.

  Gabe leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling of his office. The newly acquired laptop was on his desk, and once Aurora had finished in the shower, he could activate it for her use. Before leaving the island, he’d directed her to his bathroom, since it was the only one in the villa, and left one of his shirts out for her.

  Don’t imagine her under the spray.

  Too late.

  He stifled a groan and forced his mind back to business.

  After shifting through the intel on the disc Jaylar had given him, he’d sent a telepathic message informing him he would take the case.

  Like there had ever been any doubt of that.

  The holographic images of the dark-haired young girl imprinted on his brain, but no matter how hard he tried, it churned up memories of another small girl. A child who had once cradled his heart in her tiny hands.

  His hands fisted and he bowed his head, forcing the ancient memory back into the shadowy corners of his shredded soul. My precious Helena. He would never forget, and he would never forgive. But vengeance had corroded him long ago, and now there was nothing left but an echo of guilt and loss, and an elusive whisper of the love that had once embraced his life.

  Slowly he flexed his fingers and forced open his eyes. The interminability of his existence stretched out before him, a bleak desert of fleeting interactions. Without his missions to give him focus, he would have sunk into madness long ago.

  Long ago, I once did. He’d crawled out of the pit. Eventually.

  The silence wrapped around him, a soothing cocoon. Brooding, he stared through the window as the moonlight turned the forest into a silvery mirage. He’d spent nights without number doing just this.

  But tonight, the solitude only served to remind him that he wasn’t alone.

  He’d never had a problem ignoring a minor irritation before. And that’s all she was. He could only hope the Guardians lost interest in her sooner rather than later, so he could return her home and forget she even existed.

  In the window’s reflection he saw Aurora appear at the door to his office. She didn’t say anything and didn’t attempt to enter the room. She was obviously waiting for him to acknowledge her.

  Let her wait.

  The seconds stretched into eternity. Anticipation sizzled through his blood, and in the end, it was he who could wait no longer.

  He swung around in his chair and self-derision burned his chest. Had he done it deliberately? The shirt he’d left out for her was blue, a perfect match for her eyes. She’d rolled up the sleeves to her elbows, and the shirt almost reached her knees. Her damp hair curled into enticing tendrils over her shoulders, and there was no hellish way she should look so utterly bewitching.

  Cut the bullshit. He’d known exactly how she would look, dressed in his shirt.

  His throat was dry, mouth parched. It was contemptible that merely the sight of her could affect him so profoundly.

  There was only one thing for it. He’d have to keep away from her.

  Banished from my own island. For helping a human.

  “Is there anything to eat?” Her soft question punched through his grim thoughts, and he frowned.

  “There’s plenty of food in the kitchen.” Not fresh stuff, admittedly, but only because he’d been away for weeks. The walk-in pantry was stocked to overflowing. “Help yourself to whatever you want.”

  “Thank you.” Her smile was oddly touching. “And tomorrow we’ll work out a plan on how we can beat the Guardians?” There was a hopeful note in her voice, and he couldn’t bring himself to tell her there was no way for mortals to beat the Guardians. They just had to evade their radar.

  He was too tired to have that conversation tonight. And damn it, he didn’t want to shatter that thread of hope she was still clinging onto.

  Which was crazy, because that was exactly what he had to do.

  Tomorrow.

  “Sure. Whatever.” Side-stepping her question wasn’t as easy as it should have been. Move on. “You can sleep in my bed.” Since I won’t be here.

  More to the point, it was the only upstairs room, besides his office, he’d bothered to furnish.

  A delicate blush heated her cheeks, and he couldn’t drag his spellbound gaze away.

  “I’m not going to share your bed.”

  The spell shattered. Did she seriously assume he wanted sex as payment for rescuing her?

  He’d been accused of countless things in the past. Most of them justified. But he’d never demanded sex in payment for anything, and the fact Aurora so easily jumped to that conclusion burned like acid.

  He shoved back his chair and prowled toward her. To her credit, she didn’t run screaming from the room. Then again, she never behaved the way other mortals would in her position.

  “Let’s get one thing straight.” Why was he standing so close to her? It was hard holding onto his justified disdain when all he wanted to do was scoop her into his arms and march into his bedroom. And damn it, before he’d ripped one button from that shirt, she’d be begging him not to leave her alone in his bed. Frustration roared through him. Get out of here now. “You’re not as irresistible as you think you are.”

  Chapter 8

  Aurora

  Gabe towered over her, leashed power vibrating in the air. It should have been terrifying, but instead it was like she’d drunk a bottle of the finest champagne. Heady. Intoxicating.

  Infuriated.

  The alarming urge to grab his shirt and kiss his arrogant mouth slammed through her. That would show him.

  Yeah, it would show
him she was so desperate for his touch she didn’t care what derisive comments he slung her way. He might be breath-takingly gorgeous and used to women falling at his feet. But just because he clearly had a problem with the fact he wanted her, was no reason for him to be so rude. “Don’t blame me for your—”

  The rest of her retort lodged in her throat as he gave her a satanic grin and vanished.

  Into thin air.

  She stumbled back against the doorframe and took a few calming breaths. It didn’t do much for her racing heart.

  Gingerly, she waved her hand in the space where he’d been just seconds ago. Yep. Definitely gone.

  How does he do it?

  That was a question for another day. Right now, she had a more important issue. Because if he thought she was going to just sit around and wait for him before trying to contact her parents, he was seriously deluded. She’d already wasted half the day doing just that.

  His desk, on the other side of the spacious office by the window, was cleared of everything except a laptop.

  It stood to reason that was the communication method he’d mentioned earlier. She’d have a quick look, to see if she could access her email account.

  Guilt chewed through her as she trailed her fingertips over his desk, even though she tried to ignore it.

  You can go anywhere. Except my office.

  If he hadn’t teleported in the middle of their conversation, she wouldn’t have had to.

  The laptop had an unrecognizable symbol on its top, like two moons circling a three ringed planet. She frowned and peered closer at the holographic image before opening it.

  The air whooshed from her lungs as she gazed at the keyboard with its incomprehensible hieroglyphics.

  So much for trying to contact her parents without Gabe’s help.

  She sat on his large leather chair. It was worn and warm, and the faintest hint of his intoxicating cologne caressed her senses.

  And she could stop that right now. He wasn’t that irresistible.

  Yes, he is.

  She still wasn’t going to think about him.

  The top drawer of his desk was slightly open. Like an invitation. She eyed it for a few seconds, while her stomach churned with a combination of hunger and nerves.

  This could be my Pandora’s Box.

  Before she could change her mind, she opened the drawer.

  A small pile of seashells was heaped in one corner. They were perfectly ordinary, and yet chills skittered along her arms. Whatever she’d expected to find, it certainly hadn’t been something so personal.

  So precious.

  Close the drawer and walk away.

  The only other item in the drawer was an A5 size canvas, face down. A faint glow emanated from it and unformed foreboding snaked through her chest. Is it a force field?

  Her fingers clenched.

  There was nothing here that could help her. She was not going to pick it up.

  Her hand didn’t get the memo. The material was cool and smooth, as though it was enclosed in wafer-thin glass—except it was very slightly pliant beneath her fingertips.

  Not glasslike at all.

  She pulled it from the drawer and turned it over. Vibrant colors and an overwhelming impression of love and happiness flooded her mind, momentarily stunning her reflexes.

  Gabe. She clung onto that one irrefutable fact. It was Gabe in the uncannily realistic three-dimensional portrait. His dark blond hair created almost a halo-like effect and his fantastical eyes were so real she had the scary certainty they could see right into her soul.

  Her stupefied brain took it all in. Focusing on the details. Refusing to believe the truth of her eyes.

  He had one arm around a black-haired woman who was laughing up at him, and in his other arm he carried a small child, whose tiny hand was entangled in his hair.

  But this Gabe had wings. Wings the color of clotted cream, with delicate streaks of pale gold glinting through them. Heavenly highlights brushed each individual feather with devoted precision.

  Wings. The man had wings.

  They were folded behind his back but were clear enough. And he was laughing, as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

  The photo was obviously enhanced. Except it wasn’t a photo. It wasn’t a painting or a holographic image. She had no idea what it was, but it really didn’t matter.

  The wings were fake. Because if they were real, that made him …

  Non-human.

  An alien.

  An angel?

  Squeezing her eyes shut, all she could see were the horrific scars on his back. Exactly where wings would be.

  The painting wasn’t magical, and the characters didn’t move, but she had the uncanny notion that, if only she knew how, she could step into this scene, like Alice through the looking glass.

  Stop. She inhaled a deep breath to center herself. It’ll take more than meditation to process this. A bottle of whiskey might help.

  Don’t look at his wings. Of course they weren’t real. Maybe he’d been celebrating Halloween or something.

  With his family.

  She bit her lip and focused on the woman, with her elaborate earrings, jewel-threaded hair, and delicate bangles. She had a regal bearing and was almost as tall as Gabe, and she sure had the face of a mythical fallen angel.

  But she didn’t have wings. Neither did the child.

  The little girl’s windswept, blonde hair fell in messy ringlets to her waist, and if she needed any more proof that this exquisite child was Gabe’s, her eyes were a bewitching silver-and-blue-streaked green.

  A strange pain squeezed her chest. It shouldn’t come as a huge shock to discover he had a family. Just because he’d flirted with her—and saved her from the Guardians—didn’t mean he was single. It didn’t mean anything.

  But it had never even occurred to her.

  That’s what happened when a gorgeous man paid her some attention. Her brain devolved into mush.

  Or I’m losing my mind.

  The fear she’d lived with for years, that one day she, like her mum, would forget the reality of her life.

  That wasn’t going to happen. This. Is. Real.

  Somehow, she had to deal with it. Falling apart over a picture wouldn’t get her anywhere. And although she didn’t want to touch it again, she couldn’t leave it out on his desk, proclaiming her guilt at having gone through his most personal items.

  She picked it up, and her gaze snagged on a gold chain that glinted around the little girl’s throat.

  What …? No way. It couldn’t be. But, suspended from the delicate chain, was a familiar butterfly, and gold dust and minuscule rainbows glittered in the tiny, flawless wings.

  It was identical to the necklace she had worn for the last six years, and instinctively she curled her fingers around it in a protective gesture.

  Throughout her childhood she’d had recurring dreams of rainbows and gold dust and magnificent jewel-like butterfly wings and had been thrilled when her parents had offered to get a piece of jewelry specially commissioned for her eighteenth birthday. She had known exactly what she’d wanted.

  It was an original, and she’d never seen anything quite like it.

  Until now.

  It’s a coincidence. How could it be anything else?

  But between each panicked beat of her heart, a relentless question echoed.

  Are you sure about that?

  * * *

  Gabe

  Eta Hyperium was a shithole. And that was an understatement. But since it was the hub of the slave trade, and every other illicit transaction imaginable, for the technologically advanced mortals of the Sextans Galaxy, it was never going to be anything else. Even the weather had given up millennia ago, and now the surface was a bleak landscape of withered trees and stunted wildlife that scavenged beneath the dying red sun.

  And the sooner that sun got its shit together and swallowed the whole damn solar system, the better.

  Gabe materialized in a dark
corner just outside the main entrance of the biggest establishment. The place looked decrepit, but that façade concealed phenomenal security. Luckily, his DNA allowed him to circumvent it.

  Although the owner knew damn well who and what he was, his cover as a megalomaniac half-blood demon always worked. None of the slime ball clientele would guess he was an undercover archangel. Not in this savage sector of the universe.

  He shouldered his way inside. Thick, noxious smoke filled the air, but worse than that was the scent of greed, depravity, and prohibitively expensive alcohol.

  He swept his glance around the crowded tables. Where the hell was Eblis?

  A hand slammed onto his shoulder. “Hey, Gabe. Been a while.”

  Gabe turned. “Got a minute?”

  Eblis rippled his pearlescent wings, and patrons scattered hastily out of the way. No one wanted to draw Eblis’ attention. He was one of the most feared traders in the Sector and one of the most powerful demons in existence.

  He was also the sole owner of this complex, but that was something very few were aware of.

  They approached a table, and the muscled occupants fled before the demon uttered a word.

  “What’s the deal?” Eblis undulated his wings as they sat, and with a flick of his finger to a half-naked waiter, indicated to bring them drinks. “Found a way to get back at her Celestial bitch-fuck?”

  “I wish.” Gabe relaxed against the circular sofa and hooked his arm over its back. If there was one species in Creation who loathed his goddess even more than the archangels, it was the demons. And while he and Eblis stood on opposite sides of the chasm that divided their races, they’d forged a bridge long ago.

  “You here for business or pleasure?” Eblis’ question refocused his mind. He despised the demon’s lucrative trade, but Eblis made a great partner when it came to finding the best places to enjoy mindless debauchery.