Rogue Angel

by Stephani Hecht

  “Good, because it sucked.”

  “What?” As far as she was concerned, it was a perfectly pleasant kiss. Nothing like the ones she witnessed Abdiel lay on Gabi, but she certainly enjoyed it. Before she could tell him off, he strode over to her and gathered her into his arms. He cupped one hand on the back of her head, tilted her head up and captured her lips with his. Ana saw stars. This was a lot different than the earlier kiss. This was so much more demanding and well…hot. Her knees weakened when his tongue rubbed against the seam of her lips.

  Open your mouth for me, Appolion ordered telepathically.

  When she did, he slipped his tongue in. That’s when her knees did go out Ana sagged against him and, for the first time in her immortal life, yielded control completely. She wanted all of him, every inch of him, to be hers and hers alone.

  She tentatively started to explore the inside of his mouth, too, and was delighted to hear him groan in response. Ana was even more surprised to feel his hard erection press against her. No male ever reacted this way to her and here the hottest guy she ever laid eyes on, wanted her.

  Ana was so into him she barely realized he took down her hair as his other hand rubbed her bottom. All she did know was that after years of being the cold, prim and proper Ana, she finally knew what lust was and wanted to answer its call, now. When Appolion abruptly tore away from her and held her at arm’s length while they both tried to catch their breath.

  “You’re my best friend’s sister, I should keep my hands off you.”

  “I don’t want you to.”

  He walked away from her and, for a brief horror-filled moment, she thought she drove him away. But then he swung his leg over his bike, got on and held his hand out to her. Ana hesitated for a moment. Her job was to find him and bring him back, not run off with him. After years of putting everyone’s needs before her own, she wanted just once to do something dangerous and wrong.

  Before her courage fled, she climbed on the back of his bike. As she buried her face in the back of his shirt and breathed in his spicy masculine scent, Ana knew she was making a life changing decision and there would be no going back. She didn’t give a damn either.

  Chapter Three

  As soon as Michael returned to the safe house, he felt the tension. Even though Raphael and Cam were in separate rooms and weren’t talking to each other right then, he knew they were involved in yet another pissing match. With a tired sigh, Michael didn’t know how much longer he could go on like this.

  Ever since the tensions in Heaven started to build, it was decided it would be best if all three leaders of the angel warriors stuck together and lived in hiding, lest one of them have an unfortunate accident. Actually he was the only one who decided this, Raphael and Cam fought him every step of the way.

  Raphael wasn’t only the leader of the healers, but was royalty in the angel world and he carried himself that way. He was cold, aloof and rarely cracked a smile. In short he was the complete opposite of Cam.

  While Cam may be the leader of the empaths, he didn’t have one bit of snobbery in him. Instead he lived to break the rules and thumb his nose at angel society and that was before the change. Now that he was part demon to boot, he was all that plus borderline psychotic.

  To say the two personalities did not mix well would have been an understatement.

  Michael found Raphael in the kitchen. The healer leaned against the counter, his arms crossed. His green eyes were bright with anger and his usually immaculate raven hair was mussed like he ran a frustrated hand through it “What happened now?” Michael asked, his voice laced with aggravation.

  “He refuses to feed,” Raphael cast a jaded eye toward the other room.

  That was not good, if Cam didn’t drink angel’s blood on a regular basis the demon part of him started to take over. “How long has it been?”

  “Several days and he’s starting to get bad.”

  “How bad is bad?”

  Raphael seemed to be weighing his words. “He’s been damaging himself.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Michael’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of his nephew actually hurting himself on purpose.

  “He’s been doing various things. He’s started a couple of fights with other archangels, but once the fists start flying, he just stands there, takes it and doesn’t fight back. He’s also letting himself become careless in demon battles. I’ve had to heal three real nasty knife wounds this weekend alone.”

  “We have plenty of blood here for him, why doesn’t he use it?”

  “Because it’s from Ana and his brothers and he refuses to drink from family anymore.”

  “Why’s he being so damn stubborn?” Michael snapped, more out of worry than anger.

  “He’s an empath and a telepath. That’s a real potent combination. I think for some reason, whenever he drinks from family members, he picks up on their thoughts and feelings.”

  “So what? He’s a psychic, he does that already.”

  “I’m talking about deep thoughts. The ones they keep hidden away even from themselves. He sees himself through their eyes, how they really see him.”

  Michael could only imagine how hard it would be to know the innermost thoughts of one’s family. It was no wonder Cam didn’t want to touch their blood anymore. “Fine then, I’ll donate mine,” he volunteered.

  “You’re family, too.” Raphael reminded. “And before you even suggest it, I already offered mine, but he told me to go get freaking bent.

  Yeah, that sounded like something he expected his nephew to shoot off. “Do you think maybe we could find a female willing to let him feed off her?”

  “That won’t work either, he carries the Bliss in his saliva.”

  “The what?”

  “Have you ever been bitten by a succubus?”

  Of course he had. Just because he was the leader of the angel warriors didn’t mean he hadn’t dabbled with female demons. He was just a whole lot more discrete than Cam. Michael knew being bitten by a succubus gave you the hard on of your life. “Are you trying to tell me all succubi carry an aphrodisiac in their spit and now Cam does, too?”

  “Let me put it this way,” Raphael said dryly. “He tried biting a female the other week and I had to physically separate the two of them. The Bliss affected the female so strongly she clawed and hit me when I broke them up.”

  “It’s that potent? Cam didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  “No, he was able to get himself under control, but I could tell it upset him that he affected the female that way. He told me he was never going to do it again.”

  Michael crossed his arms and glared. “So this problem has been going on for weeks and you two haven’t said anything to me. Since when did you two become buddies and start keeping secrets?”

  Raphael rolled his eyes. “Cam is totally annoying, improper and a pain in the ass.”

  “I think I hear a but coming on.”

  “But I can’t help but like him.” Raphael acted like he admitted some embarrassing crime. “He’s a good kid, just confused. Not only that, he’s a lot smarter than anyone gives him credit for. I can see now why my sister Gabi feels so motherly toward him.”

  “I think you’re getting soft.” Michael laughed when Raphael gave him the finger. He had never seen the uptight healer do anything like that before. Must be Cam’s charming influence.

  “Do we know anything about the demon’s blood that was used on him? Whose blood was it exactly, what demon did it come from?” Raphael asked.

  “All Abdiel said was the demons came in and injected Cam with demon blood, they didn’t tell him whose. After they finished poisoning him, Cam started having convulsions and was going catatonic. That was when the succubus came in and helped him.”

  “That’s when she came in and gave him angel’s blood to drink you mean.” Raphael ran his hand through his dark hair. “I think she was in on the whole thing from the beginning. You said she had some sick obsession with Cam.”

  �
��So you think it was her blood used to poison him?”

  “I’m not sure, but it’s something I’m going to look into further. In the meantime, we have to figure out a way to make him drink. I think you need to lift the ban on the neutral bars.”

  Michael scowled at that suggestion. Neutral bars were hole in the wall places that demons and rogue angels congregated. They were a hotbed for illegal activity and black market goods. They were also the only place that sold angel’s blood. That’s not why he had forbidden Cam to go there though, it was because his nephew tended to be a very bad boy whenever he stepped foot in one of the establishments. The fact the normally very rigid Raphael was even suggesting such a trip showed how bad Cam really was.

  “Let me go talk to him.” Michael gave a resigned sigh. He went into the living room. The younger angel was sprawled out on the couch, watching television and didn’t even acknowledge his intrusion. He flipped on the lights and Cam sat upright, covering his eyes and hissing in pain as the light burned them. Damn, Raphael was right. In the two days he was away on business, Cam took a turn for the worse. He was pale, with dark circles around his hollow eyes. His hands shook and the look on his face was almost feral. He needed to get him to feed, soon.

  “Shit, Michael, turn off the damn lights,” Cam snarled as he rubbed his eyes.

  “We need to talk.”

  “If this is because I told His Royal Highness to fuck off, you can save it.” He fished a pair of dark glasses out of his pocket and slipped them on. “I’m not apologizing.”

  “He’s just worried about you, we both are.”

  “Great, just what I need, you two acting like old grannies and nagging me.”

  Michael let the comment slide. “When is the last time you got any sleep? You look like hell, kiddo.”

  “Oh words of concern from you, Chief?” Cam put his hand over his heart. “I’m so touched. Here I thought just because you wouldn’t even acknowledge you were our uncle until three years ago, you didn’t even give a flying fuck.”

  Michael closed his eyes and counted to ten, very, very slowly. He opened them and fixed his nephew with a hard stare before he tossed him his coat. Cam caught it and gave him a questioning look. “Get ready, you’re going out tonight, Cam.”

  “If it’s another council meeting forget it. I’m not in the mood for those jerks.”

  “No, I’m lifting the ban on your neutral bars. You need to get yourself together.”

  Cam looked at him in stunned silence.

  Michael was pleased to see there was something that could shut his nephew the hell up. He pointed a finger at the younger angel and spoke slowly so his next instructions came through loud and clear. “You can go out and do whatever it is you need to do, but someone goes with you and you come right back here when you’re done. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, Chief.” There was no sarcasm, only shame.

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “No, I don’t want you to see me that way.” Cam pulled at his hair, a nervous habit he had since he was a young child. “You’re my Chief, my leader, I don’t want you to see me when I’m like that. It’s humiliating enough as it is.”

  “How about one of your brothers? Do you want me to call Nathaniel?” Michael knew Cam was closest to Nathaniel. In fact, he worshiped the ground his older, archangel brother walked on.

  “No.” Cam’s head snapped up in alarm. “Not him.”

  Michael worked hard to hide his surprise. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought Cam was terrified of being around Nathaniel. He decided to let it go for now. “Okay, how about Ramiel?”

  Cam nodded and Michael called the oldest Lehor brother. While they waited for Ramiel to come, he sat on the couch next to the younger angel. The empath didn’t say anything, he just fiddled with his hair and stared at the television. Michael kept waiting for him to shoot off one of his famous smartass remarks. The uncharacteristic silence his nephew displayed was almost as scary as the revelation he was hurting himself. “You don’t have to be ashamed around me,” Michael said quietly. “I understand you can’t help it.”

  Cam ignored his comment. “Chief, what do you think would happen to The Order if I weren’t around anymore?”

  The swift topic change almost gave Michael whiplash. He thought about Raphael’s words about Cam damaging himself. What if Cam was doing more than just trying to harm himself, what if he was actually becoming suicidal? “I hope you aren’t thinking of doing something stupid. Your empaths need you too much.”

  “That’s bull and we both know it. Ana would be a much better leader than me.”

  “They don’t want Ana, they want you.”

  “Please, we both know that’s because they don’t know what I really am.

  “Don’t talk like this.” Michael gathered the courage. “You can’t go anywhere, your family cares for you too much. I care for you too much. I know you don’t believe it because I never told you I was your uncle, but I have always loved you boys and Ana. It took you being taken to Hell for me to realize that and I regret it every day.” He was relieved when Cam didn’t reject his statement with a snide comment as was common in the past. His nephew just sighed before he looked over at him. Michael couldn’t read his eyes because of the damn glasses, but there was no anger coming from him.

  “If it’s any consolation, Uncle Mike, Bear has forgiven you.”

  “Barakiel can never hold a grudge so that’s not saying much. He could forgive Satan himself.”

  Ramiel flashed into the room. He had the same blond hair and blue eyes as all the Lehor brothers. He always wore his hair in a close-cropped military style. It fit his personality. Ramiel was an archangel and he was all warrior. Even now, he was dressed in his battle leathers, his sword strapped to his back. When he saw Cam’s condition he shot a worried look over at Michael.

  “You ready to go little brother?” he asked softly.

  Cam nodded before he ducked his head down, but not before Michael saw the shame that was once again on his face.

  * * * *

  It was several hours before the brothers got back and Michael paced every single second of them. He just needed to make sure Cam got back safe and it annoyed the hell out of him that the younger angel had been right earlier. Michael, the Chief of all archangels, was becoming a worried old granny.

  When they finally did get back, Cam muttered, “Thanks, Ramiel,” then stumbled upstairs to his room.

  When Ramiel made to flash out, Michael grabbed his arm. “Could you stay for a few more minutes? I need to talk to you.” He made sure to make the question sound like a request from an uncle rather than an order from the Chief.

  Ramiel shrugged. “Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do.”

  They went into the kitchen and Ramiel sat down at the table.

  Michael poured them both a cup of coffee. He sat down on the opposite side of the table and tried to decide on the best way to start the conversation. He was so bad at this family thing. “How did it go tonight?”

  Ramiel gave him an annoyed glance. “How do you think it went? Same as always, he had some alone time with a female demon in the back before he went outside and got into a fight. You know how hard it is, seeing your little brother lose control like that?”

  “I know it is, but thanks for coming. He was getting bad.”

  “At least now he’s trying to control himself,” Ramiel’s voice was laced with bitter sarcasm. “It took at least five minutes before he disappeared with his succubus. That’s a new record for him.”

  “What’s going on with Cam and Nathaniel?”

  “You mean you don’t already know? I thought you knew everything, Chief?” Ramiel narrowed his eyes.

  “Cam is blocking all of you from me. I can’t read anything about you guys anymore.”

  “You’ve got to admire the kid’s skills.” Ramiel chuckled before his face got serious. “When Cam was in Hell, he ran into Nathaniel’s mate who is being held captive the
re. I guess he attacked and bit her. Nathaniel hasn’t really forgiven him for it yet.”

  “How did Nathaniel even find out about it?”

  “Cam told him. In case you haven’t noticed the kid has a serious guilt complex.”

  All of the sudden a cold realization slammed into Michael. Cam hadn’t been talking about suicide earlier, he was thinking about doing something even more drastic. He tore up the stairs and burst into Cam’s room. “No,” he barked. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “What?” Cam drawled from his bed. “Going to sleep? I thought that’s what you wanted me to do.”

  “You’re thinking about trading yourself for Nathaniel’s mate aren’t you?” Cam’s silence was all the answer he needed. Michael resisted the urge to run over and shake some reason into him. “Damn it, Cam, Nathaniel wouldn’t want you do it.”

  “Yes, he would.”

  Cam sat up, but still refused to look at him.

  “The reason I stopped drinking from my family was because I used his blood the last time. He thinks I’m a monster and he hates me. I mean he really, really hates me. I can take the looks from all the other angels, but when my own family looks at me like that, it kills me. I just want to make it right.”

  “Not this way. We’ll work together and find a way to get her back, you don’t have to do this alone.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Michael admitted. “Just promise me you’ll give me a little time to figure it out before you do anything stupid.” When the younger angel reluctantly nodded agreement, he sighed with relief.

  Cam lay back on the bed and rolled over to his side.

  The mere fact he was willing to turn his back on Michael spoke volumes. The empath didn’t trust that many angels.

  “By the way, Michael,” he whispered. “Bear isn’t the only one who has forgiven you.”

  Michael realized how much he did care about Cam. As Chief, he let down his guard, opened his heart and the empath wormed his way in. The young angel was more than just a nephew, he was the son he’d never had and Heaven help anyone that ever tried to harm him or take him away again. Because he would destroy anyone that so much as touched a hair on Cam’s head.