Rogue Angel

by Stephani Hecht

  Tiffany jumped a country mile, but ol’ Bear stayed put. Much to his relief, his brother did move his hands from wherever they were and put them on her shoulders. He whipped his head around and Cam was shocked as shit to see his eyes were now black. Cam took one step forward and Bear hissed a warning. The vibes his baby brother gave off were completely foreign, unlike anything he ever felt coming off Bear. They were almost demon like.

  Bear snarled, “Back off! She’s mine. You can have all the others, I just want this one.”

  Cam held up his palms in a placating gesture. “Easy there, little brother. No one is going to take away your Tiffany. You just need to let her up for a while so we can talk.”

  Bear gripped Tiffany even harder causing her to gasp in pain. “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t want to talk right now. I have other plans and they don’t involve you. So go away.”

  “I can’t do that, Bear. You need to let the female up, now.”

  Bear shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m going to go ahead and mark her.”

  “No.” Cam reached out to grab Tiffany, but Bear snarled again and snapped his teeth together, almost like he had fangs, too. Cam brought his hand back in a quick hurry.

  “It’s okay,” Bear argued in that strange harsh voice. “She wants it just as much as I do. I touched her there and she’s ready for me.”

  Tiffany brought up a hand and slugged him on the side of the head. “Bear, shut up. Don’t you tell your brother that.”

  Bear caught her arm and started to give her little kisses on the inside of her wrist, all the while mumbling an ancient angel love poem to her. Cam rolled his eyes, tried not to vurp, before he barked, “Tiffany, you need to get up now.”

  Tiffany tried to wiggle out from underneath Bear, but he held her tight. She winced before saying, “You’re hurting me, Bear.”

  Bear immediately loosened his hold on her and started nuzzling her neck again. “I’m sorry, babe,” he whispered in between kisses.

  Tiffany swatted him on the back. “Bear, your brother is standing right there.”

  “That’s okay, he’ll be leaving soon,” Bear said as he nibbled her ear.

  Tiffany stopped trying to get up and let out a contented sigh.

  “No, he won’t be leaving soon.” Cam was about ready to forget the fact his brother wasn’t in his right mind and beat his ass anyway. “Tiffany you need to tell Bear to stop, he’ll listen to you. Tiffany…Tiffany…Son of bitch, Tiffany, do it now.”

  “Oh…right. Bear, you need to stop now?”

  Cam growled, “Damn it, female, don’t make it a question. Sound like you mean it.”

  Tiffany shot him a dirty look, “Let me up right now, Bear. It’s time to stop.”

  Bear whimpered, but rolled off her. Cam grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to her feet, then pushed her into a nearby chair. Bear let out another warning snarl. He ignored his little brother and fixed Tiffany with a steely glare. “You sit right there and keep your trap shut. I’ll deal with you in a second.”

  Tiffany immediately tried to make herself as small as possible in the chair.

  Next Cam grabbed Bear off the bed and dragged him out of the room. Bear fought every inch of the way. Fortunately for both of them, Appolion and Uriel flashed into the hallway right then. Cam shoved Bear in their direction. “Take him to his room and keep him there. I’m going to have a chat with Tiffany,” he spat her name like it was a foul taste in his mouth. He walked back in the room and stared her down. “What the fuck were you doing?”

  She trembled. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking right.”

  “Your damn straight you weren’t.” He gave her a disgusted once over. “You still have his blood all over you and you’re trying to seduce him. You know better than that. What kind of healer are you?”

  She threw herself down at his feet. “Please, I beg your forgiveness. I know what I did was wrong and I’m truly sorry.”

  He hauled her to her feet before pushing her into the chair again. “Don’t fucking bow down to me. You’re not one of my empaths and, even if you were, I still wouldn’t accept your apology. Although I shouldn’t be shocked, all females are alike. Treacherous bitches. Pack your shit together, your leaving this house tonight.”

  She nodded her head as big, fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

  Fortunately for him, tears didn’t affect him anymore. He left the room, slamming the door behind him. Before he even got to Bear’s room, he heard the commotion. As soon as he stepped inside, he dodged a lamp that flew through the air. Come to think of it, a lot of stuff flew through the air. Bear was pissed and it wasn’t a good thing for the rest of them because the empath obviously discovered he was telekinetic as well.

  “I think his powers are really popping now,” Uriel announced. He and Appolion held Bear against the wall and it looked like it took their combined strengths to keep him there.

  “Gee, you think?” Cam asked dryly.

  “I told you not to touch her,” Bear yelled, almost breaking free from Appolion and Uriel. “I’m going to destroy you.”

  “You need to calm down,” Cam ordered back, only to have Bear send another lamp flying his way. “I didn’t hurt her, I promise.”

  “Go fuck yourself.”

  It wasn’t until Cam saw all the stunned, confused faces that he realized the entire conversation he and Bear just had was in demon speak. Bear still used it, calling him the slime from a slug demon’s ass. A most vile cut down, but Cam was too worried and scared shitless to be insulted at the moment. He looked over at Appolion and saw his concern, too.

  “This is all your fault you know,” Rachael said from the hallway. Ana stood next to her.

  Cam curled his lip. “How is this my fault? I wasn’t the one trying to swallow Bear’s tongue.”

  Ana got a real sour look on her face. “That’s a real nice visual there. I’m going to need a lobotomy just to scrub it from my memory.”

  Bear started yelling in the demon language again and Ana shot the empath a questioning look.

  Cam gave a helpless, You got me, shrug. He had no freaking clue what was happening to Bear, he just knew it wasn’t good.

  “It’s okay,” Rachael soothed. “He just took in too many vibes from the succubus, he’s not turning demon or anything.”

  “Do you think he’ll go back to normal?” Cam’s voice broke a bit.

  “I’m sure of it, we just need to get him to calm down, that means that you need to calm down.”

  Since Rachael had lived almost her entire immortal life in Hell and knew demons inside and out, Cam decided to take her on her word Bear wasn’t turning. He ducked as Bear sent something else flying his way, “I’m not the one that started this whole mess, it was Tiffany. So if anyone is to blame for Bear’s psychic temper tantrum, it’s her.”

  Rachael put her hands on her hips and eyeballed Cam, which was never a good sign. It usually meant you were about to get your ass chewed out. Rachael didn’t disappoint. “Bear is mad because he senses Tiffany is upset, you stupid idiot, and you’re the one that hurt her feelings. How could you be so mean to her?”

  “Back off, Rachael. That was a dirty trick she pulled. What if Bear had marked her? Then he would have been stuck with her for the rest of his days. Crap, we would be stuck with her.”

  Rachael crossed her arms. “Guess what, dumb ass? Everything Bear did to her in that room was because he wanted to. He’s in love with her, anybody can see that.”

  “She should have left immediately and called one of us instead of letting him molest her.”

  This time it was Ana that came to her defense. “Maybe she should have, but she really likes him a lot. She just did a stupid thing tonight. Tiffany would never do anything sneaky on purpose.”

  Cam snorted in disbelief.

  Rachael snapped, “Just because you’ve always had lousy taste in females doesn’t mean Bear does, too. Not all females are bad. You seem to like Ana and me just fine and we’re of
the female persuasion.”

  “You and Ana are different.”

  “Oh really? Maybe someone needs to remind you it was Tiffany who was in that alley tonight fighting to protect Bear. From your succubus, too.”

  “She’s not my succubus.” He felt a surge of guilt go through him. “Well, she’s not my succubus anymore. I broke off any contact with her years ago.”

  Appolion still struggled with Bear, “This is really a sweet conversation, guys, but I would really appreciate it if someone could go calm Tiffany down. It’s getting harder and harder to control lover boy here.”

  Cam sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “I’ll go apologize to her and tell her I didn’t mean it when I told her to leave.”

  Rachael shook her head. “I don’t think so. She needs a female’s touch right now. I’ll go talk to her.”

  Ana and Cam exchanged uneasy glances. “That might not be a good idea,” he said.

  Rachael sighed. “I know, she doesn’t like me. I’ve picked up those feelings from her, too, but it’s just because she’s jealous of the relationship Bear and I have. I’ll just explain to her it’s harmless. Don’t worry, I’m real good at this.”

  Cam nodded because Rachael was right. She was good at taking care of others. It’s what she did ever since she came home to them three years ago. She went up to Bear and whispered something in his ear before she kissed him on the cheek. Bear calmed down and stopped struggling instantly.

  “You couldn’t have done that sooner?” Appolion yelled as she left the room.

  * * * *

  It took almost an hour for them to get Bear to sleep and it was only then that Ana left his side. She went to Tiffany’s room and found Rachael sitting alone on the bed. She was sporting a nice pair of braids.

  “Tiffany likes to braid hair while she talks.” Rachael picked one of them up and glanced down at it, an impressed look on her face. “How she managed to tame my mess is a wonder.”

  Ana smiled. “How’s she doing?”

  “Better, I finally got her to take a shower. Man, she’s really got it bad for our little Bear. She’s in love with him.”

  Tiffany came out of her bathroom. Her hair was wet and she was dwarfed in a pair of fuzzy purple sweats. When she saw Ana, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her bottom lip trembled a bit and she started to twist her hands together. “Are you mad at me, too?” she asked in a small voice.

  Ana immediately felt her heart go soft. “No, sweetie. I’m not angry with you. I just think you did a stupid thing.”

  “How’s Bear doing?”

  “He’ll be fine, he’s sleeping it off right now.”

  “Can I see him?”

  “Why don’t you wait awhile? If he senses you’re near he might wake up and he needs his rest.”

  “M’kay,” she murmured.

  She looked down at her feet, but not before Ana saw her wipe away a tear.

  “I didn’t mean for it to go that far, I just really like him a lot and it was nice to have him act like he liked me back for once.”

  “Why don’t you show her your box?” Rachel suggested softly.

  “She’ll think I’m some kind of dorky stalker.” Tiffany twisted her hands together nervously again.

  “No, she won’t. Show her.”

  Tiffany padded across her room and pulled a box out from under her bed. The contents could only be described as a shrine to Bear. There was several of his favorite CD’s and DVD’s, several photos, a book titled, Hockey for Dummies, among other things.

  Ana pulled out a piece of Christmas wrapping paper and gave a questioning look.

  Tiffany blushed. “It’s what he wrapped my gift in last year. I know it’s stupid to keep it. He probably didn’t even pick it out himself, you must have done it for him.”

  “No, he did that all by himself. I told you before, he likes you just as much as you like him.”

  Tiffany’s eyes filled with tears. “Not after what I did tonight. He’s going to hate me for sure now.”

  Ana didn’t know how to respond because she honestly did not know how Bear was going to react. She looked over at Rachael for help. Rachel gave Tiffany a big hug.

  “I think us girls need a slumber party tonight,” she announced. “I’ll go make the popcorn.”

  * * * *

  Bear woke up and groaned. Crap, it felt like every nerve in his body was pissed off at him. The room spun around a few times, then stopped. What the heck? It felt like a bus hit him, backed up and then hit him again. He sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed. He never had a hangover before, but was pretty damn sure this is what one felt like. Which was crazy, because angels can’t drink booze so what in the hell happened?

  A snicker came from the side.

  He turned his head. It was Cam and he didn’t look too pleased right now. Bear groaned and instantly regretted making any sound at all as his head screamed on protest.

  Cam walked over and whistled loudly in his ear.

  Bear cringed as the sound bounced around his skull. “What the hell, Cam?” he whispered.

  “It’s nice to see that Sleeping Beauty finally decided to get up,” Cam nearly shouted every word. “Are you going to tell me what happened last night?”

  Bear tried to remember, but it was all one big blur. He vaguely remembered a succubus, a battle, him getting hurt and then Tiffany healing him. After that, things went completely fuzzy, although he did remember a really hot dream he had about Tiffany. They were in her bed and she was—the clap of Cam’s hands in front of his face brought him painfully back to the present.

  “You need to focus here, Bear. You got taken down by one succubus and that was after you were acting high in the club.”

  “Who told you I was acting high?”

  “Snow White.”

  “That would be Heather,” Bear supplied. “You can’t listen to anything she said, she’s almost as dumb as Megan.”

  “Funny you should say that, it was Megan that came to your defense.”

  “Oops, I guess Megan isn’t the dumb one after all.” He went to get up.

  Cam shoved back down onto the bed. “Were you doing Benadryl last night?”

  The deadly calm tone was what his brother used to scare others into doing what he wanted, but Bear really wasn’t in the mood for his games today. Besides he knew his brother would never hurt him, at least not permanently. “You actually think I would do that junk?” He was really starting to get pissed. “Screw you. I thought you knew me better than that.”

  “Don’t get smart with me. I’m two steps from taking your ass out back and beating some sense into it. Even if you didn’t take that drug you still went out here last night, half cocked, without anybody protecting your back. Our whole family is a target, Bear, you can’t afford to take risks like that.”

  Bear snorted. “Don’t get all preachy with me. I may not remember much from last night, but I do recall it was your demon tart that attacked me. She even said I looked like her little puppy.” He was pleased to see that comment finally took some of the wind out of his brother’s sails.

  Cam’s jaw worked as he ground his teeth together and was silent for several seconds. He finally gave an apologetic look. “I shouldn’t have accused you like that,” he said slowly. “I just kind of freaked out when I saw you hurt. Then when you started acting all weird after and it scared me even more.”

  Well that shocked him. Big old bad Cam admitting he was both wrong and scared. Bear sighed as his own anger left him in one big rush, but then he could never stay mad at Cam. He knew better than anyone what his brother went through. Their psychic link was so strong Bear felt it whenever Cam suffered in Hell. “It’s okay,” he muttered. “I should have told you the truth earlier.”

  Cam tilted his head to the side. “What would that be?”

  “Ever since my gifts surfaced, I’ve gone through other changes as well. I’ve been empathing way too much. Not only have I been absorbing other’s feeling, I’ve be
en amping them up, too.”

  Cam gave a stunned look. “You were acting high because of all the other high angels around you. That would explain why you were acting like a demon last night, too. You absorbed Lilith’s vibes.”

  “Who’s Lilith?”

  “My demon…ah, friend.” Cam shifted his eyes to the side.

  “What was she even doing at an angel nightclub?”

  That made Cam pause, “That’s a very good question. In fact, I have several questions for whoever owns that joint. Like how is it drugs are being dealt right out in the open?”

  “Well, since it’s Benadryl and you can buy it at any drugstore, I guess it really isn’t breaking any rules.”

  “Bullshit,” Cam snapped. “Michael has declared it illegal for any angel warrior to mess with that crap.” He checked his pockets for weapons, his face stormy.

  Bear asked, “What are you going to do?”

  Cam snapped his fangs together. “I’m shutting down that drug den. They could have gotten you killed last night.”

  “Cam, I’m fine, you don’t have to go all ballistic on my account.”

  “This isn’t just about family, Bear. That’s my empaths that are in there using that crap and it’s going to end now.”

  Before he could argue any more, Cam flashed out of the house. Bear cursed under his breath and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face in the hopes it would clear away some of the brain fog. When he caught his reflection in the mirror, he stopped in shock. Where in the hell did he get a hickey?

  Then it all came back to him as clear as a bell. He wasn’t dreaming last night, it really did happen. He was all over Tiffany like some dog in heat and she liked it. Almost as much as he did. In fact, she’d kissed him right back. What kind of game was she playing?

  Bear tore out of his bedroom looking for her. He found Rachael seated at the kitchen table, almost like expecting him. He picked up one of her braids and cocked his head to the side. He would have known Tif’s handiwork anywhere. “Where is she?” he asked in a deceptively calm voice.