He should have cut her down for daring to touch him.
He belonged to Emelia—body, heart, and soul.
She came into view, running across the grounds of the mansion. Strange. He had watched her exercising in the pool, and she wasn’t dressed for a workout. Her dark jeans and tank were form-fitting, too tight for her to be comfortable as she sprinted.
Something flashed across the grass and collided with the back of her head. She stumbled, and his heart missed a beat as she barely caught herself and threw a panicked look behind her.
His gaze zipped there and darkness surged inside him as he spotted the male pursuing her.
Green leathers hugged his legs as he chased her, his longer strides allowing him to close the distance between them. Sweat glistened on his bare back as he slowed and raked fingers through his wild green hair, preening it back as he said something.
Because Emelia had stopped running.
Wolf focused on the pathway that linked him to her and summoned all his remaining strength. His body ached, protesting as his muscles tensed, and he pushed through the pain.
Because Emelia needed him.
The dragon had come for her and the foolish female looked as if she was intending to fight him.
The air around him charged with an electrical current that rapidly built as the dragon closed the distance between them down to nothing and grabbed hold of her.
Lightning struck all around him as the fiend bent his head to her neck and she cried out.
Wolf snarled and unleashed his wings as he teleported, sparks of electricity snapping over his fingers as his blade materialised in it. He landed in a crouch in a seismic blast that shook the ground, causing a few of the windows in the house to explode, and lightning struck all around him.
The dragon stiffened, his shoulders going rigid as he stopped his attempt to kiss Emelia.
Wolf didn’t give him a chance to process what was happening.
Blue flames erupted along the length of his white blade, flickering black at the hilt as his anger got the better of him, and he roared as he swept it upwards in a devastating arc. The dragon bellowed as blood spurted along the diagonal path of Wolf’s blade, swift to cascade down his back as he released Emelia.
She collapsed to her knees, as pale as the moon, visibly shaking as she stared at Wolf.
Her fear pounded inside him, her relief bittersweet on his senses as all her fight drained from her.
Not quite all of it.
As the dragon turned on him with claws and fangs bared, his green irises glowing with rage as his pupils thinned into narrow slits in their centres, Emelia lunged towards him.
Buried what looked like an oversized pair of scissors into his left calf muscle.
The bastard roared again, whirled towards her with a vicious twist to his expression, darkness rising in his eyes. Wolf didn’t give him the chance to hurt her. He beat his aching wings and slashed at the male, forcing him to dodge and stealing his focus away from Emelia.
She sagged forwards, hands braced against the grass as she breathed hard and tears streamed down her cheeks.
His temper snapped when he saw the ragged wound on her neck.
The dragon had bitten her.
Violated her again.
He should have come quicker, should have shaken himself into teleporting sooner. He berated himself with every swipe of his sword that drove the dragon away from Emelia, blaming her pain on both the male and himself.
She had been hurt because of him.
The voice of reason said he couldn’t have teleported here sooner even if he had reacted instantly to the sight of her in trouble. The drain of Hell combined with the fight against the demons had left him weak, and he was barely able to dodge the dragon’s attempts to slash him with his claws, his movements sluggish and slow as he countered each attack with one of his own.
“Wilhelm!” Zephyr hollered.
Who was Wilhelm? Another dragon?
The answer became apparent when the cross etched on the inside of Wolf’s right wrist burned, blazing gold and warning him of the presence of a demon.
He couldn’t let the demon fight him. In his current state, he was no match for a demon, not even one from the mutinous realms.
A male with dusky horns and crimson eyes appeared a short distance behind the dragon, eyeing Wolf warily. Wolf smiled coldly. The demon didn’t want to get close to him. The male knew he was an Echelon.
He used that to his advantage.
When Zephyr looked over his shoulder at the male, a scowl hardening his features, Wolf lunged at him.
Drove his sword through the male’s side where a smaller puncture wound was already bleeding down his leg. He grabbed the dragon by his throat and squeezed hard, digging the tips of his fingers into his flesh as he savoured the pain that rolled across his face, the grunt that tore from his lips as Wolf slowly twisted the blade.
Zephyr bit out something in the dragon tongue.
Whatever it was, it motivated the demon. The male cast him a calculating look and Wolf knew what was coming, braced himself for it. It didn’t make it any less painful when the demon spoke, using his native tongue to send fire ricocheting through Wolf’s mind.
His grip on the dragon weakened and he looked at Emelia.
For a sickening moment, Wolf feared the male was going to attempt to reach her.
The demon grabbed Zephyr and hauled him backwards, dropping them both into the black void that opened beneath him.
As Zephyr disappeared from view, his eyes locked with Wolf’s, the message in them clear.
This wasn’t over.
The urge to follow the male into Hell and hunt him down while he was injured was strong, but his need to take care of Emelia easily overpowered it. He sent his blade away, turned from the spot where the dragon had teleported, and looked at her.
She sat on the grass, her hand clasped over the left side of her neck, blood dripping from between her fingers.
His stomach tightened as he approached her, the darkness fading as concern replaced it, the need to ease her pain and comfort her driving it from him.
“Emelia?”
She tensed, threw him a panicked glance before the fear in her green eyes cleared. “Wolf.”
She was on her feet and in his arms before he could blink, her arms wrapped around his waist as she buried her face in his bare chest. Her fingers twisted the back of his white trousers, clutching them tightly as she sobbed against him.
He wrestled the desire to chase the dragon, fought the rage that spiked inside him as she shook against him, each gasping sob tearing at his control. She didn’t need him to fight the dragon, not right now. She needed something else from him.
Wolf lifted his left hand, buried his fingers in her loose brown waves, and held her head to his chest as he wrapped his other arm around her, tucking her close to him. He folded his wings around her, cocooning her as she cried. His beautiful, strong, female. The sight of her so shaken utterly destroyed him.
He lowered his head and smoothed a kiss across her hair, unsure what to say to her, inexperienced in handling females in this sort of situation. His instincts said to tend to her, to stem the bleeding and steal away her pain. They said to hold her until she found her feet again, until her strength returned and she calmed.
He could do neither of those things in the middle of the meadow.
So he carefully stooped until he was eye level with her.
She hid her face from him, and new rage lit his blood on fire as he realised she was ashamed of breaking down in front of him. She had no reason to be embarrassed. He could never think her weak. Even now, he could see her inner strength. It was still there, a constant fire inside her that not even the dragon could extinguish.
“May I carry you to the pool house?” he whispered as he kept his hands still against her trembling shoulders, deeply aware that she could react badly if he made even the slightest mistake with her.
Forcing her into his a
rms would probably result in her lashing out at him, and that would only cause her more pain.
Her green eyes were haunted as she finally lifted them to meet his and he didn’t need his gift to see she was reliving everything the dragon had done to her in Hell.
Her chin dipped slightly.
She eased closer and even went as far as wrapping her arms around his neck, showing him that she wasn’t as lost in her memories as he had thought. She was still here with him, aware it was him with her and not the dragon. He hoped she knew she was safe too, that he wouldn’t allow any harm to come to her now that he was here.
He was careful as he scooped her into his arms, closely monitoring her in case the act of being close to him, restrained by him in a way, caused a negative reaction in her. She shocked him again by nestling her head against his neck, her tears dampening his skin. He held her close, tucked her against him and carried her towards the pool house.
“I should have come sooner,” he muttered, fire burning in his blood as he replayed what the dragon had done to her. He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her brow, whispering against it, “I am sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she murmured and rubbed her nose against his neck. A sigh escaped her as she settled more heavily against him. “You’re here now. You saved me.”
But he could have spared her the trauma had he been faster at summoning the bridge between them and teleporting.
He should have been here when she needed him.
He had failed her.
First he had allowed the female angel to kiss him, and now he had allowed the dragon to bite her.
He had a lot to apologise for, and he would do all in his power to make up for his mistakes.
“Did you find Rey?” Her voice was distant, a little hollow.
“I did. He and his demoness were where my intelligence placed them.” He could feel she wanted to take her mind off what had happened. If talking about where he had been did that for her, he was happy to answer any of her questions.
She perked up. “He’s living with his demoness?”
Wolf was surprised she liked the sound of that, given what she had been through in Hell. “You are not afraid of demons?”
She shook her head. “Some demons have been nice to me. Is she nice?”
“She is irritating.” An accurate description in his eyes. “But Rey obviously loves her, despite the fact she vexes me at every turn.”
“She sounds fun.” And Emelia sounded sleepy.
“Stay awake,” he murmured and jostled her enough to keep her with him. She moaned, and he felt her face move, pictured her pulling a moody one at him. “You lost blood. Sleeping might be a bad thing.”
Although he wasn’t sure. Being immortal, losing blood was more of an inconvenience than anything else. The only thing that would kill him would be removing his head or his heart.
They reached the pool and he frowned at the glass scattered all over the pavement twinkling among the melting ice.
Emelia emerged from his throat and stared blankly at it. “I dropped the wine.”
She didn’t need to say any more than that for him to put the pieces together. The dragon had frightened her, and she had dropped what she had been carrying and had run.
Wolf looked at her bare feet, each tiny laceration that peppered them adding fuel to the fire blazing inside him. For every laceration, he would cut the dragon and make him bleed as Emelia had.
He carried her into the pool house, and she remained sitting up in his arms, her eyes on his chest now.
She absently fingered the healing scar that darted across it. “You’re hurt.”
“I am healed now. Do not worry about them.” He turned with her at the top of the stairs and headed to his right, crossing the living room to the bedroom.
“Who did this?” She lifted her gaze to his face.
“Demons. The Devil felt my presence and sent them to intervene. Rey and Asteria dealt with them. I owe them a great debt.”
“So do I,” she murmured, distant again.
He glanced down at her. “Why?”
She leaned her head against his shoulder. “Because you were able to come back to me.”
And she had put two and two together and realised that without their intervention, he wouldn’t have survived.
“Don’t go back there.” She curled closer to him as he went to place her on the end of the bed, clinging to him so fiercely that he didn’t have the heart to make her release him.
He turned and sat on the burgundy bedclothes with her, just holding her and letting her hold him as he sifted through the feelings he could sense in her, naming each one and charting the depth of them. Fear ran deepest as she desperately clung to him, and he wavered.
But only for a heartbeat.
He couldn’t do as she asked, no matter how much he wanted to. If he didn’t go to Hell and deal with the dragon, the dragon would come back for her, and he wouldn’t be alone. He had seen the look in the bastard’s eyes when the one called Wilhelm had crippled Wolf by speaking the demon tongue. Zephyr intended to use it against him, would probably bring an entire army of demons with him when he returned, ensuring his victory.
Rey and Asteria could come to the mortal plane, but both of them were weaker in this realm. In Hell, the dragon would be no match for either of them, especially Rey. Fallen angels were the most powerful beings in that land.
He didn’t want to leave Emelia, hated the thought of causing her pain, but Hell was the better choice of battlefield.
“Let me take a look at you,” he whispered and gently took hold of her hands where they linked behind his neck.
He coaxed them open and leaned back so she was sitting on his lap and he could get a good look at the wound on her throat.
It was still bleeding.
“I need to take care of that.” He carefully lowered her hands into her lap. “Can I?”
She fingered the wound and flinched, her eyes watering as she touched the puncture marks.
“Come. Sit.” He lifted her from his lap and set her on the edge of the bed.
When he went to stand, she caught his wrist, her small hand tightly locking around it.
He looked down at it and then at her. “What is it?”
Fear coloured her eyes. She opened her mouth and then closed it.
Wolf bent and smoothed another kiss across her brow. “I am only going as far as the bathroom. Do you keep medical supplies there?”
She nodded, brushing her forehead against his lips. He went to ease back, but she refused to let him, and when he looked down at her, she brought her head up.
Captured his lips in a soft kiss.
He cupped her cheek and returned it, as softly as he could manage, giving her what she wanted. He wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to kiss him, but he wasn’t going to complain. He swept his mouth across hers, savouring the warmth and taste of her.
The only female he wanted to kiss.
She was it for him. Forever. Even if she turned her back on him when she discovered he was part demon and when he told her what the damned healer had done, or at some point down the road, she would always be the only woman he wanted.
The only one he loved.
He broke the kiss, feathered his thumb across her reddened cheek, and gazed into her eyes. “Let me take care of you now, Emelia… and then I will run you a bath, pour you some wine, and kiss you some more.”
“I like the sound of that.” Her eyes darkened, her pupils dilating, stirring his own desire as he forced himself to break away from her.
He wanted to kiss her some more right now, but tending to her wound took priority, and helping her relax came after that.
He found the stash of medical supplies she kept in the cabinet beneath her bathroom sink, came back to her, and crouched before her. He spread the items out on the bed and set to work, cleaning the wound first.
The more he focused on the bite mark, the more the unsettled feeling inside him grew.
“What happened, Emelia?” He returned his gaze to his work, giving her time to process that question and what he was asking. Why had the dragon bitten her?
Her voice was hollow. “I’m his fated one.”
For some reason, his chest felt as if those words had just carved it open. Because he had hoped to be that for her? Or was it because he hadn’t just been hoping? He had convinced himself that she was his fated one, the female who had been made for his demonic side, just as Asteria was Rey’s one true mate.
He swallowed hard to settle his nerves, not wanting to ask but needing to know. “Did he give you blood?”
“No.” She was quick to bite that word out and he glanced at her, caught the flare of anger in her eyes as her eyebrows knitted hard. Her expression softened a heartbeat later and her eyes darted to his. “What does that mean?”
“That you are safe.” As far as he knew, anyway. A bond required an exchange of blood.
Taking blood often had other benefits, though. There was a chance the dragon could use the one-sided connection to locate her even if she went into hiding. She wouldn’t be safe until the dragon was dead.
“Emelia,” he said and she looked at him again. “I want you to return to Archangel. You will be safest there. The bastard would not dare attempt to reach you when you are surrounded by so many hunters.”
She was still for a moment and then she nodded. “I can leave tomorrow.”
“Why not tonight?” He frowned at her, pausing at his work
Her smile hit him hard. “Because you’re here. I’m safe when you’re here.”
Damn, that made him want to stay at her side forever, but he couldn’t. Even if she asked it of him, he wouldn’t be able to do it. Not because he had a duty to perform, but because he needed to hunt the dragon before he could amass an army. He couldn’t delay any longer.
Rey and Asteria would be able to help him convince any dragon they met that it was in their best interest to give up Zephyr’s location.
Avenged by an Angel Page 26