Northern Lights

by Debra Dunbar

  “I’ll have you know I make a mean bologna, cheese, ketchup and potato chip sandwich.”

  “By the Creator, are you trying to kill me?” I held my stomach, grimacing. “You don’t seriously put potato chips on your sandwich, do you?”

  “Absolutely. Otherwise it’s kind of mushy. The other ingredients don’t have much texture. The chips give it a refreshing crunch.”

  I sighed, putting my arm around her. “Is that going to be your cooking show entry? Bologna and potato chip sandwiches?”

  “No, it’s our dinner tonight. You’ll love it.”

  “What if I don’t love it?”

  She batted her eyelashes. “Wooing me, remember?”

  I grinned. “Ah, yes. Then I’m sure I’ll love it so much that I’ll ask for seconds.”

  “And after the sandwiches, the oral sex?”

  There was a tease in her eyes. Did I get the order wrong? Maybe it was flowers, pancakes, oral sex, then chocolate and a shoulder massage? “Maybe. They better be darn good sandwiches, though.”

  Chapter 16

  On the way home, Ahia took a detour. I didn’t argue, since I wasn’t all that eager to choke down a bologna, ketchup and potato chip sandwich and pretend to like it. Still, I was surprised when she lit on a narrow, rocky ledge looking down into a broad meadow.

  “Want to have some fun?”

  “Always.” I grinned, wondering what she was up to. Boobie-birds, drop bears. What now?

  “See that dark shape down there? The one by the tree?”

  I squinted. It was pretty far off, but I could make out that it was a bear. “Grizzly?”

  She gave me a thumbs-up. “Bingo. Except it’s a grizzly shifter — a weregrizzly.”

  Okay? “Is he or she a friend of yours?”

  The angel laughed. “It’s a love-hate thing. He messes with me; I mess with him.”

  I was catching on. “So we’re going to mess with this weregrizzly?”

  “Absolutely. Here’s the rules. You have to be totally silent on our approach. We’ll land about fifty feet away in that copse over there, but not touch the ground. Then we need to float over to him. Once we land, no flying. That’s cheating, and I don’t like cheating. Got it?”

  No. We were going to all this trouble just to sneak up on a weregrizzly and say boo?

  “Trust me,” she said, patting my shoulder. She had that naughty smile going on that let me know this was probably going to end badly — and be a whole lot of fun.

  “Okay. Let’s do this.”

  We flew in a wide circle down to our landing spot, hovering just a few inches off the ground. Then we slid forward as if we were on an invisible moving walkway, approaching the grizzly from the back. He was seated, one shoulder against a tree. And he was snoring.

  Ahia waved me around the other side of the bear. I raised an eyebrow but complied, eyeing the line of drool extending from the guy’s half-open maw to his massive paw. The angel made a downward motion with her palm and we both lowered ourselves to the ground, careful to remain silent. The bear snorted, his nose twitching in his sleep.

  In two steps Ahia was on him, shoving him over onto the ground. “Bear tipping!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Then she ran. I hesitated, which in hindsight was very poor judgement on my part.

  The grizzly’s eyes flew open as he hit the ground. A roar shook the air, spittle flying as he scrabbled to get onto his feet. Then he saw me standing right in his line of sight and snarled. Oh, that angel was so naughty. And she also had a head start of nearly five seconds on me.

  I ran, feeling the thump of four huge paws hitting the ground behind me, hearing the harsh breath of a pissed-off werebear. Claws swiped at my leg and I put on a burst of speed, catching up to Ahia, and giving her a dirty look as I ran by for making sure I was right in front of the grizzly and ditching me without warning.

  She stumbled. The bear launched himself at her and I acted from instinct, knocking her aside and rolling out of the way of the huge claws. This bear was fast, and I wasn’t sure how serious this fight would be if he caught us. Killing boobie-birds was one thing. I had no desire to be known as the angel who had to use lethal force against a were. Seeing him recover and jump toward us, I made a quick decision: I grabbed Ahia tight and teleported.

  Not far, because I was downright exhausted after everything I’d done in the last twenty-four hours. We found ourselves a few miles away, Ahia sprawled on her back under a tree, me on top of her.

  “You’re crazy,” I muttered into her hair. “I thought I was crazy, but you’re Sam-level crazy. Good grief, Ahia, what did you intend to do? Were you going to fight to the death with him over a prank? Lay down and let him rip you to shreds? Were you going to seriously hurt a guy who was just taking a nap when you rudely woke him up?”

  The sparkle in her eyes dimmed and she squirmed trying to get out from underneath me. “It’s just Karl. He welded all my fry-pans together last month. And this past summer at the cookout he gave me a sandwich with a plastic hamburger in it. It squeaked when I bit into it. Neither of us would have killed the other. If he’d have caught me, he would have shoved my head in his mouth and slobbered all over it. Then he probably would have thrown me up into a tree.”

  Oh. I know she’d said there was mutual pranking going on, but with a roaring grizzly nearly on top of us, I’d gotten…serious? Protective? More Order and less Chaos? I was Raphael. I was the angel who should be all on board with were-tipping and silly pranks, but out of the blue I turned into someone else and lectured her.

  “Yes, I’m crazy.” Her eyes sparkled, and she blinked hard. “I’m sorry, I just am. And I thought for once in my life that I’d…oh, never mind.”

  She pushed and this time I rolled off of her, watching as she stood and turned her back to me. I gave her a moment to compose herself then went over and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I was channeling my brother Gabe there for a moment.”

  I did know why. A weregrizzly was about to slice our heads off, and I felt the need to protect her. And then snapped at her because she’d put herself in danger. She was an angel. She was tough. But she was also only five thousand years old. And the thought of anything happening to her twisted my stomach into a knot.

  “We’ll do the hydra and chimera rifts tomorrow along with the others, then I’ll just have Nisroc contact you if any new rifts pop up.” Her voice was wooden and bruised. I’d hurt her.

  “No.” I breathed the word into her hair then turned her around, taking her face in my hands. “Ahia, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you guys did these pranks back and forth. I thought he was trying to seriously hurt you. I thought I’d have to kill him and fill out a two-hundred-page report, then face the angelic equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition. I freaked out. I’m sorry.”

  There was this uncertain look in her eyes — the look of someone who’d always been an outsider, been different, and been lonely. I rubbed my thumbs along her cheekbones. “I adore crazy. I’m not exactly sane myself, throwing drop bears like footballs and drowning boobie-birds — and enjoying every minute of it. Actually those activities wouldn’t be at all fun without you. I’m coming to the conclusion that nothing is going to be fun without you.”

  “Does nobody expect it?” She asked, her face serious.

  I had no idea what she was talking about. “Expect what?”

  Her lips twitched. “The Angelic Spanish Inquisition.”

  I laughed, relief flooding through me. Then I kissed her, gently, my lips moving slowly against hers. With an impatient noise she deepened our kiss, brushing her tongue against mine. She tasted of warm honey, her tongue tangling with mine as her hands came up to bury themselves in my hair. Fire ran down my spine and I pulled her closer, crushing her chest against mine and trailing kisses from her mouth down her jaw to her neck.

  Her hands left my hair to grab my hips and pull me tight against her. “We’re done wooing, aren’t we? Please tell me we’re done with the
wooing crap.”

  “What, you don’t want me to make you pancakes anymore?” I teased, slowly nibbling my way down her neck.

  She arched her back. “Sex first. Pancakes later. Then more sex.”

  I hesitated. Then she took my earlobe in her mouth and nipped, grinding herself against me. “Come on, sin with me, Rafi. Show me how wicked you can really be.”

  My willpower crumbled. Sneaking my hands under her shirt I ran my fingers up her ribcage to cup the fullness of her breast. “Like this? Or, like this?” Licking the sensitive skin along her collar bone, I rolled her nipple between my fingers and felt her shiver.

  Her hands yanked at my waistband. “Now. Get these damned clothes off now.”

  “Your wish is my command.” I made her shirt disappear then dipped my head down to draw her nipple into my mouth.

  She gasped and swatted me on the shoulder. “No. Well, yes, but I meant your clothes not mine. Well, mine too.”

  I chuckled. “Patience, patience.” But still I removed both of our clothes. The cool spring air hit my skin, heightening every nerve ending. She was warm and wet against me, her fingers gripping my rear as she slid herself along my length.

  “Fuck patience,” she gasped.

  Indeed. I rocked my hips against her, losing myself in the feeling. She whimpered, her breathing ragged as she worked herself against me. I brought my mouth back up to hers, pressing her body against mine and lifting her to her toes. My hands grabbed her hips, to help her keep her balance and her rhythm.

  “How do we…?” She kissed me again, tugging me downward. I had a better idea and scooped her up, taking three steps to press her back against the rough bark of a tree. I’d barely maneuvered her into position before she jerked her hips, pushing forward. I felt her stretch around me as I sank into her heat.

  “I think we should stop and have more pancakes,” I teased.

  “You do and I’ll rip your wings off. Now shut up and do me.”

  I laughed, rocking myself in and out of her, touching her spirit-self with mine. She grazed her teeth along my shoulder, nipping at the skin.

  “Harder. More,” she urged.

  I complied, grasping her waist and rolling my hips. My spirit-self merged with hers in a swirl of translucent white. I felt her shudder, felt her muscles tense as she tilted her face to the sky. Harder and faster I drove into her until she clenched tight around me, her orgasm pulsing through her like a wave. I held back, enveloping and merging my spirit-self with hers to prolong her release, then when I could take it no more, I let myself go, filling her, joining with her spirit as much as I could while still retaining corporeal form. Sparks danced at the edge of my vision and I fell against her, my muscles quivering, the tree the only thing holding both of us upright.

  Then I kissed her lips, and her face, whispering all the things I’d wanted to say, all the emotions I felt, and when I looked into her dark eyes, I knew I’d found my other half, I’d found the angel that made me, complimented and completed me. I’d found the angel that made me whole.

  Chapter 17

  Ahia

  Back home we curled up on the couch, argued over movies, got into an incredible wrestling match for the remote. And we had sex — lots and lots of sex. This playful seduction of ours was intoxicating. When we had joined — both physically and with our spirit-selves —the planets halted in their orbit, the moon fell from the sky, the stars sang. Rafi made good on his promise, doing things with his mouth that surely no angel should ever imagine doing. We made love in the kitchen, on the sofa, on my polar bear skin rug. And when we weren’t exploring each other’s bodies and spirit-selves, we were talking and laughing. Each interaction entwined us together with another silken strand, on their own fine and fragile, but combined they were becoming an unbreakable bond. My life was forever changed. Not even twenty-four hours and I couldn’t imagine being without him. I’d never believed I could fall this fast. Lust at first sight, yes. Love at first sight? That was a myth. Until it wasn’t.

  He ate my sandwiches, admitting that the potato chips were a brilliant addition. Then I fell asleep with my head on his lap. And the next morning when we awoke, curled together on the couch, I felt a sense of joy I’d never thought possible. We did rock-paper-scissors for breakfast. I won, and grinned as I tossed him the packet of Pop-Tarts.

  We were on my front porch, hand-in-hand, munching our breakfast and drinking coffee when my phone beeped.

  “Crap,” I said as I read the text. “Morgan is out sick today and they want me to cover her shift.” This was seriously cutting into my Raphael time. We’d closed quite a few of the rifts yesterday, but there were still more, and we still had to deal with that hydra. And then there was sex. I wanted to block out lots of today’s schedule for carnal pleasure.

  “Do we have time to take care of this hydra before you go in? I hate to leave it till tomorrow.” His voice was casual, but his spirit-self-touched mine. We were having such fun together. I didn’t want my job to interrupt what was shaping up to be an amazing day, but I had responsibilities. They needed me at work, and I couldn’t let them down. Besides, if Jess had to do a double shift and cover for Morgan, the shoplifters would rob us blind.

  But I didn’t need to go in until two. We had time for a little hydra action. “Yep, as long as I can be back in time to shower and change beforehand. I can’t show up to work covered in hydra guts.” Or puffy from hydra venom, but hopefully the swelling would have receded by the time my shift started.

  “Do I get to see where you work?” He asked, our fingers still entwined, his spirit-self still against mine.

  I blinked in surprise. “Sure. I guess. If you want to.”

  His hand gripped mine tight. “I want to. I want to know everything about you. Besides, I need to buy tacky Alaska-themed gifts for my family.”

  I grinned. “A shot glass for your sister-in-law the Iblis?”

  “And a pair of bear-butt boxers for Micha. A mother-of-pearl whale-tail necklace for Uri. And for Gabe…” He gave me a wicked smile. “For Gabe a giant stuffed beaver.”

  I laughed. “Stuffed. Because beavers were meant to be stuffed, you know.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Some beavers more than others.”

  Love didn’t begin to describe what I felt for this angel. “Beavers and boxers later. Right now, let’s go kill a hydra.”

  First step was to close the rift. This was one of the few that hadn’t taken any humans, and, so far, only the one hydra had come through. It would really suck to go to all the trouble to kill one hydra only to discover a family of five had arrived while we were fighting it.

  “Here?”

  This had become a game between us — guess the location. “Warm. Getting warmer,” I added as he shuffled forward and to the left. “Warmer. Hot. You are so hot.”

  He smirked. “Thank you. And back at cha’.”

  I rolled my eyes, tempted to shove him off the edge of the cliff. Although that particular action wouldn’t have much of an effect on an angel who could just sprout wings and fly right back up.

  “Smoking hot, Pretty-boy.” His hand vanished and I laughed at the absurdity of it all. If someone had told me a few days ago that I’d be working side-by-side with an angel, flirting with him, having lurid thoughts about him, screwing him every chance I got, I would have proclaimed them insane. Yet here I was.

  “Do we need to look in?” Raphael asked.

  “No humans fell through this one. The hydra has killed a bunch, including two werewolves, but this isn’t a well-traveled spot, if you could call anything in Alaska well-traveled, that is.” The rift was on the edge of a cliff. There were better places for mountain climbing, and most of those who came here to fish weren’t interested in scaling the rock face.

  “So you’re not the slightest bit curious about where hydra come from?”

  It was my turn to smirk. “Well, the male hydra inserts his hydra-cock into the female’s hydra-pussy. There is a bunch of friction and a
n eventual ejaculation, and if the timing is right the female will give birth to a minimum of one hydrette.”

  “You make it sound so clinical. Where’s the romance? Where’s the earth-moving, stars-standing-still passion? Where’s the making-pancake seduction?”

  Oh, Lord. I was so going to do this angel, preferably before lunch. “Well they’re hydra. What do you expect, foreplay?”

  “I do hear they give good head.”

  Haha. I really loved this guy. It wasn’t just the pretty face and incredible body, it was his silly, light-hearted approach to life. He was fun. He was kind of goofy, like the class clown. And from what he’d said, the other angels didn’t appreciate this sort of behavior.

  I appreciated it. And those other angels were idiots to let this one get away.

  “You sure? Not the slightest bit curious? Going once. Going twice–“

  “Oh, all right,” I said, walking over to him. “Let’s see where hydra come from. With any luck, maybe we’ll catch two of them in the very act of procreation.”

  “Eww, I hope not.” He grabbed my arm just as I was about to go through. “Me first.”

  Chivalry was not dead. And I wasn’t an idiot. This angel had billions of years of experience on me. If he wanted to stick his head through first, I wasn’t going to argue.

  Raphael’s upper half vanished, his hand still firmly gripping my arm. After a few seconds he popped back out, his hair wet, drops of liquid on his face.

  “Please tell me that’s water and not something horrible like hydra spit,” I said. “Or hydra cum.”

  “Water.” He pulled me forward. “Come look. It’s beautiful.”

  I shoved my upper body through the rift and gaped at the sight before me. I’m pretty sure some people would not have found the scene before me beautiful, but I agreed with Raphael. The cave extended back past where I could see, an inky blackness that echoed the sound of water dropping from the low ceiling. Hundreds of thousands of bat-like creatures crawled along the walls with six legs, their membrane wings glowing a pale yellow that gave the cavern a golden glow. I heard a splash and looked down to see we were inches above the water that covered the entire cave floor.