“Oh, I don’t know the steps.” Lily burrowed into his side and Shade kissed her temple.
“Try it out, baby. I’m sure he’ll take care of you.”
Lily kissed his chin then nodded to the boy. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Timmy. And I promise to take good care of her.” He held out his hand and Lily walked to the circle that surrounded the fire and danced to the music performed by the brownies.
“You love her,” Agda said as she sat near him.
“With everything I have.”
“Then take care of her. We’ll always be her people and be here if she needs us. But she belongs by your side.”
Shade nodded, his gaze not straying from the green-eyed beauty as she laughed and danced.
“Good. Then I can let you leave with your neck intact.”
Shade laughed. “You know, even a warrior like me knows when to be fearful.”
Agda patted his hand as if he was ten years old, not a thousand years old. “That’s why you’ve made it this far. Smart cookie.” She walked away and Shade turned his attention back to his Lily.
Afterward, they walked back toward his bike. Conversation was easy. She bounced as she told him of the brownies she’d met even though he’d been by her side the whole time. God, she looked beautiful with a smile on her face. Their fingers intertwined, she leaned into his side, and he let out a sigh. He could almost forget the world around them and the dangers that lurked. Almost.
“Shade, before the sun goes down, will you take me flying?” Lily asked, surprising him.
He stopped beside his bike and rubbed a thumb on her cheek. “Now?”
“Please? If it’s not too much trouble.” She grinned and kissed his jaw.
“Sneaky, sprite. You’re buttering me up.”
She licked his ear, and he groaned. “Yep. Is it working?”
He caught her lips and kissed her hard. “Yes,” he said when he pulled back breathless.
She smiled, and he took off his shirt. “Sexy.”
He grinned. “Good to know.” He let his wings emerge, the feel of them sliding and stretching was like breathing fresh air.
Her hand came up to touch the wings, awe on her face. She pulled back, and he grabbed her hand. “Touch me.” Everywhere.
Her fingers danced along the edge of his wing and trailed down. He bit back a groan.
“Does that feel good?” she asked.
“Almost too good. You’ll need to stop, or I’m going to bend you over that bike and show you how good.”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull back her hand. “Maybe next time.”
His cock hardened almost to the point of pain. Fuck. He gripped her waist and shot up into the air, startling a squeak out of her.
“Shade, don’t drop me.” She wrapped her arms around his neck but still looked at the ground, a smile on her face.
His arms tightened, and they flew higher. “Never.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist, her core directly on his cock. “Shade.”
“I have an idea,” he growled. Cautious of the air draft he glided in, he trailed his hand around her panties and touched her core. Wet.
“Up here?”
He kissed her neck, and she arched against him. “We’ll have to be careful, but we’ll be fine.”
“I trust you.”
Hope and need warred within him. Trust. She trusted him. He kissed her and dropped a few feet. Her scream caught in his throat.
“Undo my pants, but don’t let them fall past my ass. That wouldn’t be good.”
She laughed and did as she was told. His cock fell into her palm, and she squeezed.
“Fuck, don’t do that or it will be over before it’s begun.”
She laughed and held onto his back pocket.
“Dammit, I don’t have a condom.” Disappointment ran though him.
“It’s okay; I’m on the pill.”
“Thank God.” He lifted her slightly, moved her panties to the side, and filled her. Bare. Silk. Hot. Need. Goodness.
All his.
“Shade.”
“Lily.”
He dipped lower in the air so she slid off his cock slightly. She clenched around him, and she smiled. “Don’t leave me.”
“Never.” He arched back up in the air fast, the momentum forcing her on his cock, hard. They gasped and he smiled.
“Do that again.” She moaned.
“Oh, I plan to.” And he did. Over and over again, until the both came in a sweaty tumble of wind and limbs. He lowered them to the ground near his bike, and he slid out of her.
“Oh, my God. We’ll have to do that again.” She stood on wobbly legs and tucked him back into his pants.
“I like the sound of that.”
He put his shirt back on, and they got on his bike and headed home. They’d needed that. A moment to themselves. The world would come at them soon, but for now, they had each other.
He pulled into his driveway, and they went back inside.
“I should call my friends.”
“I already did.”
She stopped and turned toward him. “When?”
“While you were sleeping. Faith almost killed me through the phone, but I told them you were okay and that I’d take care of you.”
“They believed you?”
He nodded. “They didn’t seem to know what had happened yesterday morning.”
She shook her head. “That’s between us.”
He kissed her softly. “I’m sorry, Lily.”
“Stop apologizing. Just don’t lie to me again.”
“Okay.” He brushed a finger down her neck.
“Okay? That’s it?”
“You’re my true half. I don’t need anything else.”
“Okay, we need to talk about that. I mean, I don’t know about you or your family. Talk to me.” She furrowed her brow and he kissed the line it made.
He let out a breath, sat, and pulled her onto his lap. “What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about your family.”
He rested his cheek on her head. She had to ask that, but it was past time he told her. “My family passed away during the Angelic Wars.”
“The what?”
“The Angelic Wars. A faction of angels tried to break off and control our brethren, thereby humanity.” One sentence to describe centuries of pain and loss? How trite. “If they controlled the angels, they could control humanity by destroying it.”
“That’s horrible.”
“My parents died early on in the war, but they had long, enriched lives.”
“That doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
She kissed his jaw and he closed his eyes.
“I also had a sister,” he said, his voice gruff.
“Had?”
He nodded. “She married Ambrose.”
Lily held his face in her hands, her large green eyes filled with tears. “What happened to her?”
“Ambrose and I were off at another battle, when a group of rogue angels went to Ambrose's and killed Ilianya, my sister, and their two children. She was pregnant at the time.” Pain sliced and clawed at him. Tears threatened, but he held them back.
“Oh, God, Shade.” She kissed him, tears running down her cheeks.
“I wasn't there, but my fiancée, Cora, was.” God, why hadn’t he been there?
“Fiancée?”
“Cora didn't make it either.” Images of her broken body filled his mind. Blood, glass, rocks…everything.
“Oh, Shade. I'm so sorry.” She held him, her body his support as he fought for strength.
“Ambrose broke down and hasn't been the same since.” His friend hadn’t laughed or truly smiled in years. While Shade had put on a facade, Ambrose had just shut down.
“What about you, Shade?”
“What about me?”
“What about your feelings?”
“I'm fine,” he lied.
“No, you're not.”<
br />
He kissed her, but she pulled back, sorrow on her face.
“How do you know me so well?”
“Because I just do.”
He looked off into the distance. “They were so small, Lily. How could someone hurt such innocent people like my sister and her children?”
He closed his eyes, his body shuddering at the onslaught of memories. He’d been the one to find them. The children on the ground, his sister covering the smallest one with her body. Cora on the ground, reaching for the other.
Gone.
Lily, her body warm against his, held him while he broke down.
“I’m used to being the one consoling,” he rasped out.
“That's why we’re a team.”
He chuckled wetly. “I like that idea.”
Chapter 21
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jamie asked as she paced in Shade’s living room.
They’d called her friend over that evening because Lily couldn’t be cut off anymore. She needed her friends or, as Shade had put it, her family. They were her lifeline. Of all her friends, Jamie was the most like a sister. Plus, she’d already told the other woman a lot about Shade. As soon as they’d called, Jamie had run over and wouldn’t stop pacing.
“I’m telling you now,” Lily answered.
Jamie let out a breath and plopped on the couch. “That doesn’t really answer my question.”
Lily sat beside her friend and wrapped an arm around her. “I’m sorry. Everything happened so fast, and then I needed time to absorb it all.”
Jamie leaned closer. “Fine. Don’t let it happen again.”
Lily grinned. “I promise, if a rouge angel attacks me, I’ll call you the second I can reach a phone.”
“That’s not funny!”
“All I can do is laugh about it. If I didn’t, I might go a bit crazy.”
“So, Shade’s taking care of you?”
Lily warmed at the thought of her blue-eyed angel. “Oh, yes, he is.” She blushed as Jamie gave her a knowing look.
“Oh, do tell.”
“Shade is…well, he’s…”
“Did I hear someone call my name?” Shade came from the back of the house, a cocky grin on his face.
Damn, those super-hearing ears of his. Freaking angels.
“Go back in your room. Lily was just about to dish on you.”
“Jamie!”
“Yes, Jamie, I would suggest you let your friend off the hook.” Ambrose’s deep voice startled them, and they looked back at him. “I already have to deal with sleeping in the next room. I do not care to listen to their sexual exploits again.”
“Ambrose,” Shade growled.
Ambrose merely raised a brow. He pulled the axe from around his back and sat. Jamie gasped, but Ambrose polished it, unconcerned.
“You have an axe,” Jamie stated.
Ambrose blinked, and Lily bit back a grin. She’d only known the angel for a little while, but she already knew he was a supernatural of few words and a large weapon collection. Odd how the sight of a large weapon didn’t freak her out so long as the weapon was in his hands. Talk about life changes.
“Observant.”
“Stop acting like an ass, Ambrose,” Shade scolded.
Ambrose lifted his other brow. How did he do that?
“Do you usually carry large pointy things around like that?” Jamie asked.
“Yes.”
“Talkative, aren’t you?”
“I’m a regular old chatter box.”
Shade let out a laugh. “Was that a joke, old man?”
“Perhaps.”
“You did it again,” Lily teased.
“Don’t count on it happening again,” Ambrose said.
“Of course not,” Jamie agreed.
“Well…” Shade froze, his body tense, a frown on his face, and the room quieted. “Lily, take Jaime and stay behind Ambrose and me at all times.” He tossed her a set of keys. “Go if I tell you. Take Ambrose’s car.”
“What’s going on?” She walked to him.
He crushed his mouth against hers, the urgency of it sending tremors of fear down her spine. He pulled back and brushed her bangs from her face.
“We’ve got company.”
“Do you know who?”
“No, but they’re getting closer.”
She nodded and pulled Jamie to her side.
“What does he mean, Lily?” Jamie whispered.
“I think Striker, that angel behind this, may be coming. I’m not sure, but whoever it is, isn’t our friend.”
“I believe it’s Striker.” Shade looked down at her, and her breath caught. “I will protect you.”
“I know.”
Ambrose raised the axe he’d been polishing, a cold frown on his face. “They’re here.”
A crash from the front of the apartment made the blood in Lily’s veins freeze. Shade and Ambrose would protect them. If all else failed, she’d figure out how to find her strength. Hopefully.
A metal canister rolled into the room, and Shade yelled, covering Lily’s body with his. The canister exploded, sending a dust that smelled of sulfur through the room.
“Shit, demon’s dust.” Ambrose growled and fell to the floor.
“Demon’s what?”
Shade coughed, blood trickling from his mouth. “I’m sorry.”
Her pulse raced. “Shade! Oh, God.” Jamie ran to Ambrose’s side. The other angel lay on his back, blood pooling around him from his pores. Lily held Shade’s head in her lap, tears running down her cheeks. Was he dead? She felt for a pulse, her body relaxing when she felt the faint flutter.
“Oh, he won’t die…yet.” A man walked into the room, an even scarier looking man trailing behind him. “It’s demon’s dust, made up of one hundred bodies of demons burned alive. Very rare, and very potent.”
“You must be Striker.” Her voice didn’t betray her fear; good for her.
“In the flesh. I’m sorry that our first meeting will also be our last. Don’t worry though. Your death will help us all.” He gave a laugh of pure menace. “Well, at least it will help me.”
The other man cleared his throat and glared at Striker.
“Oh, and, of course, my friend, Law, here.”
“I am not your friend.”
Striker let out a breath. “Fine. My ally, Law, here. Better?”
“No.”
“Whatever. We’re here to kill the girl.” Striker turned to Jamie and tilted his head. “Kill the spare woman first then this one will feel distraught over it. Then kill her.”
Law raised his brow. “Is that all?”
“For now.”
Law smiled and pulled a sword out of who knew where and stalked toward Jamie. He lifted the sword, and Jamie screamed before ducking.
“Bitch!”
“I’m not going to sit here and die for you!” Jamie ran to the kitchen while Lily lifted Shade from her lap to chase after them. Jamie lifted a butcher knife and held it in front of her.
“You think that can best me?”
Lily picked up a stool and smashed it across Law’s back. The angel—no, boulder—didn’t move. Shit. Law turned and pushed her across the room, her back crashing hard against the wall in the dining room off the kitchen. Pain ricocheted up her arm, and she saw it sat at an odd angle. Her body rolled, and she almost vomited. Not again. She didn’t want to die. She staggered to her feet, her vision blurring.
Jamie screamed from the kitchen. Her body lay on the floor, blood pouring from her side. Lily took a step toward her. She had to save her friend. A hand pulled her back against the wall, and she cursed at the pain.
“Stupid bitch,” Striker growled. He slapped her across the face, the sting nearly blinding her. “You don’t get to help that little one in there. You get to sit here,” he pulled her hair and forced her head to the side to watch Jamie try to crawl away, “and watch your friend die. To be sure you can’t move…”
Sharp. Hot. Pain.
&nbs
p; Something silver dug into her side, she couldn’t see what it had been, and a warmth seeped through her shirt. Her body swayed, but Striker held her up. Law raised his sword, toying with her friend. Jamie tried to crawl away, but Lily didn’t think she would make it.
Rage bubbled up through Lily. It was as if she’d finally unlocked something. Energy pooled through her as her body strengthened. Her body glowed gold, radiant.
This was her true self.
She growled.
Striker pulled back, but still kept his hand on her. His face lost all color and he blinked. “What the fuck are you?” Striker yelled.
She pulled from his grip and knocked him back with amazing strength. With determination in her step, she walked toward the kitchen, picked up Ambrose’s axe that lay on the floor next to his motionless body, and growled again.
Law paused in mid motion, his sword in the air about to decapitate her friend, looked over his shoulder, and Lily struck. She cleaved his body in two at the neck, his head rolling to the ground, his body standing for a few moments before it crumpled to the floor. Blood seeped around them, and Lily dropped to her knees, the last of her energy gone.
“I’m sorry, Jamie,” she rasped out.
Blood trailed from her friend’s lips as she tried to smile. “You look good in gold.”
Lily rested her head on Jaime’s cheek, their tears mixing with their blood.
“You stupid bitch! You killed him. I don’t know what the fuck you are. You can’t be a brownie because you were a fucking human, but you’re going to die now.”
Striker swung his sword then stopped mid motion. A thin line of blood appeared at his neck.
“No…” Striker whispered, his eyes wide.
His head slid off his shoulders, and Lily gasped. Shade leaned against the wall behind Striker’s dead body, his face ashen, blood leaking from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.
“Lily.”
Her spirit broken, her body in pain, tears rolled down her cheeks. “Save Jamie.”
Ambrose came into the kitchen, a look of sorrow on his face. “I will try.”
“It’s pretty bad.” Jamie coughed, blood coming out of the corner of her mouth.
Ambrose knelt by them and ran a finger down Jamie’s cheek. “Don’t ask questions, but you will live.”
Confusion covered Jamie’s face, and Lily felt the same.
“Ambrose…”
Dust of My Wings Page 17