Angel in Waiting

by Sharon Saracino

  Chapter Nine

  Elle swallowed hard, finding it difficult to speak over the tightness in her throat. She’d never shared the intimate details of her upbringing with anyone, and she wasn’t sure why she did so now. Maybe because she’d kept it sealed inside for so long that, like an overheated pressure cooker, it had to blow. At this point, she had nothing left to lose. She risked a peek at Dimitri, afraid of what she would see on his face. He stared down at her intently. Unbelievably, his forehead appeared creased in concern, not revulsion.

  “And that’s when you made the decision to escape?” Dimitri prompted.

  “Yeah. God, I was so stupid, so naïve.”

  “You didn’t know anything else. Can’t beat yourself up for that.”

  “Still.” She shook her head and took a tired breath. “Once I knew the truth, I became desperate for a way out. I’d been homeschooled…the big old threat of the outside world, you know? Finally, when I turned eighteen, I convinced Gatewick to let me attend a small nearby college to take some classes. I told him I thought maybe I wanted to be a writer. I guess he didn’t find it all that surprising given my love for books. I think maybe he even saw it as something I could pursue in relative isolation, something that would keep me content, while still keeping me under his thumb. For a full year, I went to class every morning and came home every afternoon as though everything was perfectly normal. And he watched me like a hawk. I didn’t give him any reason to doubt me. All the while, I kept busy figuring out how to create a new identity and disappear. And then I met Kat. She’d recently lost her mom and seemed as much a loner as I was, but we clicked. Kindred spirits, two lost souls? I don’t know. I guess she was drawn to me partly because I wasn’t freaked out by her abilities. Of course, I had the advantage of knowing about Earthbound, and once I realized what she could do, I began to suspect what she might be. I cultivated the friendship, and when the time came to make my move, I showed up at her door and claimed I was on the run from an abusive father. She took me in and hid me, no questions asked.”

  “Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie, baby.”

  “No, but it wasn’t exactly the truth either, was it? And I never told her my suspicions about her origins even though I watched her struggle every day. What kind of friend does that? I was selfish, Dimitri. I should have told her the truth about herself and about me, but I was afraid she’d reject me, and I had nowhere else to go. I counted on the fact Gatewick would expect me to run as far and as fast as I could. I guess I was right. If it wasn’t for the damn demon, I might have avoided him indefinitely, I think.”

  “What possessed you to go messing with those books of Miranda’s in the first place?”

  “Kat’s cousin was a witch. I figured they were spell books of some sort. I hoped to find a way to kill Gatewick from a distance. I never dreamed I’d unleash a damn demon.”

  “What exactly did you think you’d accomplish even if you found something? You aren’t a witch.”

  “Well, duh! Too bad you weren’t there to point that out sooner since we see how well my plan worked out.”

  She flinched slightly as he reached out to stroke her cheek with his thumb. “You aren’t a killer, Elle. You wouldn’t have been able to go through with it even if you’d found a way and the demon hadn’t interrupted your plans.”

  “Well, I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

  Elle kept her gaze pinned on her feet, and he stepped even closer until the length of his body pressed flush with hers, pinning her against the counter. She did look at him then. His obvious arousal was unmistakable and incomprehensible. She glanced pointedly in the direction of his crotch and then back to his face.

  “You can’t be serious! After everything I’ve just told you…were you even paying attention? How could you possibly want…me? You don’t even know who or what I am. Hell, I don’t even know who or what I am.”

  “I know exactly who and what you are. Oh, and don’t plan on disappearing again anytime soon, either. You aren’t going anywhere without me.”

  “You do seem to have an uncanny knack for showing up exactly when I need you,” Elle whispered. “I know you promised Kat you’d protect me, but now that you know the truth, I think it lets you off the hook. There’s no reason to take what I’m sure you consider your duty so seriously.”

  “Yeah, I did promise Kat, but it’s not why I’m here.”

  Elle tilted her head back and looked him square in the eye. As her gaze connected with his, a shock of awareness ran through her, something raw and primal. In that moment, the rest of the world fell away and there was only Dimitri. She wanted this man, and not just because he was trip-over-your-own-feet sexy. There was so much more to him, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it. Even if she was the only one able to see it.

  “Why are you here, Dimitri?”

  He cupped her face in his big hands and buried his fingers in her hair. The question filled his eyes, and she didn’t hesitate to raise her face to his. This might be her only chance, all she would ever have of him.

  His breath feathered along her jaw before he covered her slightly parted lips with his own warm, firm ones. His mouth settled on hers, and she melted against him allowing the kiss to deepen. She’d spent so much of her life keeping people at a distance, but Dimitri made her want to let someone in. She hesitated. Her fingers curled tightly against his stomach, but then she gave herself up to the riot of feelings the kiss evoked and allowed her hands to slide up the hard planes of his chest, twine around his neck, and tangle in his hair. His arms came around her waist, and he pulled her more intimately against him. The hard evidence of his desire pressed insistently against her stomach, and she was lost. Need flickered along the surface of her skin, seeped into her bones, and exploded somewhere deep in her soul.

  Mine. The thought flashed unbidden from his mind into hers.

  As she pressed her soft curves against him with a sexy little whimper, Dimitri’s world condensed and spun away until he knew nothing except her soft, plump lips under his, the faint lemony scent of her hair, and the soft brush of her fingertips on his neck. He pointedly ignored the panicked little voice in his head reminding him she was human. Human or not, every good intention of keeping his distance evaporated the minute his lips touched hers. Damn, but she tasted even better than he’d dreamed. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she opened willingly, letting out a sexy little moan in the back of her throat as his tongue swept inside and he deepened the kiss. His mouth slanted over hers again and again like a dying man discovering a bubbling spring in the desert. After seven hundred years, this sure as hell wasn’t his first trip to the rodeo. But he quickly discovered it might as well have been. She wasn’t just any woman and this wasn’t just any kiss. This was a holy shit, I am so freakin’ screwed kiss.

  He harbored no illusions about what the future would hold if he continued down this road. The ghosts of all those he’d failed in the past rose up to mock him. He’d lived long enough to lose nearly everyone who’d ever mattered to him. Despite his gifts, he’d been helpless to save most of them. And when old age or disease arrived to claim her, he would be helpless to save the woman in his arms. Shit, Earthbound or not, one wrong move and a Hell blade could end his life just as easily, right? He might be able to give himself every good reason in the world to walk away from her, but the bottom line was he didn’t want to. She filled a place in him he hadn’t even realized was empty. Nothing was guaranteed, nothing but this, nothing but now. If the best he could hope for was a few decades, maybe he should get over himself and grab it. Could he really stop dwelling in the past, anticipating the future, and concentrate instead on the sweetness of the present? He wasn’t sure he had it in him anymore, but this woman sure as hell made him want to try.

  When he lifted his head at last, they were both breathing raggedly. Beneath her half closed lids, Elle’s blue eyes darkened to the deep indigo of a stormy sea, and her lips were red and swollen from his kisses. She dropped her forehead ag
ainst his chest as though she needed the support to stay upright. Her hands splayed across his stomach, the heat of her like a brand on his skin.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” she whispered.

  Apparently, she didn’t realize he just had done exactly that, and maybe for now, it was better she didn’t. From the moment she’d been dropped into his unsuspecting arms, he’d been walking around in turmoil, the attraction to her a constant ache in his gut. They were as different as night and day, but then neither one of those things could exist without the other, right? He rested his chin on top of her head, took a deep breath, and simply breathed her in. Mine.

  “You know, baby, I kinda counted on you to have a little common sense.”

  She tipped her head back and smiled ruefully. “Common sense is not as common as you might think, baby. And in my case, all I can say is, wow, you really shouldn’t have put your eggs in that basket, huh?”

  He pressed his lips to her hair, then leaned back and tipped her chin up with a finger.

  “So why didn’t you tell Kat the truth after you’d established your own life and didn’t have to worry about being thrown out?”

  “I wanted to. So many times. But by then I just didn’t know how to begin. She’d become my family, my person, all I had, and I was afraid of losing her.”

  “Yet you were planning to run away.”

  Elle shrugged. “In the end I realized I would rather lose her than put her, or any of you, at risk. I don’t know where Gatewick got the DNA samples for his research, but I believe with every fiber of my being he’d give his eyeteeth to get his hands on an actual Earthbound for his experiments. He has to be truly mad, Dimitri. I realize that now.”

  “How are the Fallen involved?”

  “I don’t know. Until you told me about the animorti, I didn’t realize they were.”

  “I’m gonna call Mac and fill him in.” Her smile faded and shadows replaced the light in her eyes.

  “Why?”

  “Seriously? You didn’t think we could let that asshole continue with business as usual, did you?”

  “I guess I didn’t really think about it. What are you planning?”

  “Not exactly sure. Clearly Gatewick still wants you back, and it’s up to me to make sure he doesn’t get you.” He gave her a rib-cracking squeeze.

  “I think I should be insulted, you large, ill-mannered angel,” Elle gasped, pushing against his chest. “It’s not up to you, at all. I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time, and you aren’t responsible for me. The last thing I want to do at this point is put anyone I care about on Gatewick’s radar. And please remember while I supposedly have the correct DNA, I don’t have any Earthbound characteristics. When you crush me, I will not heal up good as new in five minutes or less.”

  “Duly noted.” He relaxed his grip slightly but didn’t release her from his embrace. “That journal you’re so attached to, it wouldn’t happen to contain Gatewick’s research notes, would it? We have our own experts, you know. His notes could provide some valuable information.”

  “The book is nothing more than an old diary of mine. I thought maybe if Kat read it…I don’t know, maybe she would understand what my life had been and find a way to forgive me eventually. I didn’t steal his research. I didn’t have to. I am the research.”

  “Self-preservation is a helluva strong motivator, and I’m telling you, Kat won’t condemn you for it. But, I meant his records…you know, the actual data.”

  “No, but I know where he keeps it.”

  “Well, you sure aren’t going back in there to get it.” Dimitri frowned while lightly running his thumb along the soft skin of her inner wrist near the base of her thumb. “What the hell…?”

  “What?” Elle jumped nervously.

  “Feel that?” Dimitri gripped her fingers in his and ran them over the area until she detected the small bump resembling a grain of rice.

  “I never noticed it before. What is it?”

  “My guess is a microchip of some kind. Maybe you took more information than you thought when you escaped. Maybe it’s all stored right in here.” He tapped her wrist. “And if that’s the case, he’s got to be desperate to get you back.” Dimitri pulled her back into his arms as a chill settled over him. If the information on that chip was valuable, Gatewick had nothing to lose. He wouldn’t even need Elle alive as long as he could get his hands on her body. Well, hell would freeze over before that happened. She might not understand it yet—he wasn’t even sure he understood it himself—but the only one getting his hands on Elle Gates’ body from now on was one Dimitri Radchenko, Earthbound angel and Defensori.

  “Okay,” Dimitri took her by the shoulders and turned her toward the hall. “Go up and get dressed. Then throw that shirt back down for me since you trashed mine. I’m gonna call Mac and get us a ride out of here. Then we’ll figure out what to do.”

  “Maybe you could go talk to McAllister, and I could just stay here tonight? I know you must think I’m a complete and total coward, but I’m finally waking up to the fact my whole plan was pretty hare-brained, and I should have just come clean to begin with. And now that I actually have… Look, I know I have to face the consequences, but I’m just not ready right this minute. Dimitri, I—”

  “Go get dressed and let me worry about the consequences. Go!” He gave her a gentle shove and swatted her behind. Inordinately proud of the fact he resisted the urge to grab a handful of the firm, rounded flesh he could feel through the thin fabric of the boxers, he waited until she’d gone through the hall, grabbed her bag, and hurried up the stairs, throwing worried glances at him over her shoulder every few steps. He’d like nothing better than to spend the night here with her. On the other hand, there were Fallen involved and they knew, or at least suspected, she was here. He had complete faith his sigils would hold, but he wasn’t willing to risk her life on it if the evil ones decided to attack en masse. He yanked out his phone and punched in Mac’s number.

  Pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, he propped a hip against the counter and waited for Mac to pick up. He’d reassured Elle over and over that Katrina McAllister would understand. He honestly believed it, but truth be known, he didn’t know the woman well enough to make any guarantees. His gut tightened as the call clicked through. He sure as hell hoped his instincts were right.

  “McAllister.”

  “Hey, Mac. I think maybe we’ve got trouble. But first you better put your wife on the phone…”

  Chapter Ten

  Elle didn’t care for flying. She discovered she enjoyed it even less strapped into the seat of a glass bubble bobbing in the night sky and zipping toward the city lights at a mind-numbing rate of speed. She’d been expecting a limo. McAllister, in his typical over the top fashion, sent a chopper. Elle anticipated she would have an hour or two to gather her wits before facing the McAllisters. Apparently, she would only get about twenty minutes.

  Spine ramrod straight, icy fingers twisted together in her lap, she felt Dimitri’s eyes on her, but kept her face turned away. Tears pricked the back of her lids as she admitted to herself for the first time that she actually cared for the big lug. She’d hoped maybe he’d started to care for her just a little bit, too. But that was before. Now he knew Elle Gates was a nothing more than a character in a book, an actress in a play, an illusion in a magician’s nightclub act. She’d donned the persona all those years ago and clung to it like a sniper to an assault rifle. Oh sure, he’d kissed her, but it was probably nothing more than a little misplaced lust, right? Still, he’d called Kat and explained the whole mess to try and make it easier for her. She understood a part of him was a leather wearing, deadly weapon packing, night stalker prowling the alleys and seedy bars killing Fallen and their animorti servants. But that was a Dimitri she didn’t know and could barely fathom. That wasn’t her Dimitri. She drew in a long, shaky breath. Was she nuts? He wasn’t her Dimitri.

  “Radchenko.”

 
Elle glanced over, surprised to see the phone plastered to his ear. She hadn’t even heard it ring over the sound of the wind.

  “No shit?” He continued. “Well, that’s a lucky break. Okay, see ya in a few.”

  Dimitri clicked the phone off, shoved it back inside his jacket, and then turned slightly in the limited confines of the cabin to face her.

  “Green isn’t really your color, you know,” he shouted over the roar of the chopper.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You look like you’re about to hurl.” He smiled and reached over to untangle her fingers, enveloping her frigid hands in his large, warm ones. “Take a deep breath, woman. Blood and guts may not faze me, but I don’t do vomit. You’re making yourself sick for nothing. It’s gonna be okay, you’ll see.”

  “It’s not that. Well, okay, it is that, but not entirely. Actually, I’m not a very good flyer.”

  Dimitri’s dark brows slammed together. “Well, hell! Why didn’t you say something? Mac planned to send a car. I asked for the chopper so we could get back into town faster. I figured the sooner we got this confrontation over with, the sooner you’d realize you were worried for nothing, and the sooner you’d be able to relax.”

  “Oh.”

  “We’ll be back on the ground soon.” He squeezed her hand. She appreciated the reassurance, but of course once the flight ended, she had the whole confrontation thing to deal with. No matter what he said, she couldn’t really believe it would be anything less than awful. She’d replayed several versions of the coming scene over and over in her mind since Dimitri had placed the call. In some, Kat was the pale and silent picture of devastation and Kassian McAllister ranted and raved, flushed and fuming on his wife’s behalf. In others, it was Kat who flew at her in a fury while McAllister simply stood back and let her have at it. Elle knew he’d always merely tolerated her for his wife’s sake. None of the versions concocted by her imagination ended well. While she didn’t agree with his take on the situation, maybe Dimitri had inadvertently done her a favor. Perhaps, like tearing a bandage off of a festering wound, quick and painful was the way to go. Drawing it out didn’t really hurt any less.