He hadn’t wanted to come to Earth.
Where did that leave her?
Marcus had been different around her these past few days. He hadn’t kept his distance as he did with others.
She looked down at her knees, wishing it was Marcus here telling her these things so she could ask him the questions burning in her heart. She touched her lips, the memory of their kiss seared on them, and frowned. Had it been real to him?
Einar’s gaze bore into her mouth but she couldn’t bring herself out of her thoughts about Marcus in order to look at him.
The kiss had been real to her.
“How close have you got to Marcus?” Einar’s tone was low and cautious, as probing as his stare.
Amelia looked up at him through her lashes, her fingers still resting against her lips. It seemed it was all the answer Einar needed because he frowned and a flicker of surprise crossed his handsome features.
He sighed, hesitated, and then spoke in an even softer voice. “Marcus has never cared for mortals, or this world… and he has never… he would kill me for mentioning it.”
He couldn’t stop now. She wanted to know what it was that he shouldn’t tell her. The guilty edge to his expression said that it was interesting.
“What is it you’re not telling me? You wouldn’t answer my earlier question and now you won’t tell me something about him… I want to know. Please? If you know something that will set my head straight and stop it from exploding from trying to figure everything out, then tell me. You’re an angel. That means you’re supposed to be good and nice to people.”
He smirked, as though he wasn’t at all required to be nice to people and wanted to remind her of that. She had taken onboard what he had said about Marcus. Marcus didn’t like people. Did he like her?
“I came through the ranks with Marcus. We were reborn at the same time and we have been friends ever since. Marcus has rarely ventured to Earth and in all the times he has, well… he has never… been… with a female as far as I know.”
Amelia stared wide-eyed at him.
If that meant what she thought it did, then Marcus would definitely be angry with Einar for telling her.
“He’s never?” Taylor’s voice coming from the doorway caused Amelia and Einar to look around. Taylor looked as shocked as Amelia felt. She walked into the room and set a tray of tea things down on the coffee table in front of the sofa where Einar sat and then frowned at him as though he had said something crazy. “From what I gather, you boys are chocked full of passion… how could he have never?”
Einar’s cheeks coloured and he smiled awkwardly at Amelia. “She’s right.”
Chocked full of passion. Marcus had certainly kissed the breath from her and the way he had pinned her to the wall had filled her mind with a thousand wicked scenarios.
A frown slowly worked its way onto her face as she thought about the past few days and how Marcus had flitted between warm and open with her, and closed off and icy.
“Marcus is the most loyal and honourable angel I’ve met, and he has served Heaven his whole life—”
Amelia cut Einar off. “He’s never loved.”
A shiver tumbled down her spine.
Marcus had avoided human contact and he had been awkward around her at times, especially after she had kissed him. Her eyes shot wide. Oh Lord. She had been all hideously forward with him, suggesting that he could satisfy her without a doubt, and then he had told her they had to take things slowly.
Her cheeks blazed.
It wasn’t her fault. The man broadcasted sexy and passionate, and it hadn’t once crossed her mind that he might have never had a partner.
“Well, bloody hell.” Taylor slumped onto the sofa opposite the one Einar occupied. “This is a new one on me.”
“Not a word, Taylor.” Einar frowned at her and she pouted before nodding.
“Fine. I won’t tease him about it. I think it’s going to take all night for it to sink in.” Her blue gaze slid to Amelia and she smiled wickedly. “I take it you haven’t deflowered him?”
Amelia buried her face in her knees, cheeks scalding hot. “No.”
Why was this happening to her?
“I didn’t know,” she said to her knees and then leaned back into the armchair, tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. “He didn’t seem inexperienced when he kissed me.”
“Don’t let it bother you. If he’s anything like my Romeo in the passion stakes, you’ll be in for a wild rodeo ride regardless of experience.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Einar turned bright red.
“Something I said?” Taylor’s tone had turned mischievous.
Einar exploded into a tirade about how inappropriate it was for her to talk about that sort of thing and Taylor countered it with the fact that he had just announced Marcus’s probable virginity to them. Amelia listened to their argument, using it as a distraction from her thoughts, but Marcus crept back into them.
She didn’t care if he was inexperienced or not. He had never been with a woman before, which meant that she had been his first kiss. Judging by his reaction, he had enjoyed it and had wanted more last night.
Not just last night.
There had been moments this evening where she had felt he might kiss her, and times when he had been gentle with her, tender almost, and made her feel as though he really cared for her.
The next time she saw him, she would ask him the question burning in her heart.
Was she more than a mission to him?
CHAPTER 9
Marcus beat his wings, stopping high in the cool air above the dark city of London far below him. He hovered there, flapping his wings at a leisurely tempo to keep him stationary, and scoured the myriad of twinkling streetlights. It was like looking at some strange new version of the stars at his back. This high up, he couldn’t make out the buildings and cars were mere flashes of white or red in the blackness. Silence reigned, cocooning him and giving him respite from the pandemonium of the mortal realm. He could never understand how they could live at such a fast pace, flitting from one thing to the next, cramming their lives with meaningless tasks that filled their short hours on Earth. If he were mortal, he would take things slowly and indulge in every little thing, giving it the time it deserved so his life would have been a full and meaningful one.
If he were mortal.
As an angel, he didn’t have to worry about a lack of time, although he wasn’t immortal and could die. He hadn’t felt aware of that in all his lifetime as much as he had the past few days with Amelia. Something about her made him aware of the difference in their life spans and how easily either of them could die. If Amelia died, her soul would pass through into his domain, and she would recall her life and the things they had shared.
If he died, he would be instantly reborn as he was now only without his memories, left with only a vague notion of his previous life.
He wouldn’t remember her.
And he wanted to.
With a heavy beat of his wings, he shot down towards the city, cutting through the cold air that buffeted against him, and spread his wings at the last moment, barely stopping himself from crashing into the ground. The thrill that bolted through him brought him to life, sending his blood rushing in his veins and his heart thundering. He flapped his wings and gently touched down outside Einar’s house and then looked up the height of the pale stone building to the lit windows near the top.
Was Amelia still awake?
He had been gone for hours. After entering Heaven and washing the blood off himself, he had reported to his superior and the other two angels. It had taken longer than usual this time. There had been questions about the demons that had attacked Amelia. His superior had reported that the one he had sent to Heaven had killed himself in transit. It must have taken a lot of the demon’s power to break free of the light’s hold and move enough to kill itself. Why had it done such a thing? What information had it been protecting?
When Marcus ha
d mentioned that his wings had failed to appear, his superior had sent him to report to the medical staff and undergo an examination. The results were inconclusive and they had suggested again that it was a psychological problem now rather than the curse.
He didn’t believe that for one second. Not this time. All his focus had been on flying and taking Amelia somewhere safe, far away from London. When his wings hadn’t materialised, and he had plummeted onto the roof of the next building, he had changed his plans and decided to go to see Einar instead. Why would he subconsciously stop his wings from appearing when in doing so he placed Amelia in more danger? She would have been safer away from this city with only him. The demons after her would have found it difficult to track them. Now he had to rely on Einar to protect them too. He wasn’t sure how long it would be before the demons found them but there had to be something he could do to buy himself more time. Could he take Amelia away now? His wings were working again after all.
He furled them against his back and ascended the pale stone steps to the porch of the townhouse. Einar was quicker to answer the door this time. He must have sensed Marcus’s presence and heard the message he had sent to him while en route from Heaven. At least being fallen didn’t strip Einar of his powers.
Marcus glanced down at the cut across his thigh. He had forgotten to mention it during his medical examination so it had gone unhealed and now it was starting to bother him again.
He stepped into the marble foyer of the house and silently followed Einar up the staircase, focusing to put his wings away at the same time. He frowned when he entered the dark red drawing room and Amelia wasn’t there.
“Where is she?” Marcus noted that Taylor wasn’t present either. Had the two women gone somewhere? Had something happened? A spark of panic set his heart racing again. If someone had come after her, Einar and Taylor would have protected her. There was no reason for him to fear but he couldn’t stop himself. Whenever he thought about what had happened and how Amelia might have been hurt, an urge to see her flooded him and he couldn’t ignore it.
“Asleep.” Einar motioned for Marcus to follow him and sat down on one of the two dark antique sofas that faced each other across a rectangular wooden coffee table. “Sit.”
Marcus did, choosing to seat himself on the sofa opposite Einar, and frowned. He had the strangest feeling that Einar was about to pull rank on certain matters and a desire to remind him that they were almost the same age eclipsed his need to see Amelia.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Einar casually leaned back into the corner of the sofa, his black t-shirt blending into the dark material covering it. “You seem terribly in a hurry to see Amelia… concerned about her?”
Marcus’s face darkened. “Of course I am. It is my mission to protect her.”
Einar smiled knowingly. “Just a mission?”
“What else would she be?”
“You might be fooling yourself, but you are far from fooling me, my old friend.”
Marcus wasn’t fooling himself at all, and he had wanted to ask Einar for advice, but not face-to-face. It was embarrassing. He couldn’t detach himself from the situation as easily as he could have if they had been talking on the phone or messaging each other through telepathy.
He exhaled and slouched into the sofa, grimacing when his armour pressed against his back in a painful way.
“What am I supposed to do?” he whispered, more to himself than his friend.
Einar leaned forwards, his elbows resting on his jean-clad knees, and smiled. “You do whatever comes naturally. It is not rocket science, Marcus. It must feel as though it is right now, but if you follow your feelings, I promise you it will be worth it.”
Marcus closed his eyes, unsure what it felt like at the moment. Something far more difficult to comprehend than mere science, that was for sure. Amelia wanted him and he wanted her with all of his heart, he just wasn’t sure how to proceed without making a complete fool of himself. She was expecting something that he couldn’t guarantee, and while his passion for her burned like an inferno within him, fuelling the desire he felt for her and the feelings that just the sight or smell of her evoked in him, he was afraid that he wouldn’t live up to that expectation. If he screwed things up, would she want nothing to do with him?
A small recess of his heart wished that he had followed his fellow warriors lead in all the times they had been on Earth together, celebrating a moment of freedom at the end of laborious missions, and had spent time with some females so he would know how to please Amelia.
“Do not think such things, Marcus.”
Marcus looked up, meeting Einar’s deep brown eyes, and then looked away towards the dark fireplace at the other end of the room. He hadn’t said anything out loud so Einar must have read his fear in his expression.
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that she likes you?”
It did, although Marcus didn’t want to know how Einar knew. What had they talked about since he had left them to report in? He had a sneaking suspicion that he had become the topic of conversation and looked back at Einar, trying to see if he had mentioned anything that he shouldn’t have. Einar smiled warmly at him.
“Amelia likes you. She looked ready to fight Taylor when she was inspecting your curse.”
She had? His eyebrows rose and he couldn’t remain casual any longer. He leaned forwards, mirroring Einar by resting his elbows on his bare knees, closing the distance between them.
“Jealousy is one emotion that is not difficult to detect in a woman. They tend to wear it on the outside for all to see when it surfaces within them. Amelia did not like Taylor touching you, and the anger and hurt in her face confirmed her feelings to me. She likes you, my friend, although I cannot understand why.” Einar’s smile became a grin. “You have probably done nothing but distance yourself from her.”
Marcus shook his head at how well Einar knew him. He had struggled with his feelings for Amelia, conflicted by them and his duty, and had tried to maintain a suitable distance from her. It had been slipping little by little, with each moment they spent together, and now it felt as though he couldn’t continue that way. He needed to be close to her and not only so he could protect her.
“What does Heaven know about what happened?” Einar said and Marcus was thankful for the change in topic.
“More than they are telling me, that’s for sure.” He clasped his hands together in front of him and frowned at them. “They reiterated that I had to be on my guard and that my final task is not yet done. I have to continue to protect Amelia from the demons.”
“You believe they’re withholding information from you. Understandable. I have completed several missions in my years where they have intentionally kept things they have seen from me. We must remember that it is not our duty to question why they do such things, but to obey the orders they give to us.”
Marcus wasn’t sure that he could obey some of the orders they had given him recently. Seduce Amelia? At least they had acknowledged that it was beyond the time for that now. Amelia knew what he was and knew that she was in danger. He had gained her trust without resorting to using her feelings against her, and he was glad of it because it meant that whatever happened between them now, it was because of his feelings for her and hers for him, not because he was under orders.
“Where is she?” he said again and Taylor walked into the room, tying her long black hair up into a ponytail.
“She’s sleeping.” Taylor walked over to Einar and slumped onto the couch beside him with a weary sigh. “She’s been through a lot. You’ve got to give the girl credit for not collapsing or having a meltdown. It must be hard for a human to take in all our crazy shit and come out the other end a sane person. She’s strong.”
“I know.” Marcus focused, wanting to sense where she was, but the only people he could pinpoint were Einar and Taylor. He turned a questioning frown on Einar. “What room is she in?”
“If the reason for your frown is a lack of Amelia
on your senses, then fear not. She is safe.” Einar rose from the sofa and held his hand out to Taylor. “Taylor has sent her to sleep. She will be off the radar of any creature, no matter how powerful, until she wakes.”
Taylor stood with Einar’s assistance and Marcus followed suit.
“A power?” Marcus looked to Taylor for confirmation. She nodded.
“I can create spaces in people’s minds, a world where they can hide. It drops you off this realm and into another personal to you, leaving you literally out of this world.” Taylor smiled at him. “I’ll send you deep into sleep too so they can’t find you either. When you’re both out for the count, we’ll go and see what information we can beat out of the local lowlifes for you.”
Marcus nodded his thanks and followed her out of the room. When they entered a large pale green bedroom on the next floor up, he paused. A single lamp on the bedside table illuminated the room and Amelia where she lay under the dark covers of a double bed. The only bed.
Einar clapped a hand down on his shoulder. “She’s out for the count. No need to worry.”
Marcus brushed his hand away and frowned at him. He wasn’t worried. He just hadn’t expected that he would be sharing a bed when Taylor sent him to sleep. What if Amelia woke and he was lying next to her? What would she do then?
A gut-tugging jolt inside him said that she could do anything she pleased and he wouldn’t care as long as he got to kiss her again, or maybe more. He craved the contact with her more than he hungered for anything else. He could forgo food and even flying if it meant he could touch her.
“Strip,” Taylor said, matter of fact, snapping Marcus out of his thoughts.
“Is that necessary?” He looked at them both.
Einar glanced at Taylor and something unspoken passed between them and then he nodded. “Not down to nothing, but you would hardly be comfortable sleeping in your armour.”
Marcus could see where this was going and would be having words if his suspicions were confirmed, but reasoned that armour was uncomfortable to sleep in and removed it, placing it down on a chair in the corner of the pale room. When he was down to his dark blue loincloth, he turned back to face Einar.
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