“It’s my fault Lighthaven is broken,” she said.
He sighed. “Based on how easily the Angel Killers rolled through the enclave, they could have taken it down at any time. If you weren’t there, I doubt anyone at all would have escaped.”
That was a convenient way to frame it, but she was too honest to lie to herself.
“If I weren’t there, they wouldn’t have had reason to attack. They might not have even known about it.”
He hesitated. He was always trying to make her feel better. She didn’t deserve him.
“Lighthaven is an ancient stronghold of the Light. The Darkness surely knew of its existence. Whether it would have been attacked otherwise… there’s no real way to know. It feels as though Hell is hunting down every last bastion of the Light and attempting to eradicate it, so it would have happened sooner or later.”
It didn’t make her feel any better, but although she could see the past, she couldn’t do anything to change it. All she could do was soldier on from here.
She looked up at Alex, at his angelic, perfect face.
“Thank you for being with me. And for making me feel better.”
He responded not with words, but the way she needed. He leaned down to press his lips against hers. It wasn’t a lustful kiss, but it presented a lifeline, a way to escape the thoughts and memories inside her head.
She took it, needing to think only of the now.
Chapter 12
Turmoil filled Alex. Second thoughts and worries chased themselves through his mind, but he tossed them all aside for the sake of the woman at his side. She was the most exotic, intense, courageous and exquisite thing he had ever set eyes on, and he couldn’t hold back his desire any longer.
He’d only been in three relationships in his life, all with other angels. They were short, by angelic standards, only a couple of hundred years each. He’d only given himself to three beings, but he’d done it tens of thousands of times over his life, and he knew what he was doing.
Zara moaned gently into his mouth. He picked her up and laid her back on the bed, moving on top of her and covering her body with his. Despite the differences in their power, he became the aggressor.
She followed his lead, her inexperience and vulnerability evident in the tentative way her hands brushed his back, the softness in her lips.
All the things she’d said over the past month came together in his mind with the way her body responded to his touch. She’d said she never trusted men or let them close. He hadn’t realized that she had never had a relationship before, but now that he’d tasted her lips and felt her reactions to him, he knew the truth couldn’t be anything else.
Alex lifted his head, separating their lips. She looked up at him, sapphire eyes wide. Her skin had become flushed, the delicate paleness displaying a distinctive pink hue. She looked so innocent, so different from the fearless warrior he’d followed hours ago.
He took her hands and pinned them above her head, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
“Let me take care of you.”
He followed that with a nip on her ear, and she exhaled breathily, her body moving under his, welcoming his.
With deliberate slowness, his lips trailed down the side of her neck, first kissing, then taking the skin between his teeth just enough to make her feel it. He licked the flesh he’d bitten, let her feel his hot breath against her skin.
She squirmed as if her body couldn’t contain the sensations he was producing in her body. A flicker of Light rushed across her skin, there and gone so quickly that he wasn’t even sure he’d seen it.
He shifted further down but was frustrated by the shirt covering her addictive skin. He growled and tugged it off, revealing the expanse of perfectly pale skin underneath.
“I didn’t really dress for this,” Zara said, eyes on his face, voice quiet.
She wore a simple white bra. It did nothing to emphasize her features and had no fancy ornamentation.
Alex didn’t care.
“You’re perfect,” he said, unable to tear his eyes away.
A twist of Darkness ran from her neck down her stomach, rippling over her flesh and disappearing under her shorts. Her eyes closed and she bit her lip, shuddering. It was the most seductive thing Alex had ever seen.
He lifted her back off the bed only long enough to reach behind her and unhook her bra. Zara folded her arms across her chest as the bra came away, hiding her breasts from him.
“This isn’t fair,” she said. She was still speaking softly, but had found a bit of the confidence that was now a hallmark of hers. “I want to see your shirt off first.”
He smiled. Grasping the bottom of his shirt, he lifted it just high enough to flash the skin above his jeans, playing with it there. Her eyes stared hungrily at that spot as she licked her lips.
Unable to stop himself from teasing her, he let it drop again and she pouted. It wasn’t a natural look for her, and he laughed. She grinned in response and winked at him.
This time, his hands moved efficiently, lifting his shirt up and off in a single motion. He saved the look in her eyes deep in the back of his mind, knowing he would see it in his dreams.
“Now it’s your turn,” he said after she’d looked her fill.
She let her arms fall to her sides, and he sucked in a breath at the perfection of her body and the way his own responded.
“And these,” he said, reaching down to undo the button on her shorts.
Her legs were exposed to the mid-thigh already, but he needed to see the rest of her. Needed to feel the rest of her. Needed to taste the rest of her.
Taking his time, Alex ran his palms along her thighs, building the heat in her body, making her want it as much as he did. He had waited so long, but this additional wait would make it even better for both of them.
“Alex,” she murmured. He’d teased her long enough that she couldn’t take it any longer. “Take them off!”
She lifted her hips, making it easier for him to slide the garment down her lithe legs. A white thong that matched her bra was all she wore underneath. He tried not to stare, but he could see the wet spot at the junction of her thighs.
Zara smelled like a heady mixture of the Light, Darkness, and her.
He couldn’t resist. She was like a drug.
With a groan of his own, he fell on top of her, kissing her deeply for a few minutes as he ran his hands on her sides and teased her body further. He cupped her breasts, giving them gentle yet firm attention, and shifted down to capture a nipple in his mouth.
Zara writhed under his ministrations, and flashes of Light and Dark streaked across her body and swirled around each other, melding and mating in an intricate dance that pulsed through her like waves.
He moved lower, kissing just inside her hip bone. He pressed his tongue into the sensitive area and made her jolt as her moans built. She barely even noticed as he pulled her thong off, but she opened her legs for him when he moved between them, her hands running through his hair.
She’d been teased enough. She was more than ready for what he had to give.
With a long, careful stroke, his tongue caressed her most sensitive flesh, sparking bursts of Light that shot from her fingertips. Her moans grew more insistent, and her hands pulled his head against her, no longer content to just hold him.
Alex was dedicated to her pleasure, giving her the best techniques learned over hundreds of years. He treated her as a goddess to be worshipped.
Oh, Light!
Zara had never known pleasure like this was possible. She’d touched herself before and explored her own body, but it had never felt this way.
Alex moved his tongue in ways that defied expectation, brought his fingers in to stroke parts of her she didn’t know existed, and built her higher and higher to a frighteningly massive peak.
Her eyes had rolled back long ago, and all she saw were alternating flashes of Light and Dark. Bursts of sensation rolled through her body, her fingers crackling with
energy as she lost control over herself and her magic.
When he pushed her over the edge, she clung to him as the only point of stability in the tsunami that surrounded her and took her breath away.
The Light and Dark pushed and pulled at her until they combined into one nameless entity that carried her through ecstasy.
By the time she’d settled down enough to see, her lungs burned. She hadn’t drawn a new breath in longer than she could remember, and she gasped as she drew in the life-giving oxygen.
Alex lifted his head from between her legs, his eyes unreadable.
“Zara, that was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”
She pulled at his shoulder until he climbed up her body. She kissed him hard and tasted the Light on his lips. It drove her crazy with lust, and she couldn’t get enough of him. He was on top of her, pressing into her, coaxed by her hands until they were closer than they could be without combining into one.
“I need you,” she said in a low, throaty growl she didn’t recognize. “Give yourself to me.”
He fumbled at his waist, pushing the offending clothes away, preparing himself for her.
She felt him at her entrance and gasped at the intensity of the sensation and the look in his eyes.
“I’m yours, Zara,” he said as he pushed inside of her.
She had thought his tongue was the most wonderful creation in all of Heaven and Earth, but she had to reconsider her opinion.
“Yes,” Zara told him, unable to summon eloquence to match the performance his tongue had just given. “Oh, Light, yes!”
He was indescribable, fitting inside her as if he'd been made for her. Her breath came in great heaving gasps and her blood pounded in her ears as they moved together in blissful harmony.
“How is this so good?” she asked. “Is it always this good?”
He grunted, his arms and chest flexed as they held him above her. She ran her hands over his shoulders, the hard muscles working with each thrust.
“I’ve never felt anything like this,” he said. “I could do this forever.”
She’d put off having sex, convinced that it could never be worth putting herself under a man’s power. If she’d known it could feel like this, she would have never stopped looking for the man who could give her this pleasure.
“Can’t we?”
Somewhere at the back of her mind, there were the barest whispers of problems and concerns, but they had paled in importance to the immediacy of her need and her pleasure. She could barely remember what her name was, let alone what happened that day.
For untold minutes, they held each other close, bound not only by flesh, but by the connection of their souls.
Zara lost herself in the Light and the Darkness time and time again, each building that much higher, pushing her toward an earth-shattering climax.
Alex thrust into her one more time and held still. His explosion inside her triggered an avalanche that stole her breath away. Zara wrapped her arms and legs around her lover, and Light burst from every part of her, bathing the room in her glow.
Zara’s head rested on his shoulder, sharing the after-sex glow with him.
He could barely believe how perfect their joining had been. Angels joked about how much purer and better their sex was, but nothing he had ever experienced came close to matching the intensity of Zara wrapped around him.
The doubts he’d felt the night before when he watched her tear through the ranks of enemy mages had faded away, replaced with certainty. Zara may have Darkness within her, but that didn’t mean she was evil. That Darkness provided a balance that mages on either side lacked. Her twisted power was exciting—it added a dimension to her allure that no other mage could match.
“Alex?” Zara asked, her voice a sleepy murmur.
“Yes?”
“Does the magic usually join in the fun like that?”
He smiled. It had been strange and wonderful. “For normal mages? I doubt it, at least not to that extent. You’re special in many ways, Zara. I have the feeling if you’d had sex in your teens, you might have discovered your magic earlier than you did.”
That thought caught in his mind. Sex can awaken magical power. If it hadn’t been for her mother’s constant warnings to stay away from men, Zara may have come into her full powers ten years ago. Did she know more than we thought?
A smart rap on the door interrupted his thoughts.
“Are you done in there, Alexandriel? The three of us need to talk. I’ve discovered what the Angel Killers are planning. Come downstairs.”
Zara sighed. “It was nice forgetting about reality for a while.”
He couldn’t disagree. He smiled. No matter what came, they would face it together.
“We should probably get up.”
Despite his words, neither of them moved for a few minutes. Her naked body felt too good against his to want to rush.
Their union acted like a drug, leaving both of them smiley and relaxed as they got dressed. It was better than a mage projecting calm.
Draconel waited for them at the kitchen table, alone. It was the middle of the day, but the rest of the safe house’s occupants were asleep. No one had slept the night before, and rest was sorely needed.
The archangel wasted no time leaping right into it. He must have known what they had just finished doing, but he said nothing. Mortals having sex wasn’t anything new to angels who regularly spent time on Earth. The ability to see through buildings and objects made it too easy to watch what they thought of as hidden.
“The two other Light mage enclaves in New York City were also hit last night. As far as I could tell, there were no survivors. Every man, woman and child is gone.”
Zara went ghost-white, and Alex could feel his own face drain of blood.
“There are other enclaves in the city?” Zara asked.
“There were,” Draconel replied, voice grim. “Not any longer.”
Alex’s mind tripped over itself trying to think of all possible angles and repercussions. He cursed his slow mortal brain. “Will Heaven finally allow angels to act? It seems clear that Hell is making some kind of grand play.”
The archangel grew angry. It was the first time Alex had actually seen him display that emotion. Annoyed and frustrated, yes, but not anger. “The Council won’t believe there’s a serious threat. They think they can just sit back and watch and that they can tilt the balance back any time they want. It’s up to mortals to figure things out on Earth themselves.”
Alex cursed. It was madness. “What do they think we’re here for? If angels aren’t meant to shepherd humans and protect against the Darkness, then why do we even have Guardians?”
“It gets worse. The Angel Killers are preparing an arcane ritual that will permanently tip the balance of power on Earth to the infernal.”
Zara frowned. “Is that even possible? I thought they only had the seven Dark abilities open to them. None of them are that powerful, are they?”
Draconel grimaced. “They have the direct help of several high-ranking demons. They are creating what will be a massive projecting spell, which will send pulses of dark emotions through the world. Think of what happens when a Dark mage interferes with your emotions, the decisions it pushes you toward. It will influence otherwise decent and normal people into making bad decisions that harm others, tipping the balance further to the Dark.”
Alex felt a shred of fear. If the Angel Killers pulled that off, it would change everything. The Light would be in an uphill battle for mortal hearts.
“That would spell the end of the Light’s influence on Earth.”
Chapter 13
Zara shifted, turning more toward Alex to lean closer against him. It was tight fitting everyone in the kitchen, so she took advantage of the excuse to get closer to her lover.
The trio had postponed discussions until everyone else was awake—this would require everyone’s input to decide what they would do about the ritual the Angel Killers were planning.
Draconel had just filled in the rest of the mages with the state of things. A terse silence fell over them as he finished.
“Are we going after them?” Joseph asked. He was a prophetic mage. The skill wasn’t extremely useful on its own unless you had something to pair it with, and he’d trained in several martial arts and the way they synergized with the Light magic to give him a deadly edge over his opponents.
“That’s up to you,” Draconel said. “Zara, Alex and I have discussed this, and we will do whatever it takes to disrupt the ritual. Anyone who wants to join and thinks they will be useful will be welcome, but we will force no one to come with us. The odds will be long. There aren’t only Angel Killers to deal with, but demons with an even stronger ability with the Dark than they.”
Ethan punched his fist into his other palm. He had spoken little since the raid on Lighthaven. There had been no sign of his father, and even though Zara had never liked Reginald or Ethan, she ached for the devastation that shadowed every movement he made and word he spoke.
“We have nothing to lose,” the young mage said. “They’ve backed us into a corner. It’s time for us to show them we have teeth.”
More than a few of the gathered mages nodded.
“I’m in,” said Henry, the other mage Zara hadn’t known before the raid. His ability was animancy, and she was eager to see the creative solutions of a mage who specialized in the skill.
“Me too,” said Grace.
Zara wanted to deny her, to keep her safe, but she couldn’t bring herself to. This was her fight too. It was all of theirs. The others followed suit, until only Asher, the eleven-year-old boy with an outsized healing talent, and Catalina, the only remaining elder, were left.
“I’ll go!” Asher said bravely. “I’m not scared of the Dark mages.”
Fallen: An Angel Romance Page 18