by K. Webster
Now I’m angry. “Why didn’t you stop him? You just stood there and watched him beat her up?”
He holds up a palm to quiet me. “I couldn’t blow my cover, but suddenly, things became clearer. I began to really watch my subject. When they had said she was practicing witchcraft, I discovered that she was really at the library learning about ways to poison the man who abused her and her mother, not learning stupid spells. Where the file said she was stealing money from her parents to feed a drug habit, I learned through investigation that her mom was giving her money to stash away for them so they could run away from that monster. When the file mentioned that she was a jobless college dropout, I understood that she had to do what she could to protect her mother. The file told a story of loss of virginity at age fifteen, but what it didn’t tell was that he was the one who’d taken it. It was all a fucking mistake, Al.”
His eyes are brimming with outraged tears, and his fists clench until the knuckles turn white. “My subject was nothing but an innocent. A damn innocent, and they were going to have those asshole Reapers take her to Hell, where she didn’t belong. I was livid once I discovered the truth. It took everything in me not to murder the motherfucker myself. When I confided in my partner, Pallas, he thought I’d lost my mind. But I showed him my proof. Together, we went through the proper channels and were awarded a meeting with upper management. They weren’t too keen on the idea that they’d made a mistake, at first. It took days for them to pick through all of my evidence. Finally, though, they had to admit they were wrong.”
So maybe there is hope for Lark and me.
“And then what happened? Did you become a Seraph Guardian?” I ask.
He shakes his head wistfully, but I don’t see any regret in his eyes. “No, son, I did not. Apparently, even though I’d done the right thing in bringing the error to their attention, I was in the wrong for investigating in the first place. To become a true Seraph Guardian, you need to be focused, task driven, emotionless. I let my emotions get involved and I wanted to truly save her, not just as a part of my job. But forever.”
“Bea was your final assignment?” I question.
His smile is immediate. “Yes, and it was the best thing I ever did. But because I’d fallen for her, I would never be able to move on and truly be what I’d worked so hard to become. I wasn’t a failure, so I didn’t belong over at HEL, but I also didn’t belong at HEA. They let me out of the program on a technicality—the technicality being that they didn’t know what the hell to do with me. I hadn’t broken any laws or anything, so they just allowed me to leave. It was unprecedented. At first, I was confused and frustrated, not really knowing what to do or where to go. I ended up teaching at UCLA what HEA said was okay for me to teach and made a career of it. Bea and I married not long after and then she was pregnant with Lark. It worked for us.”
It will work for us too. I feel like fist-pumping the fucking air right now.
“This is good news, Mathias. Let’s set up a meeting with upper management so we can tell them about Lark—explain that they’ve done it again, just like with Bea.” I’m grinning like a fool.
“Al, I hadn’t broken any rules, remember? They didn’t know what to do with me. But I’m afraid you have, haven’t you?”
Thou shalt not fornicate with final assignment. If Minder fornicates with final assignment, they will be terminated from the program and banished from HEA Corp property. HEL will become administrator over failed Minder, whom shalt now be called Reaper.
I scrub my cheeks with my palms in frustration. All Minders know the rules of their final assignment. Being one of the best, I have the rules fucking memorized. I didn’t just sleep with her once. I slept with her over and over again. Hell, I’d do it again right now if we were alone.
“Fuck!” I bark. “What do we do, then? They’re still wrong. I won’t let a Reaper take her to Hell, because she doesn’t belong there. She belongs with me. Is there a place I can take her to hide?”
Mathias frowns and exchanges a glance with Father Lester, who’s been quietly listening to his story. “Al, there’s nowhere to hide. They’re probably following you as we speak—watching your every move. While we’ll most likely be able to change Lark’s future, yours is fairly certain. The moment they get ahold of you, son, you’ll meet your fate. You’ve broken a very clear rule of theirs, and they carry out their punishments strictly.”
Just weeks ago, I had my eyes on a pair of wings and joining the ranks of HEA’s most elite. Now, I’m destined to work for Luc and Corson, just like those two seemed to have predicted.
“I won’t do it. I won’t work for those bastards. I fell in love—I didn’t commit murder. There’s no way I’ll ever willingly step foot over there,” I tell him in a firm tone.
Mathias looks away as if he doesn’t want to utter his next words.
So Father Lester speaks up instead. “You won’t have a choice. They will come for you, and there will be no stopping it when it happens. I’m sorry, Alpha. You’re a good kid, but they have rules and you broke them. You may as well accept your fate. The two of you will never be together.”
I fold my arms across my chest and look him square in the eye. My jaw clenches as the fury of my situation ebbs and flows just under my skin, along my bones.
“I will not accept that fate. Ever. They’ll have to kill me first.”
Mathias finally turns his attention back to me. “Son, they can and they will. You should leave Lark before it gets too messy. My daughter has been through enough. I’m not sure she can take losing another love—she barely survived it the first time. If you leave and go to them, at least she’ll know you’re alive. But if they kill you”—he sighs with sadness—“I am certain that will kill her.”
“WHAT DID THEY say? Can they help you?” I finally ask as we curl up together under the covers in my old room. I know the men talked tonight while Mom attempted to catch up with me on how I was doing. Even though I was glad to see her after all these years, I was distracted by wondering what they were discussing.
He’s propped up on one elbow and looking down at me with a frown. “They can’t help me. I broke a rule, Twiggy. Since I ‘fornicated’ with you, they won’t help me. Your dad and Father Lester are sure they’ll drop your case, but I’m screwed.”
Fornicated?
“You’re fucking kidding me right now. Because we aren’t married and slept together, they can’t help you?” I snarl. “That’s the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever heard. What kind of archaic company do you work for? This is stupid. Let’s go to the police, the FBI—anyone!”
His eyes close and he leans forward, brushing his lips against mine. “Lar, it’s not that easy. You don’t understand.”
Of course I don’t understand. It’s fucking ridiculous. “Make me understand. Stop being so damn vague and come out with it. I can handle it, Al. Just tell me. How are we supposed to fix this if you can’t even be straight with me?”
Blinking his eyes open, he pins me with a serious and certain stare. “I. Want. To. Tell. You.”
I look at him in disbelief, as if he’s lost a few brain cells. “Then tell me, big boy.”
He groans but exhales in resignation. “Promise me, then. Promise me that, when I come out with this wildly outrageous story, not only will you believe me, but you’ll also still love me.”
“Of course. Tell me.” I give him the words, but unease begins to tendril through my veins. Just like when he revealed his snippets of memories, I feel as if I’m not going to like his words. When he told me about how his father loved Oreos, I nearly died. It brought up sad memories of Connor—memories I can no longer deal with.
“Twiggy, I work for HEA Corp.”
I stare at him with a look that urges him to proceed.
“Luc owns HEL Enterprises.”
And? Again with the impatient look.
“I’m a Minder in training to be a Seraph Guardian.”
“I remember Dad speaking about that. Are you all sp
ies? I would assume you work for the CIA or something, but maybe you are a part of an espionage ring instead. What country did you come from?” I demand.
He frowns and shakes his head. “This is more outside the scope of reality. Twiggy, you weren’t far off when you said I was your guardian angel. I was actually training to be one.”
Guardian angel? A giggle bubbles in my chest and bursts out.
Threading my fingers through his hair, I pull him to me for a kiss. “Just Al, you’re cute. But seriously, tell me the truth.”
His face is serious. No smiles. No humor. No playfulness. “I was supposed to watch you until your death, which was set for three months out of my start date. You were my final assignment, and upon completion, I was to get my wings.”
“I want wings. That’s all I ever wanted.”
Everyone wants fucking wings.
Shit.
“After the three months were over and if I had kept you alive, I would get those wings. HEL would send a Reaper for you and take you to Hell. You were supposed to be bad. But, Twiggy, you aren’t. You are beautiful. Kind. Bighearted. You have an innocence below your jagged façade. You’re more than what meets the eye. Your file is a fucking mistake. You’re my angel, Lark, and I won’t let them hurt you.”
No.
No.
No.
“Al, this isn’t funny,” I whisper.
“No, it’s not,” he agrees with a sigh.
Shit. “This, um, seems a little out there, but say I buy your story. What does that mean for you? Since you fornicated with me and all . . .” I trail off.
“It means I’ll be sent to work for Luc at HEL. I’d rather die than work for them,” he growls.
He’d rather die.
“Don’t say that,” I choke out.
“You don’t understand. I will not work for the Devil. They can kill me, but I won’t go willingly. Everything about him and his company goes against everything ingrained in me. Like you, I’m not a bad person, either. Lark, I don’t deserve to be punished. I deserve you.”
A tear rolls out, which he swipes away with his thumb.
“But you can’t have me?” I sob.
He shakes his head with despondency. “They won’t let me have you.”
This is a sick, cruel world we live in.
Suddenly, a thought bursts into my head. “Wait! Luc said I could work for him and then we could be together, Al. Don’t you see? That could be our out.”
A deep growl rumbles through his chest. “No. Absolutely fucking not. They’re liars, Twiggy. They will tell you what they know you’ll want to hear to get you to sign the dotted fucking line. I won’t let a good soul like you join the ranks of them. People like us don’t belong there.”
My thoughts are scattering around in every which direction in my head like a herd of cats. There has to be an answer. We have to find a way to get him off the hook. When Alpha begins kissing my neck, my mind becomes vividly clear. The only thing that resides inside is him.
“Make love to me, sweet Lark, for this could be our last night together,” he murmurs, his hot breath fanning against my flesh.
A chill, partly full of terror from his words and partly laced with desire, slithers down my spine. As his tongue flicks the lobe of my ear, a whimper rushes out of me. He momentarily breaks away from me to push his boxers down his legs. Needing him infinitely, I part my naked thighs under my long shirt and hook his waist with my legs. Wordlessly, he enters me without warning.
“Al,” I moan against his mouth.
His response is a grunt of his own as he begins thrusting into me. The very idea of never being with him like this again seizes my heart. I can’t live without him. I just can’t. He pulled me from the dark, bitter hole I’d lived in and forced his sweet, protective love on me. I wasn’t immune to his charms and immediately succumbed to them. This man found me and fixed me the moment our eyes met.
“Lark, you’re mine forever, no matter what. Promise me,” he pants as he brings us closer to ecstasy with each movement within me. “’Til death.”
“’Til death.”
Another mournful sob catches in my throat, but he kisses it away.
“Al, I can’t promise that.”
A dejected sound echoes against the walls of my old bedroom. “Please, Twiggy. Forever,” he begs, our orgasms just on the horizon.
“I’ll promise you forever. Even after death—not just ’til.”
I ignore the fact that I’ve made this promise before. All that matters now is Alpha—the man I know I’ll never break that promise to.
“I love you, Lark Miller. Even after I take my last breath.”
“I love you too, Just Al. Even after I take my last breath.”
Our words might be just that—words. But as we both cry out when our climaxes shudder through us, I know we’ve made an unbreakable vow to each other. My soul threads itself intricately with his until it becomes one.
We’re Lark and Al.
Forever.
The sheets are cold.
My skin is cold.
The heart in my chest feels fucking frozen.
“Alpha?” I croak out into the dark. My throat is dry from sleep, so my voice doesn’t carry far.
Silence.
Scrambling across the bed, I find the lamp and switch it on. The first thing I notice, aside from the apparent disappearance of Al, is the poem.
No!
Bursting from the bed, I throw clothes on as quickly as possible. If I can catch him, we can run away together. I won’t let him go to HEL. And I certainly won’t let them kill him.
I’m about to wake my parents and tell them that I’m borrowing their car when I hear a honk out front. Yanking up my purse, I slip out of my bedroom toward the front door. Then I peek through the window and see a cab sitting in the driveway.
What the hell?
Not one to miss an opportunity, I fling the door open and bound down the front steps toward the cab. The front window is rolled down, and the cabbie sticks his head out.
“Thought you might need a ride,” a familiar voice calls out.
As I approach, the moonlight reveals the face of Clarence, the homeless man.
“You got a job?” I ask in surprise. His appearance is clean, and he seems proud as punch to be offering me a ride.
“Something like that. Climb in. I’ll take you where you need to go.”
I run over to the passenger’s side and get in the front seat. “Where is it you think I need to go?” Even though I like Clarence, his arrival is too convenient.
“To your apartment to stop Alpha, of course.”
“Who are you?” I demand as he begins backing out of the driveway. When he turns his gaze to me, I realize he’s quite handsome all cleaned up.
“I’m Clarence, your guardian angel.”
Guardian angel?
“I thought I was destined for Hell,” I smirk as I cross my arms in defiance.
His laughter is infectious and light, like bells ringing, but I stubbornly refuse to join in.
“Dearest Lark, you were destined for Hell—that much is true. However, the instructions pertaining to you have changed. It would seem that your file was tampered with. And that, my friend, is an illegal, punishable offense on our end. But to be able to tamper with a human’s file means someone of high authority was behind this. That is something that has everyone’s attention. I’ve been tasked with keeping you safe.”
My file has been tampered with. Why?
“Clarence?”
He cruises down the streets but doesn’t look over at me as to not take his attention away from the road. “Yes, Lark?”
“Why would they choose my file to tamper with? What did I ever do to anybody?”
His eyes briefly flicker over to mine before he finds the road ahead of him again. “Dear, just like God’s divine plan, others have their own plans. You could just be a tiny pawn—one small piece of a jigsaw puzzle—that brings them closer to their ag
enda. For all we know, this could have been premeditated for decades. Eras, even. Just know that, now that a pattern has been discovered, mysteries will begin to unravel. Haven’t you ever heard the ol’ familiar saying?” he chuckles. “The good guys always win. And you, Lark, just like Alpha, are the good guys. Have faith, sweet girl.”
Have faith.
I do have faith. I’ve fought too long in this life—gone through way too much—to let it all be taken away from me because of some crook.
“Alpha said he’d broken one of the main rules.” I look out the window as my cheeks redden. “We fornicated.” Shit. Even the word sounds lame.
More bell-like laughing comes from the handsome angel. “Is that so, Lark Miller?”
Jerking my head over to him, I glare. “It is. Alpha said that—”
“Maybe Alpha doesn’t know everything like I do . . .”
I chew on my lip, turn my attention back out the window, and watch the passing cars go by. My belly grumbles, and I fight off a wave of nausea. I guess the spaghetti is long gone from my system. Should have grabbed a . . .
“Care for an Oreo?” Clarence asks as he reaches behind my seat and pulls out the same package I gave to him yesterday.
“What is it about you people that you’re so dead set on me eating?” I mumble but graciously take the package from him.
He laughs again, but this time, I join him with a small giggle.
“Clarence, I like you.”
Grinning as he turns down the street that will eventually end up at my apartment in several miles, he says, “I like you too, Lark Miller.”
As I eat my Oreos in comfortable silence with my guardian angel, a thought pops into my head. And now, after everything, I feel guilty for thinking it.
“I have a question for you, Clarence. If you’re an angel, do you know . . .” I sigh and fight the urge to cry. “Do you know Connor? My baby? Are they okay? Happy?” A sob hangs in my throat, but I refuse to let it come out.
He reaches over and takes my hand, giving it a squeeze. “I do know them.”
I look up at him as if to nonverbally tell him to please continue before I throttle him.