Wasteland

by Lynn Rush

  Anger and hatred constricted my lungs. Acidic tears streamed down my face.

  “Yet, you refused to turn your heart to darkness. You’ve battled every temptation thrown at you for centuries. Well, not the two and a half you spent in confinement, but for one hundred and fifty years of your contract, you resisted.”

  “Only to experience love, become an Angel, then die at the hands of the very being who created me.” I scanned the barren, tan, surroundings. “Now, meant to spent eternity, without my Beka, here in this wasteland. I’d rather have darkness.”

  “You rid the earth of a strong evil presence.”

  “There will be another. Many Masters out there, are there not?” But there will never be another Beka. My Beka. I clenched my hands until my knuckles ached.

  Michael kneeled before me. Tears streamed from his eyes as if he felt the pain ripping through my heart as his own.

  “I only had Beka for a short time. Now we are apart. She is alone.”

  “But Jessica is safe and Locien is dead. You have done what no other creature could have.”

  I gestured to my surroundings. “This is how I am repaid? I am not sure it was worth the sacrifice.”

  “You got to love a beautiful woman, however short of a time.”

  I buried my hands in the sand. Despite its heated, silky feel, I would much rather touch Beka. My chest constricted.

  “You never thought of yourself as a King, able to lead anyone anyway.”

  My shoulders sagged. “How can I lead such good when I am the seed of such evil? Locien’s blood runs through me.” I peeked at Michael again. “Is that why I have dark wings and dark nails and am stuck here, between heaven and hell?”

  He grinned. “The Light flowing through your veins is stronger. Light is always stronger than darkness. Even before you found it, you chose it by saving Jessica and Beka. Then, after accepting the Light, you sacrificed yourself for Jessica. Why?”

  “She’s worth more. She will save many people. Beka and Russell will keep her safe. She will keep many souls from this place.” Tears stung at the mention of Beka’s name.

  “You think like a leader, yet you do not trust it.”

  Fountains of soft, warm sand sifted through my fingers, floating in the gentle breeze. “What is this place?”

  “Somewhere your mind has created.”

  “My demon blood keeps me from heaven, doesn’t it? Is this my afterlife? A desert, alone?”

  “No.” Michael stood. “You are much too precious to exit earth so quickly after coming to the Light. There are many things for you to do for us on Earth before your time expires. Yet, you sit here, in no man’s land, because you do not believe yourself worthy.”

  “I am not worthy. I killed Beka’s family. I have killed hundreds of people. I have demon blood running in my veins, I—” Tears choked my throat. “I am evil. Will always be demon.”

  “That is your father talking, David.”

  Anger skewered my gut. A heavy hand landed on my shoulder. I met Michael’s brilliant, sapphire eyes. They welled with moisture.

  “Do you not want to be with Beka?” Michael faced skyward.

  The wind breathed my name. Beka’s voice.

  “Do you not want to love her? To take care of her? To protect her?” Michael released his grip on my shoulder.

  “I do. I want all of that.”

  “Have you not already done so for her when you held her neck together? Protected her with the ferocity of a lion? And Jessica, too.”

  I stood. “I have. That is all I want to do for eternity if allowed.”

  A gust of wind sent grains of sand prickling my back. Beka’s voice whispered louder. Frantic. “David,” she said. “Please, David. I need you.”

  “She lies on the riverbed waiting for you, David. Are you willing?” Michael drifted back. His image began to fade. “You are worthy, Dark Angel. You must only believe it to be true.”

  I reached out for him, but my hand met air. I faced the sky. The blowing sand muted the sun’s rays. Dust bit at my eyes. The wind gusted over me, lurching me forward, but I remained upright. Beka would help me lead the Guardians. She was my Queen. If I had her by my side, I could do anything. She was my mate.

  I focused my thoughts on her face. “Beka. Where are you?”

  Flaming sand filled my lungs, searing my throat. “Beka. I want to be with you. You’re mine.”

  My lungs seized, and I tipped forward, face smacking the sand. Unconsciousness battled for supremacy and won. The howling wind stopped. The sand biting at my skin stopped. Then there was silence.

  I must not have been worthy after all.

  CHAPTER 47

  Warmth encompassed me like a blanket. Tickles on my chest lured me from the peaceful darkness. I opened my eyes, expecting the tan, dune-like place I’d been. Instead, twinkling lights on a canvas of darkness greeted me.

  The air carried a hint of smoke. A crackling fire nearby. More tickles against my chest. Brilliant white feathers danced across my skin beneath the sway of a gentle breeze. Lilacs.

  I tilted my head. Beka’s sweet, ivory-skinned face lay inches from mine, her cheek resting on my shoulder. My skin prickled along my throat. Realization dawned on me, sending my heart cracking against my chest. I lay on the riverbed with my wife. Not in a barren wasteland. Not dead but alive.

  I craned my neck so my lips met Beka’s forehead. She jerked, her wing tightening across my stomach, and opened her eyes.

  “David.”

  It reminded me of the voice the wind carried while talking with Michael in my wasteland. The sweetest voice I would ever hear. The only voice I ever wanted to hear. She turned onto her side, her arm snaking around my waist and pulled herself close.

  “My David.” Her eyes scanned my face. “You live.” Tears streamed, following the contours of her cheekbones, to the crease of her lips. Her body trembled against mine.

  I reached for her, thankful my arms moved at command, unlike before, and traced my thumb beneath her eye. “I heard you calling to me.”

  She nestled her forehead against my cheek, her body shook. The warmth of her tears flowed onto my shoulder, pooling near my collarbone. “You didn’t respond for so long.” Her voice cracked. “But you didn’t turn to dust from your wound.”

  I nudged her with my mouth, kissing her nose, her cheek, finally reaching her sweet, soft lips. They trembled. Her hand grazed up my chest, beneath my hair to my neck. She peppered kisses along my chin, on my cheek, my eyes and my forehead.

  “You’re alive. You’re really alive.” She eased away, allowing a stream of coolness between us.

  “Stay close.” Felt like the desert sand coated my throat for how much it stung to speak.

  She combed her fingers through my hair, pushing it off my forehead. “Are you okay?”

  “I am now.” I nodded. My stiff neck muscles knotted. No nodding for a while. “Locien is gone?”

  “You killed him. And I thought he’d killed you.” Two tears slid down her cheeks. “We now share two matching marks.”

  I gripped my neck. My fingers met a patch of smooth skin. A red line split Beka’s ivory skin like a purple choker.

  Matching marks on our chest and throat.

  “Can you sit up?” she asked.

  “As comfortable as I am with you against me, beneath the shelter of your wing, I should try.”

  “You’ve been lying here nearly two days.” She shuffled back, retracting her wing.

  “No wonder everything feels stiff.”

  She offered me her hand. “Go slow.” She glanced to the side, and shook her head.

  She guided me into a sitting position. My stomach cramped, and my abdominal muscles stretched until they twitched. Several people huddled a campfire ten feet from us. Russell, I recognized, but no one else felt familiar. The group watched with wide eyes.

  “How does that feel?” Beka asked.

  My wife knelt beside me, a hand gripping my shoulder. Dark stains spotted her
shirt. Probably my blood. Her long, blond hair cascaded over her shoulders, matted and straggly. She still managed to look radiant as the pink sky spotlighted her smooth skin. My breath snagged at the view.

  “David?” She lifted my chin with her forefinger. “Are you okay?”

  “Who are those people?”

  “Guardians. In from Utah. Russell guessed, very well I might add, that we were here and brought them down.” She let out a long sigh. “They got here late last night.”

  I reached for her hand. “Let’s see if my legs work.”

  Her strong grip around my forearm, she guided me to my feet. She kept me steady by the shoulders as my equilibrium caught up with the movement.

  “My wings?”

  “They were mangled but retracted at impact, they’ve healed inside you by now.”

  I drew in a deep breath of the crisp, evening air. My nose twitched at the soothing scent of smoldering embers and lilac. Beka stood tall beside me, her hand resting on my shoulder. I gathered her into my arms. Her body felt like home.

  No, it was home.

  I called to my wings. Needles prickled my spine, bones repositioned, crackling beneath contracted muscles. The groan burst from my mouth before I could keep it in check.

  “Breathe.” Beka’s warm breath swept over my neck. “Relax your muscles.”

  White-hot pain spliced either side of my spine. Razor blades carved their way through my insides. Popping and grinding, my feathered limbs hacked their way out.

  Soft lips touched kisses down my chest. The ache lessened.

  Then stopped.

  Wings fully extended my body sagged forward. They stirred and lifted. Beating forward softly, they enfolded my wife in a protective embrace that was warm as fever.

  Beka nuzzled her forehead against my neck, and I hugged her close.

  “Care to take a flight with me? Help me stretch my wings?” I nipped at her earlobe. “I have much to tell you.”

  She lifted her head from my neck and smiled. I unfurled my wings and eased her back. One thrust, and I was airborne. Gasps trailed behind me. I scanned the area. Seven people, six males and one female, stood from the ground and watched me.

  Russell waved and gave me a thumbs up. Beka jumped up into the air, but circled toward the female. The girl with long charcoal hair, tossed her a package, then Beka flew toward me.

  “Where is Jessica?” I asked.

  “She sleeps in a tent near the fire, behind the Guardians.”

  “She healed okay?”

  “Yes. Slowly, like you. She’s still weak. Was near death.”

  We veered south, following the river. The moonlight reflected off the flowing water and I reveled in the earthy scent of moisture. My desert wasteland smelled only of dust and despair. My stiff wings loosened and within minutes the kinks worked themselves out, leaving the sense of freedom I’d grown to love in the short time I’d been flying.

  Beka pointed to her right. “There, see the water?”

  A line of trees hemmed a glass-smooth pool near the river. “Yes.”

  “Let’s land there and clean up.” She winked. “And you said you have much to tell me?”

  My rubber legs sent me stumbling, but with the coordination of a newborn, I stayed upright.

  “I will have the Guardians cook you much food. You must be weak.”

  “Feeling better by the minute, knowing I am here with you and not alone in a wasteland.” I pulled her close.

  She covered my mouth with hers. “I was so scared I would be alone,” she said between kisses. “The cut was so deep.”

  “I will never leave you.”

  “I know now what you went through when holding me together. I hope to never go through that again.”

  I went to kiss her neck, but she ducked out from my embrace. “Wait, where—”

  She unzipped the bag and pulled out a small, square object. She stood, staring at me and backed up to the water’s edge. Her fingers went to the zipper on her shirt and tugged. Water rippled around her ankles as she stepped into the pool.

  She peeled her shirt off and let it fall. My heart spiked into overdrive. Long, slender fingers slid over her hips, taking her stretch pants with them. The moonlight offered a silver outline of her naked body.

  She waved me to her and dove into the water.

  I drew in my wings, desire chasing away the fatigue gnawing at my bones. She was all I needed. All I would ever need.

  I made haste shedding my ratted, blood splattered jeans and dove in. The cool, refreshing water revived my sore limbs. I surfaced and found Beka three feet away. The water lapped against her bare shoulders. Long, bright hair slicked back against her head, and her green gaze swung my direction.

  “Come here.” She rubbed something between her hands, barely above the water’s surface. Suds bubbled in front of her.

  “Turn around.” She winked.

  I obeyed. Her strong fingers wove through my hair, massaging my scalp. The smell of soap mingled with a hint of lilac poured over me. Her hands kneaded the knotted muscles in my neck.

  “This feel okay?” Her lips feathered a kiss to my shoulder.

  Thoughts scrambled. Words scattered, unable to form sentences to describe what her touch did to me. So I let out a moan.

  Her body flattened against my back, and her hands grazed my chest, washing the soot away. A firestorm of heat engulfed my stomach. She paused at my neck, and I turned, rustling up gritty sand between my toes.

  “I thought I’d lost you.” She kneaded my chest with her soapy palms, keeping her gaze locked on my throat.

  “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you.”

  Her fingers combed through my hair again, massaging. “Rinse.”

  I tipped back, dipping beneath the cool water, and resurfaced, free of the cleansing suds.

  I reached for the bar of soap. “Let me.”

  I lathered and ran my hands through her hair, washing the grime and blood from the golden locks. My sudsy fingers massaged her neck, shoulders, following the slick skin to her breasts. She leaned back.

  The moonlight reflected her smooth skin casting a glow about her. “You are so beautiful.”

  She turned and disappeared beneath the water. She resurfaced free of soap, and I palmed her back guiding her to me.

  “This is what Michael meant about loving you.” I trailed my fingers the length of her. “I know that now.”

  “Michael?” Beka paused, hands resting on my chest.

  I wove my arms around her narrow waist. “I met him.”

  “The Archangel?”

  I touched a kiss to her nose. “He asked me…” A kiss to her chin. “if I wanted…” A kiss to her chest. “…to stay with you.” A kiss to her Mark. “To protect you and love you.”

  Beka clasped her hands around my neck and pulled her body flush to mine, stealing my breath more than the cool water. Heat coursed through my veins, coiling my spine.

  “He sent you from heaven’s door back to me?”

  “I am not sure it was heaven, but it was somewhere without you, so it was hell.” I tilted closer to her mouth. “He also told me of my mother.” I teased my lips against hers. “And my father.”

  “Father?” she said, her breath ragged. Her moist tongue fanned the flames flickering beneath my skin. I chased her tongue into her mouth, and it felt like returning home. All the doubt and fear of my ability to be king dissolved beneath her feverish body.

  I guided her up, and her bare legs encircled my waist. “I shall tell you everything.”

  We both moaned with our union.

  “But first, I’d like to get back to the love part.”

  She tightened around me, and crushed her mouth to mine with a hunger matching my own. Fingers danced up my spine. The water rippled as I shuddered from her smoldering touch.

  “Then we’ll introduce you to the Guardians. They are anxious to meet their king.” She pulsed against me. “But later.”

  I leaned in for another
kiss. “Much later.”

  CHAPTER 48

  “How did we get these fresh clothes?” I stepped into cool denim jeans. The damp sand from the river’s bank sifted between my toes.

  “Nala is my lady’s maid. When the Guardians started for Arizona, they brought her with. She brought clothes for me.” She combed out her hair with a brush. “And Durk, one of the Guardians, is about your size. You’re wearing an extra pair of his jeans.”

  I fastened the button. “So, Nala travels with you, wherever you go?”

  She nodded.

  “Human?”

  “Guardian. Just a different station.” She smiled. “Remember, on the roof? When Russell interrupted us, my shirt was on the ground?”

  “Too well, actually.”

  “I’m their Queen. No one is allowed to see me indecent. Only my Lady’s Maid, Nala, can assist me in dressing should I need it.”

  “I remember you saying that you wanted me to see you in a way no man has. But what I also remember—” I gathered her to me. “Russell stabbed me and the blade went through me and into you.”

  “Yes. He won’t stop apologizing, either. It’s been over thirty-five years, too.” Batting her dark lashes, she smiled and touched a kiss to my chin. “I also remember you sinking your teeth into his neck, defending my honor.”

  I would always defend her honor. No matter what.

  “Don’t worry. He’s not mentioned anything else about seeing me like that. He’s too embarrassed.”

  I circled my thumb over the silky fabric hiding her breasts from my sight. “No one will see you in this way again, other than me.”

  “Nor would I want anyone else to.” She threaded her arms through mine. “I am yours and yours alone until my breath leaves me.”

  I buried my face in her neck, inhaling the scent streaming from her long hair. “As I am only yours, wife.” Nothing ever felt so right. So true.

  “We should get you to camp so your people can meet their king.” She handed me a silken t-shirt. Stretchy fabric, cool to the touch.

  “I am not sure what kind of king I will make, Beka, but with you by my side, I will do my best.” I poked my head through the material and slid it over my chest. “A little snug.”