by J. K. Coi
“No doctor. Please.” Shivering, she shook her head weakly and tried to lift herself up onto her elbows. “I should check—”
Gabriel pushed her back down onto the bed. “You stubborn idiot. You’re in no condition to check anything. Just lie down, shut up and rest so I can figure out what to do with you.”
Her shoulders reluctantly relaxed into the mattress and her eyelids flickered closed once again. “I’m supposed to be taking care of you,” she muttered, her words coming slow and slurred.
“Oh yeah?” He tugged the blanket over her, tucking the edges tight beneath her chin. “And how’s that working out for you so far?”
“For thirty years it worked out just fine,” she whispered, turning her face away with a grimace so that he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. “But it’s definitely been more difficult the past few days.”
Thirty years? “Amelia, what did you mean by that?”
“I failed. I’m so sorry, I failed both you and Michael. I wasn’t prepared, didn’t know I would…feel…so much—” A rasping cough took whatever else she had been about to say.
Feel what? Who was Michael? He opened his mouth to ask but couldn’t. As usual, getting answers would have to wait. Amelia wasn’t in any shape for an inquisition and he wasn’t a big enough asshole to demand them from her until she was.
His hair still dripping water down the back of his shirt, he took two steps toward the bathroom.
“Gabriel?”
He looked back into Amelia’s blinking eyes. Her normally bright blue orbs were a dark, dusty slate. He couldn’t tell if it was just the low lighting from the bedside table or if her eyes had changed as a reflection of the depth of her pain. “Yeah, baby. I’m here.”
“Please don’t leave.”
He sighed. “Don’t worry, you’re not out of a job yet. Once you rest up and get better, you’ll still be able to honor your sworn duty to protect me.”
She bit her upper lip and shook her head. Gabriel couldn’t tear his gaze away from the sight of her smooth lips and the flash of her even white teeth. So many unanswered questions. So much craziness. But he suddenly couldn’t think of anything except kissing her. If she weren’t so weak right now, he’d already have her lips smashed against his, encouraging her to use those teeth to nip and bite him wherever she wanted.
“Not because of my duty,” she whispered. “Stay with me because…because I need you. I don’t want to be alone in this world of yours. I feel things when I’m with you I can’t deny any longer.” Her breath caught. She looked worried.
Gabriel could imagine what it cost this strong, private woman to share her vulnerability with him, to trust him with not only her weakened body but the feelings she normally protected so dearly.
He came back to her side and slowly eased down onto the small bed. The mattress dipped low with his weight and Amelia struggled to shuffle away, but he wouldn’t let her. Stretching his legs out alongside her, he wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her tight into his side. He thought to lend her his body heat to stop her trembling, but the heat coming off her fevered body was enough to warm them both.
“What are you doing?” She stiffened in his embrace. He ignored her weak efforts to scuttle away from him, holding her still and pushing her head onto his chest.
“I’m comforting you, damn it. Drop the superwoman act for once and just enjoy it.”
After a long moment she sighed, finally settling into him. Gabriel found himself relaxing into the lumpy mattress as well. “I’ve noticed you have a tendency toward domineering behavior,” she murmured.
She had no idea how domineering he wanted to be with her. She couldn’t begin to imagine the scenarios that had been playing out in his head, all of them involving her sweet submission to his most ruthless, erotic demands.
The palm of her hand flattened over his chest, searing through the cotton of his T-shirt. Did she realize what that innocent touch did to him? He didn’t think so or else she wouldn’t be flexing those slim fingers of hers into his pecs, testing her nails against him like a purring cat. If she knew how hard he was, she wouldn’t let him pull her knee over his leg and curl his hand around the softness of her thigh.
Her breath played across the sensitive place beneath his chin as she tilted her face up. “Gabriel, could I ask…would you do something for me?”
While his cock jerked in anticipation of making real all the naked images her question brought to living color in his mind, he didn’t think she was asking him to pull her clothes off and fuck her senseless. Not that he was bastard enough to do that while she was so weak—probably—but damn, he wasn’t made of stone either.
He shifted her knee away from his groin, but tightened his arm around her shoulders. “What do you need, baby?”
She sighed and snuggled closer, making him sweat. “Would you sing for me?”
It was the first time she had given any true indication that she liked his music. He understood she’d only been hanging out behind stage at the concert as part of her mission to protect him and not because she was a crazed fan. At first, his ego had been bruised, but he’d quickly come to like the idea that there was someone who didn’t see him first and foremost as a celebrity, as the front man for Phantasm.
Amelia might look at him as a job to be done, but he would bet his life there was more to it than that. None of which had anything to do with Gabriel’s music or his fame. He hoped at least some of it had to do with the piercing lust he’d felt ignite between them.
Tamping down on that raging lust with Amelia pressed so close to his side was an exercise in forbearance for a man who rarely found any reason to deny himself what he wanted.
He kept his voice low, the soft words and melody meant to lull her to sleep.
She stares out a window tracked with glittering pearls
Into the darkest night, a shadow of the darkest night
It won’t be long now
Won’t be long now
Won’t be long ’til the morning comes
When it gets harder to breathe and the light has all gone
She thinks of the sun, knowing her time will come
The dreams that she’s made
The plans that she’s made
It won’t be long now
Won’t be long ’til the morning comes
Gabriel paused. The first song he’d ever written. Obviously, it had never been on any of his albums. He hadn’t repeated the words to anyone since he was a kid, but it felt right to give them to Amelia now. He could feel her relaxing against him, as if his voice eased some of her discomfort.
“That’s so beautiful, Gabriel.” She sounded on the verge of sleep, her whisper barely audible. “I remember when you used to sing that to your sister.”
Chapter Seven
Amelia stirred, fighting to regain consciousness. The pain was incredible. There was no doubt that she didn’t have a lot of time left on this plane. Trouble was, even if she could leave Gabriel, she was so weak now, she might not have enough strength to return to the angel realms.
With a groan, she tried to move. She remembered being wrapped in warmth and cocooned by the power of Gabriel’s low voice. Not angel song, but it had been beautiful and soothing nonetheless, containing a hint of the true nature of his heritage.
Gabriel.
It was obvious he was no longer in bed with her, but she could sense his aura. He hadn’t gone far.
Her eyes weighted down by agony and exhaustion, she tried to focus her fuzzy vision. Gabriel was slouched in a chair across the room. Legs spread wide, thick arms folded over his chest. At first, she thought he was asleep, but he looked anything but relaxed and she realized those glittering eyes of his were open and he was staring at her. How long had he been sitting there watching?
The lamp had been turned off at some point. No light showed beneath the covered window, which meant it was still late at night and she couldn’t have been out for very long. Still, something must have happen
ed in that time. Despite the shadows, she could see Gabriel’s hard and angry expression. A far cry from the gentle, compassionate man who had cradled her close not so long ago.
“Who are you?” The ice in his voice could have cut glass. “Or do I need to ask what are you?”
Shaking her head, Amelia dropped her gaze. She didn’t want to see that look in his eyes after what they had been through together, couldn’t bear for him to know how much it hurt. Swallowing hard, she propped herself up on one elbow and took a deep breath. Was there any way they could avoid doing this right now?
Gabriel leaned forward in his seat. “Answer me, damn you. How the hell do you know anything about my sister?”
She flinched. No, it didn’t look like this conversation was going to wait.
It was time, anyway. Time to tell Gabriel the truth.
Amelia squared her shoulders as best she could and met his cold eyes. “Because I was there.” This was going to be a hard discussion for them both.
“How is it possible?” He rose and stood over her, his cutting gaze raking the length of her as thick veins bulged in his neck.
“I was with you on the night of your birth. I was with you when your parents died in that crash. I was with you as you sang your song to your sister each night to ease her into sleep.”
“Goddamn, you bitch. How dare y—”
Gabriel sent his rage toward her in waves that lashed her heart to ribbons, but she had to finish. “I was with you after Dani’s death at the hands of your foster mother, and I watched you fight your way through the anger you felt because you hadn’t been able to save her.”
His eyes weren’t cold anymore. They blazed at her with the heat of his anger and pain.
“Gabriel, I was there when you brought your friends together to form your band, and when you played your first big gig.”
“This is bullshit.” He swung around and stalked away from her. For a long moment, he said nothing more as if he couldn’t get the words out. When he turned to her once again, he had schooled his features into a dark mask. “So, you’ve been with me always, huh? Just how old would that make you?” His upper lip curled into an icy sneer. “Because I’ve gotta say, you’re looking pretty damn good from where I sit.”
She sighed. “I have no age. I just am.”
“That’s real deep for a load of crap,” he scoffed. “Start explaining. I want to know exactly how you’ve been ‘with me,’ as you put it, because I sure as hell never met you before a week ago.”
“You never saw me because it wasn’t necessary. It’s my job to protect you, and until now I had been able to do that from…afar.”
“How? Why? And who the hell do you think you are?”
This was going to be the hard part.
“I’m an angel.”
Angel.
“Show me.”
“Gabriel—”
“Show me, damn it!” His fist struck the table, a furious clash of sound that set the lamp to quivering. She flinched.
For a moment, they stared at one another. Gabriel didn’t bother to hide his pain and anger from her, and she returned his look with one of sadness, regret.
Then there was nothing. She blinked and when the pale lids over her eyes lifted again, she had visibly retreated to the cold, untouchable woman of a week ago. Nothing showed in her expression, and he would swear nothing existed in her heart. Not any of the emotions he’d just seen in her face. No sadness, pain or regret. Nothing.
Gabriel clenched his fist tighter on the scarred wood of the table.
Without a word, she rose smoothly from the bed to face him.
At first nothing happened. He opened his mouth, but then a golden light lit the room, a glow coming from Amelia herself. He stepped back as it unfolded from her like a great mantle of warmth, revealing a beautiful pair of nebulous, willowy wings that seemed to have formed from the light itself.
“Holy shit,” he muttered.
As her true form was revealed, the bright glow intensified, creating a deep aura that surrounded her, pulsing in time with her even breaths. Then it faded again.
Gabriel let out his breath in a low groan. This couldn’t be happening. There couldn’t be an angel standing in front of him in this dingy, run-down motel room. And yet part of him wasn’t really surprised. The truth had always been within his reach, tucked in the back of his mind. Some semi-conscious part of him had known all along, or at least suspected. Ever since that first night. As he’d lain on the floor of that alley, Gabriel had seen her—the real her—but he’d let his rational mind dismiss it as impossible.
Rising from the chair, unable to take his eyes from her, Gabriel reached out. He couldn’t quite bring himself to touch the downy proof of her claims. He glanced into her face. “They don’t look…real.”
She obligingly spread the wings out behind her. Stretching from one end of the room to the other, they looked formidable and dramatic, but also ethereal, like insubstantial clouds that you could never really catch in your hand. The tips of each wing just brushed the wall on either side of the room.
She nodded her assent. “Go ahead.”
With an open hand, he gently stroked, feeling the rounded—and very real—edge of one wing, then the other. The feathers were so delicate and fine, like the softest down or the fluffiest kitten fur, but there was strength beneath them. “How did you hide these from me all this time—from everyone?”
“It isn’t all that difficult to hide things from humans that they aren’t prepared to see.” Her smile was a little sad. “A little bit of magic, a little bit of your own powers of mental rejection, and ta da. No more angels.”
“But why? Why are you here to begin with? What do you want?”
“I just want to keep you safe, Gabriel. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Keep me safe from what? Does everyone have someone like you to watch over them? A guardian angel?”
She paused. “No.”
“Why not?” Reluctantly, he dropped his hand, which had still been caressing the softness of one wing.
“Contrary to popular belief, that’s not really what we do.”
“And yet, you’re saying that’s exactly what you’ve been doing with me. Why? Why would someone like me warrant his own personal guardian angel?” Gabriel folded his hand together into a tight fist. “Where were the angels when my baby sister was choked to death? And Leanne? Why didn’t angels do something to stop her from shooting so much coke into her body that her veins disintegrated before she’d even hit the floor?”
Why hadn’t anyone been watching out for them?
Because that was your job, the voice inside him said.
Gabriel had never avoided the truth. He knew those deaths rested squarely on his shoulders and he wasn’t about to shift the blame to anyone else—but he was angry. Goddamn. He’d been angry his entire life. The familiar rage had eaten away at his insides for so long he didn’t think there was anything left of him worth saving.
“Just what is so damn special about one completely fucked-up human that you’ve been spying on me my entire life?” The idea of it freaked him out. Not that someone had been watching him—he got enough of that from the damn paparazzi to almost be used to it—but the notion that a higher power, one who never intended to show itself, had plans for him. That got his stomach churning.
A flare of light suddenly filled the room. When it died out a man stood in front of them.
Gabriel recognized him as one of the dark cowboys who had jumped them at the airport. He wore the long black trench coat of earlier, but was now sporting a little something extra as well.
The feathers of his wings were white but cut with light grey tips, creating a mottled effect that was less dramatic than the unblemished purity of Amelia’s wings.
“Oh, good,” the angel said, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “It looks like I made it just in time for the interesting part.”
Gabriel was suddenly looking at Amelia’s gos
samer wings up close and personal as she turned her back on him and threw them out as a barrier in an effort to keep him behind her. Her shirt had small round holes where the wings sprouted from her back. The fabric was charred around the edges as if the force of her golden aura had burned the way for her to reveal her true self.
“Cassiel.” Amelia’s voice remained cold and calm, but he could see the slight tremor in the hand she held tight at her side. Angelic transformation or not, Amelia was still weak, still sick—and obviously no match for another angel.
“You’re looking quite a bit under the weather, Amelia.” Despite the smile and casual tone, there was a stilted formality to the other angel’s voice, a lack of warmth—or any other emotion—that reminded Gabriel eerily of the woman he’d met a week ago.
Amelia stiffened, her chin lifting slightly as she stared the intruder down. Gabriel couldn’t help but feel proud of her even though he knew she had nothing to back up her determination and bravery.
Gabriel put a hand on her shoulder. “Amelia, stop this.”
“I won’t let you take him,” she said to the angel, ignoring Gabriel completely.
“Listen to the human. It seems he’s not as stupid as he looks.” Cassiel stepped toward them. “Amelia, why are you doing this? There can be no stopping this. Michael knew it when he charged you with this duty. Don’t die for him. You have no obligation to him.”
Gabriel had no clue what the hell was going on, but he was getting tired of these angels talking circles around him. “Just who is this Michael dude?”
For the first time, Cassiel’s attention fell to Gabriel. “But I thought even humans knew of the great Archangel Michael.”
“Michael the Archangel? As in the Michael?”
Cassiel shrugged as if an Archangel were nothing particularly spectacular, but Amelia seemed to think differently. “Cassiel, you court disaster with such blatant disrespect.”
“I court nothing, and you know this better than most. Michael is as absent as the Father himself. Did he not set you on this path and then desert you to walk it alone?”