Released by Desire

by Melissa Stevens

  The water didn’t feel freezing against her skin; instead, it enveloped her like a warm blanket, familiar and comforting. Those strong arms pulled her out of the water to settle her against a firm chest once more. Then something soft closed about them both as a tender palm cradled the back of her head. Amie exhaled a slow, relieving breath at the contact, her earlier fear morphing into calm and a little anticipation. They were in an ocean, the sound of the waves hitting the shore a pleasing rumble in her ears, but she had no idea who held her so protectively or why.

  And she hoped she wouldn’t be let go anytime soon.

  “So...” Amie began with a frown, actually a closed-eyed squint as the being was still as bright as headlights at full beam. She licked her lips and the salty brine of the sea hit her tongue. “Thanks?”

  The deep voice chuckled, the sound reminding her of a double bass performing a vibrato. “You are welcome, Aminata.”

  Amie liked the way her full name made his chest thrum, how her name sounded as gorgeous as she apparently wasn’t. She should also ask how he even knew it, but whatever he was doing to the back of her head felt divine. It tingled as the wound stitched itself up and the throbbing completely disappeared. Then, he placed his other palm on the wounds on her shoulders and she could feel those injuries heal as well.

  “I should be freaking out,” she muttered even as she rested her cheek against his chest. There was no heartbeat she could discern, which made her own heart swoop. “You’re clearly not human.”

  “I am not,” he confirmed. “But I am not a danger to you. This is why you are not ‘freaking out.’”

  “Ah,” she said. “Is that the only reason? You haven’t turned off any feelings in me? Whatever you are, you’re clearly powerful enough to fly us all the way to the Pacific Ocean and to burn off my clothes without hurting me.”

  “That would be a violation,” the being said.

  “Ah,” Amie said again. “And taking off a woman’s clothes without permission isn’t?”

  This being went absolutely still and Amie was torn between laughter and apologizing, except she did have a point.

  “I was concerned about tending to your wounds, but you are right. I should have asked before taking such liberties. I apologize.”

  “Apology accepted, because you did a bang-up job in healing them,” Amie said, twisting her head on her neck to test her range of motion. She was as limber and pain-free as she hadn’t been in months.

  “I am glad,” the voice said and chuckled again. “By this point, someone would have asked the obvious questions you have not.”

  “The ‘who are you?’ question?” Amie guessed.

  “That would be one of them, yes.”

  “I tried but you told me to ‘Shh,’” she recalled. “And you already answered it when you said you weren’t a danger to me.”

  The being’s chuckle upgraded to a laugh. “You are a delight. It is easy to see why people enjoy listening to your radio program.”

  Her eyes widened and she sat up straighter. “You listen to ‘Clarity with Amie’?”

  “Yes,” the voice replied. “You have been saving more lives and souls than you can possibly know, Aminata.”

  The confirmation that her efforts had been doing some good made tears sting her eyes, very unfortunate because they’d already been stinging from the contacts she wore and the salt water.

  “I didn’t know what was happening,” she said, her throat thick. “People would call into the show and I would get this strong sensation they shouldn’t date a certain person or go a certain place. I can’t make them listen to me all the time, you know? I just give advice. But sometimes I’d listen to the news and they’d mention a disappearance, and I’d just know it was a caller who ignored my warnings. It’s like they’re being lured. Then the dreams started...”

  She was cuddled closer, a strong jaw resting along her temple. The hand that had been on her shoulders began to travel the rest of her body, over the generous curves and swells she possessed. She felt the palm linger on the marks etched into her skin and hid her face into the being’s chest. Some were recent, but they no longer hurt from when they’d first been scored into her skin. They would just appear sometimes, often when she was doing a show, and she’d have to play it off like she’d jammed her finger or stubbed her toe. At least the marks weren’t large and were in inconspicuous places, but lying half-nude in the arms of someone very much not human was bringing all sorts of things to light.

  “You know what’s happening to me,” Amie said after a few moments of silence between them.

  “Yes,” the being said. “You’re getting stronger, which makes you a threat.”

  “Stronger?” Amie asked, taken aback. “A threat to who? This Donas guy?”

  “Yes.”

  She scoffed. “I’m a short, ugly, blind woman who has weird dreams and a hint of clairvoyance. Basically, I’m a third of Vegas’s population all rolled up in one person.”

  “You are lovely,” the deep voice countered. “And you are nothing like anyone in Las Vegas.”

  A smile stretched her face because how could it not after a definitive comment like that? “So the other thing you are is charming, huh? A non-dangerous, charming being.”

  “In simpler terms, an angel.”

  She muffled a laugh, because of course it was. “I didn’t want to assume.”

  “The wings give me away, huh?” the angel asked, and now Amie laughed out right.

  “And you’re nothing but light, which I can see. You had to be something very powerful if I could see something that bright with my contacts on. I couldn’t see that other thing at all.”

  “A demon,” the angel said. “One of Donas’s minions.”

  “And you killed it?”

  “It will not bother you again.”

  The icy tone of the angel’s voice made Amie shudder yet another time. She’d guess the demon had suffered a worse fate than death and she wasn’t about to ask for particulars.

  “I will take you home now. Your friend and your companion will awaken soon and they will be distraught if you are not safe and sound in your bed.”

  A giddy sensation overcame her. “Are you gonna tuck me in?”

  “Would you like me to?”

  After the night she’d had, Amie decided to go for broke. “Who wouldn’t want to be tucked in by an angel?”

  “Angels can be a frightening sight,” the angel said, taking to the skies.

  “Then it’s a good thing I can’t see.”

  Amie wrapped her arms around a strong neck and enjoyed the brief flight back to Las Vegas. She didn’t even wonder how the angel knew which tower, which balcony, was hers as they landed. Just as she remembered the balcony doors were locked, the angel opened them.

  “Really?”

  “I should have asked again,” the angel said. “I assumed I would be allowed to enter your home since I am to tuck you into bed.”

  Amie snorted indelicately. “True, it’s just a bit disconcerting to know you can roll up on someone without warning.”

  “That is what we usually do,” it deadpanned, making Amie throw back her head and laugh once more. “I will endeavor not to do so with you.”

  “Thanks,” Amie said. “And yes, you may enter my home.”

  Suddenly, the angel’s brightness was gone, disorienting her as she descended into complete darkness again. Reflexively, she tightened her hold around the neck and the angel’s arms held her closer in response. The angel was light of foot as it moved and found her bedroom with ease. Bot, her service dog, remained snoring at the foot of the bed, blissfully unaware her owner had left and returned. That made Amie arch an eyebrow.

  “Why—?”

  “The dog is unaware of my presence because I have made it so,” the angel said.

  “Is that why you suddenly went dark?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.”

  The angel pulled back the covers and then gently laid her atop the
bedding. Carefully, he pulled the sheets and comforter back over her form, then she sensed him drawing away. Amie instinctively shot out a hand to stay him.

  “Is there more to the ritual?” he asked.

  “When I was younger, my grandmother would kiss my cheek,” Amie admitted, both cheeks burning as she drew away her hand. “But you don’t...”

  Full, soft lips pressed against her skin closer to the corner of her mouth than her ear. Amie’s eyes fluttered shut and she sighed. When she opened them again, the angel was gone.

  The only reason Sarah McLachlan didn’t serenade Amie to sleep was because her laptop was in the living room and there was no way she was leaving this bed for the next fifty-eleven hours.

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  REVEALED BY DESIRE

  by Melissa Stevens

  Coming Soon

  Blurb

  Rachel’s brother has gone missing and she’s desperate to find him. She spends the entire evening at a party showing everyone his photo and asking about him, to no avail. Then she spots a man. One she's never seen before. One she can't seem to ignore.

  Chris has been hunting for his step-sister. He’s only recently taken over the were Fraction and is trying to bring everyone back together He is at the party because it's expected. He doesn't want to be there, but decided to use the party to help find Emily. What he doesn’t expect is to find his mate while he’s there.

  But can it work if she’s a dragon and he’s a werewolf?

  Thank you for reading Released by Desire part of the CITY OF SIN Collection. If you enjoyed this work or any others, please consider leaving a review. Because without you our writing would only be words on a page. Thank you.

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  About the Author

  Melissa Stevens was born and raised in Arizona, Melissa has spent her entire life living across the southern half of the state. She's found that, along with her husband and four children, she prefers the small towns and rural life to feeling packed into a city.

  She started reading at a very young age, and her love for series started early, as the first real books she remembers reading is the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. Through the years, she's found that there's little she won't read, and her tastes vary from westerns, to romance, to sci-fi / fantasy and Horror.

  She's been writing since 2009, and published since 2012. She hit the New York Times Bestsellers list for what she hopes is the first time in October of 2015.

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  My Books in the CITY OF SIN Collection

  Released by Desire

  Revealed by Desire

  Redeemed by Desire

  Other Books in City of Sin

  After Midnight by Ursula Sinclair

  Released By Desire by Melissa Stevens

  The Light by Savannah J. Frierson

  Damnation by Taabia Dupree

  Other Books by Melissa Stevens

  Kitsune Series:

  Change

  Fight

  Hunt

  Live

  The Kitsune Collection

  (with Change, Fight, Hunt and Live in one volume)

  WMC Series:

  Escape

  Jade's Peace

  Risking Alex

  Demented Souls:

  Ruger

  Novels:

  Robin's Nest

  Choosing Happiness