“What is it?” he asked her.
Brea sighed. She shook her head and leveled her eyes with his. “You have to make this right,” she told him.
“I don’t know what to do. She won’t talk to me.”
“Can you blame her?” Brea pointed out, raising her voice. “But that doesn’t matter. Our daughter is dying. You have to bring her and Michael back together. I don’t care how you do it. You can tie him up and kidnap him for all I care, but you go and you bring him back.”
“Wait, what do you mean, dying?” he asked as he stood from his chair.
“She lied,” Brea said. Angel heard Brea and Jade’s conversation in his mind and he felt his heart drop to his feet.
“She needs him,” he answered.
“Duh.”
“I can make a call,” he said, going for his phone.
Brea slammed her hand down on it and glared at him. “A phone call isn’t going to do it this time,” she snarled. “You get your ass on a plane, or a dragon, or whatever, and get to Boston. You go and apologize. Beg if you have to, but you bring him home. You go and don’t come back until you have my baby’s mate with you.” With that, she turned her back on Angel and stormed out of the room.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Stephan watched from his throne room as the child of the phoenix lay in his bed. The watching pond Anubis had gifted him with was a great toy. He could look in on his prey without being noticed. It was one of many toys the ancient God had given him. And what did he want in return? Something that Stephan didn’t have to give. His soul. Stephan knew that he was a soulless demon. So it was no problem to promise that in return for Anubis’s assistance. He turned his attention back to the pond. The man was going to lay there and die. At first, all Stephan wanted was to kill the child and his parents, but this was so much better. Knowing the child was suffering made Stephan smile. Knowing his parents were suffering too was a bonus.
He was still going to kill them, but not yet. No, he thought he would see how this situation played out. How much fun was it going to be to kill the firebird’s mate? Lots. No, he would wait for the moment to strike, and then he would take the firebird’s mate. After watching the man suffer, he would end his pain–but not yet.
***
Michael lay in his bed for the fifth day in a row. He ate when his mother brought food, he slept, and he wallowed in self-pity. He didn’t have any reason to get up. He had no job, no woman, and no future. He would have stopped breathing if he could.
He felt that feeling again, like someone was watching him. This time, it wasn’t a loving stare that he felt. It was dangerous, like the watcher was a predator and he was the prey. It didn’t matter though. Nothing did. He realized all too late what mattered in the world and he had lost it.
So when someone knocked on his door, his immediate reaction was to tell them to go away. That didn’t happen though because his mother opened his door and started talking. “You have a visitor,” she said.
Unless it was Jade, he didn’t give a rat’s ass.
“Not her, but someone you will want to see.” Kelly stepped out, leaving the door open behind her. It was her way of telling Michael that he was to follow whether he liked it or not. He shoved out of bed and forced his feet to move.
When he got downstairs and saw who it was waiting for him, anger boiled up in his stomach and made his mouth taste vile. “What do you want?” he snapped.
“I came to talk to you,” Angel said. “I came to apologize.”
Michael took the rest of the stairs two at a time. “Save it,” he snarled and brushed past the vampire, knocking his shoulder against Angel’s as he went.
“I wish I could,” Angel continued, “But I’m afraid that isn’t possible.”
“Oh? Why is that?” Michael sneered.
“Because for one, my wife will have my head. For two, my daughter needs you. We need you. I want you to come back and work for us. I want you to come back and see Jade.”
Michael stewed on that for a second. “So basically, you’re here because Brea told you to.”
“There is that,” Angel agreed.
“You know damned good and well that I was not thinking about Toni,” Michael accused him.
“I do know that.” Angel had kicked himself too many times for that one already.
“And yet you said nothing,” Michael said. “In fact, you kept your mouth shut so that Jade would believe I had a thing for Toni. Why is that?”
“I am afraid that nothing I say will give you the answer you want. I don’t know why I didn’t say anything. I suppose I didn’t want anyone to get as close to her as you were thinking. And I didn’t know what you meant to her.”
“And what is that?” Michael demanded.
“You are her mate.”
“Pffft,” Michael sneered. “If that were true she would never have let me go, let alone tell me to leave and never come back. Good try, though.”
Angel took an exasperated breath. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but if he wanted his child to live, he was going to have to try harder. He knew that Michael loved Jade. Now if he could only make him see that she loved him as well. “I am truly sorry,” he offered. “I want to make it right.”
“Sorry,” Michael said. “You can’t just waltz in here and say you’re sorry and expect everything to be peaches and cream. You deliberately set me up. Why would I ever want to work for you?”
“I deserve that,” Angel said, “But Jade does not.”
“She could have listened to me,” Michael retorted. “Could have, but didn’t. She won’t trust me and I don’t think she ever will. I don’t want to put myself in that position. Thanks for coming by though.” Michael turned and walked away, dismissing the California clan leader.
Angel sighed heavily. “I told them this wouldn’t work, but they didn’t listen.” He turned to leave but stopped. “She needs you. Regardless of the feelings between you and me, Jade needs you. She will die without you.” And then he walked out the front door.
Michael was left to look at the empty doorway. What exactly did he mean ‘she will die?’ Jade was too powerful to need anyone, let alone him, to live. Angel Knight was full of shit. Jade didn’t need or want him. She made that perfectly clear.
“You have so much to learn about women,” Kelly said, coming to stand by his side. “I think it’s time we talked, Son.”
“We had that talk a long time ago, Mom,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“Not that talk,” she laughed, “the one that helps you understand women.”
Michael clutched his hand to his chest and widened his eyes sarcastically. “You mean there is a way to understand women? And here all this time, men around the world have been trying to figure it out and you hold the secret?”
“Silly,” she said as she swatted him on the arm. “Come on.” Michael followed her to the kitchen and sat at on one of the chairs. He rested his arms on the table and watched as his mother poured him a drink from the fridge. She set the glass down in front of him and then took a seat across the table from him.
“Women are complicated creatures,” she told him. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “We say one thing and mean another. When we say we are mad at you and never want to see you again, it is possible that we mean we are hurt by something you said or did and want you to grovel for forgiveness.”
“Oh, is that so?” he asked.
“Well, sometimes we just mean go away.”
“Yeah, thanks Mom. That really clears it up for me,” he said as he pushed his chair back and started to stand.
Kelly stopped him with a hand on his arm. “What I am trying to say is, maybe Jade meant something different. What she saw wasn’t really the truth, was it?”
He shook his head.
“Then maybe, just maybe, if you really are her mate, she might just be willing to listen to you now that she has had time to cool down. Tell me, did she drink from you?”
“No,” he answ
ered. “I never touched her.” At least, not while I wasn’t dreaming, he added in his head.
“There is no possibility that she tasted even a hint of your blood?” Kelly asked as if she didn’t hear his thought.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. His brain immediately went to the kiss he dreamed about where he nicked his tongue.
“I think it is possible that you really need to talk to her,” Kelly said. “If you are her mate and she tasted even the smallest bit of your blood, she may be in real danger. Some vampires can only drink from their mates. If she is one of those, she will die without you.”
Kelly got up and left Michael sitting alone at the table. What if that wasn’t a dream? What if she had tasted him? What if she was dying? His heart squeezed tight in his chest and he had trouble breathing. What if Angel was telling the truth? Jade could be in real danger. He could never live with himself if she suffered even one moment in time because of him, and definitely not if she died because he was too stubborn to go and try to talk to her. The world wouldn’t keep spinning without Jade in it, he was sure. His world sure as hell didn’t spin without her.
He made the decision to leave after his feet had already taken him to the door. He wrenched it open to see Angel had not left, but was waiting in the moonlight for Michael to join him.
“Oh, hello,” Angel said as if he were surprised to see him. “I was just talking to Jade,” he said, tapping his temple.
“Nice. Has she forgiven you?” Michael asked.
“Does fuck off and die count?” he asked with a sad smile.
“At least she talked to you,” Michael pointed out.
“This is true,” Angel agreed. “Have you thought about what I said?”
“Is it true?” Michael asked. “What you said about her dying?”
Angel looked at his feet before answering. “Yes, it is. I don’t know and I don’t need to know the details, but it seems that she has your blood in her system and now nothing else will do. I will not lose her. I came to bring you back with me, even if I have to knock you unconscious and drag you on the plane.”
Michael considered his words. He believed that he would be going back to LA one way or the other, but this time, it would be on his terms. He didn’t warn Angel before he wrapped his arms around his chest and hefted them both into the air.
“What the hell?” Angel snapped.
“Get over it, old man,” Michael replied. “I won’t drop you. I’d like to, but I won’t. Jade would never forgive me.”
That seemed to be good enough for Angel because he relaxed in Michael’s grip and just enjoyed the ride. He had never flown this way before and it was really something. He watched as the tree tops whipped by below them. He saw cars and streets go by in a blur. He didn’t know how fast Michael was traveling, but it was faster than Angel could run. And he could run pretty damned fast.
“We’re gonna speed up,” Michael yelled over the wind.
“Faster?” Angel asked having a hard time believing anything could travel faster.
“Yeah,” Michael warned him. “Jade needs me and by God I am gonna be there for her. Now hang on tight.” Angel barely had time to grab hold of Michael’s forearms before fire exploded behind them and they shot into the night like a meteor.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Stephan stood across the street from the large home where his target lived. He watched as the firebird flew away with the Clan Leader; his mate’s father. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where they were going. Wouldn’t it be a shame if she were already dead when they got there? he thought to himself with a half grin. Oh yes, this was going to work out perfectly. He would break the son’s heart by taking his mate, and then he would kill him in front of Phoenix and Kelly. With only a thought, he whisked himself to the Knight estate on the other side of the country.
He easily slipped through the magical wards surrounding the house. Stephan had done his homework and he knew that a witch lived there. He also knew of the goddess who was currently unavailable in the heavens. She was trying to figure out who he was, but it was going to take time that the poor vampires didn’t have.
He materialized in the bedroom where the firebird’s mate was sleeping. He looked down at her face. Her skin was unnaturally pale, even for a nightwalker. She was curled in on herself in a fetal position with her hand tucked beneath her cheek. He supposed she was attractive, but not so much with her sunken eyes and sickly pallor. He stood there, over her, debating his next move. Did he want to just slit her throat and watch her bleed out? Or did he want something with a little more excitement? Excitement!
He concentrated his thoughts at her chest. He reached his hand out and imagined holding her heart in his hand. Then he began to squeeze.
***
Michael flew faster than he had ever flown before. He didn’t understand why, but he had to get there yesterday fast. Angel was stiff as a board in his arms, but Michael didn’t care if the vampire was uncomfortable. This whole damn thing was his fault. It would do him good to be uncomfortable.
He was zipping over Oklahoma when a bolt of lightning struck him in the chest. Not a real bolt, but that was sure as fuck what it felt like. He cried out from the pain and his hold on his cargo faltered at the same time Angel put his hands to his temples and shouted out in pain.
“It’s Jade,” Michael said into the wind.
“Fuck,” Angel agreed.
“Hang on!” Michael shouted as he pushed his wings harder. He didn’t believe it was possible, but he moved faster. The fire in his wings burned hotter and trailed behind him in a fiery tail that was nearly a mile long. Jade was in trouble. She was in danger. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did, and he knew that if he didn’t get there she would surely die. With the next beat of his wings, a sonic boom rent the night air and Angel grabbed his ears and screamed.
***
Jade woke with a pain in her chest that felt like an elephant was sitting on her. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart was not beating. She forced her body to move and saw the man who was standing over her. She wanted to get up but found that she was too weak to fight the hold he had over her. He smiled at her and she knew without a doubt he meant to kill her. She couldn’t draw air into her lungs to cry out, but she still had her mind. She reached for her family as her vision began to tunnel.
Gage burst through her bedroom door, snarling like a beast. He was followed by Rebel, Leigh, Frankie, Jacque, and Sebastian. Gage lunged toward the man in Jade’s room but was thrown back against the wall.
“I don’t recommend it,” Stephan said calmly. “She is mine. I will have my victory.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Jacque demanded, taking a step forward.
Stephan squeezed his hand tighter and Jade opened her mouth in a silent scream. Jacque stepped back. “Who I am is not important. The important thing is, I will kill this mate of the firebird before he arrives. He will be broken.” Then the bastard smiled as if the sun was shining and birds were singing.
“How did you get in here?” Frankie demanded. Then she started to chant a spell.
“Now if your wards didn’t keep me out, what makes you think a spell will work?”
Frankie continued her spell.
“Very well,” Stephan sighed. “Come to me child,” he said to Jade. Her body rose up off the bed and into a standing position. Stephan brought her to stand in front of him with the power of his will. “You are making this less enjoyable for me,” he said to Frankie, whose spell was doing a whole lot of nothing.
Stephan wrapped his arm around Jade and laid his hand on her throat. He took two steps with her and stopped in front of the window. “I think I will take her with me,” he mused aloud. “Play with her a little bit before killing her.”
“Let her go,” Gage demanded.
“I don’t think so,” Stephan countered.
Jade knew he was going to take her away from her family and he was going to make good on his promise. He was going to kill her, a
nd there was nothing she could do to stop him. No matter what attempt her family made to free her, he countered it. He had so much power that it rolled off him in palatable waves.
There was the sound of glass breaking behind her just a millisecond before she was pushed to the floor. Stephan fell on top of her, but lost his grip on her. She was pulled away from him and shoved behind a huge body that was burning hot. Her vision was slowly returning, but no matter how hard she focused, she was still seeing spots. She heard the sounds of glass breaking and furniture being turned over. Crashing and banging were loud and prominent in her surroundings.
Someone grabbed her arm and lifted her up. She was hauled out of the room and down the stairs in a hurry. “Michael!” she shouted with the first lungful of air she was able to draw.
“He’s fine,” her father said as he carried her to the basement.
“I have to help him!” Jade cried out.
“No you don’t,” Angel said to her. He set her on her feet and lifted her chin to meet her eyes. “He’s got this. You can’t fight whoever that is.”
Jade opened her mouth to argue, but found that she was too weak and gave in to the urge to pass out.
***
Michael saw red. When he saw that fucker holding his woman, a rage that he didn’t even know he was capable of grew to epic proportions inside him and flew out of control. No one touched her. Ever! He hardly slowed his speed as he crashed through Jade’s bedroom window. Angel didn’t miss a beat and as soon as the fucker let go of Jade, Angel was carrying her to safety.
“What the fuck?” someone shouted. Michael didn’t care. All he cared about was dispatching the idiot who dared try to harm Jade. Michael snarled and moved toward the man. Before the man could even acknowledge that Michael was there, he had let his fist fly and it landed with a crunch in the son of a bitch’s nose. Blood spurted out from it and Michael watched with satisfaction as the fucker stumbled back.
Stephan stood and faced his opponent. The firebird was raging with anger and his wings were catching the entire room on fire. Not that it would hurt him, though it could take out a few of the vamps. The sucker punch to the nose was good, he thought as he wiped the blood from his face. As Michael went for his throat, Stephan gathered his wits and with a flick of his wrist, sent the bird into the wall. Here was his chance. He could kill two birds with one stone, silently forgiving himself for the pun.
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