Gifted - The 5 Book Paranormal Romance Box Set

by Amira Rain

  "Angels just don't do that, though. They never make alliances with other non-Angel leaders. Cole would probably consider that the worst humiliation possible. I know how much he loves you and the baby, and I know he's the kind of man who'd probably go to pretty extreme lengths to keep you both safe, but an alliance? With Commander Northrup? I just don't think you understand how much pride Cole would have to swallow in order to do that."

  Leaning over the island, head in hands, I sighed. "All right. Maybe I don't. It was just a thought I had. I was just trying to think of some way that we could even the numbers in the battle with Bennett."

  "Well, I don't think there's any way we can do that. Clark told me that Cole already called on some of his Angel leader buddies to send reinforcements, but they all denied him, saying they need all their own men now. But Clark thinks the real reason is that they all pretty much think that Cole got himself in this whole mess himself by having the audacity to punish a wife-beater."

  Dejected, I didn't respond. Stupidly, I'd never even thought about the possibility of Cole calling in Angel reinforcements, but now apparently it wasn't possible anyway.

  Coming over and putting an arm around my shoulders, Cassie sighed. "When are you going to decide to get with the program? Our men are going to handle everything. All we have to do is just let go and trust. So, go ahead. Just let it all go."

  With the sweet scent of the baking apples suddenly making me feel a little ill, I said that I'd try.

  However, over dinner with Mary-Alice later, my anxiety only increased. It increased further still when Cole still wasn't home by midnight. Eventually, maybe around one, I finally fell asleep, though I slept fitfully, and my dreams, though vague and hazy, were somehow frightening.

  I awoke around seven, immeasurably relieved to find Cole sleeping by my side. After taking a quick shower, I emerged from the bathroom in my robe, surprised to find him still sleeping. Normally, he was a very early riser, and didn't seem to need a lot of sleep in order to function well. However, I reasoned, he had been under just a little bit of stress recently. Not to mention that I had no idea how late he'd gotten home.

  Figuring that he'd probably be up soon, I went down to the kitchen, made a pot of coffee, filled two mugs, and then made the long walk back through the mansion to the bedroom, where I found Cole now out of bed. Hearing the shower running, I sat down on the edge of the bed and started sipping my coffee without him, feeling a distinct need for a little caffeine after my night of fitful sleep.

  When Cole emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips, I said good morning and handed him his mug, thinking that I'd probably never get over how incredible he looked wrapped in just a towel. Particularly when he still had beads of water rolling down his chiseled chest.

  He said good morning in return, pulling me close with one arm and taking a long drink of coffee at the same time. He then surprised me for the second time by saying that he wanted to tell me something important. "Let's sit down on the bed first, though. You on my lap."

  Soon, sitting on his lap with an arm around his shoulders, I asked him what he wanted to tell me, and he just looked into my eyes for a long moment before speaking.

  "I love you and our baby, Lauren...so very much. And late last night, I did some serious thinking...about you, the baby, the Bennett situation, everything." Pausing, Cole took a deep breath before continuing. "I decided I'm going to contact Commander Northrup today and request a meeting with him to discuss a possible temporary alliance. And I'm doing this because realistically, the number of my fighters versus Bennett's doesn't look very good, and I'll do literally anything to protect you and our child."

  Including swallowing a hell of a lot of his pride, I now knew. Misty-eyed, I struggled to find words to thank Cole, but before I could even utter a single one, Cole's phone began going off beside his pillow, and he sighed.

  "Sorry. Just one second. I need to answer all calls these days in case it's any urgent news about the situation."

  Saying that I understood, I hopped down off his lap so that he could reach for his phone, then hopped back on after he'd answered. Listening to whoever was speaking on the other end of the line, Cole began lazily running a hand up and down the side of my leg but stopped abruptly after just a few seconds. Wondering what had made him stop, I looked at his face and watched while all traces of color drained from it almost instantly. I'd read about this happening, in books, but to see it happen in real life was alarming, to say the least. It was honestly somehow petrifying. Especially since the person who'd had all the color drain from his face was Cole. The strongest Angel in the village. The man so fearless he'd taken on a dozen Angels at once.

  Suddenly, it felt like everything was happening too fast, yet somehow in slow motion at the same time. Cole stood, setting me on my feet. He told whoever had called him to give him two minutes, then ended the call before saying words that instantly made my stomach churn with dread.

  "Bennett and his men are on the move, speeding across the straits. There's no time to contact Commander Northrup. They'll be here soon."

  *

  While Cole threw on his clothes and his boots, I stood nearby, trembling, asking him if we could just call Commander Northrup and beg him for emergency help, saying that we'd explain everything later.

  Cole glanced up from tightening laces in a boot in a way that could only be described as violently. "No. For one thing, I don't even have the man's phone number. For another thing, without having everything clearly explained first, he'd never come. He'd suspect some sort of a trap."

  "Well, can you send one of your men with a message briefly explaining everything to him? With North Haven being only ten or so miles away, there's a chance Commander Northrup and his fighters could still get here in time to-"

  "No, they couldn't, and they won't." Tightening the laces and of his other boot, Cole glanced up at me. "Even if I dispatched a messenger right now, and even if Commander Northrup didn't suspect some sort of a trap, which I think is highly unlikely, it would probably still take him hours to deliberate, figure out what to do, and then mobilize his fighters. I don't think he'd get that far, though. If an Angel showed up in North Haven bearing a message requesting emergency aid, I think Commander Northrup would immediately suspect me of trying to lure him and his fighters into some clumsy trap. Remember, Lauren, everyone in North Haven thinks of all of us Angels as evil incarnate. Would you come rushing out to aid enemies like that, putting all your people in danger?"

  I didn't even bother answering the rhetorical question.

  Cole had finished tying his boots and had also thrown on a t-shirt while he'd been speaking, and he now took my face in his hands and planted a hasty kiss on my lips. "Stay inside. I love you. I'll be back as soon as I can, and I'll be back alive. I won't let Bennett and his men take our village, and I won't let them hurt you or our baby. I promise you that."

  Before I could respond or even blink, Cole was flying out of the bedroom. Still trembling, I really didn't know what to do. I didn't know what I should do. So, probably like an idiot, I just stood in our sunlit bedroom for at least a solid minute before it occurred to me that I should probably go lock the front door and make sure all ground-floor windows were locked as well. Cole had turned on the air conditioning a few days earlier and had shut them all, but I had no idea if he'd locked them.

  After throwing my robe off, throwing some clothes on, and very quickly running a wide-toothed comb through my shower-damp hair, I made my way out to the foyer, locked the front door, and then went about checking all the windows, a task that took me at least fifteen minutes, considering the size of the mansion, and considering that none of the windows were locked.

  It was only near the end of this task that I realized it had been utterly and completely pointless. While in Angel form, the average Angel could use mental energy to turn an inside lock easy as pie. Not to mention that the average Angel could also just zap a window, shattering it. And as far as any wolf shifte
rs Bennett had fighting for him, I was pretty sure that a lock on a window wasn't going to stop them if the battle reached the mansion and they wanted to get in. I figured they could probably easily just shift into human form and smash out a window. Or just dive right through the glass in wolf form, whichever.

  Suddenly tearful for some reason, whether from having performed a pointless task, or fears for Cole's safety, or fears for my own safety, or all of these things combined, I made my way out to the kitchen, crying and wiping my eyes, intending to just sit at the table until I could figure out what else to do. In the kitchen, I found Mary-Alice, who was sipping a cup of coffee at the table in her housecoat while holding a paperback out in front of her, looking just as serene as could be. However, when she saw me, with my likely blotchy face, she startled, then jumped up from the table and came right over to me with her expression a mask of concern.

  Through me talking and her writing questions on her notepad, I filled her in on everything that was going on. Having come down to the kitchen after Cole had left the house, and having missed me in my going around to lock the windows, she'd had no idea that anything of importance was happening. She even had an egg, ham, and vegetable fritatta in the oven, almost ready for breakfast.

  Despite me protesting, she actually made me sit down and try to eat some of it when it was done, but after two or three bites, I told her I just couldn't manage any more. "I think I'll be sick if I try."

  She wrote that she understood, but that we needed to think of something to keep our mind off things. We just need to let go of our worry and trust that Commander Marlowe and his men will keep us safe.

  I suddenly looked up from the notepad to Mary-Alice, sure I was frowning, "Have you been talking to Cassie?"

  Mary-Alice looked at me quizzically and scribbled a question mark on the paper, but I told her sorry and never mind, able to tell by her expression that she probably hadn't been talking to Cassie. However, I was beginning to feel like many of the other women in New Bad Axe were becoming part of some funny quasi-cult that I knew I was never going to join. Even Ella had mentioned something about the Bennett situation the previous day, saying that she had complete trust that Cole and all his fighters would keep everyone safe, no matter what.

  Mary-Alice began writing again, asking what I thought i might like to do to keep my mind off things. A funny movie? Giving the birds some hard-boiled egg with me?

  The latter suggestion struck me as so comical for some reason, not least of all because it seemed somehow cannibalistic, that I actually had to stifle a laugh.

  Mary-Alice began writing again. No, really. Hard-boiled egg is good for them! Commander Marlowe likes me to give them some at least once a week. Says that if they have to live in cages so that they don't mess all over the house, the least we can do is give them a treat.

  It was then, upon hearing about Cole, the birds, and cages that I got an idea of why he liked keeping birds so much. He could relate to them. he identified with them. He'd been in a cage of his father's making for years.

  This realization suddenly brought tears to my eyes, and I covered them with a hand, cringing. "Poor Cole. He's probably out there having to fight twenty Angels at once right now. He's probably getting hurt."

  From laughing to crying in the span of a minute. It seemed clear that pregnancy was making me wacky. Or maybe it was just life in New Bad Axe.

  The feeling of Mary-Alice gently but firmly giving my shoulders a little shake brought me out of it, though. I uncovered my eyes, and she released my shoulders, grabbed her pen, and began writing again. You underestimate him. Stop.

  Kind of jarred by Mary-Alice's momentary sternness, I just stood while she got some hard-boiled eggs from the fridge and crumbled them into a bowl, humming. When she gently took my arm to lead me out to the bird room, I didn't resist.

  A short while later, once all the birds had a portion of crumbled hard-boiled egg in little plastic dishes in the bottom of their cages, Mary-Alice wrote a note asking what I'd like to do next. Movie time? Manicures?

  The thought of giving myself a manicure while Cole was out fighting started up my waterworks again. I didn't even know why. Wiping my eyes with the back of a hand, I thanked Mary-Alice for trying to keep me busy, but said that I honestly just wanted to lie down. "Maybe with one of Cole's shirts."

  Mary Alice wrote that she understood. Just try to sleep. And when you wake up, Commander Marlowe will be home, and all will be well.

  The idea of the scenario she'd just described was an awfully appealing one. Nodding, I said that sounded like a good idea. "I'll just try to sleep."

  Mary-Alice patted my arm, then wrote that she was going to go take a shower and get dressed. Come get me or call up the stairs if you need anything at all. I'll check on you in a while, but I'll be very quiet so I don't wake you up.

  After giving me two hugs, numerous arm pats, and a few encouraging little smiles, she went to return the egg bowl to the kitchen, and I began making my way down to Cole's and my room. Once there, I started making a movement to climb into bed but stopped suddenly with one foot a few inches above the floor, deciding to take a quick peek out the windows, just to see if I could see any signs that the battle had rolled into the village. With the mansion being situated atop a gently-sloping hill, and with the bedroom windows facing the front, I not only had a view of the massive front yard, paved drive, and lane in front of the house, but some of the houses in the village and the main dirt lane as well.

  If I did see signs that the battle had rolled into the village, I knew it wasn't like I'd be able to do anything about it, so part of me wondered if I should look anyway. But another part of me knew that I just had to look. Maybe if I didn't see any signs of fighting in the village, I could actually fall asleep and take a nap as Mary-Alice had suggested, knowing that things were likely going okay for Cole and his men.

  Making my way over to the windows, I froze, actually hearing the battle before I saw it. Almost in disbelief, I listened as somewhere in the distance, wolves howled and snarled, and electricity crackled through the air, making periodic buzzing noises as loud as a thousand swarming bees.

  When I was finally able to breathe and move after several seconds, I didn't walk the rest of the way to the windows, I ran, literally ripping the sheer curtains off one in my haste to see what was happening. And what was happening was that Cole, in wolf form, was down near the lane in front of the mansion, appearing to be absolutely kicking ass.

  In groups of two and three, Angels and wolves were heading toward the mansion from the northwest, and just as fast as they could come, Cole was charging, attacking, ripping their heads from their bodies with snaps of his mighty jaws. Angels zapped at him but couldn't even slow him. Wolves lunged at him, only to have him tackle them in midair and slam them to the ground. Just as soon as he'd taken out one group, he immediately moved on to the next in line, just like he was playing some bizarre, frenzied game of whack-a-mole.

  With my breathing making a little cloud on the window, I stood with my hands pressed against the sill, feeling a mixture of pride, relief, and joy all at the same time. It did look like I'd underestimated Cole. It did look like I should have just trusted in his strength, letting all my worry just slip away. It looked like I shouldn't have even bothered looking out the window.

  But just as I thought this, movement in the east drew my gaze. I couldn't tell what I was seeing at first. The only thing I could think of was that an ocean of liquid gold was rolling down the hills from the treeline, though I knew that definitely couldn't be right. It took me several moments to realize that the ocean of liquid gold was actually composed of at least a hundred lions with the sun glinting off their manes and fur. As they got a bit closer, I could see and hear that they were roaring. They were North Haven lions. And they were all heading straight for Cole.

  *

  At first, almost impossibly confused and disoriented, I wondered if Cole had changed his mind and had sent a messenger to North Haven after al
l. But then the lions continued to charge, looking as if they weren't even going to pause to try to differentiate Cole from one of Bennett's wolves, and I knew that couldn't be the case.

  Cole looked just as baffled and disoriented as I was. Having dealt with the most recent wave of Bennett's fighters, killing them all, he stood with his hindquarters to the west, just watching the wave of lions approaching from the east as if he couldn't believe his eyes. As if he couldn't even begin to make sense of it all. I couldn't, either. But I knew one thing for certain. Cole may have been a fighter with no equal, but he couldn't take on a hundred-some lions all on his own. And sounds of battle to the west told me that his men were probably very engaged in a vicious fight in that direction.

  For the second time since arriving at the mansion, I escaped out it by climbing through a bedroom window. I started zapping before my feet had even hit the ground. The lions had already reached Cole, though. At least a dozen of them had piled on top of him, roaring.

  Yelling and zapping, I just ran. "Stop! Get off him!"

  Many lions charging in from the east skidded to a halt, but many didn't. The ones in a roaring, clawing pile on top of Cole didn't even look or turn, and I began zapping them furiously, alternating palms, still running.

  "Stop it! Get off!"

  Several of my zaps met their targets, and I was rewarded with an equal number of roars of pain. Encouraged, I continued zapping, though with one hand, using the other to levitate several lions off of Cole. Suspended in midair, they flailed, snarling, and I zapped each of them in turn, making them all roar, thrashing. The noise made two of the lions who were still on Cole look up, and then behind them, freezing when they saw me. Not skipping a beat, I zapped them both, then levitated and spun them, letting them drop to the ground a good several feet from Cole, who I could see clearly now. With blood matting his coal-gray fur, he was lying in a heap, motionless.