by Gena; Butcher Showalter; Gena; Butcher Showalter; Gena; Butcher Showalter; Gena; Butcher Showalter
The only problem with that little plan? He could feel himself falling fast and hard, which meant she wasn't the only one who was scared.
He sprawled out on the chair and gazed up at her. She stood uncertainly beside him, arms folded tight across her breasts. He needed to make her laugh, get her to loosen up a little.
"You are sixteen going on . . ." he sang, laughing.
She swung her gaze to him, dark eyebrows quirking together in confusion. So he explained.
"Sound of Music ." He gestured about them. "They had one of these glass houses in that movie. It's why my mama wanted one. Daddy had it built for her before I was born."
She smiled, a gorgeous beam of sunlight brightening up the night. Unexpected. Thrilling. He wanted to keep her smiling forever.
"I knew this place looked familiar. I love that movie."
"Perhaps I should chase you around on the benches and twirl you in my arms, then." He lifted an eyebrow. "Naked."
Her smile faded and she wrapped both arms about herself again.
Everything in her demeanor screamed virgin, and it made him feel guilty . . . but not for long. He wasn't just after her identity. He'd meant what he'd said on the veranda—he wanted to give her more pleasure than she'd ever known. Wanted to see her react to his touch, glimpse the fire in her almond-shaped eyes as she lay beneath him and he stroked her deepest places.
She glanced away, toward the creek, looking uncomfortable, and that wouldn't do at all. He reached for her hand, pulling her closer to where he lay. "Sunny."
She kept her gaze averted, even as their fingers threaded together. He could feel a light sweat on her palm, and he frowned. "Why are you so afraid of me?" he asked softly.
Finally, she met his gaze. Her own eyes filled with desire and heat and, yes, fear.
"Tell me," he urged, sitting upright and taking her other hand.
"I'm not afraid of you."
"Then what?"
"I'm afraid of me!" she cried impatiently. "I don't know what to do.... You're experienced and suave, and I . . . I still want you, even though I shouldn't."
He broke out into a huge grin, his heart beating much faster. "That's my girl."
"No," she insisted, disengaging her hand from his grasp. She looked up, as if searching for some answer from heaven itself. "I'm . . . not supposed to . . ."
He rose to his feet. "Is it a spiritual thing? You don't think a good girl should have sex or something? I already told you where I stand on that one. God invented the act of making love."
She shook her head again. "Not for me, He didn't."
He thought on that statement for a moment, trying to place it within any context that would explain what or who she truly was. He decided to go straight for broke, as he'd always been a gambling man.
"Sunshine, be honest with me, okay? Are you really human?"
She pressed both hands to her face. "Please don't ask me that again. Don't push me anymore."
At that precise moment, a flash of lightning rent the sky, throwing them both into staccato relief.
He caught a glimpse of her extreme dismay, a rivulet of dampness on her cheek.
Then all was dark again. It had to be a sudden storm, because the night sky had been clear only a few minutes earlier. Only, no storm, not even in the low country, came up this fast in December.
Again, bright light flashed, a peal of thunder vibrating the glass all around them. Sunny turned from him, head bowed.
Every emotion inside of him was at war—he yearned to comfort her, to make love to her, to interrogate her. Instead, he found himself stepping behind her and very gently wrapping his arms about her waist. Drawing her back against his chest, he simply held her.
"You don't have to tell me," he whispered in her ear. "It's okay. We can take our time, too. There's more than tonight."
He'd not promised a woman more than one night . . . ever.
Sunny stilled in his arms, then shocked him by starting to laugh. "You can actually go a little slow, scoundrel?"
He stroked her hair, smiling, and then kissed the top of her head. "Not normally. But you're not a normal girl."
She sighed. He shouldn't have pushed her again, not even subtly. Turning in his arms, she leaned her cheek against his chest. "I wish I were," she said wistfully.
He angled his mouth to kiss her again, but lightning speared the darkness, seeming to suspend between them endlessly. That was the moment when he saw the massive, winged figure on the other side of the glass . . . staring at Sunny with eyes as bright as moonbeams.
"Uh, Sunny . . ." He cradled her head against his chest protectively, wanting to shield her.
"There's something I should tell you."
She nestled closer, seeming more comfortable in his arms. Now, of all the damned times.
"Mmm-hmm?" she inquired sweetly, eyes closed.
The creature shifted its headlight gaze and fixed it hard on Jamie. It was impossible not to see the intense disapproval, even as blinding as that glance was. Jamie pressed his eyes shut instinctively. That was no demon, and it certainly wasn't a winged Spartan.
It was, however, a kind of being that Jamie had seen on rare occasions while fighting in the fiercest spiritual battles.
"Sunny, I really need to know.... It's important." He paused, stealing a breath. "Your secret . . . You wouldn't happen to be an angel, would you?"
Chapter Four
Kiel. Her heavenly supervisor. Of course he'd come, and hadn't wasted any time about it. Sunny blocked Jamie from her superior's furious gaze, stepping in front of him to act as a shield.
Although she had no hope of hiding Jamie—not physically, since he dwarfed her—and not from Kiel's knowing, piercing stare.
"Jamie, you have to go. Fast," she warned him, stepping closer to the glass wall that separated her from Kiel. Just a thin pane of glass, a tiny sliver of a veil between holy wrath and Jamie Angel.
"I'm not leaving you right now. That creature looks pissed."
"He's very angry, yes."
"Because I kissed you."
"Because I disobeyed." She tried to keep her voice calm, but it was difficult with Kiel's gaze and size growing more intimidating by the second.
"Is he going to hurt you? Are you an angel, too?"
She glanced back at Jamie in exasperation. "Yes, I'm an angel. Yes, you were right: I'm not human. Now let me do damage control before you get hurt or blinded just by being near him." She pointed at Kiel, jabbing her finger. "He's a whole other level, okay? He's serious stuff, and you can't be in his presence. And whatever you do, don't look into his eyes!"
"You're trying to protect me?" He sounded shocked, bewildered, and all the while he kept gaping at Kiel. Kiel, who, at any moment, would undoubtedly shatter the glass all around them with his fury and power.
"Jamie!" She yanked open the door to the gazebo and started shoving him out onto the path.
"Get on back to the house. And please, please don't tell Kate . . . or Shay. Anyone. Please keep my secret for me."
He stared at her for one last second, squeezing her hand. "I don't want you to get hurt because of what I did," he whispered.
"Then leave me."
At last, he spun on his heel and walked into the darkness, and slowly she breathed again.
From behind her, Kiel spoke, now inside the structure. "You've been rebellious." His vibrato filled the gazebo, making the glass itself sing with his voice and power.
She kept her back to the massive angel. "It wasn't my intention."
"But it happened, Sunera."
She pressed her hands against the glass, trying to steady herself. "James Angel is overpowering."
"To a true angel?" Kiel's laughter rumbled and she watched as the glass panel beneath her palms cracked. "He bears the name as a prophetic sign of his power, but he is only a mortal. You've grown weak during your human years."
"You're the one who put me here, in a human body, as a ten-year-old. You made me human."
&nb
sp; "It was your task to serve as Kate Rabineau's guardian, to protect her from the forces of darkness in the world. To stand between her and the evil that would seek to use her power for gain. To guard her against any harm, whether by human or demonic hand."
"And I've done that!"
Kiel's voice grew much quieter. "It was also your task, Sunera, to develop understanding and compassion by living as a human."
She planted a hand over her heart. "I may be an angel, but I still feel, still care.... I still experience human passions because I've been living in human form for almost seventeen years."
Kiel's power sang through the air. "You forget yourself," he rumbled. "As you did with James Angel just now."
She turned and faced the mighty one who had intimidated her for centuries, the one she held in high esteem . . . yet always feared. Kiel blazed like the sun, mere feet away from her. She looked up at him, shaking all over.
"Will you send me home, then? Is that it?"
"You have work to do here on Earth. Important work protecting Kate. Although the Angel clan no longer seeks the lives of vampires, Kate remains vulnerable to other hunters, ones who don't understand that she is not evil, only rare. And I don't need to remind you of the demons who seek her blood."
Sunny hung her head, feeling ashamed, fearful for Kate's safety. She couldn't believe that she'd nearly compromised her position as her best friend's guardian angel—the thought of anyone else being assigned to Kate made her blood run cold. Kate was her duty, her charge. She couldn't falter again, no matter how badly she wanted Jamie.
"Don't punish Kate because of my indiscretion."
"This is but a warning, young one." Kiel's glowing, humming wings spread wide, until his shadow covered her. "However, indulge these human passions again and there will be a price."
A price. She would be sent back to heaven, taken out of the field until she'd earned the right to serve as an earthly guardian again.
Who would watch over her best friend, who would protect her—as a pure-blooded vampire, Kate would always be at risk from hunters and dark forces that sought to harm her. Even though a vampire, she was still an Earth dweller, and the heavenly angels watched over every person on Earth—human and vampire.
"But Kate?" she asked, her heart clenching.
"Kate would be granted another guardian."
As a whole, vampirekind was misunderstood by their human counterparts. There were so many false myths and legends, and Hollywood hadn't helped any of that misinformation, leaving vampires open for hunting. So they needed protection at least as much as humans did, and God made no distinction, protecting both groups on Earth. The problem, though, was that their special abilities meant that they could spot the usual heavenly guardians, with their wings and otherworldly nature. That was why Sunny had been sent to safeguard Kate in human form, without her glory and angelic appearance. Her natural radiance, too, she kept concealed unless she absolutely needed it.
Throughout the eternal age before that, Sunny had served in heaven, and occasionally as a guardian angel for humans on Earth. But being paired with Kate, and assuming human form, was a first-time experience. Now it seemed that she'd failed miserably.
"Don't leave Kate in danger because I've made a mistake," she pleaded, bowing her head respectfully to Kiel.
He smiled gently. "Our approach next time would be different. But don't force our hand. Perhaps with another mortal your disobedience might have been more easily overlooked."
Was that why Kiel had come so quickly? It had something to do with Jamie's calling and his abilities as a hunter? Her mind raced.
"I'd barely finished the kiss and you were here," she ventured, hoping he would give more details. "That's fast, even for you."
Kiel smiled, adding the wattage of another sun to his already blazing beauty. "I was alerted."
Her mind whirled. "I've seen no guardians around Jamie . . . unless there's someone like me, an angel in human form? But if that were true, I'd have sensed them. I don't understand why Jamie, who fights such dark forces, is left without his own guardian."
Kiel's expression grew somber. "He is not alone."
Kiel's expression grew somber. "He is not alone."
"But I haven't seen—"
"James Angel and his siblings have special guardians, but they are instructed to keep their distance lest they interfere."
"Interfere? Interfere with what, sir?" She couldn't mask her anger. It was their job, as angels, to protect and watch over humanity. She'd never once heard of guardians who "kept their distance."
The thought that Jamie—or Mason and Shay—might be less than well protected galled her.
Kiel regarded her calmly. "Sunera, Jamie and his siblings fight demons, darkness. They are in the battlefield nearly every day. If their own guardians were visible or intrusive, then the demons would spot them. The Angels' ability to fight would be nullified, because the demons would cower and not come near. We both know that they are drawn and compelled to battle human hunters like the Angel siblings."
"While we are forced to stand aside and watch the bloodshed and pain."
"We cannot interfere with free will. You know the parameters."
Sunny thought of how oddly gentle Jamie had been with her, the way he'd ignited her, even while seeming vulnerable. He was beautiful, and demons sought his blood every day . . . while his guardians were held at bay by heaven itself. "You're using them, and that's not right."
Kiel rumbled his displeasure at the comment, and she heard another glass pane crack. "They are endowed with spiritual gifts that few humans ever even know about. The Lord has called them.... They embrace their gifts."
"And you put them at risk with inadequate coverage. No wonder I never saw any angels around them . . . and I couldn't understand, not from the first time I met Shay. It's like you're dangling them as bait, without sufficient protection. If their guardian angels keep that kind of distance, they're practically on their own."
"Enough! " Kiel roared, a blast of warm wind filling the space. His wings expanded; his countenance blinded her.
She fell to her knees, trembling. Impertinence never was tolerated by her commanders, and she hastened to make amends. "Forgive me."
Instantly Kiel's strong hand touched the crown of her head, his fury vanished, replaced by kindness and compassion.
"You care deeply for all humans, and these Angels are your friends. Trust me when I say we do not leave them at risk. Jamie is guarded by angels, the Shades by many more. They watch from afar unless needed. Even Jamie has seen his guardians on occasion, in the midst of heated battle. That's how he recognized what I am the moment he saw me. Jamie alone has three guardians."
She looked up in shock, still kneeling. "Three?" She'd never heard of a mortal with three guardian angels. Even two was exceedingly rare.
Kiel smiled again, gentleness in his bright, glowing eyes. "You see now that he is special."
Yes, Jamie was special; she'd figured that out the moment they'd kissed. Before. There was something so powerful and beautiful in him, he almost seemed like he was an angel, and not just by name.
Kiel continued, "You understand why you must not allow him to touch you again?"
She nodded, tears filling her eyes. "Yes, Kiel. I understand."
"Then why the tears, young one?" He patted her cheek.
The tears came harder and she shook her head, avoiding Kiel's strong gaze. "I should not say."
He forced her to look up at him. "You should not hold silent."
There weren't words. How could you tell another angel that your deepest wish, the gravest, most important desire in your heart, was to be human? To know what it was to love another human, to experience the power of that love in mortal life? All these years, watching from afar, Sunny had felt an outsider, forever looking through the glass at what she never could have herself. That feeling had intensified tenfold once she'd been sent to Earth as Kate's personal guardian, after being placed in human form.
She could explain none of this to Kiel, nor would she try.
But his eyes revealed a deep understanding of those unspoken words. "This is why touching them intimately is forbidden. It unlocks emotions that should never belong to us." For a moment, Kiel's gaze grew long, almost sad, and she wondered if he'd walked this same path of temptation himself at one time. But then he looked back at her. "Do not kiss James Angel again, continue in your role as Kate's guardian, and all shall be well."
She nodded, wiping at her tears. "Yes, sir, understood."
All shall be well. But how could it be, now that she knew what it was to be in Jamie Angel's arms?
Jamie stared numbly at the flat screen. All around him, his family and friends were laughing and talking, cheering on the bowl game, but he could barely hear a word. Sunny Renfroe was an angel.
He, a man who'd spent his entire adulthood trying to serve God with his demon fighting, had kissed someone sacred. Someone pure.
Surely he'd be damned to hell. Certainly a giant heavenly hand would materialize any moment and for one specific purpose: to yank him off the sofa and send him straight to the fiery pit.
You just didn't go and seduce an angel. Never mind that she'd shown up at his house disguised as a human.
Who are you kidding? You knew she wasn't a mortal from the moment you met her.
He'd known, and yet he'd contrived a plan to seduce her, and look what had happened. He'd quite possibly caused her a great deal of harm, while he continued to live his everyday human life.
"Jamie? Did you hear me?" Shay dropped down onto the sofa right beside him. "You're zoned. What's wrong?" She studied him, seeming genuinely concerned. "And you look like you just saw a dark legion or something. You're actually pale. And your eyes are bloodshot."