Rebel Angel: A Sainted Sinners Novel

by Vivian Wood

  Ezra tensed as he realized her intention, preparing to stop her. He wanted to fuck her properly, but that mouth would surely ruin his plans.

  Intentions be damned, all thought flew out the window the moment her hot little tongue touched the thick head of his dick, sampling. Ezra let out a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush, but sweet Aurora didn’t so much as bat an eyelash. Instead she slid her soft lips around the tip of his cock, running her tongue around, experimenting.

  And that quickly, Ezra had to pull himself away.

  “I’m not finished!” she protested, pouting.

  “Well I’m about to be if you don’t stop,” he scolded, pulling her back up to him.

  Aurora leaned in and kissed him. He ran a hand down her flank to her inner thigh, seeking. She made another oh sound as he rolled her onto her back. He sought the center of her heat again, only to find her hot, wet, and more than ready. He rolled to center his body over hers, and she parted her legs for him. Settling himself against her core, Ezra had to bite his lip when she wrapped her legs around him.

  Using one hand, he guided himself to her opening but didn’t press in just yet. Ezra wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt her by moving too fast. In slow, painstaking movements, he used all-too-short thrusts to work himself into her dampness.

  Aurora, of course, had her own ideas. While he was busy restraining himself from pounding her until she screamed, she got tired of waiting. Using more muscle than he’d known she had, she flexed her thighs hard and pulled him all the way down in one rough stroke. They both cried out, and Ezra looked at her to make sure she was unharmed. Wrinkling her nose, she smacked him on the arm.

  “More,” she ordered. Ezra’s humorous snort of response was lost as he withdrew and plunged back in to the hilt, leaving her breathless with pleasure.

  He set a faster rhythm than he’d planned, realizing that neither of them would last very long like this. Aurora moved under him, relentless, meeting each stroke as he pounded against her. Fissions of pleasure shot through his body, pooling heavily in his groin. When he started to feel Aurora’s innermost muscles clench, he grabbed both her knees and pressed them back toward her body to give himself access to her G spot.

  He could feel the spongy spot of her inner lining, and guided each stroke to rub against it. In moments she was shaking like crazy, every muscle coiled on the verge of release. He stopped holding back his own orgasm, and was immediately on the brink. When Aurora cried out, half-sobbing his name, her sweet body clenching and milking his cock, a flood of pleasure washed through Ezra. The release barreled through his body and mind, so intense that for several heartbeats he was blind to everything around him, deaf to his own shouts of pleasure.

  Collapsing next to Aurora, he pulled her closer and gasped for breath. Feeling her delicate heartbeat against his own, he closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the sweetness of the moment.

  18

  Aurora

  Aurora lay in Ezra’s arms, catching her breath, the early morning sun filtering in the window. He was quiet, his eyes closed as he ran his fingers through her hair. She watched him for a long time, wondering what was going through his mind.

  It would be unfair to ask him, though, as she barely knew her own mind at the moment.

  She was basking in the feeling of rightness, the happy post-coital glow. Still, a small part of her couldn’t stop thinking of the next night, wondering at Ezra’s unconditional support.

  He was going to walk into danger for her. Risk his life on what he’d termed a suicide mission, for what?

  Because she wanted it? Because they shared a connection? Because they were kindred spirits?

  Or was it more than that?

  She turned on her side to face him, and Ezra opened his eyes. His stunning jungle green gaze took her breath away, just as it had the very first time she laid eyes on him.

  “What happens if… if we don’t die tomorrow?” she asked.

  Ezra’s mouth creased into a frown. “What are you asking?”

  “I just mean… we’ve been so focused on me, my plans, my needs. What’s next for you?” she asked.

  His eyes closed again, briefly. “I’m not sure.”

  She absorbed that, biting her lip. When he spoke again, his words surprised her.

  “Armeros offered me a trade,” he said.

  Aurora stared at him. “What?”

  “He offered me a chance to return to neutral, to strike the Fall from my record.”

  “In exchange for what? Killing me?” she asked, pulling back from him a few inches.

  “Don’t,” Ezra said, his mouth thinning. “For love of all that’s holy, don’t push me away.”

  “What am I supposed to do, Ezra?” she asked.

  “Appreciate my honesty, maybe,” he said.

  Aurora sucked in a breath. He had her there.

  “The point I was trying to make,” Ezra continued, “is that I might find that offer elsewhere.”

  “Le Medcin, you mean?” Aurora asked.

  “Exactly.”

  “And what would that mean? Would you leave?”

  Ezra’s expression was unfathomable. “I don’t know. Nothing is decided.”

  “Right,” she said. “Right.”

  She started to roll over, but Ezra stopped her.

  “Aurora, you have to know…” he said, clearly struggling to find the words. “I care for you. More than care for you.”

  For a second, she thought he would come right out and say he loved her, but he did not. Her lips parted, but no words formed.

  “You don’t have to say anything,” he said, shaking his head. “I know that this is all so fast, too fast for you. I just… I don’t want to walk into the battle tonight without having made myself clear.”

  Aurora had to work not to wince. “You sound so certain about me.”

  “I am. I have no doubts about the way I feel.”

  “How can you ever know something like that?” she asked.

  Ezra flinched, releasing her from his grasp. “I just know.”

  “But… how?” she asked, pleading now.

  He took a deep breath, rolling onto his back to look up at the ceiling.

  “All my life, I’ve only ever done anything in the name of service. Duty, honor, loyalty. With you, I still feel all those things… but they don’t define me. I look at you, and I just feel… lighter. I feel like I’ve been a stone statue all my life, but suddenly now I can move, I’m free.”

  He turned to look at her finally, searing her with that emerald gaze. “I’m alive, Aurora. You do that to me. And now that I’ve felt it, I don’t want to go back to the way things were before.”

  She had no response. A thousand things stacked up in her mind, questions and thoughts and brief, sharp flares of emotion. But none of them came out. They were all stuck somewhere deep in her heart, unable to surface.

  He looked away again, and she could tell that Ezra was hurting.

  “No matter what, I won’t go back,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  He glanced at her one last time, then shook his head. “Get some sleep, Aurora.”

  Ezra settled back, folding his hands across his chest, and closed his eyes. The slow, steady sound of his breathing shut down any further debate on her part. Aurora turned onto her back, feeling unsettled.

  The harder she worked to untangle the knots of her relationship with Ezra, the more impossibly tangled it seemed to become.

  Is it supposed to feel like this? Aurora wondered, closing her eyes and letting her mind wander. I feel as though I’m being pulled in a thousand directions.

  Ezra was a safe port in the storm that was her life, but was that enough? If Aurora stopped running, would she be enough to keep him anchored?

  Drifting off, she lost the thread of her thought, dreaming instead of restless seas and capsized boats.

  19

  Aurora

  “We’re driving to the park
?” Aurora asked Ezra as they got ready to leave the safe house late that evening.

  Ezra glanced at her, adjusting where his sword lay against his back.

  “We’re hitching a ride,” he said. “I don’t want to endanger anyone else, but we can’t take down Belial and Armeros alone.”

  Aurora nodded, fidgeting with the two golden knives sheathed on each of her thighs. She’d only fought with them a couple of times, but Ezra’s gift had proved vital at the Sea of Lights.

  She could only hope they would be so lucky today.

  “Here,” Ezra said, stopping her. He knelt before her, adjusting the sheaths at her thighs.

  She flushed and warmed at the intimate contact, though they’d only left Ezra’s bed an hour before. Looking down at his bowed head, her fingers itched to stroke his hair. They’d kissed, quick and heated, just before she left to shower and dress for the fight.

  Now, it seemed that Ezra had turned his thoughts to the oncoming battle. His fingers might have lingered a little as he righted her knives, but soon he was on his feet again, all business.

  “Ezra,” she said, stopping him as he moved toward the front door.

  He looked back at her without a word.

  “I feel like I should say something,” she said, wringing her hands.

  His face was a mask, unreadable and blank.

  “I don’t want anything from you,” he said. Her heart started to sink, but he cleared his throat and clarified. “Not before the battle, when you think we’re going to die. If you still have something to say after that, we can revisit this later.”

  Humbled, Aurora sucked in a deep breath.

  “I know. Just… thank you,” she said.

  He was still for a moment, then he nodded. “We should go.”

  He ushered her out the front door. The late evening air was surprisingly cool, given the season.

  A car horn honked, and Ezra looked at her expectantly. “That’s our ride, I think.”

  They walked around the side of the yard to the front of the house. Parked at the curb was a cotton candy pink Mercedes convertible, a stunning blonde behind the wheel. A handsome blond man was in the passenger seat beside her, looking annoyed.

  The woman looked right at them, grinned, and honked the horn twice more. “Come on!”

  Aurora looked at Ezra. “Does she know what we’re doing?”

  “Better not to ask. Try not to talk to her, if you can help it.”

  The blonde looked Aurora up and down as they walked up to the car, then winked at Ezra.

  “Hiya, handsome,” she said.

  Aurora couldn’t decide if her accent was British or just rich and snotty. Wherever she was from, she was stunning. Big blue eyes, a perfect face that any supermodel would kill for. What little Aurora could see of her outfit was white and skintight, and it looked suspiciously like a designer dress.

  “Stella, Lucan,” Ezra said, inclining his head.

  “You must be Aurora,” Stella said.

  Aurora just nodded, letting Stella stare her fill. Lucan seemed disinterested, almost antsy, if someone that big and muscular could fit the term.

  “You’re cute,” Stella said, seemingly satisfied. “Climb in.”

  Ezra helped Aurora in one side of the convertible’s backseat, then hopped in to sit next to her. Before he was even fully in the seat, Stella pulled off with a squeal of tires.

  Stella gunned the convertible through the streets, taking turns at top speed. Aurora nearly swallowed her tongue. Unable to find a seatbelt, she reached over and gripped Ezra’s hand. He glanced at her, then shook her hand off, only to move over and slide his arm around her shoulders.

  In the front seat, Lucan didn’t flinch, appearing bored with the whole thing.

  They hit a straightaway near the park and Stella floored it.

  “Woooohoooo!” she shouted as they zoomed down the road, the lush greenery of City Park rising in the distance.

  Luckily, with Stella’s tactical driving, they were out of the car and on foot less than two minutes later. Ezra helped Aurora out again; apparently no one got in and out of Stella’s driver’s side door but Stella.

  “That was a blast,” Stella said.

  She opened the door and got out, proving Aurora’s suspicions right. She wore a tight white sheath dress and sky-high red heels. For all her dramatic good looks, Aurora found it funny that Stella was barely taller than five feet.

  “Aurora!”

  Aurora turned to see Vesper trotting toward her, Kirael in tow. Vesper’s dark hair was long and flowing, and she wore jeans rather than her usual leather battle gear. Clearly Vesper and Stella weren’t actually walking into the fight tonight.

  “Hi,” Aurora said, a little confused by Vesper’s presence.

  Vesper threw her arms around Aurora, surprising her with a hard hug. When Vesper released her, she pulled a face.

  “I made Kirael bring me, just so I can apologize. I’ve been going nuts since you and Ezra left,” she said, glancing at Ezra for a moment. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Is he being nice to you?”

  Aurora couldn’t help a smile at that. “Perfectly.”

  “I really had no idea that you’d be in so much danger,” Vesper said, her eyes big and sincere. “I can’t apologize enough, I’m so so sorry.”

  Aurora patted her hand. “It’s forgotten.”

  “Well…” Vesper said, stepping back with a sigh. “I brought something for you. Hopefully it will help.”

  She untied a velvet pouch from her belt, holding it out to Aurora.

  “Super, super fragile,” she said.

  “Are these the orbs?” Aurora asked.

  “You bet. They’re pretty simple to use. Grab them, smash them on the person you want to trap. Don’t miss,” Vesper said, her quirky humor shining through.

  “Right,” Aurora said. “I think I can remember that.”

  “I put four of them in there, just in case,” Vesper said. “They’re like a zillion dollars apiece, but I want you to crush it tonight. No pun intended.”

  She winked, and Aurora nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “Maybe we can like… hang out,” Vesper said, getting a little awkward. “You know, once you don’t die.”

  Aurora laughed. “I wouldn’t hate that.”

  “Okay,” Vesper said, turning to look at Kirael. “Kirael is going in with you. Don’t let anything happen to him.”

  Aurora gave her a salute, making Vesper grin.

  Kirael came over and grabbed Vesper’s wrist, towing her back to the black Range Rover they’d arrived in. Vesper waved one more time, then hopped in the car and left.

  “So…” Aurora said, looking to Ezra. “What happens now?”

  “Well, Stella is here to help lure Belial out into the open.”

  Aurora squinted at Stella, but didn’t say much. She didn’t know the blonde’s back story, but Ezra’s word was good enough for Aurora.

  “Lucan’s here for Stella,” Ezra continued. A glance at Lucan showed his complete distaste for the whole venture, or maybe for being around Stella. He was like a big, silent wall of stone, no clues to be found.

  “And I’m here to back you guys up,” Kirael said. “The Alpha Guardians are also here, patrolling the park to keep bystanders out of the blast radius, so to speak.”

  “Right,” Aurora said. “Ezra, you leaked the location of a meeting I’m supposedly having?”

  “You’re consulting an oracle,” Ezra said. “That’s the rumor going around. In reality, the oracle will be one of the witnesses we’ve got stashed around the park. Watching, waiting. I promised them quite a show.”

  “Okay. So… I just walk out there, stand, and wait?” she asked.

  Ezra gave her a sharp look. “It’s your plan, Aurora.”

  “I know,” she said, giving herself a shake. “Okay. Okay.”

  Kirael looked at Lucan and Stella. “Let’s, uh, go take our places.”

  Stella smirked and Lucan s
cowled, but they both allowed Kirael to lead them off into the park.

  Leaving Aurora and Ezra alone for a few final moments. They looked at one another, both seemingly at a loss for words. Aurora was brimming with the need to touch him, thank him, beg him to be careful.

  He turned toward her, and she threw herself at him, flinging her arms around her neck. Pressing her lips to his, she gave him a quick, fierce kiss.

  When they broke apart, she looked up at him, breathless.

  “Don’t die,” she said, keeping it as simple as she could.

  Ezra’s lips curled up. “I’ll do my best.”

  She took a step back, then another, then turned and left him. Jogging out to the big open area they’d previously laid out as the battleground, she found a central spot and stayed put.

  Minutes ticked by, nothing more exciting happening than the soft chirp of crickets. A single lonely streetlight stood nearby, casting a sickly green glow across the ground.

  As promised, the Alpha Guardians were keeping all pedestrians away, so the whole place was still. After ten minutes, Aurora started to lose her nerve, wondering if Armeros and Belial would even show.

  Maybe she was crazy, maybe neither of them was really hunting Nulls in the first place. Maybe…

  Behind her, she heard the sound of feet hitting the ground. Spinning, she saw a towering pair of glossy black wings. Their owner, a lithely handsome blonde man in a black suit, strode toward her with a wicked grin on his face.

  Her hands dropped to her knives, but he held his hands up, indicating that he meant no harm.

  “I’ve been looking all over for you, darling,” he said, his subtle British accent reminding Aurora of Stella’s.

  “Uhhh… who are you?” she asked, playing along.

  “Your best friend. Your worst nightmare. Your future lover,” he said with a shrug. “Depends on you, Aurora.”