Max glared at him through his shaggy hair. Jericho looked as though he wanted to say something more but after a few moments held out placating hands. “Okay, you’re fine.”
A derisive sound escaped the Humvee, and Max jerked around to find Luke staring at him, not even trying to hide the fact that he’d made the noise. Max frowned at him and spoke to Eli and Jericho without looking. “Get us out of here,” Max commanded. “The guards could stumble upon us at any moment.”
“Actually,” Jericho said, “there’s really no rush.”
Max froze. “No rush?” Had he somehow mistaken the definition of those words? “They’ll capture us again!”
“There are, maybe, five guards left,” Eli said. “I think that’s what our intel said. We don’t know for sure why you three were separated from us, but we think you were hidden here in case shit hit the fan back in the States. If the military didn’t know you existed, they couldn’t take you away. But now Taylor’s dead, and they won’t have the manpower to locate us and come after us. Funding got cut; everyone left. Operation: Middle of the Garden, as we knew it, is done.”
Max’s mouth went dry. “Taylor’s dead?” After the five of them—Eli, Jericho, Oliver, Luke, and Max—had found the Garden of Eden while on tour in Afghanistan, Major Taylor had coerced them into testing the fruit from the Tree of Eternal Life for the army so their families would be told they were dead and then be compensated rather than just told they were dead.
Eli nodded. “Killed him myself.”
Max tilted his head to the side, dreading the understanding that was beginning to dawn. “Taylor’s dead and no one’s left?” His revenge. God, what would his purpose be now?
The smile on Eli’s face slipped. “Uh—”
“Forget it,” Max said quickly, wiping all emotion away before he could collapse under the pressure behind his heart. “I don’t want to be here a second more.” Without another word, Max crawled into the back of the Humvee with his men and slammed the door behind him. Jericho and Eli hopped into the front along with a male angel Max had never seen before. Max did a double take, viewing the new angel’s long, dark hair, broad shoulders, and vicious countenance before forcing himself to act as though this new angel were no big deal. As though Max saw fucking angels every day. As they drove away, abandoning the blind, Max knew he did not need to look back for his angel.
Though he couldn’t see her because she sat on the side of his good eye, he could feel her right beside him.
Chapter Seven
Operation: Middle of the Garden Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
She could not leave him. She couldn’t leave him right after he’d squeezed her tight for comfort upon gaining his freedom. She couldn’t leave him when he saw his friends for the first time in nine years and his attention was directed away from her. She couldn’t leave him when they drove off, and he did not even look back to see if she was still there. She couldn’t leave him when they boarded a plane and flew to the States. And she could not leave him now that he was safe and sound inside the Operation: Middle of the Garden military compound that housed the Trees that had been supplanted from the Garden of Eden.
More than anything, Anahita wished she could leave him. And more than anything, she was glad that she couldn’t. She had felt many forbidden emotions over the centuries of her existence, but she had rarely felt confusion. She could safely say she did not care for it.
She stood, now in the center of an enormous, domed room, watching with hesitant fascination as the sunlight filtering in through the glass of the dome picked up red highlights in her Temptation’s hair. He stared, with a stiff back, at the Tree of Eternal Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil where they grew in the center of the room.
The Trees were gorgeous. Their branches stretched upwards and outwards, nearly brushing the glass of the dome. They grew on a much larger scale than typical trees, and their branches were heavy with fruit: glittering gold for the Tree of Eternal Life and swirling black and white for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Most of the humans in the room were entranced by the Trees, staring at them as they walked past, and Luke and Max were no different. Eli and Jericho had brought the men straight here upon arriving at the compound, and Luke and Max had planted their feet here at the Trees’ trunks and had been staring up into the branches ever since.
Anahita glanced at the Trees for a moment. Though, until very recently, she could have viewed them from the heavens when they were still in the Garden of Eden, she had never taken the opportunity to do so. The Trees were reviled among her kind. They were a physical manifestation of the Most High’s partiality to a weaker race.
But she wasn’t focused elsewhere because of that. She was focused elsewhere because when her Temptation and the Trees were in the same room, it was no contest as to what snagged her attention.
Heavens, he is magnificent. Anahita sighed as she eyed his broad shoulders and muscled back. She feared she was growing obsessed with this part of his body. Was that normal? Was a woman supposed to lust after a man’s back? It did not seem normal to her. She had heard of women lusting after a man’s backside—and Max was blessed in that area, as well—but Anahita could not tear her eyes from their current target.
To her right, Jayden cleared his throat and glowered in her direction, obviously not knowing exactly where she was since she was invisible, but able to determine her location based on her thoughts. Her lascivious, lascivious thoughts.
Stop reading my mind, brother, Anahita projected toward him, a tinge desperately.
“Stop eye-raping the human,” Jayden said.
Eye-raping? Jayden was speaking more and more like a human every moment, it seemed.
Eli and Jericho turned and looked at Jayden with furrowed brows, and Anahita felt herself flush even though they couldn’t see her and didn’t know why Jayden had spoken so oddly.
They can hear you! Anahita thought toward him.
“Of course they can,” Jayden said simply. When Eli’s and Jericho’s brows crinkled further, Jayden smiled broadly and waved at them with a wiggle of his fingers. Eli and Jericho glanced at each other before Eli shrugged and they both turned back.
A finger wave. Jayden, terror of the skies for millennia, had finger waved at a pair of humans. You are much changed, Anahita projected.
“I could say the same about you,” Jayden said. This time, his one-sided conversation went unmarked by those around them.
Anahita closed her eyes, feeling every inch of censure in Jayden’s words. And yet, even with her eyes closed, she could see the form and shape of Max’s back against the insides of her eyelids, and a fine tremor shook her limbs.
Jayden tsked, and Anahita opened her eyes.
“Jayden!”
The Fallen angel’s name had come from behind them, and Anahita turned her head to see who had spoken the two syllables with what was the equivalent of a vocal caress. In her peripheral vision, Anahita saw Jayden spin around. The Fallen’s hand came up to his chest, where it rubbed a circle, and he breathed, “My Grace.” And then he opened his arms wide.
Anahita watched in wonder as a very curvy, short human with a riot of curly, red hair raced across the distance between them and launched herself into Jayden’s open arms. Jayden wrapped himself around her, and her fingers threaded through his hair, and then they were kissing so passionately, Anahita wondered how they were even breathing.
Anahita’s mouth was wide open, and she closed it and turned away just as she saw what was definitely Jayden’s tongue thrust into the human’s mouth. Anahita ruffled the feathers of her wings self-consciously, and she caught Eli and Jericho glancing over their shoulders. They looked at Jayden and his human for maybe a second before Eli rolled his eyes, Jericho grinned, and they looked back at the Trees.
Apparently, this massive display of affection was a common occurrence.
With a heavy groan, Jayden broke the kiss, and out of her peripheral vision, Anahita
could see him staring into his human’s eyes.
“I missed you so much,” the Temptation—Grace—said softly.
“Missing you does not begin to describe how I felt being apart from you,” Jayden grumbled, rubbing his nose against hers.
And you accuse me of changing, Anahita projected while still trying hard not to stare at them.
“Only for the better,” Jayden said.
Anahita saw Grace straighten in Jayden’s arms. “Whom are you talking to?” she asked.
“Anahita,” Jayden said absently, more focused on wrapping one of Grace’s curls around his finger.
Grace pushed away from Jayden. “Your sister?”
Anahita was shocked when Jayden pouted. Pouted. “Well, not technically. We do not share the same parents, but we belonged to the brethren together, so saying so is not false.” He attempted to pull Grace back into his arms, but the woman was scanning the area around Anahita.
“Where is she? I want to meet her.”
Had Jayden told his Temptation of Anahita? It appeared so, if she knew enough to suspect Anahita was both nearby and invisible. Why would she want to meet her?
“Surely we can say hello to each other properly first,” Jayden protested, fisting his hands at his sides.
Grace laughed and rose to the tips of her toes to brush a kiss across Jayden’s lips. “Soon enough.”
Jayden grasped Grace’s arms to keep her from moving away and said loudly, “Anahita, show yourself.”
Anahita groaned and turned her eyes to her own Temptation, who, for the first time since arriving in this room, was no longer staring at the Trees. Max’s mismatched eyes were now focused on Jayden and with such attention that he had not shaken his hair into his face yet to hide his scar. Anahita used the opportunity to drink in his features. His brow was furrowed, and something akin to anger crossed his face and then was gone. Anahita got the impression he did not like Jayden ordering her about. She shifted her weight back and forth and crossed her arms over her stomach before forcing them to straighten at her sides once again. And then, like the last time Max had discovered her presence through the use of his eye, Anahita lost her grip on invisibility.
Her sudden appearance snagged the attention of Eli, who turned quickly. “Whoa,” he said. In the next second, his face was a blank mask, and he was reaching for his gun.
Anahita wasn’t sure exactly what happened next, but Max’s glorious back was suddenly all she could see. She blinked to discover that her Temptation now stood in front of her. She peeked around his shoulder; he held his hands out in a placating manner toward Eli, who pointed his gun toward the ground rather than toward them.
Jayden dropped his arms from his Grace and moved to stand between Eli and Max. “You will not harm her,” Jayden said softly.
Eli’s gun shook slightly. “She’s one of the good guys?” he asked.
Jayden said yes at the same time Max said no.
Everyone in hearing distance turned to look at Max, who was still standing in a defensive position in front of her.
“Uh,” Eli said, “you’re defending a bad guy?”
“No,” Max said shortly, stepping out from in front of her and crossing his arms over his chest.
Jericho seemed to be interested in something else entirely. “How do you know she’s a bad guy?” he asked Max.
Max looked at Anahita momentarily, swallowing hard before looking back at Jericho. “I don’t really,” he said. “I mean … both good and evil…” Max tapered off and self-consciously but deliberately brushed his fingers over his scarred eye.
Jericho’s eyes widened. Apparently Max’s stuttered words meant something to him. “Oh, wow,” Jericho said on a breath. “We have a lot to discuss.”
“She’s not a bad guy,” Jayden said gruffly, glaring at Max.
Max raised his chin and glared right back. “She’s here to kill us.”
For some reason, Anahita wanted to bury her face in her hands. A muscle ticked in Jayden’s jaw though he did not refute Max’s statement.
Eli and Jericho now stared at Anahita again. Eli sighed. “Another one,” he muttered in an offensively dismissive way while holstering his firearm.
Jericho looked at Max. “Is she yours?” he asked softly.
“The One,” Max ground out, casting her a dark glance as though this were her fault. “Mine, yes.” Before pride could take hold in her heart, Max continued, “Unfortunately.”
“Actually,” Anahita found herself saying out of frustration, “he’s mine.” They all turned to look at her, and she felt blood heat her cheeks. “My, uh, mission,” she mumbled.
Jayden made a noise that sounded like a snort.
You are not helping.
The infuriating Fallen shrugged and smirked.
She wanted that look off his face. I delivered your humans’ friends. Now, deliver the sword, Jayden.
Mission accomplished. Jayden’s face grew grave.
“Grace,” Anahita said, turning to the red-haired human, “it was nice to meet you.” Grace opened her mouth to speak, but Anahita continued over her, “If you will all excuse us now, Jayden and I have something to discuss.”
“Yes,” Jayden agreed. “It appears we do.” Jayden kissed Grace’s forehead, not answering the question in her eyes. “I will be back soon,” he whispered to her. Then he turned his green eyes upon Anahita. “Come with me, Anahita.”
She made to follow Jayden’s direction, but then hidden drives within her stalled her feet. She looked over at Max, her brow furrowing.
Jayden, of course, read her thoughts. “He will not go anywhere, and you are not leaving him.”
Max’s face grew thunderous at Jayden’s words, but he did not say or do anything to refute them. With a deep breath and a mental reassurance that Max would be here when she returned, Anahita got her feet to follow the direction Jayden indicated for their “discussion.”
It was not until the soft click of a door sounded behind her that Anahita saw Jayden had taken her into an office. His, if the nameplate on the desk were to be believed. This new, human-friendly Jayden took some getting used to. Before Grace, he had despised humans in the way of all the brethren. Perhaps even more, since his mission to guard the Trees from human interference kept him from battling.
“Do you work for the humans now in their experimentation with the Trees?” Anahita asked. The touch of disbelief tinging her voice sounded like scorn, which, she realized, could only help her case. Jayden would wonder if Anahita did not act as though she despised humans.
Rather than get defensive, Jayden surprised her yet again. “I do. They are most resourceful. It is a joy to me to help them.”
“Hmm,” Anahita hummed noncommittally. “Well, I am happy for you.”
“Happy?” Jayden said with a one-sided smile. “Feeling, are we?”
Anahita ruffled her feathers and straightened her posture. “The sword, Jayden. We had a deal.”
The smile faded. “We did.”
“Then hand it over,” Anahita said, frowning.
Jayden shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Let us just ... talk first.”
He wasn’t handing it over? “You ... lied?” The thought that Jayden would lie had never even entered Anahita’s mind. Angels could not lie. Of course, Jayden was Fallen now, but for him to lie—to have fallen so low. Anahita swallowed past a lump in her throat.
“No!” Jayden shouted. “I would never—” He cut himself off and thrust the fingers of one hand through his long hair. “This is a mess.”
“I do not understand.”
Jayden looked at her with heavy eyes. “You promise you will not harm my humans?”
Anahita clenched her fists. “I do not lie.”
Jayden closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them again, he was resigned. “Have you allowed your Compulsion to set yet?”
A gleam of understanding lit in Anahita’s mind. This worry she could understand. An angel who had allowed his or her
Compulsion to set was unstable until the mission of the Compulsion was carried out. If the angel delayed too long, innocents could be harmed when the time on the Compulsion ran out. The angel would carry out the mission blindly, harming anyone in the way.
Though it would show how weak she was, Anahita confessed, “I have not.” When Jayden’s shoulders relaxed, Anahita felt it necessary to remind him, “But I will. Eventually.”
Jayden nodded. He would understand. He had foolishly delayed allowing his Compulsion to set for eight years in regards to his mission to kill the humans he now protected. And the delay had cost him. Once his Compulsion did set, he was nearly uncontrollable. “Yes,” he said gravely, “you cannot delay long.”
Jayden reached over his shoulder and unsheathed the sword that had been hidden by his wings. Anahita had been right: he did still keep it on his person. Millennia of habit was hard to break, and handing over the weapon that had been ever at his side was a sacrifice Anahita would not take lightly.
Her eyes widened as she saw the weapon for the first time since Jayden’s Fall. This was the notorious flaming sword? The only weapon that could take an immortal’s life?
It flamed no more. As Jayden laid it across his open palms and extended it toward Anahita, the metal of the ancient sword did not even gleam. This weapon, forged by the Most High Himself, was ... ordinary.
Anahita felt her throat go dry. “Will it ... will it even work?”
Jayden nodded. “I am Fallen, Anahita. Take the sword in your hand.”
Anahita tried to ignore the sandpaper-like quality of her tongue and reached out a shaky hand. If this weapon no longer worked according to its purpose, Anahita’s mission was doomed before it could begin.
The minute Anahita wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the sword, green and gold flames erupted along the length of the blade. The metal glowed with an otherworldly heat, and an inscription in the ancient language—which read What the Tree gives, the Sword takes. What the Sword takes, the Tree gives.—seemed to spark with purpose.
But that was not the most astonishing thing that happened when Anahita grasped the sword. Her Compulsion pushed at her. It knew she had a mission to accomplish and that the weapon in her hand would help her to accomplish it. For the first time since receiving her mission, Anahita felt the pressure to set her mission in stone and allow the countdown to begin. It was strong.
Of Alliance and Rebellion Page 7