Her pulse raced at the fiery heat in his look. Was she the only one masking the true meaning of their words or was he doing it too?
Serenity chided herself. An angel was hardly going to be asking about her sexual position preferences. She dragged her courage up from her toes, told herself that it was just a short flight to her apartment in the arms of a gorgeous dark angel, and that it was nothing more than that.
He raised an eyebrow when she looped her arms around his neck.
“I have a better idea.” He scooped her up into his strong arms, cradling her there.
His armour was cool and hard against her side, but she didn’t notice it as he held her close to him and his warm masculine scent filled her senses, tempting her to lean closer still, to do something reckless like resting her head on his shoulder, or maybe pressing a kiss to the oh-so-inviting patch of skin on his neck just below the strong line of his jaw.
How would he react if she did that?
The urge to find out was blasted from her mind when a breeze blew up her dress, chilling her bottom and pulling her back to reality. She raised her backside, grabbed the skirt of her black summer dress and tucked it in between her thighs. She didn’t want to expose her bottom to the entirety of Paris.
Her eyebrows rose as she considered that. “Will people see us?”
Apollyon shook his head and looked up at the sky, his expression pensive. “They cannot see you now.”
“You’re hiding us?” She looked around and then at him.
He nodded and didn’t give her a chance to ask how so she could assuage her curiosity about his powers.
He beat his huge black feathered wings and suddenly the world dropped out from under her.
She grabbed his shoulders and her eyes widened when she looked down, instantly regretting it when her stomach swirled as the ground zoomed away.
Serenity curled up against him, hiding her face against his neck as she gripped his armour so hard her hands hurt. Words rose to the tip of her tongue, a demand to set her back down again. She really didn’t want to fall and she hadn’t thought it through well enough.
What if he dropped her? What if she was too heavy?
Her eyes shot wide again and she pulled back, staring into his. “Are you sure your wings can carry both of us?”
He laughed, the timbre of it deep and warm, full of amusement that made her scowl.
“You weigh practically nothing.” He squeezed her side and her knees where he held her. “Now which way?”
It took Serenity a moment to stop staring at him, stop absorbing how damned good he looked when he laughed and smiled, the whole of his face lighting up with it in a way that made her want to smile too.
She dragged her eyes away from him, because no good would come from staring at him, losing herself in him.
It was difficult to resist the urge to look back at him again, but she managed it by focusing on the task he had given her. Locating her apartment. Which was going to be easier said than done because it meant looking at the city, and she was sure the moment she saw the drop to it, her stomach was going to rebel and she was going to make a fool of herself.
She steeled herself by sucking down a few deep breaths to settle her stomach and then exhaled as she dropped her focus to the rooftops of Paris. Mercy, it was a long way down. Her eyes flitted over the city and she quickly pointed when she thought she had the right direction.
Apollyon swooped that way, his wings beating the cooler air, causing a breeze to tickle her skin.
She waited for her stomach to turn as they dropped, but it didn’t. It remained calm as he flew with her.
She looked at the city for a moment, meaning only to glance before she hid again, but her breath left her in a rush as the sight of it hit her hard. It was beautiful. It stretched around her, a myriad of twinkling lights in the darkness, like a sea of stars beneath her.
Her gaze slid to Apollyon. He was incredible. She wished that she could fly like this. His focus stayed in the direction she had pointed, his grip on her sure, giving her comfort and confidence.
Making her realise something.
She trusted him.
It had been a long time since she had trusted someone so openly, so implicitly. She hadn’t even trusted Edward this much. She barely knew Apollyon, but something about him felt right to her, as though they had been made for each other. Which was utterly ridiculous.
Apollyon looked at her, his eyes almost black in the low light, and she stilled in his arms, her heart beating steadily and slowly. He was so beautiful and dark. So tempting. Everything about him lit her up inside, had her trembling and weak, filled with needs that were startling in their intensity.
The strongest of which was a desire to never let him go.
He looked past her and then changed course with a hard beat of his wings. She curled up in his arms when he gained speed, plummeting towards the city, and was close to screaming until she saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance ahead, beautifully illuminated with white lights.
A shiver raced over her skin.
“Are you cold?” Apollyon slowed again, their pace becoming more leisurely.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, taking in the sight of the Eiffel Tower and the world below.
“I should get you home.”
“No.” She grabbed his black and gold breastplate and he looked at her. She smiled shyly. “Just once around the tower?”
His smile was brilliant and her heart fluttered, her body responding to the feel of his hands on her again, growing aware of how close he was to her and the way he was looking at her with intense dark eyes that spoke of passion and need.
“Just one time.” He soared lower, until they were barely metres above the ground when they passed over the river.
She looked down at her reflection but couldn’t find one. They really were invisible. She laughed and none of the tourists snapping pictures of the tower noticed her.
They all ducked and grabbed at their clothes when Apollyon beat his wings again though and the wind they caused gusted through the crowds. The slight tilt to his lips as she glanced at him said he had enjoyed startling the tourists, and it was strange to discover he had a playful side. He had been so serious when she had met him, had been cold and distant in a way, but the more time she spent with him, the warmer he was becoming, opening up to her.
She was opening up to him too.
She knew it, and although she wanted to protect her heart, she was powerless to stop it from happening. Something about Apollyon had her unable to control herself, to shield herself from another possible heartbreak.
Serenity stared at the tower as they approached it, taking in a rare chance to see it so close but not from the inside. She would probably never see it like this again. It was incredible to think that Apollyon could do this all he wanted. He could fly around it until he got bored and then he could fly off somewhere else.
Apollyon held her close as they spiralled upwards, towards the bright top of the tower, and she gasped when he landed on the spike, one foot holding both of their weight and not affecting the tower at all.
“It’s beautiful up here.” She nestled in his arms to keep warm. She didn’t want him to leave because she was cold. She wanted to stay here a while with him.
Pretending.
He wrapped his wings around her. The black feathers were warm against her arms and legs, covering her completely and shutting out the chill breeze.
Serenity looked up and found him staring at her, his head tilted to one side and his eyes full of warmth.
What was he thinking?
He had looked like that when she had thought he was going to kiss her.
Did he want to kiss her now?
She wanted it more than anything and it couldn’t be just an act now because Edward wasn’t around to see them.
It couldn’t be an act.
His eyes dropped to her mouth.
Serenity forced herself to look at the city, away from Apoll
yon. She didn’t want to get hurt again by getting her hopes up about him. Rebounding wasn’t her style, and something told her that if she gave in to the desires burning inside her, she wouldn’t be rebounding anyway. What she felt for Apollyon was terrifyingly real, and she couldn’t risk getting her heart broken by him. She wasn’t sure she would come back from that.
“You are getting cold,” he said and she heard a different meaning to those words.
They cut her so deep that she felt as though she was bleeding inside. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t mean to be distant and that she wanted him, but she couldn’t find her voice.
He unfurled his wings, tilted forwards as he pushed off from the tower, and rocketed towards the ground so fast that she clung to his neck, afraid that he was going to drop her after all. He pulled up at the last second with a mighty beat of his wings and then they were soaring over the rooftops again, heading towards her home.
A jumble of words fought at the tip of her tongue but she held it because she could feel the change in his mood, could sense the way it had darkened through the power that constantly flowed from him and over her.
She didn’t want to push him further, hadn’t meant to ruin things, but it seemed to be what she always did.
Even when she didn’t want to.
The silence pressed down on her, the hard set of Apollyon’s jaw and the coldness of his blue eyes whenever she risked a glance at him weighing heavily on her heart. If she apologised, would it fix everything? Would he go back to smiling at her, laughing with her?
Serenity directed him once they were close, her heart heavy and her head aching. She wasn’t sure what she was doing.
Was she imagining it all and just seeing what she wanted to see? Did she really feel something for Apollyon other than lust?
She had never been the sort to flirt with a man or look for a quick fling.
Was she serious about him?
CHAPTER 7
Apollyon landed on the roof balcony of her apartment, touching down so gently that Serenity didn’t even feel it, and his wings folded against his back. He set her down and she stood looking up at him, trying to figure out her feelings and what she was doing.
She barely knew him.
Yet the ocean of space that had opened between them cut at her, had her feeling as if she was bleeding inside as she waited for him to say something. Anything.
He remained cold and distant, staring down at her without a shred of emotion in his blue eyes.
It was probably best this way.
He was an angel.
She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t do it to herself. She had been hurting before Apollyon had come to her, but that pain would be nothing compared with the agony she would feel if she let this go on and got caught up in it all, believing it could be something.
She needed to protect herself, had to avert the disaster and the heartache she could plainly see looming ahead of her, and as much as it hurt to push him away, she would bear it to avoid that pain.
She would get her books back somehow, without Apollyon’s help.
“Thank you.” She straightened out her black dress, fidgeting with the hem.
“For flying you home?” He canted his head again.
“No... for helping me. It was very kind of you.” Could she have sounded more stilted?
She wasn’t sure how to act around him now. She waged war with herself as she looked at him, the thought of him leaving tearing at her and the need to throw herself into his arms to seize the moment and him raging through her.
Apollyon finally smiled and the coldness in his eyes melted away. “We have not had your vengeance yet.”
She couldn’t help but notice how focused he was on that aspect of her deal with him.
Edward had been jealous. That was all she needed, but it wasn’t enough for Apollyon.
Just how far was he willing to go in order to make Edward suffer?
The hint of darkness in Apollyon’s eyes warned he hadn’t been lying to her and that he would do terrible things to Edward if she commanded it.
It was all getting out of control.
Someone was going to end up hurt if she let things continue and she had the awful feeling it was going to be her.
She opened her mouth to tell him that it was over and she would get her books back herself, and he didn’t need to worry.
“Is it really okay for you to be doing this?” she said instead.
His smile widened, handsome and charming, devastating in its effect.
Her heart beat faster, racing at the thoughts that crowded her mind, a continuation of the way they had been dancing together. She had never been so bold with Edward when they had danced. Pretending it was all a charade had made her feel free and she had thrown herself into it, using making Edward jealous as an excuse to do as she wanted with Apollyon.
She wanted to dance like that with him again, right now on the rooftop under the moon.
“I can do as I please. Angels are not God’s to command. We merely work for him, and a number work for the Devil.”
“But you’re definitely a good guy?” she whispered, not quite sure.
The things he had told her about his duty left her feeling as though there was a very wicked streak in him. Why else would they have chosen him to rain destruction down on Earth?
“I am.” He stepped towards her, his tall broad build making her feel small. “You have that look again, the one that makes me feel as though you are about to say I am death.”
“You’re not.” She sounded confident even when she wasn’t. It surprised her. She stepped closer to him, tilting her head back to see into his eyes. Her heart hammered. “You’re just a bad boy.”
He grinned. “So I have been told.”
She frowned. “By women?”
He shook his head, his expression gaining an amused edge. “No, by my fellow warriors. That was a long time ago, and we have not seen each other in many centuries.”
“What happened?” Serenity studied his face, trying to read his feelings on it.
He didn’t seem sad that he hadn’t spoken to his friends in all that time, but his expression was guarded now, his eyes lacking emotion.
“Some remained constant, serving Heaven, and I have been assigned… elsewhere. Some of them changed.” He walked to the edge of the small balcony set into the sloping grey roof and stared off into the distance. The breeze caught the strands of his dark ponytail and ruffled his feathers. He sighed and looked over his shoulder at her. “They chose to pass their years on Earth, in the arms of the mortal women they loved. We have a habit of watching humans, and celibacy in modern times is very difficult. Females dress so provocatively.”
His gaze fell to her dress, slowly running over it from her breasts to her thighs. She kept still, feeling awkward from the heat in his eyes but not wanting them to leave her. She liked the feel of them on her and how confident his hungry looks made her.
That confidence shattered the hold her fear had on her, had her wanting to forget pushing him away and boldly pull him closer instead.
“They’re allowed to do that?” she whispered, not quite able to find her voice, and his blue eyes jumped to hers.
She walked over to him, intending to close the distance just as she desired and see what he would do. Her nerve faltered and she ended up leaning her bottom against the black metal railing beside him instead. His gaze seared the side of her face, so intense that she could feel it and was powerless to stop herself from looking up into his eyes.
He laughed again but it didn’t quell the fire in his eyes. It burned brighter now, flames that threatened to set her on fire too if she took the leap into his arms.
“We are angels.” He cleared her fair hair from her face, tucking it back into her chignon. “Not saints.”
“Oh.” Her wide eyes fell and caught on his mouth.
How good would it feel to kiss him, to have his lips playing over her flesh, teasing her until she shattered an
d he had to put her back together again?
She shouldn’t be wondering that, but she couldn’t help herself, was losing the fight against the desire he stirred in her.
“Some fall and choose to become mortal... others remain as they are but serve from Earth. It is a great sacrifice on both accounts.” He stroked her cheek, held her gaze for long seconds, and then stepped away from her, severing contact. “Today has been a lot for you to take in. I will let you rest and return tomorrow.”
Serenity caught his wrist before he could move away. He looked down at her hand on him and then into her eyes.
She swallowed.
“Where will you go?” She released him and looked out across the rooftops as she picked at the paint on the railings, struggling to tamp down the sudden surge of nerves. She glanced at him. “Do you have friends here?”
“No.” He moved closer to her again, until he was almost touching her and she could feel his power radiating against hers.
He was strong. His power was far more potent than hers was and she didn’t doubt that he could be a deadly destructive force if he put his mind to it, but for some reason that didn’t scare her. He hadn’t given her a reason to fear him, only to trust him and feel safe around him, and the closer he was to her, the more she felt that way.
Serenity turned and plastered a smile on her face to cover her nerves. “You can stay here.”
A single dark eyebrow rose at the suggestion.
“I have a couch you could sleep on, and some blankets, and it’s better than being alone, right?”
His gaze raked over her again, giving her the impression that he was thinking of sleeping somewhere other than the couch, and then the passion that had been surfacing in his eyes melted away to reveal a feeling that surprised her. It looked a lot like relief or perhaps loneliness.
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