Sagar

by HaydenWest

  His palms began to sweat, and he frowned. That wasn’t what was supposed to happen. In the next space of time, two things occurred simultaneously. Demuri struck without mercy and took the demon’s evil life as Elexus moved to Renata’s side, catching the dying Angel in his arms.

  These moves left him facing the human. Short blond hair all over his head with the exception of a wide swath on the top. It had been slicked back and mostly dry, and Sagar wanted to know if it was as soft as it appeared. Along his face was a heavier beard than Sagar himself kept. Bright colors and art work covered the strong chest and went along the bare arms that were exposed to his hungry gaze.

  Despite the fact he was faced with quite possibly the sexiest human form he’d seen, it was the eyes that got him. They were the softest dove grey he’d ever seen. Even with the disbelief and fear that filled them.

  “Sagar.”

  He hurried to Demuri’s side and immediately crouched beside Renata, slipping one hand along the curve of her jaw and pouring into her the deep love he had, doing his best to abate her pain.

  Renata.

  Sagar. Even in his mind, her voice trembled with pain. It was horrible.

  He could sense Demuri watching him and wanting him to get as much information from her as he could. Sagar didn’t need to meet the golden gaze of the Power to understand that. Renata never looked to the Power, merely kept her blue eyes on Sagar’s brown ones.

  I am the only one left.

  He wouldn’t ever lie to her. Not only was he unable to lie, but he also thought too much of her to do so. Sagar nodded, noting the difference in their skin tones, her pale to his darker desert-kissed one.

  You are.

  At least I won’t suffer as they did. It was so fast and unexpected.

  Who did this, Renata?

  Her eyes unfocused and blurred. Tightening his hold on her chin, he refused to let her go like this.

  Help us, Renata. Help us find who did this.

  So tired. The human. Is he safe?

  Unbidden, his gaze left the dying Angel and drifted to the human watching the entire proceeding. Those grey eyes locked on his, and heat speared him. Sagar tore his stare from that man and looked back to his friend.

  He is alive. Because of you. Think, Renata. Who did this to you and why did they follow you here?

  He wanted to wear my feathers and make me suffer like my siblings.

  Who? What demon did this to you?

  No demon. It was one of us.

  This time he did meet Demuri’s gaze. Sagar couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the intense power streaming from him. The Power nodded ever so briefly, and Sagar knew this was his form of encouragement.

  How do you know this, Ren? He called her by the name they’d used in the nursery when they were just learning about being Angels. This one was a demon.

  This one. Her words were fading from his mind, growing fainter with each passing second.

  The one who attacked Rolto and Reni, how do you know it was one of us?

  Not an Angel. More powerful. So angry. So much power.

  She closed her eyes and so did he. Deep in his gut he knew she wasn’t going to ever open them again. Her words wouldn’t ever leave him, however.

  His mind surged with the echo of her last words.

  “What did she say she saw?”

  Demuri’s tone was the same arctic cold it had been previously. He frowned before he could catch himself as he lifted his gaze to the waiting one of the Power who knelt across from him.

  “You weren’t on the general pathway of conversation but a private one.”

  He’d not even thought about it. However, now that he was, it made sense. They’d been good friends and he supposed instinctively he would have reached out to her on their private line of communication.

  Sagar scrubbed a hand along the short hair lining his chin as he flicked his glance over the human, who watched with uncertainty in his eyes. The Power’s draw was too much for him to ignore for long and he met that golden stare.

  “She said it was one of us but not.”

  Demuri never blinked, just waited. Sagar wasn’t buying it. He could feel the being’s impatience licking right beneath the skin.

  “I suggested demon, she said no. One of us and when I asked how she knew, she said it was more powerful, angry, but knew it was like us but not an Angel. Again, going back to the more powerful.”

  Red hair agleam in the morning sun reminding him of the pure fire they were cleansed in, with an easy push, Demuri rose to his feet and made his way to Elexus. The two Powers stepped away, leaving him with Renata’s body.

  The air around them shimmered and two more stepped forward, nearing Renata. The blood red wings instantly identifying them as Dominations. Sagar held his breath as they glanced through him. His fingertips burned with the need to gather his friend close and protect her. A foolish thought were he to be rational. The Dominations assigned them tasks and watched over them.

  It didn’t matter, actually. Not if he were to believe her final whispered words. And it had been on a private line, not where all could hear. She’d not wanted everyone to know. More powerful. All were more powerful than the Angels in a way.

  Could it be a Power? A Domination?

  He didn’t know both of the Dominations who arrived, just one. Tacorian. The Domination had dark brown hair and steely blue-grey eyes that seemed to reflect the blood red of his immaculate feathers. While typically when he’d seen Tacorian, the man had been with facial hair, now he was clean shaven.

  Tacorian gave him a slight nod of acknowledgement that Sagar returned, even as he advised his legs not to move and get in the way of what they were doing in preparation for moving Renata’s body.

  He straightened up even as they wrapped her body in cloth. Biting the inside of his cheek, he once more allowed his gaze to drift over to the man who’d done what he could to save her. He knew that just by looking at him. Ignoring the stirrings of lust that hit him, Sagar watched in silence as her wrapped body rose in the air between the two Dominations.

  Tacorian stepped forward and met Demuri. The two clasped forearms before stepping back. The move was repeated with Elexus and the Domination with Tacorian. He wasn’t included in this, and that gnawed at his gut, sending anger through him.

  Anger he stuffed into a tiny box in the corner of his mind the instant a pair of golden eyes zeroed in on him. The two Dominations moved by him, Renata’s wrapped body floating between them, not even her wings exposed. The gold filament embedded in the cloth shimmered as if weeping as they walked out of the small hut everyone was in. Close quarters, actually, for six winged beings to be in.

  Elexus and Demuri went after and then he followed. In the doorway, he glanced back to the human man standing there, the expression on his face one of disbelief and uncertainty. Pivoting, he made his way back inside and stood before him.

  This human was larger up close. And much more intoxicating. Grey eyes met and held his gaze.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  That voice was a deep rasp along his skin, making him come alive in an entirely different way than he had before. Sexual thoughts hadn’t played much of a part in his life before but right now, right here, that was no longer the case. It slammed into him like a hurricane, and he locked his knees to stay upright.

  “Not hell,” he replied. “Thank you for doing what you could to save her.”

  The human stroked his face, fingers combing along his blond beard. “Are you going to do something to me so I don’t remember this? Or will I be allowed to keep this memory, no matter how crazy it is?”

  “That isn’t my decision to make.”

  We need to go.

  As Demuri’s voice rumbled through his mind, Sagar turned only to freeze at the lust that pulsed over him. Encompassed him and refused to let go. Angling his head to see over his shoulder, he spied one strong hand, adorned with colorful tattoos from the human, touching his wing. Even his fingers had co
lor on them from the ink on his skin. He couldn’t quite make out what it was from this angle and he longed to know.

  Sagar.

  Allowing the touch to linger as he walked to the doorway, Sagar realized he’d deliberately stretched his wing to ensure the connection lasted as long as he could draw it out. Bereftness swarmed him the moment the linking broke. As much as he craved reconnecting them, he continued out and down the wooden ramp.

  Sagar focused on lifting up with as much grace as the other four with him did. Right now, he had a friend to mourn, then he could return his thoughts to the human male who’d risked his life to save Renata.

  I still don’t know his name.

  Chapter Three

  Dorn took a moment and leaned over the edge of the railing surrounding the station that he worked out of. This entire day had been insane from the very beginning. Even now, as he stood there watching the sunset on the horizon going lower, and bathing the world in the soft oranges and golds, he wondered if it had not been a dream.

  The day had kept him busy as tons of people loved coming to the beach, especially in this amazing weather. From the looks and sounds not a single person aside from him had been aware of the occurrence early this morning.

  He pushed a hand over his short hair on the back of his skull and exhaled sharply, wishing he could have a beer right about now. Grasping the railing with both hands, he tried his best to forget the female angel he’d pulled from the ocean.

  Wings. She had fucking wings. Definitely something that wasn’t an everyday occurrence. At least not for him.

  But that wasn’t all. For five others came and all of them had wings as well. On one hand they were the same and yet on the other different. There was the one with black hair and brown eyes who had white wings with the baby blue tint. There were two that appeared later, both with blood red wings. Then there were the final two whose wings may have been different colors but they had the same golden eyes. They were harsher, colder.

  His thoughts drifted back to the winged being who looked as if he were from the Middle East. There had been something about him. There had been obvious affection between him and the dead woman on the floor of his hut. The momentary spike of jealousy slammed him before he realized that was foolish.

  All he knew, and all he focused on at this moment in time, was the way he’d stopped and watched him with those brown eyes as his fingers glided over feathers the likes of which he’d never touched before. It hadn’t been hard to read the lust in his gaze, or the pull of need scraping over him calling to him to touch that sun-kissed skin.

  Even a blind man would have been able to pick up on the sexual tension strung taut between the two of them as their gazes clashed. Dropping his head forward as the breeze picked up around him, Dorn wished he at least knew his name.

  It would’ve been nice to have a name to accompany the fantasies in my mind at night while jacking off to his memory.

  My name’s Sagar. By what name are you called?

  The rich masculine voice startled him, and he spun to his left only to find nothing with him and back then to his right, still nothing. With a short exhale he tipped his head back to see if maybe something was above him. Nothing.

  “Dorn.”

  Was it insane that he very well might be talking to himself? And imagining that this man had a name to provide him. Most likely yes, but right now he didn’t care. The voice in his mind was not one he would have ever been able to construe. Not given five lifetimes to perfect it. This voice was the deepest, richest, most succulent that had ever graced his ears. It bespoke of passion, love, and forevers.

  “If you’re really here talking to me, show yourself. Otherwise bugger off and let me pretend I’m not hearing your voice in my head.”

  The air to his left shimmered and within moments he found himself staring once again at the dark-skinned man with a close-cropped goatee.

  Dorn.

  Holy shit, voices like that should be outlawed. Especially when spoken in his mind in such an intimate and personal manner. Damn near gave himself a hard-on just from the tone. Correction, hard-on came with the name. Having that voice speak his own name was cause to nearly shoot his load.

  He sucked in a deep breath and swore he inhaled the pure scent of something he could only describe as hope. So thick it tasted on his tongue unlike anything he’d experienced before.

  On the other hand, beneath the pure scent lingered something entirely different. Something masculine. Something tempting. Something erotic.

  Forcing his fingers to relax on the railing he remained facing out towards the sea. “Are you here to kill me now?”

  For what reason would I have to kill you, human? You did what you could to save one of my own and for that I’m eternally grateful.

  The temptation was too great. He could no longer ignore the man standing beside him. If he truly was a man. At this point Dorn had no idea, though he had an inkling.

  “Are you unable to speak my language? Is that why you are talking to me in my head?”

  Silence between them stretched on until he could no longer take it and turned to face him, pulling his gaze off the relative safety of the sea.

  “Well?”

  The being before him cocked his head both to the right and the left before mimicking his stance of feet braced shoulder width apart and arms crossed over his chest. He wore tan leather pants, reminding him of soft butter. This was offset by the dark gray shirt with red streaks through it.

  “I am capable of speaking your tongue. Although given it is a rather crude language, I prefer to use my mind.”

  Score one for the dude with wings.

  Dorn forced himself to relax and lower his arms, not needing to appear threatening.

  I’m not threatened by you. You’re not able to harm me.

  Not any more comforting actually if he cared to think about it.

  “Good to know. If that’s not the reason, why are you here?”

  Silence was again dragged on with, and this time Dorn waited unwilling to show his hand twice. It was no secret this man scared him but there was no reason for him to remind this thing about that very fact.

  He honestly didn’t get the feeling he was trying to intimidate him, more like was curious as to his behavior and what was going on. An interesting feeling, as he’d never been that much of a wuss before, he typically pushed to find out what someone’s issue was, but not this time. The wind picked up, pushing away pure scent and the hidden one only to replace it with the scent of the sea he loved so much.

  Seconds segued into minutes and minutes into longer, but none of that mattered. For whatever the reason, whatever his purpose, this being wasn’t about to be rushed. Dorn didn’t think he had it in him to do so.

  That is correct. You cannot rush me. Do you want to rush me?

  That voice was far too potent to ignore, and Dorn hated how it made him feel. Lustful, out of control and needy.

  You are human. Is it not natural for you to feel lust and out of control?

  “If it’s all the same to you, I prefer you stayed out of my head.” Dorn inched back until the railing supported him. He used the action as a cover in a way to regain some semblance of control. Although the longer he stared, the less control he felt he had.

  “Why did you rescue her?”

  The shock of hearing his real voice as opposed to the low thrum in his mind gave Dorn pause, and it took him a moment or two to recover. During that time no words were said, no judgments made, just more of that pure, open curiosity. Lab experiment.

  Dorn mulled over his words carefully, unsure if brutal honesty would net him a quick death or perhaps something worse.

  I am an Angel. I am not allowed to harm humans. Quite the contrary, I’m here to protect you.

  Having his legs kicked out from under him would’ve been less of a shock than hearing this being, this Angel admit to what he was.

  “Like a guardian angel?”

  He responded with a slow nod, and Do
rn wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t want to fully admit everything or if he thought Dorn may not be able to handle the truth. Granted he just heard it and he wasn’t entirely sure he could handle the words he’d just ingested.

  “And do you, guardian angel, have a name?” He believed it had been mentioned before, but with everything, wished for some clarification.

  Sagar.

  That single word was personal on a whole other level. It went deep, through flesh, blood, and bone, all the way to the marrow of his soul. Dorn ran the name over in his mind a few times before he relented and put his focus back on the man with the intense brown eyes.

  “All of this brings us back to the simple question of what you’re doing here?”

  I am intrigued.

  “By what?”

  What it is that made you rescue an Angel without regard to your own life?

  “Seems rather odd question for an Angel to ask. I didn’t know she was an Angel when I went in after her, not that it would’ve changed my actions because I’m a lifeguard. I save people my own way.”

  So this is your job. What you are put on this earth to do?

  “Not sure if this is what I was put on the earth to do but yes, this is my job. I’ve always had a call to the water, an affinity toward it if you will.”

  With difficulty, Dorn turned his attention away from the man beside him to focus back out on the water, needing to do his job and refusing to allow a distraction to risk somebody’s life. The waters were calm at the moment, and he was grateful. He couldn’t explain it, but there was a deep pull to the one beside him. If Sagar was not pleased by the lack of attention or focus from Dorn, he had no way of knowing.

  You struggle with your need to ask me questions. Much like you struggle with your confusion on if what you’re seeing is true.

  “Not every day I find myself face to face with an Angel. Are you always around? Or is this simply because of what happened to your friend?”

  Angels are always around even when you can’t see us.

  “Sounds like a corporate line to me.”