Marcus shook his head at how well Einar knew him. He had struggled with his feelings for Amelia, conflicted by them and his duty, and had tried to maintain a suitable distance from her. It had been slipping little by little, with each moment they spent together, and now it felt as though he couldn’t continue that way. He needed to be close to her and not only so he could protect her.
“What does Heaven know about what happened?” Einar said and Marcus was thankful for the change in topic.
“More than they are telling me, that’s for sure.” He clasped his hands together in front of him and frowned at them. “They reiterated that I had to be on my guard and that my final task is not yet done. I have to continue to protect Amelia from the demons.”
“You believe they’re withholding information from you. Understandable. I have completed several missions in my years where they have intentionally kept things they have seen from me. We must remember that it is not our duty to question why they do such things, but to obey the orders they give to us.”
Marcus wasn’t sure that he could obey some of the orders they had given him recently. Seduce Amelia? At least they had acknowledged that it was beyond the time for that now. Amelia knew what he was and knew that she was in danger. He had gained her trust without resorting to using her feelings against her, and he was glad of it because it meant that whatever happened between them now, it was because of his feelings for her and hers for him, not because he was under orders.
“Where is she?” he said again and Taylor walked into the room, tying her long black hair up into a ponytail.
“She’s sleeping.” Taylor walked over to Einar and slumped onto the couch beside him with a weary sigh. “She’s been through a lot. You’ve got to give the girl credit for not collapsing or having a meltdown. It must be hard for a human to take in all our crazy shit and come out the other end a sane person. She’s strong.”
“I know.” Marcus focused, wanting to sense where she was, but the only people he could pinpoint were Einar and Taylor. He turned a questioning frown on Einar. “What room is she in?”
“If the reason for your frown is a lack of Amelia on your senses, then fear not. She is safe.” Einar rose from the sofa and held his hand out to Taylor. “Taylor has sent her to sleep. She will be off the radar of any creature, no matter how powerful, until she wakes.”
Taylor stood with Einar’s assistance and Marcus followed suit.
“A power?” Marcus looked to Taylor for confirmation. She nodded.
“I can create spaces in people’s minds, a world where they can hide. It drops you off this realm and into another personal to you, leaving you literally out of this world.” Taylor smiled at him. “I’ll send you deep into sleep too so they can’t find you either. When you’re both out for the count, we’ll go and see what information we can beat out of the local lowlifes for you.”
Marcus nodded his thanks and followed her out of the room. When they entered a large pale green bedroom on the next floor up, he paused. A single lamp on the bedside table illuminated the room and Amelia where she lay under the dark covers of a double bed. The only bed.
Einar clapped a hand down on his shoulder. “She’s out for the count. No need to worry.”
Marcus brushed his hand away and frowned at him. He wasn’t worried. He just hadn’t expected that he would be sharing a bed when Taylor sent him to sleep. What if Amelia woke and he was lying next to her? What would she do then?
A gut-tugging jolt inside him said that she could do anything she pleased and he wouldn’t care as long as he got to kiss her again, or maybe more. He craved the contact with her more than he hungered for anything else. He could forgo food and even flying if it meant he could touch her.
“Strip,” Taylor said, matter of fact, snapping Marcus out of his thoughts.
“Is that necessary?” He looked at them both.
Einar glanced at Taylor and something unspoken passed between them and then he nodded. “Not down to nothing, but you would hardly be comfortable sleeping in your armour.”
Marcus could see where this was going and would be having words if his suspicions were confirmed, but reasoned that armour was uncomfortable to sleep in and removed it, placing it down on a chair in the corner of the pale room. When he was down to his dark blue loincloth, he turned back to face Einar.
Who frowned at his legs, crossed the room, and held his hand out over the cut on his thigh. Marcus gritted his teeth against the pain as warm golden light shone down from Einar’s palm, caressing his skin, and the wound there slowly closed, leaving nothing behind.
“Thanks,” he said and then eyed the bed, and then Taylor and Einar.
There was mischief on their faces but he went to the bed, lay on top of the covers on his back next to Amelia and settled his head on the pillows. He could smell her. Her soft fragrance filled his head, soothing his tension away and relaxing him. It felt good being so close to her, so good that he wanted to reach under the covers and take hold of her hand. Instead, he placed his hands on his stomach and waited.
Taylor appeared above him and rested her hand on his forehead. A part of him expected it to turn out to be a strange sort of joke and that Amelia was just asleep because of the late hour and everything that she had been through today, but as he stared into Taylor’s blue eyes, his head started to feel heavy and foggy.
“Go to sleep, Marcus,” she whispered and he fought the rising desire to drift away, trying to focus on her and his mission. He should be out there searching for the demons with Taylor and Einar, not hiding away in some other world. His eyelids slipped shut and he didn’t have the energy to lift them again.
A chasm opened below him and he fell into it, spiralling down into the dark towards a shimmering light far below. He tried to resist it but the heat washing over him was too comforting and relaxing, subduing him and making him feel heavy.
Taylor’s voice rang softly through the darkness, warm with a hint of amusement.
“Sweet dreams, Romeo.”
CHAPTER 10
It was the location that alerted Marcus to the fact that this wasn’t his world.
A golden sunset filled the sky directly before him, the sun slowly sinking into the infinite ocean, its light rippling on the water and sparkling like diamonds. The soft sound of waves gently breaking against the pristine white sandy shore filled the silence along with the rustling of the swaying palm trees in the light refreshing breeze that came from the sea, carrying a salty tang and her fragrance.
Amelia.
She sat on a chipped white metal pole that created a railing along the seafront, separating the sun-bleached wooden boardwalk from the sand, her back to him and shoulder-length dark hair dancing as the breeze caught it.
The sound of the ocean and the warm breeze soothed away the anger he felt over Taylor and Einar’s trick on him. They had sent him into Amelia’s inner world rather than to his own. He would have a word with his old friend when he woke. This wasn’t allowing things to progress naturally at all. This was matchmaking.
Marcus walked across the boardwalk to Amelia and leaned his elbows on the metal railing that ran at waist height to him. Amelia didn’t look down at him. She continued to stare into the distance, her skin glowing in the warm light of sunset and her hair threaded with golden highlights. Marcus drank his fill of her beauty, taking his time to put her face to memory as it looked in this moment. A slight smile played on her lips, shining in her eyes, and he knew without asking that she was happy here.
It was definitely her world.
But it wasn’t her happiness that gave it away.
He hated sand.
It got in his feathers.
He looked down at himself and shook his head when he saw that he was only wearing a pair of loose black swimming shorts. That wasn’t going to happen either. Water was a pain to get out of his feathers, worse than sand, and for some reason his wings were out and he couldn’t convince them to go away.
Were they out becau
se Amelia wanted to see him this way? This was her world which meant that in part she was controlling it, and controlling him too.
When he turned to ask her about his wings and whether she wanted to see them, his gaze caught on the skimpy black bikini top she wore. He stared unabashed at the flimsy triangles of material barely covering her breasts, his stomach tightening and temperature rising, and then slowly lowered his eyes to her hips. A short black near-see-through strip of material covered her from waist to just past her backside, tied on her hip closest to him. The light fabric fluttered in the breeze, revealing her creamy slender thigh.
“It’s peaceful here,” she said, distant sounding. “Am I dreaming?”
Marcus forced his focus back up to her face. “I do not think so. We are both awake. Taylor can make a world in which we can hide but I am not sure how long it can last.”
“I’m scared, Marcus,” she whispered and her grey eyes finally came to meet his.
“Of me?” He wasn’t sure why he said it. The gnawing feeling that she feared him now had lingered at the back of his mind since he had rescued her from the Hell’s angels and revealed his true self to her, but he hadn’t intended to say anything about it. Her look instantly softened, warming again, and she smiled.
“No. You’re the only thing that doesn’t frighten me.” She went to touch him but he shifted to one side, enough that her attempt failed, and stared at the ocean.
How could she look on him so kindly and with such compassion? She had seen him fight those Hell’s angels, had witnessed him kill without hesitation and had been covered in blood because of him. He had shown his darkest side to her and she still looked at him with warmth in her grey eyes. It astounded him and drove him to question her, to confess the things that he had done and the reason he had warned her away from him. Need burned deep in his heart, a desire to know if she really could feel something for a man like him.
“I am a guardian… but there are times when I have been a warrior…” Marcus couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He clenched his fists and stared intently at the sunset, afraid of what he would see if he turned to face Amelia. Would she look upon him with such warmth after his confession? He didn’t think so, and while he wanted to stop now before he ruined everything between them, the greater part of him needed her to know what sort of man he was and why he felt he didn’t deserve the love of such a pure and beautiful woman. She might have managed to convince herself that he had only done what was right when he had killed those demons in front of her but she had feared him at the time. He knew that. He had frightened her. Now he had to do that again so she would know him, and he would see in her eyes and hear in her voice whether she could ever bring herself to love him. “A bringer of death. I am not a good man, Amelia. I have killed many without remorse… hundreds… if not thousands.”
He uncurled his hands and stared at his palms. Hands made for killing in the name of Heaven. He had followed those orders without question, obeying his superiors, loyal to his duty and happy to carry it out. Not once in his life had he regretted the things he had done. Not until he had met her, and then he had wished it all away.
He had wanted to be a better man so she would love him.
He could see that now. For all his attempts to remain distant from her, he had fallen for her, but new to the experience, he had not realised his feelings until she had first touched him, thrilling him with little more than a brief caress and bringing him to life with emotions he had never known existed.
“If you’ve killed, then I believe you did so out of loyalty, just as Einar said about you. You killed to protect others, and to protect me. I can’t offer you absolution, Marcus, but I can forgive you for killing others in order to protect me. You are a good man. I believe that.”
Marcus looked up to find her watching him, her grey eyes not full of icy cold or hatred, but full of the warmth and tenderness that had been in her words. There was no fear in her, only a calm that he knew was real and it touched him, warming his chest and making him crave a stronger connection to her. She smiled, twisted towards him, still holding on to the railing she sat on with her left hand, and stroked the unruly strands of his hair from his face.
And he stared at her.
Awed and transfixed by the beautiful acceptance she showed towards him.
For her, he could be a good man. He could be the man that she deserved.
“Was that why you stopped me the other night when we kissed, or was it because you’re an angel and it was wrong?” She lowered her hand from his face.
“No.” His eyes followed her hand, leapt to her thigh, and then he lifted them to her face again.
There was such understanding in her eyes.
“Was it because you’ve never been with a woman?”
Marcus exhaled and stared out to sea. The sun had set and a full moon was rising in its place, beautiful as it hung over the darkening ocean.
“Einar told you?”
Amelia made a small noise and then touched his hands where they were clasped together in front of him. He looked up at her, wanting to explain and needing to ask her not to believe him any less of a man because of it, and she dipped her head towards him. She kissed him before he could utter a word, her lips soft against his, slowly shifting in mesmerising waves that drew him into responding. He leaned into the kiss, eager to taste her again and believe that this was another good sign. When she broke away, briefly resting her forehead against his before sitting up, she was smiling at him.
“I think it’s beautiful that you waited so long,” she whispered and his heart leapt in response, turning his insides with it. He stared up at her, torn between kissing her again and saying something that would bring another smile to her face.
“I never really thought about it. I never cared about mortals.” Marcus straightened and then cupped her cheek, keeping her eyes on his. “But I care about you.”
Amelia’s smile was brilliant and he thought that she would kiss him, but she slipped down from the railing on the other side, landing softly in the sand.
A mixture of light from the strings of white lights that hung between the palm trees, illuminating the boardwalk, and the moon played on her, turning her skin pale and eyes dark. It had turned dark quickly and the moon was far higher in the inky sky now. How long had the kiss lasted? It had felt like barely a heartbeat had passed but it must have been close to an hour.
She crooked a finger at him.
“I think we should swim.”
Marcus warily eyed the sand and then the water. “Unwise. I don’t seem to be able to put my wings away.”
She looked at them and his eyes widened when they shrank into his back.
“No excuses.” She reached over the railing to him.
Marcus vaulted it and looked down at the warm sand beneath his bare feet. Amelia laughed and ran down to the sea, leaving footprints in the soft sand for him to follow. He hoped his wings didn’t reappear. Just as he looked up, Amelia untied the slip of black material around her waist and tossed it aside.
A deep pulse of arousal beat through him at the sight of her in such a small scrap of fabric. Her bikini bottoms didn’t cover her buttocks at all. A single dark line disappeared between them, leaving them on display. Hell. His groin responded in an instant, cock twitching against the loose swimming trunks. He had been intent on mentioning that he couldn’t swim but the thought of playing with her in the shallows and seeing her wet all over had him striding towards the sea.
She smiled and crooked her finger again, and Marcus could only obey. He followed her into the shallows and then hesitated as a gentle wave came rolling in and the dark water reached his waist. The current wasn’t strong but he didn’t dare venture further out. Taylor hadn’t mentioned what would happen if one of them got into trouble inside this world. Would his consciousness be trapped here if he drowned?
Amelia took hold of his wrist and tried to tug him into deeper water. He stood firm and she frowned.
“
You can’t swim, can you?”
“I don’t know. I have never tried.” He might be able to swim. Angels sometimes remembered how to do things that they had experienced in a previous lifetime. If he had known how to swim then, he could instinctively remember it now, but he wasn’t willing to risk drowning in order to find out.
It didn’t seem to bother Amelia. She splashed his bare chest and face, and he responded by sweeping his arm across the warm water, sending a wave rushing towards her. She ducked under the surface and the water settled around him, lapping at his waist. He turned on the spot, searching for Amelia. When she didn’t surface after a few seconds, his pulse picked up and he waded further out, fearing that something had happened.
Something brushed his backside and he turned sharply, causing ripples to spread outwards from his chest. His senses blared in warning but he wasn’t quick enough. Amelia launched out of the water, looped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips. Her playful attack caused his heels to dig into the soft wet sand under his feet and he fell backwards, sending them both underwater.
It went straight into his mouth and stung his eyes.
He broke the surface a split-second later, coughing the vile water up, and Amelia re-emerged, her sheepish smile visible in the strong moonlight.
She swam towards him and then around him, and his anger faded away when she came to stand behind him and stroked his back.
“They’re beautiful. Are they really a curse?” she whispered, her warm fingertips tracing the wings marked on his shoulder blades.
Marcus stilled, his focus so intently fixed on her that every light touch stirred his insides, fanning his desire for her. Her breath washed over his wet skin, teasing it and he closed his eyes, wanting to absorb how he felt when she was so close to him. Warm. Hungry. Mad for her.
“Apparently so,” he said and she came around him. He caught her bare waist and drew her flush against him. She surprised him by taking hold of his shoulders, lifting herself up and wrapping her legs around his waist. He groaned and clutched her backside to support her, and then remembered the flimsy thing she was wearing on her lower half. He pressed his fingers into her bare bottom and groaned again, his body stirring and aching as he familiarised himself with her soft flesh.
Her Angel: Eternal Warriors Romance Series Complete Series Box Set (Books 1-5) Page 12