“You don’t honestly think I’ll make you sleep on the couch, do you?” he flared disbelievingly. “You can sleep in my bed.”
“And you?” I didn’t think it was a good idea if we shared a bed, given the state our relationship was in.
“I’ll take the couch.” He offered and opened a drawer to extract a blanket from it. Then he fetched one of the pillows from his bed and put them onto the couch before he walked towards the door. Before he opened it he looked back over his shoulder with a worried expression.
“Go to sleep,” he said. “You’ve been through a lot—you should rest.”
Actually, he was right. I was exhausted. The moment he walked out the door and I heard the sound of it closing, I got to my feet and shuffled towards the wide bed. The soft quilt felt nice on my skin when I slipped under it. I pushed the towel to the floor and let my already drying hair spread out on the pillow while rolling to the side. Tired as I felt and heavy as my body felt, I still couldn’t think of sleeping as his scent filled my head. The pillow smelled of Adam’s cologne, overwhelming me and melting my insides. I couldn’t resist dreaming of myself in his arms as I lay there. It took a few minutes to get used to it before I drifted into a light sleep full of strange dreams.
I saw a blue light and light blue eyes reflecting it, a golden haired man with perfect features, and I finally felt the pain in my spine, my legs, my arms, my chest, my head, my skin. I screamed without hope of making it stop. The more I screamed the more the fire seared through my limbs. The blue light intensified around me. It had its source in a silver sphere which glided towards me like a round little ghost…
“Claire!” A pair of hands was shaking me by the shoulders. “Wake up!”
I started. Adam stood beside the bed bending over me with a worried face. His arms were bare as was his chest. Water dropped from soaked strands of hair that were dangling into his eyes.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He sat down beside me, one hand fastening the white towel that was slung around his hips. “I heard you scream—”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Bad dream,” I sobbed into his pillow.
“You have to tell me what happened, Claire,” he urged with serious eyes. “Please…”
I sat up, slowly, and told him what had happened, in detail this time, starting again with Friday evening. I didn’t tell him about the date with Gregory, though—he didn’t need to know everything. I could watch his mouth fall open as I progressed with the story. He sat there simply listening, never interrupting me—his expression more and more horrified. His eyes lit up a little when I mentioned Jaden’s ability to ease physical pain and he flinched when I told him about the demon I had faced in the end, the one who had tortured me when I had been conscious.
“His name was Alabaster—are you sure?” he finally spoke when I’d finished.
“I guess so…They talked about a guy named Alabaster the evening they kidnapped me and he had this beige skin, alabaster like—so I think it must have been him.”
“So, what happened to him?”
“Dead, probably,” I silently hoped. “Jaden finished him and the spell broke, so we could get away.”
Adam shifted uncomfortably without looking at me. I had the feeling that he had rather not heard this, even though he’d begged me to tell him.
“What’s wrong?” I tried to find out.
“Alabaster,” Adam got to his feet with a quick motion.
“You know him?”
“Not exactly—I’ve heard of him. He was dangerous—I’m positive he would have used you to get to me. Your guardian angel killed one of the most powerful existing demons—just like that.”
“I can’t remember what happened exactly—my attention was occupied with trying to keep my heart beating with the silver sphere working through it …” I instinctively touched the place where the sphere had bore into my chest. The echo of an ache returned for a moment.
“Jaden must be very old and therefore stronger,” he mused aloud.
“Angels get stronger when they grow old?” I wondered. “Don’t you die at all?” I hadn’t read the book cover to cover, so I didn’t know all the details. “I mean—Jaden said he’s more than nine-hundred years old but he looks like my age…How is that possible?” I tried to wrap my head around what I was saying, but my mind couldn’t grasp anything but the impossibility of my words. “No one lives that long.” I shook my head to emphasise what I said.
“Actually, angels can.” Adam corrected me, his forehead frowning.
“How long is long?” I asked unbelievingly.
“Forever,” he said blankly. “It always depends on how strong their lineage is, of course. Jaden is the oldest I’ve heard of…”
“How many others do you know?” I interrupted.
“I’m sorry I can’t tell you.”
“Why all that secrecy again?” Was he trying to tell me that I couldn’t know anything again?’ “You see where being the stupid uninformed ex-girlfriend got me. I nearly died tonight.” My hands were in the air, gesturing wildly. “Like keeping me in the dark has done me any good so far—” A chest-tightening feeling of losing him emptied my head.
“I know.” Adam smiled mildly. “I will not send you away tonight—”
My mouth opened, a protest on my tongue.
“—or tomorrow, or any time. I never felt as empty as I did the last few days—knowing that my love for you is so strong I could never succeed fighting the feeling. And I could never bear it, knowing that you would be out there somewhere, broken-hearted, and that it was my fault. It almost ripped my soul apart.” His gaze was tender and intense as he bent down to kiss my forehead softly.
“Why?” I whispered into his throat and he tore away to look at me questioningly. “I mean—why can you be with me now? A week ago you told me it was not safe—”
“That was before I understood that they already knew about you.” His forehead creased. “I tried to stay away from you and keep you in the dark about everything from the moment I found out what was happening to me. They must have found out somehow—” He sat down beside me again and pulled me close to his chest. “I failed to protect you, and I’m sorry.” His words flowed through my hair and tickled my neck.
I wound more tightly into his embrace until there was not an inch of space between us. The water on his chest dried on my nightie. I kissed his shoulder and inhaled deeply. He smelled better than his bed had and I quickly forgot about demons and tortures—all I could do was feel. Feel his arms tighten around me, feel his warmth radiating through me and his lips kissing my cheek first, and then my lips.
He chuckled lightly. I wondered if this was in reaction to my sensations—naturally he must have perceived them right now.
I didn’t care. I didn’t think I could fight what was welling up, and I felt no wish to bury the craving for his nearness. Neither did he. He picked up my mood and played along with the growing heat in my chest.
My body was on fire—a good one this time—as his lips brushed all the way down my jaw and then throat. It was so intense I couldn’t control my breathing. Not knowing how to trust my feelings I flung my eyes open and forced a deep breath down into my lungs.
Adam stopped at my irritation and looked at me. His eyes glowed a light green—eerie and beautiful. I would never get used to the way they changed. It would be a constant reminder of what we were—angelic, gorgeous immortal and insignificant, ordinary human, trying to steal a few moments of bliss.
“Sorry, that was too fast,” he pulled away and looked away to hide his eyes.
“Don’t,” my hand touched his cheek with a little pressure and turned him back to look at me. “Don’t be sorry.”
“I’m scaring you,” he assumed, and he looked down, hiding his glowing irises behind his eyelids again.
“No,” I waited for a moment but he didn’t look up again. “Adam, look at me.” I said a little harshly. “You are not scaring me. Is that clear?”
His eyes opened and he finally looked at me, probing my face.
“I must admit I have to get used to it, but I think you’re beautiful. It’s part of what you are, and you are the one I love.” The glow in his eyes intensified and he knocked me over with a kiss that was so disarming that I couldn’t think of anything but the way his lips moved on mine.
Stolen Moments
White light woke me the next morning. Sunlight was painting rainbows onto the cream colored walls and reflected from the silver of the bedding. I lay on my stomach, the range of my view including only one window and the wall around it. It must have been around lunchtime from the angle of the incoming light. Sunday, my brain reminded me with an unfriendly sensation. I had to call Sophie. I jumped up and instantly tumbled back onto the bed. It seemed the happenings of the past days had affected me more than I had thought—or maybe it had been Adam’s endless kisses. After a while of kissing I had fallen asleep in his embrace, too tired to keep even my lips moving. His arms had kept the nightmares away, like a heavenly shield of trust and warmth.
I looked around. The bed was empty. I had no time to wonder where he had gone because the moment I realized he wasn’t there, the door opened and he came in with a big tray in his hands.
“About time you woke up” he said smiling. His face was almost boyish. “I tried to wake you this morning, when your cell rang—Sophie—but all I got was a growl and then you curled up again.”
I lay back down and pulled up the blanket. Adam carried the tray towards the bed and set it down beside me. It was loaded with croissants, coffee and juice. A red flower lay across the collection of food.
“For me?”
“Absolutely,” he grinned. “I think you need it. When was the last time you’ve eaten?”
“Friday evening—” my stomach growled hungrily as I smelled the coffee.
“That’s a pretty long time—” Adam lifted a white square plate from the tray, placed a croissant on it and shoved it in my direction. I took it from him and ate greedily. The croissant was still warm and tasted wonderful. After a few bites Adam handed me a cup of coffee.
“Thank you,” I said between two mouthfuls. He smiled and watched me eat for a while. It made me nervous—how could someone be so perfect, and intimidating at the same time. His eyes followed my every move with a bemused expression.
“What?” I lifted my hands nearly spilling the coffee on their way up.
Adam chuckled. “I love you,” he said with a light smile on his lips.
I couldn’t resist returning his smile. My body responded instantly, like Adam set me on fire with his words. Heat rushed through my system and I suddenly didn’t care about my growling stomach anymore. And there was another feeling that welled up simultaneously—embarrassment. I was very self-conscious again and tried to not look stupid—as far as one could influence their looking stupid in a befuddled situation like that.
“It’s amazing how much you can feel at one time,” Adam stated, and shame added to my embarrassment, which annoyed me very much.
“You know, most people are very straight forward. One feeling at a time. Fear or hatred, love, lust …But you—”
Oh dear—I really couldn’t hide anything from Adam. Whatever was going on inside my head and heart—he would perceive the feelings radiating from me.
“You seem to be a lot more complex than the average nineteen year old,” he told me with obvious amusement in his voice.
“And you’re not funny,” I stuck out my tongue in a childish reflex and rested my head on the soft pillow. He took the cup from me and lay down beside me.
“What’s the average nineteen year old girl like?” I asked, looking at the ceiling.
Adam chuckled beside me. “Not interesting.”
“Oh, come on—no lies.” I rolled over to him and stared into his eyes, searching for the truth.
“Honestly—not interesting.” He answered my stare unblinkingly with his soft green eyes.
“And why would that be?”
“Because I don’t see them anymore…” He caught a strand of hair which hung in my eyes and tucked it behind my ear. “From the moment I met you I stopped looking at them, because what I wanted was right in front of me.” He kissed my nose. “None of them is holding any interest for me—only you are. And I’m lucky you’re here.” His face grew more serious and fear flickered through his features for a fraction of a second.
“My heart almost broke when you turned up in the woods yesterday. I felt how hurt you were, how exhausted and scared.” Adam reached for my hand and cradled it in his. “I made a huge mistake by trying to keep you away. I thought not knowing too much would make you less interesting to the demons—less valuable. I thought if they saw that we had broken up, they would see no necessity in taking you.” His brows furrowed. “I could have lost you forever without knowing it and it would have been my fault and only mine.
“What if Jaden hadn’t been so strong, what if there had been more than one the moment Jaden attacked Alabaster? Both of you would have been dead and I would have murder on my hands—not that I would have cared about being found guilty—life without you means nothing to me.”
“You can’t say a thing like that. I won’t allow it.” I squeezed his hand, desperate for him to forget what had happened. “I’m alive. Jaden got me out—Everything’s fine.”
“Yeah, this time. But what could have happened—” He closed his eyes. “What if they kidnap you again? You won’t survive a second time. They won’t care about a mark—or whatever it is called. They’ll slay you right away.
“We have to find a way to hide you from them. By now, they will have found out that you’re gone and Alabaster’s dead, and then they won’t stop looking for you until they’ve killed either you or Jaden or both of you.”
I didn’t like the way he panicked. “It was only three others. Jaden could tear them apart easily one at a time. They were below Alabaster, hierarchically, I mean. They captured me on his behalf and seemed to follow his orders. They might be useless without him.”
“No Claire. You don’t understand what’s going on, do you?”
“How should I? Jaden made me go unconscious every time I could have gotten details, I had no time to do more research and you won’t tell me.”
I was a little frustrated. Was I really so un-trustworthy? “Why don’t you tell me?” I tried to get him to talk.
“What do you want to know?” He offered.
“Tell me about the mark, please,” I hoped to lure something out of him. “I’d like to understand what that’s all about.” I looked at him from under my lashes.
“Didn’t Jaden tell you all you need to know?”
“I told you I was unconscious every time it became interesting—Jaden saw to that.” I remembered the blackness and the pain, and Jaden’s gentle hands on me, forcing me into sleep, keeping away what little reality was left.
“So what about marks?” I prompted.
Adam rolled to his side and stroked my cheek with his finger. “If I had known…” His brows furrowed and his gaze grew distant, like his memories were carrying him far away. “But I did not know—how could I? The moment I spread my wings in your room the first time I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know what it would do to you—I didn’t know then that I would interfere with your future.
“If I had been aware of the danger it would cause, I would have stayed away from you.”
“I’m glad you didn’t—stay away from me.”
His eyes scrutinized my face. “How did I know you would say that—”
I stared back at him.
“So, you marked me when you spread your wings for the first time?” I tried to guide him back to the topic.
“It seems that this is the way things go. You feel that person in your vision, you search for them, you find them, you love them, they make you spread your wings, you inevitably mark them—and they are doomed.”
“You mean to
tell me I’m doomed?”
“I am sorry, Claire. If there was a way to undo the mark I’d do it without hesitation.”
“Don’t say that,” I shivered. “Jaden told me when you spread your wings for the first time, I was the catalyst. He said our souls interlaced in that moment—that you left your mark on me. I don’t want to split my soul from yours—not even if that means I’m doomed.”
Adams eyes pierced into mine with a green glow. “You don’t know—you don’t have any idea what that means to me,” he said fervently. “—Though you underestimate the situation.”
“I don’t think I do, Adam. Jaden told me what it would mean for a person to lose their angel and for an angel to lose the person who carries their mark. They would literally go insane.”
Adam looked at me with big eyes. They were locking me in position, but I didn’t let myself sink into his beautiful gaze.
“You can’t change what has happened.” I closed my eyes to break the connection between us and rolled to one side.
The plate with the croissants clattered to the floor noisily. When I opened my eyes, Adam was gone. I heard a noise behind me and turned around quickly, careful not to smash the tray down as well—Adam was there beside the bed, picking up the pieces of the broken plate. I jumped, not expecting him there.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He looked up with an apologetic smile on his lips.
“How did you do that?” I stared at him unbelieving.
“I really try to act normal, believe me. But everything is so brand-new to me, even after some time—I can’t always control my abilities the way I want to.” Frustration tore over his features.
Adam was wearing blue flannel pajama pants and a light blue short-sleeved shirt. I wondered when he had put those on. His black hair was twisting onto his forehead in small strands which danced with his movements.
“It’s okay. It’s part of who you are.” I reached out a hand to play with his hair. “I don’t only want parts of you—I want all of you.”
White (The Wings Trilogy Book 1) Page 25
