Wolf came back from battle all riled and fired up, a warrior with his passion stoked, and slept with her.
She tried to shove that thought out of her head, but she was too weak to shake it. It sank claws into her, tormenting her even when her heart remained constant and steady, telling her that Wolf loved her and he would never lie to her about such a thing.
But she had never asked him if he already had a woman.
“Oh… you think the Fourth Commander desires you as his mate?” The angel pulled a face of mock pity that had Emelia itching to punch her as she wrestled with her feelings, trying to convince herself the angel was lying. The woman brushed fingers across her lip, a heated edge to her eyes as she whispered, “He kissed me the other day, while my naked body pressed against his.”
Emelia’s hand dropped to the dart gun on her hip, the urge to use it on the angel almost overwhelming her as her heart ached, feeling as if it was about to split in two.
She held it together because she was damned if she was going to let this angel poison her mind against Wolf.
“As an Echelon, he will be expected to sire strong offspring to continue his lineage, providing generations of powerful warriors.” The angel smiled. “Strong offspring require a strong mother. The Fourth Commander would never choose one from outside his realm for the task. He is meant for me. He could never love a weak creature like you.”
That was it.
Emelia drew the gun and aimed it at the bitch, every barb the angel had thrown at her stinging, shredding her heart to pieces as she did her best to deny them. They were lies. They had to be.
Anger followed in the wake of the pain, blazed in her veins so fiercely that she could barely breathe as she stared the angel down.
“If you’re so special to Wolf, why is he hunting a dragon for me?” she spat, venom dripping from her words as her hands shook, making it impossible to keep the gun trained on the bitch.
The angel’s eyes widened, surprise shining in them before she shut it down, her fair eyebrows dipping into a frown as she glared at Emelia.
Jealous that the man she wanted had done something for Emelia, or angry that he had put himself in danger for another woman?
Emelia sucked down a breath. The angel was lying. She had to be. It was jealousy that had brought her here, and she was mounting an attempt to drive Emelia away from Wolf.
Although he had been distant when he had left her, had been lost in thought, and hadn’t paid attention to anything she had said to him.
Her heart ached.
Because he regretted sleeping with her because of this angel? Because he was somehow promised to her?
No. He had been preoccupied, probably with thoughts of the dragon, knowing Wolf. He wanted the male to pay and had been consumed by that need to avenge her. That was the only reason he had been distant.
It had to be.
She wanted to believe the feelings she had seen in him were true and that the angel was lying, but there had been conviction in her voice and honesty in her eyes when she had said Wolf had kissed her.
That her naked curves had been pressed against his.
The anger simmering in her veins rolled back to a boil, the image of them tangled together provoking it until it became rage blazing in her blood, fury that demanded answers, fuelled by the hurt burning in her heart.
“If you want Wolf so badly, go and get him,” she barked, every drop of the rage consuming her exploding in those words.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She ignored it, had more pressing matters to attend to than seeing if it was Sable.
“I will. Where is he?” The angel looked around them. “Is he here?”
“He’s in Hell.” Emelia holstered her gun, savouring the shock that rippled across the bitch’s face. “Which is where I’ll be in around a minute because I’m going to save his arse, and then we’ll see whether I have to kick it or not.”
The angel paled.
Opened her mouth.
Whatever words she had wanted to say came out as a shriek as Thorne appeared with his powerful arms wrapped around Sable, his seven-foot frame making her look petite against him as he clutched her to his bare chest.
Thorne turned curious dark red eyes on the source of the scream.
They instantly blazed like hot coals.
“Demon!” The angel shrieked again, the sound more piercing than Archangel’s intruder alarm.
Thorne’s dusky horns curled through his wild russet locks, following the curves of his pointed ears and flaring around each other as rage lit his rough features.
The angel made the mistake of looking at Sable, a flicker of recognition in her eyes as they landed on the black-haired huntress.
Thorne bellowed something in the demonic tongue.
The angel screamed, face contorting as her hands flew to her ears and she collapsed. She didn’t even touch the floor. She disappeared before she could hit it.
Emelia needed to learn that language. “Teach me some words.”
Thorne’s rough low chuckle echoed around the room as he relaxed. “Does not work like that, little huntress. Only demons speaking it hurts them.”
That was a shame.
“What did Small, Pale and Holy want?” Sable extricated herself from Thorne’s hold, but the male was quick to pull her back into his arms.
He muttered in his own tongue as he petted her. Sable sighed and didn’t resist him, letting him stroke her fall of black hair as she wriggled until she was facing Emelia.
“Apparently, she’s Wolf’s intended or something.” Emelia couldn’t keep the venom from her voice.
Sable frowned at her and muttered, “More like she’s Wolf’s groupie.”
“She—” Emelia started.
Sable cut her off. “I saw how he looked at you, Emelia. No guy looks at a girl like that unless he’s doomed to go crazy for them. Take it from me. I know.”
Her friend petted Thorne’s hand where it tightly gripped her shoulder, keeping her back plastered against his bare chest.
Thorne had gone a little mad for Sable. Emelia had noticed that from the moment she had met the demon, and the level of crazy had only increased over the time she had been staying at the castle in the Third Realm, preparing for the war.
Just as Wolf’s level of crazy had increased in the time she had known him.
Because he was falling for her as she suspected?
“But still…” Sable continued with a grim expression etched on her delicate features. “If he’s been two-timing you, I’m going to kick his arse.”
Emelia smiled at her friend, glad she was here and that she would have backup when she found Wolf, saved him, and then confronted him about the bitch.
“Not if I beat you to it.”
CHAPTER 33
Emelia had only been in Thorne’s grim grey fortress in Hell for a day, but it felt like forever as she forced herself to be patient. Loke had promised to come and help her as soon as he was done with some clan business, and Bleu had sworn to bring his mate to the castle tomorrow. Then they would all head out together.
She stood on a balcony that overlooked the courtyard of the castle. It was more of a garrison really. A heavily fortified outer wall that had several buildings nestled inside it encompassed an equally as thick and fortified inner wall. Towers intersected that wall, spread evenly around it, and a large building stood opposite the one she was in. The armoury.
Braziers blazed around the courtyard, illuminating it, the light dancing over the bare-chested demons as they went about their work. Groups of warriors hung out in front of the low building to her left that hugged the curve of the wall. Her quarters were there, close to Thorne and Sable’s rooms.
Thorne grumbled something, his deep voice carrying through the open doors behind her. Sable spoke, soothing words that reassured her mate.
Emelia had left them studying the map of Hell that took up an entire table in the centre of Thorne’s war room, charting the location she had give
n them and how far it was from Loke’s cave.
If Loke didn’t show up tomorrow, Thorne planned to go there and make the male come with them.
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who didn’t like waiting.
Although, part of the reason Thorne wanted to save Wolf was to hammer it home that Sable was off-limits and that if he ever came near her, he would kill him. She had assured Thorne that Wolf wasn’t interested in stealing his mate, but what did she really know?
Had Wolf slept with the angel?
The more time she spent with only her thoughts for company, the more she was convinced he had.
And the more she wanted to find him and beat the truth out of him.
The air around her charged. A shiver bolted down her spine.
The hope she had been keeping alive since Wolf had left her soared, and she turned towards the room, her breath hitching as arcs of electricity sparked in the middle of it.
Only it wasn’t Wolf who stood before her when the blinding light faded.
“I swear, one day, you’re gonna vaporise me when you teleport like that.” A female voice rang through the room, a teasing note in it.
A very masculine sigh followed.
“We have been through this, Asteria. I would never hurt you.”
Emelia’s heart ached as those words echoed in her mind, but in Wolf’s voice. He had sworn he would never hurt her, never lie to her, but here she was, standing in Hell, afraid of what was to come and scared he had been keeping secrets from her.
The towering blond male who stood before her, black armour covering him from neck to toe, black-feathered wings furled against his back, casually turned towards Thorne as the demon began to growl and held up a gauntleted hand. “I really would not.”
“Down boy,” Asteria said to Thorne, a wicked smile curving her cherry-red lips as she flicked her black hair over her shoulder, revealing cleavage that looked ready to burst from the tiny violet-trimmed corset she wore with a pair of black shorts that flashed the bottom curves of her buttocks.
Sable glared at the demoness and moved in front of Thorne. “Back off, bitch.”
“Meow.” Asteria make a swiping move with her hand, clawing the air. “I’m not interested in your demon, half-breed. You can dial back the testosterone. I only have eyes for my bad boy.”
She swayed towards the fallen angel, wrapping her arm around his and clinging to it as she gazed lovingly up at him, her blue eyes shining with adoration. She rubbed her small obsidian horns up and down his armoured chest and over his shoulder, her leathery wings trembling as if it felt good.
He smiled down at her, his expression soft even as he said, “You had better only have eyes for me or you might get a little frazzled next time we teleport.”
She pouted at that.
If the demon was Asteria, then the black-winged angel was Rey. Wolf’s comrade.
“Um,” Emelia started.
The demoness looked over her shoulder at her, released the fallen angel and tossed her a broad smile. “Look. We found her!”
“You are sure it is her?” The fallen angel looked her over. “You said that about the last brunette we found.”
Asteria huffed and looked up at him as he turned towards Emelia. “You can’t smell the angel all over her?”
Okay. That was far too personal. Emelia’s cheeks burned.
The demoness noticed and grinned. “Definitely her.”
Thorne growled again. Strong arms suddenly banded around Emelia, darkness washed over her, and she was in the room again, but not where she had been. She didn’t have a chance to take in what had happened. Thorne shoved her and Sable behind him, his broad dragon-like wings stretching to form a barrier between them and the couple.
“Speak your business!” he boomed as he grew in size, his temper getting the better of him.
“Oh, he’s so antiquated. I love it!” Asteria didn’t seem to notice the way her mate sighed again.
“Do not anger the demon. Did I not say that when we followed the trail here? What did I say, Asteria?”
She hummed and then said, “Don’t piss the big demon king off?”
“And what are you doing?”
“Pissing the big demon king off.” She huffed, her voice losing all the light that had been in it as she muttered, “Fine. Spoilsport. You can take the holy out of the angel, but not the angel out of the… wait… I can do this. You can take the good… the light?”
“I am not here for you or your mate,” Rey said as Asteria continued to mutter to herself about angels, good, and other things. “We were trying to find Emelia. You are Emelia, are you not?”
She touched Thorne’s back to let him know she was going to be fine, not wanting him to go off the deep end again, and stepped out from behind him, coming to face the fallen angel.
His crimson eyes were soft as they locked with hers, holding concern and a dash of hope, and it was strange seeing a fallen angel in the flesh.
He was nothing like the pictures people had painted for her. There was good in him. She could see it.
“I am.” She held her nerve and moved a little closer to him, sure that if he had wanted to kill them all, he probably would have done it by now.
“You are a hard female to find. We looked in the places Wolf told us about, but you were not there.”
“I… I came here. I think Wolf is in trouble.” She searched his eyes, seeing in them that she wasn’t the only one worried about the angel.
“I think so too. When we returned to our home, we found evidence Wolf had been there, and that there had been a fight.”
Her heart leaped into her throat. “Did you find evidence of a dragon?”
His grim look said it was far worse than that and she curled her fingers into fists to stop her hands from shaking as she waited for him to speak.
“We found… there were black feathers. Not mine.”
Her heart sank and she gripped the table for support as her entire world rocked on its axis.
“We think the dragon has hired fallen angels.” Asteria’s usually bright voice was sombre for once, her expression serious as Emelia shifted her gaze to her.
“But you could take them. If he has hired fallen angels… you could take them, right?” She refused to let this sway her.
Bleu and Loke, and the others might not be a match for fallen angels, but another fallen angel would be. Surely?
Rey shrugged, lifting the plates of his heavy black armour. “Probably. I am stronger than the average fallen angel because I retained my Echelon—”
Thorne roared and had Rey’s throat in his grasp before the fallen angel even knew what had hit him. He slammed Rey’s back into the grey stone wall of the war room, pinning him there as he flashed his fangs and snarled, his muscles rippling beneath his tanned skin as he grew in size again.
Rey’s irises burned crimson, his pupils stretching into thin slits in their centres as he brought his hand up and gripped Thorne’s wrist.
“You want to rethink this?” Rey grunted and her eyes widened when she saw the hand he held Thorne with was bare, his naked palm pressing against the demon’s skin.
The black cross on the inside of his right wrist was visible just above the sleeve of his armour.
Thorne looked as if he was willing to risk it.
“Let him go, Demon Boy, or your mate has a date with death.”
Emelia looked over her shoulder at Sable. Asteria stood behind her, golden elliptical pupils blazing like fire against her now-black irises as she pressed a blade to Sable’s throat. Her friend swallowed, looking as if she was trying to figure a way out of it and failing.
It seemed Thorne wasn’t willing to risk that.
He released Rey with a shove back against the wall and growled at Asteria when she failed to release Sable. He stalked towards the demoness, snarling and flashing his fangs, and the demoness wisely held up her end of the bargain, disappearing just as he lunged for her.
He grabbed Sable instead
, wrapped his arms around her, and petted her onyx hair as he grumbled, “Echelon cannot have you.”
“I am not interested in forcing Sable to serve the Echelon.” Rey rubbed his throat. “I am not exactly fighting on that side now, am I? I am here because I am worried about Wolf.”
He turned his crimson gaze to Emelia.
“Do you know where he is?”
She held his gaze. “Zephyr said he was constantly on the move now to evade Wolf. Before he bit me, he said we would keep moving, so Wolf couldn’t find us.”
Rey frowned and pushed away from the wall. “He bit you?”
She nodded, weathering the concerned look Sable gave her. She hadn’t wanted anyone to know, was still ashamed she hadn’t been strong enough to stop him from attempting to force a bond on her.
“He took my blood because he’s my… fated one.” She had to force the last two words out.
Asteria gasped. Sable came and wrapped her arms around Emelia.
Rey growled low.
Thorne snarled, “A mate is sacred. How dare he…”
“He dared, alright,” she snapped and issued a silent apology when he frowned at her.
She hadn’t meant to be rough with him, but she hated that the dragon had done that to her, and that he was linked to her in a way now. She wanted to sever that connection, and then his head from his shoulders.
“He will not be moving, then.” Rey’s words had her turning a frown on him, because she wasn’t following his line of thought. “If he has Wolf… and he wants you… he will be somewhere you can find him.”
Her stomach dropped and her mind emptied as it hit her, and she whispered, “Because he wants me to offer myself in exchange.”
“That sick fucking bastard!” Sable grabbed her sword from the table, unsheathed it, and looked ready to take out her anger on the bookcases.
Thorne stepped in front of them. “We will deal with him. Emelia will not become his.”
No, she bloody well wouldn’t. She wasn’t going to be blackmailed into becoming his mate. She was going to save Wolf and slay the dragon.
Avenged by an Angel (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 16) Page 33
