Because that was the true curse of the Othersiders. Fall in love with a human, mark them, brand them, bond with them, and there was a price to pay: No halo. No wings, either, which he figured out when he started shedding his feathers.
He’d lose everything that made him one of the Fallen. No hope of an afterlife spent up above. If he managed to keep from becoming a demon—which wasn’t likely—then his only hope would be for a mortal existence, a mortal death, and an eternity spent in Purgatory.
“And that’s gonna happen?”
“That or I become fully mortal.” When Avery just gaped at him, Cam set his jaw. “I made my choices. Can’t take it back now anyway. The best I can do is lead the hellhounds away from you.”
Because that’s what he was going to do. If he managed to outfly them and make it to Grayson before the hounds caught him by the heel and dragged him down below, great. With Dina’s help, he could figure out how to get them off his ass. But first? He had to make sure that Avery was safe.
Too bad she didn’t seem to agree.
“That’s bullshit,” she snapped.
“Avery.”
“It is.” She found her shirt thrown on the floor. With a quick shimmy, she pulled it on over her bare chest. “Being human isn’t so bad.”
“Wait— that’s what you got out of everything I said?”
“What did you expect? You said ‘mortal’ like it’s some kind of curse!”
“It is a curse.”
“That’s the second time you said that. What the hell’s going on, Cam?”
“Hell—” He shook his head. If they were going to waste a few minutes with this, he might as well grab his boots. He snagged one by the laces, jamming his foot inside. “Got it in one, Avery. But, I swear, I won’t let them get to you.”
She’d yanked her panties on and was just tugging on her jeans. “You mean us, right?” When Cam didn’t answer her, she didn’t bother buttoning her pants, pausing only to slip her feet into her shoes. Within seconds, she was more fully dressed than Cam. She walked into him, poking him in his bare chest. “Right, Cam?”
“They’re after me,” Cam said gruffly. He lifted his hand, rubbing his thumb along the height of her cheek, hating the way Avery stared up at him with such wide, round eyes. He did this. He could’ve said no, he could’ve remembered the curse… but he didn’t and know he had to pay for it. “If I go, they’ll chase me. You’ll be safe if you stay here.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You’re lying again,” Avery told him.
“Avery—”
“If you don’t let me go with you, I’ll run outside and find the hellhounds myself. They’ll have to go through me to get to you.”
Cam felt his breath catch in his throat. Would the hellhounds go after her? Normally they avoided mortals unless they were marked by the down below. But after last night… and with the amar mark on her arm? Something told him the demon hounds won’t be picky.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t I?”
Cam cursed. “Fine. Come with me. But I’m just getting you to safety. I’ll deal with the hellhounds later.”
Avery patted him on his bare chest, swooping up on her tippy-toes to press a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. “You’re getting us to safety. And then we’re talking about this.”
If he managed to pull that off, he would do whatever she wanted him to do.
“You ready?” he asked.
Avery nodded. “Do you want your jacket?” she asked as Cam led her out of the bedroom and toward the front door. “I saw it on my couch.”
Considering he was about to let loose his wings, he didn’t need it, but it might be chilly in the sky. “Grab it and put it on.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, and come on. We’ve gotta go.”
As if punctuating his statement, the air erupted with barks and yips and howls. Just his luck, they sounded even closer. Shit, they sounded like they were right outside of the building.
If they were?
Going down was out of the question. He’d only be heading right toward the hellhounds if he went to the ground floor. As an Othersider, his only hope was the sky. That wouldn’t stop the hellhounds from their hunt, not now that he’d risked it all and lost, but it should buy them some time.
“The roof.”
She’d just finished tugging on his jacket. A pang lanced him right in the heart. She was swimming in it, but he didn’t care. It fit her fucking perfectly.
“Roof?”
It was their only chance. “Follow me.”
Clutching tightly to Avery, Cam ran out of the apartment and toward the stairwell, tugging her behind him. She didn’t argue or try to stop him, knowing that the time for asking questions would have to wait until, oh, they didn’t have the slobbering beasts of down below coming after them.
He took the stairs two at a time, Avery right on his heels. For a mortal, she was quick, and he already knew that she was brave. Did he really think he could’ve convinced her to stay behind? He’d have a better chance throwing a bone to the pack of hounds and maybe commanding them to stay, sit, roll over than trying to pull the big, bad protector routine for his female.
Only she couldn’t be his female. At least, not his fated soulmate. Because if she had been, then the curse would’ve been nullified and he wouldn’t be racing toward the roof, hoping to escape the consequences of his actions—
Gritting his teeth, Cam shoved that thought out of his head. He couldn’t think about that now.
They burst out onto the roof. As Avery ran toward the edge, peering down at the ground, Cam released his wings. He didn’t even bother taking his time. He let those suckers out, stretching them to his full wingspan, trying too hard not to preen when Avery’s appreciation of his wings cut through her nerves.
There’d be time for that later, Cam told himself. He’d make sure of it.
For now—
“You told me you wanted to fly. Well, my soul, wish granted.”
He didn’t care whether fate said Avery was his soulmate or not. One look deep into her beautiful eyes and Cam chose her for himself regardless. She was his soul, and she had it. He gave it away last night and, if this ended terribly, he was glad that it—like his precious jacket—was hers now.
She didn’t even hesitate. Whatever she’d seen down on the ground was pushed aside as she ran back to Cam, jumping up and throwing herself into his arms.
“Hold tight, okay?”
“You got it.”
That was the only warning she got. Cradling her ass with his hands, adjusting her to the best position possible for their flight, Cam hopped up on the ledge and launched.
As soon as they were soaring, he tucked her head into his neck so that she was secure and he could look beneath her. Nothing was there, but once he could glance over his shoulder, Cam spied the oversized black mutts with their fiery red eyes, frothing mouths, and dribble that sizzled and burned right through the asphalt beneath their dinner plate-sized paws.
So, yeah. Hellhounds? Check.
Worse? So consumed with the feel of her body snug against his, the hellhounds tracking them from the ground, and the path to Grayson guiding him, Cam forgot all about camouflaging them upon launch.
They’d only been flying for less than five minutes, approaching the perimeter of Spring Valley when he noticed that it wasn’t only the hellhounds following his flight. He didn’t say anything out loud. He didn’t want Avery to know just how much he fucked up. He hoped that, like the hellhounds, he could escape the mortals down below without adding to her worries.
But it didn’t matter that he didn’t say anything. She knew. His mortal, Cam was discovering, always knew.
“Cam. What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got company.”
And it was all his fault. It was bad enough that he’d invited the hellhounds to follow him into Spring Valley because he’d been too cozy to l
eave Avery’s bed. She would’ve been safe if she didn’t insist on coming with him, but she had and, damn it, Cam hadn’t been able to refuse her.
But between trying to outrace the pack of hellhounds while flying with Avery pressed up against him, he’d forgotten that it was daylight.
Clinging tightly to him, her arms snug around his neck, legs wrapped around his waist, Avery angled her head enough so that she could see what Cam had already sensed.
“What are they… holy shit. That’s Noah down there. Donna’s right behind him. Mr. Perkins. Pat Walker.” Her fingers dug in his neck. “Cam, they’ve got guns. Someone’s called out the hunters.”
Hunters… something told Cam that the mortals below were hunting all right. He wanted to believe that they were after the hellhounds. It would make sense. The baying of the pack probably woke up half of Spring Valley.
Only the crowd below wasn’t chasing after the hellhounds. Nope. They were all focused on the Othersider flying off with one of their locals in broad daylight.
“The Claws Clause,” he muttered. Just when he thought he couldn’t regret his fuck up any more… Would it really have killed him to remember to be cautious in an anti-Para community? No, but if the curse got too far, the hunters and the guns might just do the job. “Hang on, Avery. I won’t let them get close enough to shoot.”
“Shoot? Why would they shoot us? Shouldn’t they be worrying about the hellhounds?”
“I told you. It’s the Claws Clause. The Bond Laws,” he said, streamlining his wings so that he could fly faster. “I’m a Para. You’re mortal. If they think I’m abducting you, the laws give them the right to take me out. No Para is allowed to force a mortal to be their mate. It’s the reason the ordinance was first written.”
“Mate? What—”
He shouldn’t have said the word. It was just another reminder that while he had thought maybe, the early wake-up call from the hellhounds told him otherwise. Avery wasn’t his soulmate. She couldn’t be. Despite the amar mark, despite his name etched in Enochian on her skin, despite the way he’d never felt more alive than when he joined with her… if she’d been his mate, the curse would’ve broken long before the hellhounds came after him.
Cam was just glad he still had his wings. At the rate he’d been losing his feathers, he was sure they’d be gone after last night. He’d hoped he was wrong and, luckily, when he released them, they were there. Hopefully, they stayed that way for one more flight. He needed to make sure that he got Avery to safety before the curse finished him, one way or another.
He’d hoped for a mortal life. Looked like the down below had other plans for him if they’d already sicced the hellhounds on him.
As if on cue, the air split. The hellhounds wanted to remind everyone that Cam was their target.
Avery gulped. She still held tightly to him like velcro. Long legs wrapped around his waist, arms clinging to his upper torso, she wore an expression of fright mixed with amazement; despite their shitty situation, she’d never lost her delight as he flew with her. If they got out of this mess in one piece, he was going to take her on a magical flight, just the two of them. She deserved it, and it gave Cam something to focus on that wasn’t the hellhounds behind him and the growing group of humans running after them.
What were they doing? If they were planning on using those guns against the hellhounds, they were in trouble. The mortals would be better off letting the pack continue after Cam instead of getting in their way. The hellhounds would barely notice the mortals.
But the guns?
They might notice those.
At least one good thing came out of forgetting to hide them against the sky. Without having to concentrate on that, he could extended his senses toward the ground… as long as they still worked.
Maybe… maybe… yes.
Rage. All he got was unbridled rage that was directed at… Avery?
For a heartbeat, Cam nearly dropped out of the sky. He recovered in the next, but he searched the crowd below, looking for that source.
Before he could find it, he watched in slow motion as a blond male mortal lifted his gun. A female came rushing toward him, one arm reaching out as if that could stop him while the other was at her mouth. From between the gaps in her fingers, she cried out, “Noah, no—”
The rest of the female’s shout was cut off from an explosion.
As loud as the hellhounds, but infinitely more dangerous, it was a single gunshot.
He knew the instant the bullet left the barrel of the gun. It was silver, as if the male was prepared to go after a shifter, but whether it was silver or lead, it didn’t matter. It was a fucking bullet and it was heading right for Avery.
No.
Cam reacted. He couldn’t outfly the bullet—as an Othersider, he was fast but not that fast—but he could change its target. Giving up on flight, he folded his wings around Avery, shielding her from what was about to happen. Then, once he was sure she was covered, he twisted his body, placing his back in the bullet’s path a split second before it slammed into him.
He could take it. It would hurt and he wasn’t sure if he could shake off being shot and still escape the hellhounds, but it didn’t matter. He could survive getting shot. His mortal couldn’t.
And if the curse had caught up with him and he was mortal now? Well, fine. He’d already had seven decades on Earth. So long as Avery survived, he didn’t give a shit what happened to him.
The bullet ripped through the base of his left wing, slamming into his lower back, tearing through his side. He absorbed the shot with a jolt, his body bucking as he tightened the cocoon of his black wings around Avery. The next got his spine and he hoped that one wasn’t as serious as it seemed; as an Othersider, he was basically immortal, but not indestructible. Another to the shoulder. And one that came within an inch of his heart.
That final hit did something to him. He’d already been ready to arrow toward the ground since his wings were too busy protecting Avery to flap them any higher, but the shot just about blew him right out of the sky.
They were going to hit. Nothing could stop their trajectory, and with the bullet wounds riddling his body, he didn’t have the strength to worry about the hellhounds or the hunters or anything except what would happen when they slammed into the Earth below them.
Cam conjured a cushion around his and Avery’s forms—at least, he tried to. Something was pushing against his energy.
The perimeter, he realized. The anti-Para magic spell was trying to stop him from protecting Avery from the inevitable crash.
No fucking way.
With the last of his energy, Cam pushed everything he had outward. He flapped his wings, aiming for just past the town limits. Just in case, though, he gave up any power he had that could’ve healed his bullet wounds, using it to hit at the ward surrounding the ground.
The last thing he remembered was the blowback as the perimeter spell imploded, sending him a few feet back into the air before he spiraled downward again, landing just outside of Spring Valley.
19
You already have mine
Avery pushed against Cam’s wings.
One second, they were flying. The next? His wings were a cage around her. After that, she couldn’t see what was going on, but she heard the booming, felt his body jerk before going still, then they were falling, falling, falling.
He plowed into the ground as Avery bounced around, like a pinball. He had her tucked into him, so she battered against his arms, his chin, his belly before they landed hard.
She was shaken up, the shoulder that slammed the iron cage of his tight embrace barking as she flopped back against him, but she was okay.
Why did she feel wet, though? Something was slick. Thick. It soaked her shirt, it slid over her skin. In the back of her frantic brain, she knew what it had to be—but she refused to accept it.
With one last shove, she pried Cam’s wings open. They landed on the dirt with a creaking thud. Feathers rained down on her. All ar
ound them, grass was torn up, the impact of their crash digging a divot on somebody’s poor lawn.
She was lying flat on his chest. Pushing against Cam, her hands slipped and she fell off of him.
Something shimmered on her hands. Because it looked different, she found it easier to ignore the reality of what was going on. She wiped them on her shirt, then clutched at the ruined ground, pulling herself up to her knees.
Cam hadn’t moved. His eyes were closed, his beautiful black wings spread out beneath him, and he hadn’t moved.
“Cam? Cam, are you okay?”
No answer.
Avery bowed over him, dazed gaze finally seeing what was right in front of her.
She immediately rejected it.
No, no, no. He had to be okay. He was an Othersider. A Para. He could only die if someone lopped off his head. Any other injury was fixable. Even if he got hit with silver bullets, it would only weaken him?
So why was he barely breathing? Blood… pearlescent and pale instead of bright red, it was still his life’s blood all over him, all over her.
“Cam!”
“Avery!”
She didn’t recognize the voice; she only knew it wasn’t Cam’s. Amid the background noise, the shouts, the cries, the thrum of her frantic heart… she just barely picked out her name coming from behind her. Her head jerked over her shoulder. With Cam sprawled out on his back behind her, his wings eerily curled up at the edges, Avery realized that she was the only one standing between him and the Spring Valley mob.
Oh, hell no.
There wasn’t much she could do against them, especially since they were obviously armed, but that didn’t stop her.
She crouched low, arms thrown up, desperately trying to shield him while knowing that he needed medical care ASAP. She tried to call for help, but the words got stuck when she finally was able to focus on the scene in front of her.
True Angel: a Fallen Angel romance (Curse of the Othersiders Book 1) Page 17
