Anchoring Daniel to him by fisting his shirt, he used his free hand to make solid contact to his brother’s skull. The crunch of bone beneath each hit fed his anger.
They had left him in Hell. They had abandoned him. Over and over, Ramiel struck the other archangel in the face.
Someone yelled his name. But he didn’t slow down. Daniel used his legs to flip him. Jumping up, Daniel held his hand out. “Ram, what the hell is wrong with y—?”
Just the sound of the familiar voice tore through him. Where had they been? For over a hundred years he called out to them, and nothing. Whenever he had been topside, he had tried to connect. But now they showed up?
He charged the angel that had once claimed to be his friend. Ram gripped Daniel’s shirt and tossed him roughly against the shelf. It teetered under their weight and crashed backward, screws and bolts scattering across the floor.
Pale hands touched him, belonging to a voice of warning. He shoved them away. He didn’t care. The core of his rage had burned too long.
All those years. Every single second with Nema and her demons. Each time he called out to them, they had never answered. Not once. And they thought they could just jump in now and make a joke about Kyria? The only one that had stayed with him when she should have flashed away?
Daniel flashed to the end of the aisle, his words slurred from the punches that damaged his face. “We didn’t come to fight you, Ram.”
Seeing him spit blood and wipe his face as if his injuries were no big deal pissed Ramiel off more. He snarled and stalked forward.
“Ram.” The voice, like a soft melody on the wind, a candle in the hurricane, broke through the suffocating fog. Panting, he stopped.
Kyria had her wings out, protecting the two humans. She stood firm, ready to fight if he needed her to. Amazing, stubborn woman.
“How did you two find me?”
Tamiel answered, “Those chains. They’re powerful. They must have blocked you from us all this time. But I have a slight connection to all angelic wards in the world.” She gestured to Kyria. “She must have one on her. I heard her voice. And I briefly saw you through her eyes…”
He dug his nails into his palms. All coincidences. Too fucking convenient. As if God and Fate had only just now decided he was fit to be saved after so long. Would he do it all again knowing it’d lead him to Kyria? He turned to look at her.
“Watch out!” She pointed behind him.
Ramiel twisted to find Daniel’s hands engulfed in his infamous white fire. Ram bared his fangs, but the angel wasn’t looking at him. Daniel glanced at Tamiel.
Despite her stillness, she was ready to strike. If she wanted, she could trap him in a rune circle or turn him inside out with one of her curses.
But all they did was stare at him.
“Why are you here? Because I’m contaminated?” he demanded harshly. “Do it, then. Kill me.”
They shared another glance. Daniel wore his confusion on his sleeve. Tamiel was hard to read, as usual. She slipped a toothpick from a back pocket and set it between her teeth. “We aren’t here to hurt you, Ramiel.”
“We’re here to help, you idiot. After all these years of radio silence.”
“Radio silence? Fuck you. I called out for years,” Ramiel spat. So many times. He lost count of how much he had begged until he cried. His body trembled, his hands fisted. “I don’t need you. Get out.”
Daniel turned to the woman. “I told you this would be a waste of time—”
“I said get the fuck out.”
Daniel’s face tightened. Go ahead, lunge at me.
But he merely wiped blood from his chin. “Why are you being such a dick?”
All the years he had fought the chains, waited, then begged, only to give up, beaten down. Now all the buried fury barreled up and exploded through his blood. He was sick and tired of bowing, of lying low.
This adrenaline had a target, and he was going to get the satisfaction of finally letting them know—
“Ram.” Panic cracked Kyria’s voice.
But it was Tammy who got knocked to the ground. A demon that hadn’t been there before stood over her now. Shit, I thought we got all of them.
He laughed, his bloodshot eyes popping out of his skull. “Die, you stupid angels.” His sword struck down across her slender neck, opening a wide bloody gash.
Consumed in white flames, Daniel roared and threw both hands out. The pale fire pulsed over his body, gathered around his arm, and shot in a thin, focused stream right at the heart of the demon.
In a blink, he was ash on the breeze. Not even enough left to form a pile.
Daniel rushed to his fallen partner. Holding her head, he tried to close the gaping wound with his own hands. “Tammy? Shit. It was poisoned.” His voice was low and rough, directed at Kyria. “Can you heal her?”
Tammy gurgled as she tried to talk, her eyes wide.
Red blood with lines of silver ran through Daniel’s fingers. “Please. Help.”
The female angel’s eyes fluttered. More blood rushed out with each beat of her heart. Her fingers wrapped around Daniel’s arm with white knuckles. “Well…this is interesting. Did not…see this coming.” Her words gurgled out, watery, but still somehow lacking emotion.
Kyria dropped next to the duo and covered the cut with her hand. “Ram, help me.”
“No…” He wasn’t going to let her drain herself. “Kyria, you’re too weak.”
She frowned at him. “She’s going to die if we don’t do anything.”
He gritted his teeth. He really didn’t care if the woman died, especially if saving her harmed Kyria.
Daniel stroked the woman’s hair back gently. “I can’t do anything. My power only destroys.” He fixated on Kyria. “Anything you can do, please. Then I’ll take her home. I swear.”
Kyria nodded and pressed both of her hands deeper into the slash, squeezing her eyes shut… Nothing happened. There was no light or spread of warmth like before.
She leaned forward and tried again. “Ram, I need you,” she pleaded.
“You need to go home.” He drew closer, breath on her cheek as he crouched over her, unable to deny her when she put so much of herself into this. He wouldn’t let her do it alone.
She shook her head and bowed lower toward the woman on the ground.
His chest pressed against her back as he wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t you dare get hurt.”
Heat flared between them. It was working.
“I’ll be okay,” she whispered.
Finally, the fibers reached across and connected. She melted into him as her light threaded through Tamiel.
The woman’s wound stopped bleeding. Her pulse grew stronger. When the corner of her wound began to stitch up on its own, he tore Kyria away.
“That’s enough. Take her.”
Sagging against Ram, Kyria groaned.
Daniel nodded. “Thank you.” Pulling his partner close, he spread his wings and flashed. Silence fell heavily in the store. Kyria’s eyelashes fluttered. Something wasn’t right.
“Ram?” she whispered.
“What’s wrong?”
She sat up—then fell completely limp, her heartbeat almost non-existent.
No. No no no.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Much later, Ramiel pressed his hand over Kyria’s forehead for the hundredth time to check her temperature. Still unconscious, but no fever, and her heart continued to beat a steady rhythm.
Back at the store, when he thought he was losing her, Val had arrived in time for him to demand she feed Kyria some of her own angelic blood. He couldn’t use his. It was tainted, and Nema would be able to find her through it.
It’s fine. She’s stable now. That was all he cared about. Val had driven them back to the ranch, and Ramiel carried Kyria the entire way. They even brought Lennie and her father with them, though he didn’t know or care where they were now.
Val had called to check on him several times after he took Ky
ria to the hangar, but there was nothing to do other than wait in the small pilot’s lounge. He picked the biggest of the two sofas and laid her across it, resting her head in his lap.
He stroked her hair and pressed his lips to her temple “You’ll be all right,” he said, reassuring himself more than her.
She shifted, speaking groggily. “Ram?”
His heart leaped in his chest. He sat up, still cradling her in his arms; relief weakened him for a moment.
“What are we doing in the hangar?” She twisted her head to look around. “Where are Josh and Lennie?”
“They’re safe. Val took them to the bunker. Said she was going to question Lennie a little more about her pregnancy and her trip to Argentina. Figure out who, or what, the father is. More than likely, that baby is another Nephilim.” The urge to pull her back into his arms consumed him, but he let her go.
She was awake, and he just wanted to look at her. Not talk about what happened, or what was going to happen in less than a day when he would be taken from her life. What could he even say knowing he and his chains were the reason those demons had found her?
She scanned the room, stopping at the large window over the kitchen area. She blinked a few times.
“Oh, my God. What time is it?” Panic edged her voice as she sat up.
If he couldn’t hold her, he needed to at least touch her hand. He entwined his fingers with hers and nudged her to lie back down. Those big blue eyes turned to him. “You slept through the rest of the day and all night. So, it’s morning.”
She groaned and rubbed her face. “The two angels. Who are they?”
His nostrils flared. “They don’t matter.”
She didn’t fully lie back down but shifted to relax against the arm of the couch. “They saved us, and you punched the man’s face in. Do you make a habit of attacking people who help you?”
He touched her face. “You almost died because of her.”
“No.” She smiled at him. “You wouldn’t let anything happen to me.” She said that like it was a fact carved in stone.
“Your heart just about stopped, and you’ve been unconscious for over twelve hours. You can’t do that to me.”
She leaned closer, rubbing the tension from his jaw. “Are you okay, Ram?”
He would never be okay again, but she didn’t need to know that. He nodded. “Now that you’re awake, I’m all right.”
She leaned back, taking her warmth away. Our hands are still linked. Why do I like it?
“Why did you bring me to the hangar?”
“You needed to rest. Are you hungry?”
“A little. Should I flash us to the house?”
He stood, fighting the desire to carry her to the kitchen with him. His arms were useless without her in them. “No flashing. You need rest,” he answered her sternly, finding a can of soup to heat up for her. Modern conveniences still amazed him.
She stood as well, hands fidgeting. “I can help.”
“Sit. I have it.” He wanted to keep her in the hangar, away from people asking questions. He didn’t want to think about anything that had happened. Not the demons. Not the humans. Definitely not the fucking watchers. He couldn’t believe they dared to show up like that, like nothing happened, after all those years.
Ramiel tried to smile at her as he took the bowl over. Don’t look so lost. I’m right here. I’ll help you find your way. He put the bowl on the coffee table in front of her. “Eat.”
Her sweet smile pulled on his strained heart strings. She spoke out of the blue, “If you’re not careful, I could fall in love with you.”
The words hit him. Hard. Like someone punched him right in the chest. He took a deep breath, afraid of his own reaction.
Her eyes widened, shame and embarrassment coloring her face. She must have taken his reaction the wrong way.
“I’m sorry, Ram.” She pressed a hand to her brow, speaking tiredly, “I’m just…exhausted. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
He paced to the door then turned back to her. That four-letter word was overused and dangerous. It was something he had longed for during his first years in hell. A gift he didn’t deserve from her now. He sat on the chair next to the sofa. A safe distance.
“You know there’s nothing possible between us.” He ran his hands through his short hair, the chain swaying against his face. “I have a master that owns me. In less than a day, I return to her.”
She wavered for a moment. “I know you’re leaving…tomorrow. But I’m not going anywhere.” She moved to the edge of the sofa, her knees brushing his as her fingers went around his.
He leaned forward to stare at her intently. “I’ve already lost who I am. Just let me go.” Removing his hand from hers, he touched her neck. Blood rushed under soft skin beneath his fingertips. “Hope can destroy faster than any evil, Kyria. I can’t do this.”
“Ram, maybe Bishop is right, and we are fated mates.” A hint of hope colored Kyria’s soft voice.
“Are you really quoting Bishop right now?” He pulled away, breaking any contact. “There’s no such thing as fated mates. Even if there were”—he dug his thumb into the palm of his other hand—“I sealed my fate with Nema’s. My arrogance put me in these chains, and nothing in this world can take me from them.”
Moving to her knees, she wedged herself between his legs. She reached up and traced the line of his jaw to his lips.
“Fine, we won’t talk about mates. But we have right now. I want to love you, just for a little while.” She slid her palms to his chest. His free hand went to her waist, and she slipped her fingers over his to squeeze. “You make me want things I’ve never wanted before, never even dreamed were possible for me.”
“Whatever you think I can give you is not there.” She had no idea. “Kyria, the things done to me… The things I did…” If he had wings, they’d be charcoal black by now. He snarled, “I already put you in danger just by being here. Her demons…”
“They would have found me anyway. You saved me. Prepared me to fight on my own.” She leaned in and pressed her mouth against his throat. Warm breath danced over his skin. “Going forward, we switch the bad memories with some good ones. And we’ll find a way to free you. I promise.”
She brought his palm to her lips then kissed the inside of his wrist. He couldn’t move. Every nerve in his body waited to see what she would do next.
“Ram, if you leave me frustrated one more time, I’m going to hunt you down and smother you with kisses until you smile.”
A half laugh burned his throat. She acted all gentle and innocent, but at her heart she was all warrior.
For some unfathomable reason, she thought he was worth fighting for. How could he not love her?
“Kyria, promise me you’ll stay on the ranch. You can’t go looking—”
To cut him off, she pressed her lips against his mouth. Her sweet tongue slipped past his teeth and caressed his own. Her soft moan filled his senses, and he forgot what he wanted to say.
So sweet and innocent. Softness against all the harshness in his life. A light to the darkness inside him. Her hands cupped his jaw as his fingers went up her rib cage and stopped right under the weight of her breasts.
She moaned. And he decided he couldn’t live a single second longer without hearing that sound again. Sitting forward, he grabbed her around the waist and switched their positions so that she was sitting in the chair and he was kneeling on the ground before her.
Nudging her knees apart, he skimmed his hands up her thighs. A trembling gasp escaped her lips when he teased the seam of her jeans between her legs then detoured upward.
Fingers slipped under her shirt and traced every smooth curve of her belly, pushing the fabric up and over her head. She raised her arms and tossed the shirt away.
She bit her bottom lip, glancing down at her plain black sports bra. He reassured her by leaning forward to press the plump swell of her breast. Then dipped his tongue down her cleavage, licking from sternum to c
ollarbone. She trembled.
“Ramiel. I want you to see me.”
God, she burns me up inside. So, addicting. He didn’t hesitate to help her tug off the bra, flinging it somewhere to be forgotten. The entire world disappeared.
He’d seen her three times now. First a stolen glance, second a gift freely offered. Now this. Each experience just as electrical as the last. He stared, branding every inch of her into his memory.
Rough palms caressed her rib cage, cherishing the goose bumps that caused. Her nipples peaked, and he cupped the side of her breasts to rub his thumbs against the pink buds.
Sensitive, she moaned.
“Do that again.” Voice raw, he continued to massage her flesh.
A trail of kisses and little bites marked his path across her clavicle as he rolled her nipples between thumbs and forefingers, eliciting another breathy moan.
Then he slid a hand under one breast and dipped his head to lick all around, painstakingly working his way to the center. Each flick of his tongue elicited squirms and whimpers, pleading for more as her hands switched from clutching the chair to digging fingers in his hair.
One nipple held his attention for a moment. Then the other. Back and forth, driving her wild. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t enough. She deserved more.
Ignoring the uncomfortable tightness in his own jeans, he roamed his hands from her breasts.
His fingers raked down her hips and found purchase on the waistband of her pants. Metal shook against metal. He paused, waiting for the plague of his thoughts to drown in the fog of his self-loathing.
For once, the rattle of his chain didn’t stir any hellish memories of demons and imps tearing him apart with vile hands. Her eager mewling and his desire to satisfy every part of her broke through the phantom shackles on his mind.
This was all about her. She arched her back, timidly pushing her hips upward at him. “Please, Ram.”
Biting his tongue, he unfastened her jeans and tugged them down. She kicked off her shoes, and he slipped the pants all the way off, chucking them away.
He cupped the backs of her knees and spread her legs wider, bowing forward to kiss the inside of her bare thigh.
Unchained Desire Page 18
