I’m mistaken. No, he wasn’t. But he’d been trying to convince himself for hours because the alternative shook the foundations of everything he had ever believed in.
To think it had taken a mortal to make him question a fundamental truth.
But then, Eleni had never been just a mortal.
No wonder he’d been intrigued by Aurora when he’d found her at that lecture. Something in him had recognized her for who she truly was.
It explained the uniqueness of her aura when he had checked it after Gabe had given her his protection at Eblis’ club. It hadn’t shown the usual glow of a mortal claimed by an archangel. Truth was, Mephisto had never seen anything quite like her aura before, and he sure as hell hadn’t noticed the sign of unbreakable archangelic devotion.
But when she’d stood up to him earlier, when she’d thrust into his mind, the image of Eleni had burst through his brain. It was so visceral that for one terrifying moment he’d feared for his sanity.
It isn’t possible. But it didn’t change the fact.
Eleni had been reborn.
Chapter 22
Mephisto
Zad emerged from the hut and propped his shoulder against the other timber support. He was covered in dust from whatever disaster he’d recently returned from, and silence stretched between them, as it had so many times in the past.
But this time he found no solace, no comfort, as this silence hung like a thick blanket of fog, a suffocating mantle ravaging the fabric of his existence.
Finally, he could stand it no longer.
“Demon spawn are soulless. That was ancient knowledge by the time we discovered Earth.”
It wasn’t a question. They both knew the answer. By rights, he should keep his mouth shut, bury this secret the way he had buried so many others.
But this discovery was different. He needed to confide, or lose his mind, and who else could he speak to but Zad?
Zad didn’t deign to answer. Mephisto hadn’t expected him to.
Not yet.
“By default, so were the Nephilim.”
Zad folded his arms and unfurled the tips of his wings. An unspoken warning. His expression might have been carved from granite.
Mephisto reined in the fury that thundered through his veins. Fury that something he had failed to question, something he had taken as an absolute truth was a lie. “Nephilim could never be reborn. That’s an irrefutable fact.”
“What’s your point?” There was an uncharacteristic edge in Zad’s voice and Mephisto almost backed off. There was still time. He didn’t have to burden his oldest friend with such a soul-shattering revelation.
But the knowledge was eating him alive. And for once, his need took precedence over the compulsion to protect.
The name that had once been so familiar to him lodged in his throat, but he pushed it out, anyway. “Eleni is back, Zad.”
“No, she isn’t.”
Mephisto gave a bitter laugh. “She is. The human from Cornwall, of all fucking places, is living proof of how we were deceived.”
Slowly, Zad straightened and turned to look at him. Wild, desperate, hope flared in his eyes, but there was something else. A fleeting glimpse of astounded comprehension that made no sense.
“Have you discussed your hypothesis with Gabe?” Zad’s voice was hoarse, and despite his words, Mephisto knew the other archangel believed.
“He doesn’t have a clue.” And neither, apparently, did Eleni. Frustration throbbed through him and he smashed his fist into the timber support. It splintered, and the hut sagged like a drunken goblin. “How many others have returned without our knowledge, Zad? Lived and died without knowing their true heritage?”
Zad shook his head, but it seemed in response to his thoughts, not Mephisto’s question. “Eleni’s death almost destroyed him once. He can’t find out who she really is, Meph.”
It was the question he’d wanted to discuss, but he hadn’t expected this response.
“Why not? Even when she dies, it’s not the end, like we always believed.”
“Eleni may be here now. It doesn’t mean she’ll return again. Without that guarantee, we can’t risk telling Gabe. I don’t think we could bring him back from the abyss a second time.”
Gabe
Gabe battened down the rabid need to follow Mephisto’s trail and hammer the crap out of him. How dare he touch Aurora?
After his visit with Zad, he’d resolved to keep her at arm’s length. To protect her, as he had vowed, but nothing more.
His determination had crumbled the second he’d seen Mephisto towering over her.
But as he took her hand and saw how she gritted her teeth against the pain, the truth uncoiled deep in his chest. It was more than fury that another archangel had disregarded the ancient bonds of ownership and touched a mortal under his protection.
Not going there.
Rage he could deal with. But not the fear he might have arrived too late to save her. That Mephisto might, despite everything, have pillaged Aurora’s mind and left a vacant, broken creature in her place.
“This might hurt.” He enveloped her injured hand between his. Mephisto, the sadistic bastard, had torn fragile tendons and muscles. Nothing he couldn’t fix, but that wasn’t the fucking point. “You’d better sit down.”
“I’m all right.” She glanced at his hands. “You can heal.” It wasn’t a question. “Can you bring back the dead as well?”
“No.” He broke his concentration to look at her. Her teeth were clenched, and her face was drained of color, but she offered him a grimace that she clearly believed resembled a reassuring smile. For some reason it caused an odd stabbing sensation through his chest. “Bringing back the dead is beyond our powers. Healing others is just a side benefit of our ability to naturally regenerate.”
She let out a huff of laughter. “Good job Meph didn’t go straight for the mind-suck, then.”
His gaze sharpened. While he often referred to Mephisto as Meph, he was damn sure he hadn’t in front of Aurora. And no one called the other archangel that to his face, apart from Zad. Gabe wasn’t even convinced Mephisto liked Zad abbreviating his name.
Eleni had always called him that, though. She’d been able to get away with almost anything, even with Mephisto.
Stop. He wouldn’t fall into that beguiling web again.
“He won’t come near you again.” Once more, that crippling fear scraped through him. What if he hadn’t arrived in time to save her from the other archangel’s wrath? “He had no right coming here.”
“He was pretty shaken up.” She flexed her fingers. “Wow. You’re good.”
The color was returning to her cheeks, her eyes were no longer shadowed with pain, and she wasn’t shivering in terror that the most powerful archangel in existence had almost destroyed her.
He was pretty shaken up. Who ever said that about Mephisto, let alone a human who had been within seconds of having their brain pulverized by him?
“Should be as good as new. Let me know if you get any twinges.”
She curled her healed hand against her breasts and flattened her other hand against his heart. Such a light touch, yet the imprint of her palm scorched his flesh through his shirt.
Gods, he wanted her. To hold her and touch her and know that she really was all right. To lose himself inside her again, to reach that elusive pinnacle where, for a few blissful moments, his guilt receded, and peace bathed his soul.
“Thanks, Gabe.” Her voice was soft, and her blue eyes hypnotized him. “I might have held him off for a few more seconds, but I know how close he was to crushing my brain.”
He almost told her Mephisto had intended no such thing. It was odd, this compunction he had to protect her from the harsh truths. It didn’t even make any sense. She already knew the truth.
“He won’t make that mistake twice.” It was unlikely he and Mephisto would cross paths again until Aurora—
The knowledge seared his brain.
Until Aur
ora is dead.
And a human lived only a few score years at most. No time at all when compared to the lifespan of an archangel. He’d have his island back and Mephisto would put this day into the archives and they’d resume their previous relationship as if nothing had come between them.
A few score years. A fleeting lifespan.
An eternity alone.
But she was here with him now, and now was all they had. But instead of scooping her into his arms and fucking her until this unnatural knot of panic subsided, he sat on her chair and pulled her onto his lap.
Just let me hold you.
“I’m sorry about your laptop.” Her hands were on his shoulders, her warm body all but touching him.
“It’s fixable.” And even if it wasn’t, so what? It was only a piece of technology, manufactured by one of the most advanced civilizations in the Andromeda Galaxy. An irreparably damaged laptop could be replaced.
But there was only one Aurora.
He buried his face against her neck. She was a mortal, a human. So fragile that if he held his breath, he could hear the beat of her heart and the rush of blood in her veins. He shouldn’t still want her so desperately, yet he couldn’t get enough.
When was the last time a woman had so ensnared him?
It was a rhetorical question. There had only ever been one.
“Gabe.” There was an unmistakable note of concern in her voice, and his arms tightened around her. He didn’t want her permanently worrying. “Is the fact you saved me from the Guardians causing you problems with—well, anyone?”
She was worrying about him?
“Wouldn’t matter to me.” He tugged her closer and breathed in deep, relishing her purity. It had been forever since someone had showed such simple concern for him. “The only ones who might have complained gave up all pretense at responsibility millennia ago.”
* * *
Aurora
Aurora framed his face with her hands, stroking her thumbs over his cheekbones. His overnight shadow grazed her skin with an erotic caress. How strange that it had never occurred to her before that archangels might shave.
But it was hard to remember he was an immortal when he held her like this. When, every time she looked at him, she didn’t see a fantastical creature, but a man.
“You mean the Alphas?” He’d mentioned them a couple of times, but she hadn’t found anything about them during her research.
His smile was grim. “They never come anywhere near this side of the universe anymore. Too primitive for them.”
Which meant it was unlikely Mephisto was referring to them. Maybe the debt he’d been so furious about was nothing more than the fact Gabe was now responsible for her safety.
“Are they your ancestors?”
He sighed heavily but didn’t brush off her question. A strange little pain weaved through her heart. He was slowly opening up to her. And maybe he didn’t even know it.
“You could say that. At least, they’re the forebears of all immortals alive today.”
There was an odd echo of desolation in his voice that pierced her heart. Could she ever learn all there was to know about him?
She ignored the tiny warning in the back of her head. It was too late for that. She didn’t just want him, she cared about him. And deep inside she knew he felt more than base lust for her.
It had been in his voice as he’d healed her hand. In his furtive glances every time she’d winced. It wasn’t love and it couldn’t lead anywhere permanent. But for now, it was enough.
It had to be. Because now was all they would ever have.
And then his mesmeric gaze caught hers, and she knew now would never be enough.
Don’t ruin the little that we have. If he guessed she was falling, he’d back off and they would never share another intimate moment like this again.
“Are there many of them? The Alphas?”
“Countless.” There was a husky note in his voice. But he didn’t slip his hands beneath her T-shirt the way she wanted him to.
“Who’s in charge?” She tenderly brushed the tips of her fingers along the contours of his face. She loved touching him. She was afraid she might never want to let him go.
He didn’t take up her unspoken offer. Was he holding back on purpose? He never had before.
“Who’s in charge of the universe?” He laughed, and the lingering trace of despair in his eyes dissolved. “No one. Everyone. You know how it is.”
She had no idea how it was, and right now she didn’t care, when he looked at her as though she was the only one in the universe he saw.
She had to stop reading more into every glance he bestowed her way, or she’d never be able to put her heart back together again.
“Fate? Destiny?” She’d never really believed in either, despite the extraordinary way her parents had met, but now she was willing to seriously consider almost anything.
“Why not? The universe is a random bitch and goes by any number of names.”
“I can’t even imagine all the things you must have seen.”
“You don’t want to. You’d have nightmares.”
He wasn’t joking. What terrible events had he witnessed? She had the crazy wish she could take all his pain away, even if it was for only a moment.
As if that was even possible.
“There must be some good in the universe.”
“Yes.” The tips of his fingers caressed her waist, and even through her T-shirt delicious tremors raced over her skin. “And it’s never where you expect to find it.”
She leaned in closer, and the tantalizing scent of hot, aroused male flooded her senses. Slowly she speared her fingers into his hair, cradling his temples. “There must be more good than evil out there?”
“All creation cares about is balance. Good and evil is a matter of perspective.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
“I know.” His smile was infinitely sad. “The universe is fucked. What can I say?”
“Maybe it is,” she conceded. “But it’s the same universe I found you. That makes it pretty amazing.”
His laugh was irresistible. How easy it would be to think he had no concept of suffering or loss.
But she’d seen beneath his arrogant façade to the mortal beneath. His loss, no matter how long ago it had occurred, was still raw.
Was this moment of carefree laughter another façade?
Pain, as deep and desolate as any she’d experienced while watching her mother’s memories fade, bit into her heart. How she wanted to believe that, when he was with her, Gabe could forget his past.
The irony seared her soul. She wanted her mother to remember, and for Gabe to forget.
All she had was now. She wouldn’t waste it with regrets of what could never be.
“Is that a backhanded way of saying you think I’m amazing?” His gently mocking voice broke into her thoughts, and she smiled at him.
He was the Archangel Gabriel. Of course he was amazing. But he was so much more than that. “You’re the man I want. Do you have a problem with that?”
“Do I look like I have a problem with that?” His muscles braced, clearly intending to stand, with her in his arms.
She untangled her fingers from his hair and gripped his shoulders. “Sit still.”
“Are you giving me an order?” His lips quirked in amusement, but he remained seated. “Not even demigods are that brave around me.”
“Good job I’m not a demigod, isn’t it?”
He grinned and began to pull off her T-shirt. She slipped from his lap, gripped his wrists, and pinned him to the arms of the chair.
“Don’t touch. Or do I have to hurt you?”
Gabe choked on another laugh. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Be careful what you wish for.” Heart pounding, making it hard to drag air into her lungs, she concentrated on unbuttoning his shirt. “Because you never know your luck. You might just get it.”
Chapter 23
; Gabe
Gabe stifled the primal urge to rip off their clothes, drag Aurora into his arms, and slake the molten lust that surged through his blood. He’d tried to hold back, give her time to recover, but she didn’t need time.
She needed him.
He gripped the arms of the chair, his biceps straining with the effort, and lashed down the instinct to assert control and take what she offered, on his terms.
“What are you planning?” Fascinated, he watched how she slid each button free with maddening deliberation, an enchanting frown of concentration etched on her brow.
“Wait and see.” She glanced up, and the blush on her cheeks gave her an intriguing air of innocent seductress. “Not used to the woman taking control, are you?”
He heard the hint of triumph in her voice, and it was clear that thought gave her a great deal of satisfaction. She wanted to be the first who had ever had him pliant beneath her searching fingers.
A feral grin split his lips at her obvious delight. Even if it wasn’t the truth. Back in his distant past, countless women had stripped him and worshipped him, while he lay there basking in their adoration.
But with every other woman who had taken the initiative, except for Eleni, he’d been content to let them feed their curiosity. He’d not had to rein in his desire as he was for Aurora. Hadn’t needed to remain agonizingly still while she grappled with a simple thing like removing a shirt.
And unlike the others, she was far from incoherent with awe at the honor of being in his company. She was with him because …
Despite himself, a pained grunt escaped as she tugged his shirt from his pants. But still his thought hovered.
Aurora was with him because he was the man she wanted.
Not because he was an immortal or an archangel. Or even because of his reputation as a ruthless mercenary. But just because he was him.
Redemption: A Realm of Flame and Shadow Novel Page 17
