by Gina Kincade
He lowered his gaze and I bit my lip, having no idea what he would say to this. Rather than voicing a response, I watched as a tear slipped down his cheek. Rowan smiled, then removed himself from his seat and sat on his knees in front of me. He pulled me to the edge of my seat and wrapped his strong arms around my body. Rowan clung to my body, and held me close. I held onto him as if letting go, he would disappear and this would all be for not.
Feeling something wet touch my chest, I smiled and ran my hand down his head. “I love you, Rowan.”
“I love you, Jac. I always have, so much.” He lifted his gaze to meet mine. Tears welled in his eyes and I smiled to him and wiped them away with my fingers. Cupping his face, I kissed him softly on the lips.
HOURS LATER, AND STILL feeling higher than life, I bounced lightly in my chair as I waited for the end of my shift. All I could think of was Rowan and Kai. Each time their names left my lips, their faces crossed my mind, and last night’s maddening sex came to the forefront of my memory. My face flushed hot.
The bell rang as the door to the shop opened. Glancing up, my smile quickly faltered. I stood and rounded the desk. “Oh, this can’t be good,” I whispered to myself.
“Jac,” Michael approached with his hands folded in front of him. “Have you secured the Hag stone?”
Shit, the hag stone! I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No, I’m so sorry, I haven’t.”
“Right,” he lowered his gaze and sighed deeply. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”
“Oh shit, what happened?”
Michael’s wings shifted behind him, the great white color almost blinding as he outstretched them. The span was massive and it made me feel a little envious of my own.
“Samuel located the stone and now has it in his possession. He plans to sell it to the highest bidder.”
“What?” I felt completely confused. “I thought he wanted to control the portal?”
Michael nodded. “So did I. Apparently he plans to sell it to the military. He thinks by securing some sort of immunity will grant him passage.” He shook his head. “He could not be further from the truth.”
I frowned. “He could not be this stupid, could he?”
“No, I don’t think so. I think he is up to something, but I cannot put my finger on it quite yet.”
I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms over my chest. “If he had the stone and wanted to sell it for personal gain, but then turned around and didn’t...” my eyes widened and I gasped.
Michael’s brow rose. “Care to share what you’re thinking?”
Pushing off the counter, I paced for a moment. “If Samuel has the stone, and he makes NATO or whoever believe he plans on selling it to them so they can control the portal, then he turns on them, he’s basically hitting them on their own turf, when they’re vulnerable.” I looked to Michael. “Curious, are human’s immune to the powers of the stone?”
“If you’re asking if they can use it, the answer is no. Why?”
“If he makes them believe they can use it, do you think laying down some sort of resistance to him, they would try?”
Michael must have caught up to what I had been assuming when his eyes widened. “Oh hell.”
Grasping my phone, I quickly sent out a group message to Rowan, Kai, Gretchen, Adam, and Rainey.
Shit is about to go down. Bring everyone you know, we need backup! Meet me on the shore by the levee. Pressing send, I pocketed my phone. “Okay, so now what do we do?”
Michael grinned. “Close your eyes. This will blind you.”
I blinked, then nodded and closed my eyes. Behind my lids, the brightest, whitest light I had ever witnessed with closed eyes. As much as I wanted to look, I knew I shouldn’t for fear of being blinded; maybe permanently.
Hands gently touched my shoulders and when I opened my eyes, I gasped. Michael had on his armor and it was brilliant. He grinned and his sword, the sword, held a place by his hip. “Now, we leave. We must make haste.”
I raised my brow. “Do you mean go?”
He chuckled. “Yes, now we go.”
Chapter Sixteen
MICHAEL AND I arrived on the beach to a waiting Rowan, Gretchen, and Adam. Kai pulled up in his truck just as we were walking toward the others. He quickly jogged to catch up to me.
“Jac, wait up.”
I turned to him and smiled. “Hey, Kai.” I leaned up and kissed his cheek.
He grinned then winked. “So, what are you doing later? You know, after the coming war here?”
I grinned. “Seriously?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”
I laughed. “You’re unbelievable!”
He chuckled and we made it to the others and Rowan hugged me to him. He nodded to Kai, who returned it. This maybe should feel awkward, but it doesn’t. I held onto both men on either side of me.
Michael looked to the sky and closed his eyes.
“What is he doing?” I whispered to Rowan.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
Seconds later, angel’s from the sky began to land around us on the beach. I screamed when one landed next to me.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” a male angel muttered in a British accent. I had no idea angels spoke in accents.
“No worries,” I whispered.
Michael stood in the middle of our group and did a roundabout, making sure to look at everyone. He explained what our assumptions were of Samuel; some gasped, some shook their heads, one shouted out loud.
“The asshole! I knew we shouldn’t have continued to trust anything he did after the war!”
I blinked. “Whoa, what war? Like recent war?”
Michael glanced to me and shook his head. “Later on that. Right now, we need to figure out what his action plan is and stop him before his starts.”
“No need.”
We all turned to the sound of a familiar demon’s voice. My eyes closed for a moment and I sighed, then turned to find Samuel. He stood, smug, with Ana on his arm. He held the Hag stone in his hand. At least I assumed that is what it was he found as he tossed it in the air and caught it.
“Samuel?” Michael asked as he approached the Incubus demon. “What have you done?”
“What have I done? I have done what none of you could; I secured the fucking stone.”
I lifted my brows in surprise. “How did you find it?”
He glanced to me with a smirk. “Let’s just say I have my ways.”
“I bet you he tortured the information,” came the British angel.
I did not even want to know what that entailed. Samuel then removed Ana’s hand from his arm, kissed it softly, and then lowered it. He turned to face Michael and walked toward him.
“Here, as promised, one Hag stone.” He held out his hand and offered it to Michael.
What was happening here? I glanced between the two men, the Archangel and the Incubus demon. Was this a joke? I looked to Rowan and in turn, he shrugged to me, just as clueless as I seemed.
I then glanced to Kai who had kept his eyes on the interaction between the two who stood for Heaven and Hell. His body visibly shook and I wondered if he were fighting the urge to shift.
“Oh, Kai, please don’t,” I whispered. It seems he heard me as his gaze turned in my direction. He blinked and nodded once, in which I returned it.
Looking back to Samuel, he dropped the stone into Michael’s hand. “I am only doing this to secure my place in this world. If the portal is reopened, and others decide to depart, fine, their loss. But if this falls into the wrong hands and something jeopardizes everything I have running here, well, end game for me and I cannot have that.”
Michael thumbed the stone and stood silent for a moment. Would he thank him? Would he smite Samuel? Would he turn and leave him be without another word? Just as my own nerves were about to bubble over, he finally spoke up.
“I have never agreed with you on much, as you know,” Michael began.
“Obviously,” Samuel countered.
Michael nodded and continued. “This is the one and only time I agree with your motives. Thank you for bringing it to me.”
Samuel nodded. “Let’s just say you owe me a favor.”
Michael’s brow lifted. “I owe you nothing, demon. Take your counsel elsewhere.” Turning his back to the demon, Michael crossed the grounds to where I stood.
“You trust him he gave you the right stone?” I glanced to his hand, then over to Samuel. “You are very trusting for him to not have attacked you just now.”
“He is not so foolish to attack me. If he wishes to continue his hunt for souls and fornication, he would not ask for a death wish upon attacking me.”
“Just wait till the walls are down in Elysium, Archangel.” With that, Samuel made his way back to Ana, and the two disappeared.
“So, what is Elysium?” I asked curiously.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Rowan offered.
Michael nodded to us then turned toward the angels who joined his ranks. “We stand with Jacquelin till the end.”
“Till the end,” they all repeated in unison.
“Whoa!” I yelled and held my hands in the air. “Till the end of what? Why are you standing with me?”
Michael turned with a grin and raised a brow. “Did Kai and Rowan not fill you in on your destiny?”
I glanced between Kai and Rowan. Both men had a look of fear on their faces and if we were not in a dire moment, I believe I would have laughed out loud. Instead, I nodded and shifted my gaze back to Michael. “Somewhat, yes, but I have a feeling there is something you know that they do not.”
He nodded. “I understand you have come into your powers.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Do you understand, yet, what you’re capable of? Do you understand your purpose in all of this?”
I shook my head. “Not exactly. I mean,” shifting the weight of my feet, I continued. “I have an idea on what to do to control myself and how the bring the Valkyrie out. However, my purpose here I’m still a little hazy. Kai mentioned something about me leading them?” I rubbed the back of my neck as the words sounded crazy, even coming from me. “Like leading a rebellion or something?”
Michael smiled. “Or something.”
“Please don’t be cryptic. What is it you know?”
He shook his head. “All in due time, Jac. You’ll figure it out when you need to know. Right now, I need you to take this stone and not let it out of your sight. If the wrong hands get on it...”
“Yeah, I know,” I cut him off, “I need to keep it safe from the unworthy.”
“Precisely,” he grinned. “Now, if you will, my lady, we need to take our leave for now. When we are needed, simply call.”
“Okay, but how will I know when I need you?”
He lifted a brow. “When the war starts, of course.”
Before I could ask anything else, Michael’s wings expanded and they were magnificent. He pressed against the air and rose, immediately out of sight when he hit the sky. “But what war?” I looked to Rowan and took his hand. “What war?”
He shook his head. “Now this I have no knowledge. Do you?” He looked to Kai who also shook his head.
“Best I can guess is humans fighting against us.”
“But that makes absolutely no sense,” I offered. “How can they fight what they cannot see?”
“If they had someone on their side, one of ours,” Kai offered.
And Rowan finished for him, “Someone who had inside information, someone not afraid to commit treason.”
Kai and Rowan looked to each other as if passing shared knowledge I was not a part of. I looked between the two and grew frustrated. It wasn’t bad enough I gave my heart to both of them, but this secret communication? I’m all for guy pals, but seriously? “Okay assholes, speak up because you’re leaving me out of something.”
Both men turned to me and at the same time, spoke the one name I had not counted on. “Samuel.”
“What? But he just gave us the stone.”
Kai nodded. “Yes, indeed he did. But why? Why make it so easy?”
Rowan stepped closer to me and took my hand. “Now that I see why he handed over the stone so carelessly, it makes perfect sense. He wants us to be found. He wants to be the one to lead the humans into victory. He said it himself, he has a pretty sweet deal here, right?”
I nodded. “More or less.” Sighing and lowered my gaze to the stone in my hand. “So I suppose having this stone now makes me prime target.” Looking up between both men, Kai nodded and Rowan offered a supportive smile.
“Want to chunk it into the ocean?”
I shook my head. “No, that would be like running from a fight. When have I ever run from a fight?” I grinned and pocketed the stone.
“There’s my girl,” Rowan whispered to me as he leaned in and tilted my head up, then kissed my lips.
“I think a party is in order if we are to face a certain war.”
Considering his words, “What makes you think there will actually be a war?”
“What makes you think there won’t be?” he asked in return.
“Considering they cannot see us?”
“Consider they can through Samuel,” Kai offered.
I had not considered this.
Chapter Seventeen
NIGHT HAD FALLEN and Rowan joined me. I held the Hag stone, rubbing the pad of my thumb over the texture of it. The circle in which it was rumored one could see the ‘other side’ stared at me, taunting me.
“If I were to hold it up, I would see through the portal, right?” Folding my fingers over it, I looked to Rowan next to me on the couch. His gaze shifted from my hand, to my eyes, my lips, then back to my eyes. I smiled and he leaned in and kissed me.
“That is the rumor, yes.”
I raised a brow, then lifted the stone eye level. Grinning at Rowan, I turned my head and my gaze, then stared at the stone. “Hmm, nothing is happening. I only see the wall through the hole.”
“Maybe because it needs to be a full moon?” he asked.
“Does it?” I asked in return and looked to him.
He shrugged. “Not sure, just assumed.”
“No, you just made that up.” I pushed against his shoulder and he chuckled. I pulled the stone closer and looked through the hole as if I were looking through a monocle. Still only seeing the wall, I sighed and lowered it. “What good is it to hold the one stone that is the key, and it doesn’t work?”
“Has anyone actually told you how it works?”
I shook my head no, then leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. “Not exactly. Do you know how?”
He shook his head and rested a hand upon my thigh. “I can only imagine it works when required. Think of it like the portal; you would only use it when in dire need to escape.”
“Why would I need to be in a dire need?”
He again shrugged. “It may sense the urgent need. Who knows?”
“Right. I suppose asking pretty please is out of the question?”
Rowan chuckled. “Maybe if you put some whipped cream and cherries on it?”
I lifted my head and looked to him with a wicked grin. “Are you insinuating something?”
Touching my cheek lightly, he winked. “Could be.” He then leaned in and kissed me, cupping my face. Rowan had the softest lips imaginable. Gentleness came from him, but in the same instance, domination. He had this sense of urgency about him when he kissed me; he started out slow, but as the heat grew, so did his intensity.
Shifting myself in my seat, I wrapped my arms around his neck then moved myself in his lap, straddling his hips. His hands moved to my waist, then he cupped my ass. Giving it a firm squeeze, I grinned against his lips.
Then my pocket vibrated from my phone. I groaned and pulled back and reached for it. Rowan shook his head, mocking disappointment.
“If it were any other occasion on any other pending event, I would have thrown it across the
room.”
He nodded and when I saw whose number it was, I pulled myself from his lap. “Kai? Is everything okay?”
“No, you and Rowan need to get to the field immediately. You know the one by the beach?”
I nodded and looked to Rowan. “We’ll be there right away.” Hanging up my phone, I pocketed it and held my hand out to him. Once I pulled him from the couch, “We need to go. That was Kai.”
“Yeah, I heard. What’s up?”
I shook my head and grabbed my bag. “I don’t know. He didn’t get into specifics but said we were needed right away.”
“We?”
I nodded. “Yeah, we. He figured you were with me.”
“Oh right, okay. Then let’s go.”
WE PULLED UP IN ROWAN’S jeep to a crowd of people, most of which I did not know. We slowly got out and upon doing so, a few turned and the chaos began.
“There she is.”
“She will stop this.”
“Is she really the last one?”
“Who is the guy with her?”
“He’s the protector.”
“Will she end this?”
“Will we go home?”
“Is there really a Valhalla?”
I took a hold of Rowan’s arm and held myself as close to him as I could. I wanted to hide behind him, to become invisible. The last question through me off a little. What is Valhalla?
My fingers dug into his flesh and Rowan wrapped an arm around my body. So many I recognized from the night of the rescue. Some I didn’t but it does not mean they are not here in their human form. “People, keep your distance. Where is Kai?”
The crowd parted and through it came a larger than life beast of a ‘sup I have never witnessed in my entire being. The creature snarled and when he spoke, his voice came like a deep baritone octave. My ears almost hurt from the sound.
“She has arrived!”
I flinched and held myself close to Rowan. I felt his body vibrate and when I glanced to him, his face contorted with the change he had been trying to hold back. Glancing around me, I did not want to lose Rowan by letting go, but he needed this as much as I needed him. I closed my eyes and whispered, “Don’t lose me.”
