Echo (The Halo Series Book 2)

by Melody Robinette

  Why did that horrible girl think she could just take up space next to him whenever she wanted? Didn’t she realize how disrespectful that was to his girlfriend?

  Luckily, the two Stellars were soon forced apart when one of the firemen called from the kitchen, “Hey, Gray! Now that you’re back, you should make your Uncle Joe’s famous chili! We got all the stuff here.”

  Gray laughed. “Sure. Jeez, you guys have been falling apart without me, huh? What’ve you been eating? PB & J’s?”

  The fireman threw a jest back, and Gray moved to the kitchen, proceeding to pull the ingredients he needed from the cabinets.

  He didn’t mention that their group had already eaten dinner.

  Chord leaned forward to speak so only the others could hear him. “Guess we are going to be hobbits tonight and have second supper.”

  Gray’s chili was good. Really good. And it made Luna’s infatuation with him grow even more.

  “Way to go, Luna,” Logan said, letting her spoon clatter in her empty bowl. “You landed a man who can cook. Nice work.”

  “Eh?” Luka said in surprise. “You caught yourself a girl on that cruise?” He let out a loud laugh. “Better not take him away from us, now.”

  Luka clapped a hand on Aurora’s back, and the tension in the group increased twenty-fold. All eyes were either on Aurora or Luna. Gray looked back and forth between the two girls with a strained expression.

  “I’m, uh, not his girl,” Aurora said after a few seconds, ducking her head and pushing her half-eaten chili bowl away from her. Gray’s eyes flashed to her, but she didn’t meet them. Luna bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from either crying or yelling at the ignorant fireman. Aurora nodded a head Luna’s way. “She is.”

  Luka’s brown eyes moved her way now, surprise coloring them. “Oh, really?” The disbelief was even more evident in his voice, which made Luna’s blood boil.

  The group shifted uncomfortably in their seats, pretending to examine their bowls of chili more closely when one of the younger firemen enthusiastically offered to give everyone a tour of the firehouse.

  The others followed after the firemen who were showing a much-too-excited Chord the pole that led down to the fire trucks. Luna, though, could not have cared less about the firehouse. She was more interested in the out-of-uniform fireman standing beside her.

  Gray.

  Grabbing his hand, she pulled him away from the others. He looked confused and unsure as she tugged him down a hall she assumed led to the bedrooms.

  She’d been right. The on-duty firemen slept in a big room with multiple beds, separated only by small, raised brick partitions that only went up about three feet high.

  Making sure no one was sleeping in any of the beds, Luna closed the door behind Gray and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her heart hammered violently against her sternum as she raised on tiptoe and pressed her lips eagerly to his.

  He seemed surprised at first, but to her extreme relief, he kissed her back. She ran her hands through his silky, slightly curly hair and breathed in the intoxicating smell of him.

  She’d never been particularly forward with her other boyfriends—the few she’d had that was. But Gray was different. He made her crazy in the best ways. He made her want to break all the rules she’d ever set for herself.

  Gray’s hands rested lightly on her hips, but that wasn’t what Luna wanted. She wanted passion, clawing, clothes being discarded. Looked like she would have to be the one to make the next move.

  Her teeth bit down slightly on his lip, like the vixen characters she’d read about in novels, only she’d bit a little too hard, and Gray jerked back slightly.

  “Ow.”

  She murmured a quick, “Sorry,” not wanting him to get out of the mood. She continued to kiss him more gently this time along the jaw and down his neck, her clumsy hands moving to the clasp on his pants.

  “Luna…” Gray’s voice was cautionary, his hands going to hers to stop them.

  As fate would have it, the city chose this time to bathe its residents in darkness; the lights of the firehouse shut off and the backup generator kicked on.

  Gray, who was completely distracted now, pulled away from Luna, moving to the window in the bedroom. “Blackout,” he muttered. “Looks like it wiped out all of lower Manhattan.” Letting the curtain over the window fall back, he moved through the faint lighting to the door leading back into the rest of the firehouse. “Come on.”

  Luna felt tears of rejection start at the back of her eyes and willed them away as she followed after Gray.

  “Aw, shit,” one of the other firemen said as the chili bowls they’d been in the process of cleaning clattered into the sink. “Gonna be a busy night, boys.”

  Luka appeared from downstairs, followed by the rest of the Halos. The open window let in the dark blue of twilight, growing blacker by the minute, the once vibrantly bright city now nothing but shadows.

  “Blackouts are bad business,” Luka said. “Looks like you guys’ll be staying here for the night.”

  Good, Luna thought. She’d have another chance to make a move on Gray. And she wouldn’t stop trying until his eyes lit up when he looked at her—the way they did when they were on Aurora.

  Twenty-Eight

  GRAY

  Just as Gray knew they would, the emergency call signals sounded on the radio almost immediately after the blackout. He moved to join the other guys hurrying to the pole, but Luka put a firm hand on his shoulder.

  “Naw, Sonny, you’re stayin’ right here. You’re not gonna leave your friends to fend for themselves in the firehouse.”

  Trust me, they know how to fend for themselves, Gray thought.

  The urge to help, to run downstairs and put on his gear, to do something more normal than fighting demons, almost burned him from the inside out.

  He watched as his buddies rushed out, Luka giving him a wave and a wink before the Halos were left alone once again.

  “Wonder if this has anything to do with demons and beasts,” Brielle thought aloud.

  “Could be.” Logan dipped her head in a nod. “Or maybe the world still goes on around us…even when we know about all the dark and scary things that the regular people can’t see lurking in the shadows.”

  After a few hours of card playing, the Halos decided to catch up on even more sleep before they were called to lock the city and wouldn’t see the inside of sheets for who knew how long again.

  There were enough beds for all of them, and Gray knew the guys would be out all night. People got stuck in places—particularly elevators—during blackouts, and there would be more than one call until the power returned.

  After the candles had been blown out and everyone was in their borrowed beds, Gray lay awake, staring at the ceiling. His earlier encounter with Luna had shaken him to his core.

  It wasn’t the kissing or even her trying to literally get into his pants. He was twenty-six; clearly, he’d had his fair share of sexual encounters. Good and bad.

  No, what bothered him was, for every second Luna’s mouth had been on his, Gray’s mind had strayed to Aurora.

  He remembered the one and only time they’d kissed on Etheria, when fiery electricity crackled across his skin and pleasure sensations he’d never experienced traveled in waves inside him. He remembered the taste of her. Sugarclouds and sea salt.

  Kissing Luna had been…fine. She didn’t really taste like anything, and the absence of pleasure and electricity and all that came with kissing Aurora screamed in his ear. Was this how it was going to be now? Every time he kissed anyone other than his Stellar?

  She’d just be there haunting him, like the ghost of a memory whispering playfully in his ear, You know you wish she was me.

  It wasn’t fair to Luna. But, now that they were in the thick of a highly critical angel mission which required them to be around one another at all times, breaking it off with her seemed almost cruel.

  Then again, Aurora would likely never change her mind about n
ot wanting to be with him. She would always be the girl he couldn’t have. Maybe he should just get over himself and focus on the fact that they were saving not only lives, but souls.

  Their purpose was bigger than an electrifying kiss between soul mates. Right?

  His brain whirred like this between brief periods of almost dreaming until Gray couldn’t lie there anymore. Slipping out of bed, he moved quietly out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.

  The green lights on the microwave were on, blinking 12 o'clock over and over, telling him the electricity had been turned back on at some point in the night. Thankfully too, because he needed it to make himself some coffee.

  Fumbling around in the cabinet, he found his old favorite mug: a plain white one with a tiny green word written by a child on it. The word was “thanks.” Only, the “k” was backward. A kindergarten art class had made it for them a few years ago.

  The coffee in the firehouse wasn’t all that good, especially not by angel standards, but it was familiar. It reminded him of the good old days when he was just a fireman and not a warrior of heaven.

  “Shit, Gray.” He turned to see Aurora still dressed in her Halo armor. With how much he’d been thinking about her, they may as well have spent the night together. “I didn’t realize anyone else was up,” she said groggily.

  She came to sit beside him. Gray grabbed another mug out of the cabinet, filling it with coffee and handing it to her. “Let’s just say I got a collective thirty minutes of sleep.”

  Aurora rubbed her hands across her face. “Same. Not to mention, I just slept for twenty-seven hours on Echo yesterday so I couldn’t convince my body it needed more.” She took a sip of her coffee and gagged. “Blegh. This is revolting.” Gray passed her the cream and sugar, and she doctored up the drink, taking another tentative sip. “Nope. Still terrible.”

  Gray glanced over his shoulder at the dark room where the others slept, including the girl he’d made his girlfriend. He glanced back to Aurora. “Get your coat.”

  AURORA

  For a moment, Aurora thought Gray was taking her to the site of the World Trade Center, but they passed by the fenced-off memorial and new building, ducking down a narrow street Aurora couldn’t find the name to.

  “Here it is.” Gray pressed a hand to Aurora’s back to urge her to stop. “The best donuts and coffee in Manhattan.”

  Aurora’s head tilted back as she looked up at the blinking neon sign and snorted. “Holey Moley’s?”

  “They’re known for their donut holes. Just give it a chance.”

  Aurora shrugged and pushed the door open, the little bell jingling to announce their arrival. “Can’t say I’ve ever met a donut hole I didn’t like.”

  The establishment was small—a donut hole in the wall, if you will—but their case filled with an assortment of iced doughy goodness and mounds and mounds of donut holes erased any and all apprehensions Aurora may have had about the place.

  The smell alone was enough to convince her.

  She turned her head so only Gray could hear her speak. “Maybe some humans can bake as well as angels.”

  They got their donuts, coffee, and a greasy bag full of donut holes to go, sidling past the line of people already forming out the door.

  Aurora wrapped her overcoat more tightly around herself when she noticed the lingering eyes of one of the patrons. She knew she was probably just paranoid. Surely no one would notice that her leather-like attire was actually armor, or that she had a crux and a sharp dagger stuck through holsters hidden beneath her coat. But she wasn’t used to being around humans anymore.

  After months of training with angels, she’d grown used to being “other.” Now humans—what she had considered herself to be just a few months ago—were the odd ones. So naïve and blind to the true world around them. Aurora almost envied them for it.

  “There’s a little grassy area near the trade center if you want to eat there.”

  Aurora cut her eyes over to Gray. She wondered why he would want to be anywhere near the place of his uncle’s death. Maybe he thought this would be the last time he could visit. The thought of this made her stomach twist uncomfortably.

  She’d never been a planner or a Type A anything, but the prospect of her unknown future sort of scared the hell out of her. Especially since she knew for a fact now that it didn’t just end with death.

  “Sure,” she said a little breathlessly, playing it off as a reaction to the biting New York air. “Lead the way.”

  * * *

  “So…by ‘grassy area’ you meant graveyard.”

  Gray had guided Aurora through St. Paul’s Chapel, the first ones to walk through the doors at 8 am, and into the cemetery attached to the church.

  “Hey, in a forest of cement, our choices are limited. Donut hole?” Gray held out the bag of carby goodness. Aurora silently snatched a sticky ball of dough inundated with cinnamon, popping it into her mouth and washing it down with smooth, sweet coffee.

  They moved to lean against a barren tree, facing the 9/11 site. Gray tore into one of the Boston creams with his front teeth and stared up at the newly-built One World Trade Center building. Aurora could tell his mind was traveling at lightning speed back in time.

  “I haven’t told Luna.”

  Aurora turned to him with raised eyebrows. “What?”

  “I haven’t told her about what happened that day.” He spoke in a low voice, taking another sip of his coffee before cutting his eyes over to Aurora. She didn’t have to ask which day he was talking about.

  “Why not?”

  He shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know. I should want to, shouldn’t I? Shouldn’t I want to share everything with her?”

  Biting her lip, Aurora shifted on her feet, taking a swig of coffee to buy herself a couple of seconds. “I wouldn’t know. I never really tell people anything at all.” And when Gray quirked an eyebrow at this, she added, “Well, not usually.”

  She’d told him things, of course. Some things.

  “She kissed me last night,” Gray said, and Aurora flashed him an I-don’t-want-to-know-about-this look. He didn’t seem to notice. “She wanted to go further, I think. But…”

  He didn’t continue and, despite not wanting to hear about Gray and Luna’s make-out endeavors, Aurora still kind of did. “But what?”

  “But it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t even kind of close to the same.”

  His eyes met hers, and she tried not to get lost in his multicolored irises. They could be hypnotic at times, when she wasn’t careful.

  She almost said, the same as what? But, of course, she knew. He meant it wasn’t the same as when he’d kissed Aurora on Etheria.

  How could it be? She had already made peace with the fact that she’d never have a kiss that satisfying again in her life. Okay, maybe she hadn’t made peace with it…but she was trying to.

  The corner of Gray’s mouth lifted slightly. “Sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable. It’s kind of hard when your soul mate is also your best friend.”

  Aurora pretended not to be affected by his words, brushing off some stray sugar that had fallen onto her coat. “You’re not making me uncomfortable.” Gray flashed her a disbelieving look, and she conceded, “Okay, you are. But I…I get it. And I also don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never exactly been in a situation like this, Gray.”

  “That’s an understatement. I told you about my past, about all this,” he waved a hand in a sweeping arc towards the shining tower, “as easily as if I were telling you about the weather. And I’d barely known you then. I’ve been with Luna for—I don’t even know how long, to be honest—and the thought of telling her is far from appealing. Part of me says my past is secret, personal. But then…I told you, a nearly perfect stranger back then.”

  “You were also having a mental breakdown when you told me,” Aurora said, remembering the day they’d gotten trapped in the black and white maze, triggering a panic attack in Gray. It had reminded him of his uncle,
who'd been trapped beneath the rubble of the twin towers.

  She finished her coffee and tossed the empty cup in the direction of a wastebasket five feet away. She made it. “Don’t worry too much about it, Gray. I don’t think it means any—”

  Gray cut her off. “It means I got into a relationship with Luna without thinking. Because I was mad at you. Because you were driving me insane.” Aurora’s heart rate sped up at his words, but she forced herself not to react. Gray shook his head, looking from a nearby gravestone and back to Aurora’s wide eyes. “It’s crazy how you can somehow heal me and slowly kill me all at the same time. You have this power over me that borders on unhealthy. But I also can’t imagine not having it. Not having that feeling of carbonated blood bubbling beneath my skin when you’re around. When you touch me, even just casually.”

  Aurora’s chest rose and fell rapidly. It was becoming difficult to hide. And, in a moment of weakness, she decided she didn’t want to.

  Battling everything in her that was screaming for her to stop, she moved up on tiptoe, pressing herself against Gray, placing her hands on either side of his face, drawing his lips down to hers.

  They melted into one another, letting themselves go for the first time since that battle on Etheria. The sound of crunching paper met her ears as Gray dropped the bag of donuts, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, as if he were trying to fit her inside him.

  An intake of breath and Aurora gave in to the satisfaction that came with a Stellar kiss. Electric pulsations traveling across her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps, making her tremble.

  Their tongues met for just a moment, long enough to make Aurora forget where she was, what she was doing. But she couldn’t forget who she was with. Gray. He wasn’t hers, but he also kind of was. They shared a soul. And the full-body-wracking pleasure that came with their kiss whispered—no, screamed—that this was right.

  Nothing that felt this good could be bad.