Dust of My Wings

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “What’s going on in that head of yours?” Shade asked.

  She shook her head. He really didn’t want to know what she was thinking. “Nothing, really.”

  He took a sip of his coffee and waited.

  She let out a breath. “I’m just a little scared, I guess.” Well, that wasn’t totally a lie. She was scared about what was coming with her own body, her future…and yes, the man sitting next to her. He just didn’t need to know that last part.

  At least not yet. If ever.

  Shade put down his coffee, took the cup from her hand, and pulled her onto his lap. He rubbed small circles onto her back and rested his forehead on hers.

  “I know you’re scared. If you weren’t, I’d be worried.”

  “I just need to make a list or four, and I’ll be fine.”

  He chuckled against her cheek and she warmed. He leaned closer and kissed her softly, the faint taste of coffee on his tongue.

  “God, Lily, I love that about you.”

  Her heart raced, but she tamped down the excitement. It wasn’t as if he said I love you. No, that’s not what he meant, but it was close enough that tendrils of something she didn’t want to think about settled in and wrapped around her heart.

  “I do like to keep organized,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Mmm…” He licked her lips, and she opened for him.

  His tongue leisurely explored her mouth as her hands explored him, the panes of his chest, his arms, his neck. She wiggled on his lap, his erection against her bottom.

  “You keep wiggling like that, baby, and it’ll be over before it starts.”

  She sighed into his mouth and wiggled again.

  He growled and lifted her into his arms as he stood. “Okay, sprite, you’ve asked for it.”

  “Sprite?”

  “I thought it fit.” He smiled and bit her jaw before licking the sting.

  She wrapped her legs around his waist and blinked at him. “I like it.”

  “Good.” He crushed his mouth to hers while he walked toward her bedroom.

  She pulled back. “Don’t drop me.”

  “Never.” He plopped her down on the bed so she bounced.

  “Hey!”

  “I couldn’t resist.” He grinned and lowered his body over hers.

  Before he could kiss her, she wiggled from beneath him, determined.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” He furrowed his brows, and she kissed the line in between.

  “I want to try something. Just lie back and enjoy.” She lowered herself to her knees, and he grinned like a cat with cream. He folded his hands behind his head and lay back.

  “By all means, proceed.”

  Her hands shaking slightly, she undid his jeans and opened them wide, her breath shuddering.

  “Commando?”

  He chuckled roughly. “Sometimes.”

  “I’m one lucky woman.”

  “No, I’m one lucky man.”

  She lowered his pants, and he lifted his ass so she could take them completely off over his boots, but the boots blocked her intent. She laughed at the look of a half-naked man in his boots, and he lifted a brow.

  “Sorry, I need to take off your boots. I’m not good at this.” She blushed. God, how inexperienced could she seem.

  He sat up and kissed her, his just-Shade taste settling on her tongue. “I’ll take care of it, baby.” He quickly divested himself of his boots and shirt, leaving him naked and, by the looks of it, very ready for her.

  She knelt between his legs and gripped his length. His body bucked, and he hissed.

  “Jesus, Lily. I love your small hands on me.”

  “They look small compared to what I’m holding,” she teased as she stroked him.

  “Flattery will get you everywhere, darling.”

  She ran her hand up him again then leaned down to lick the head of his cock. He groaned and she smiled. She loved the power she held over this man, the one with the strength of angels who had the ability to make her knees weak. She was the one making him groan and hiss. She opened her mouth wide and wrapped her lips around his cock..

  “Lily.”

  His heady taste danced on her tongue as she relaxed her throat and took him deeper. His hips thrust slightly, and she held them down while raising her head.

  “I’m in charge,” she said.

  His pupils dilated, the fractured blue of his iris practically non-existent. “Anything.”

  She gave a coy smile and swallowed him again, her mouth stretching to take his fullness. Her body tightened at the thought of him inside her, filling her. It wasn’t the time for that; no, she wanted this to be about him.

  She sucked and licked, fondling his balls. His groans grew needy, but he didn’t thrust. Good man.

  “Lily, you need to stop. I’m going to come.”

  She just took him deeper, hollowing her cheeks.

  “Lily.”

  With that, he came, his hot seed shooting down her throat. She took every last drop of him before releasing him with a pop.

  “That was fun,” she teased.

  Shade growled and pounced. Before she knew it, she was flat on her back, naked, her legs spread.

  “I want you.”

  “Please.”

  He wrapped a condom on his still hard length. God, she loved his stamina. He lowered his body then kissed her. Hard.

  He pulled back and nibbled her lips. “I can taste myself on you, and for some reason, that makes me hot as hell. You do this to me, my Lily.”

  He gripped her hips then, in one fluid motion, turned her over so she was on her knees.

  “I want to take you from behind, baby. I want to watch the curve of your back as I fuck you. Would you like that?”

  She shivered and nodded, too turned on to speak.

  His hands delved between her legs, brushing her clit as he dipped into her. “You’re wet for me.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Hold on.”

  She gripped the sheets as he did her hips before he slammed into her. Her body trembled, and she came. Her nipples hardened to stiff, achy peaks, and she screamed his name.

  “Fuck. Your pussy clenched around me in one stroke. I love how responsive you are.”

  Her body on alert, she pushed herself back to take more of him. He slapped her ass, the sting going straight to her core. He pulled out, then rammed back into her, over and over, fighting to keep his grip as she crested closer to another release.

  Just as she was about to come, he pulled out and flipped her so she lay on her back. She whimpered at the loss of him inside her, too out of it for words.

  He kissed her lips then slowly entered her again. “I want to see your face when you come, sprite.”

  She opened her eyes, her gaze locking with his. He threaded his fingers with hers as he slowly rocked against her. Heat built within her until she came against him, his cock twitching inside her as he did the same.

  He lowered his forehead to hers, breathing heavily. “I never want to forget this.”

  What an odd thing to say, but she couldn’t say anything back. Emotions choked her as her breathing slowed to normal.

  She wasn’t just falling in love with this man. She was full-blown oh-my-God in love with him. She barely knew him. He could leave town at any minute, and she was the stupid idiot who’d fallen in love with him.

  Damn.

  Chapter 16

  Lily pulled into work, a smile on her face. She’d woken up with Shade’s warm body nestled against her back and something hard and ready for her as well. She blushed, remembering exactly how Shade had woken her. She was lucky she’d even made it to work on time.

  She’d quickly showered—alone, as the two of them together under the warm spray of water would have resulted in her being late. Shade had kissed her goodbye when he left a few minutes before her, a sad expression on his face. Odd. Maybe he was just as sad to leave her as she was to leave him.

  Lily snorted. Sure. Because a
ll males are clingy. As it was, she had to force herself not to act like a clingy girlfriend. That brought her up short. Wait. Was she his girlfriend? Her body tingled at the thought. She wanted that. No, she needed that. She’d always felt so alone, even with her friends. Yes, she’d felt connected to them and they were her family…but it never felt like enough. And, yes, that made her feel selfish as hell. Maybe Shade would help her fill the void. She couldn’t rely on that. She’d done that before and look how that’d worked out. She’d dated Bryce, thought she’d fallen for him, even almost married him. She’d left her old job to work with Glenn so she could be near Bryce. Then he’d left her to be with someone prettier.

  It was official, with the amount of angst flowing through her, it was high school all over again.

  He’d kissed her and said everything would be all right, and it would. Wouldn’t it?

  So, she was a brownie, a supernatural creature, and she had no idea what it was and what rules and powers came with it. Shade had told her some, and she’d looked up the rest on the Internet. Though she didn’t know what she could trust from what she’d read and Shade didn’t know the ins and outs of everything in the brownie culture. She didn’t have time to stop and think about it, because she had to work. She walked up the stairs toward her office and laughed.

  She didn’t have to worry about time anymore; that was something she had plenty of now, wasn’t it? She’d live for who knew how long all because of a freak storm. Her knees went weak, and she gripped the railing. Her stomach clenched at the thought. What if her friends never changed? What if she was the only one? How would she cope with knowing her friends would die and she would live? Or maybe they’d be in the same boat as her. It was overwhelming. She couldn’t think about that now. She had to get through her day and take this new life thing one day at a time. She hadn’t been kidding when she told Shade she wanted to make lists. Doing so would calm her and get her mind situated because, right now, between her transformation and Shade, she felt as if someone had put her brain in a blender and turned it on the highest speed.

  To top it off, she had to work a job she hated and for Glenn the Sleaze, the boss she disliked even more.

  Why was she doing this again?

  Oh, yeah, because it was normal, and she needed normal right now.

  She reached her desk and paused to take a deep breath. Her skin felt oversensitive, as if the slightest change in temperature or air movement would make her scream. She didn’t know if it was because of her night with Shade or her new powers. She worried her lip and tried not to think about it. She had to get through this transformation and learn to be normal, whatever normal was. Nothing had changed. Funny really. For some reason she’d half expected the world to change around her because her own world had changed, but no, her desk was still in the corner, tidy, and in need of a good dusting. Well, at least it looked that way to her.

  She put her purse in her drawer and took out a Lysol wipe. She wiped down the top and sides then straightened everything again, making sure the pens were in perfect alignment with the corner of her desk. The action of cleaning calmed her and lifted her spirit some. At least that hadn’t changed when her skin did.

  Lily looked down quickly at her arms and let out a breath. Still human. Apparently, a stray thought of gold skin didn’t turn her gold. Good to know.

  “Lily, where the hell have you been?” Glenn demanded from the doorway.

  She looked up, her usual irritation with the man bubbling through her veins. “I’ve been off. Why?”

  He glowered, his teeth clenched. “I don’t care what you think you were doing, you have work to do here. Do you have that sample done for me yet?” His chest heaved, and his eyes darted from side to side.

  Jerk. What was it about that sample that set Glenn on edge and worried her so much?

  “I’m having issues with it, but I’ll figure it out.”

  “You better, Lily. You may think you’re irreplaceable around here, but remember, techs are a dime a dozen. You’re nothing. Get me the results ASAP.” He stormed out of her office, leaving Lily with the incredible urge to follow him and kick him in the nuts.

  Okay, that was it. She needed a new job. She couldn’t take it anymore. Her heart pounded furiously. She had a whole new future open to her, and Glenn and his petty attitude weren’t worth it. She wasn’t a doormat. First, she’d finish her current project. She wouldn’t leave anyone in a lurch even though she wanted to scream and hurt a certain boss of hers.

  Putting on her lab coat and walking down to the lab, determination set in her veins. She’d find out what the heck this sample was and then she’d put in her notice. Yes, that sounded like a plan.

  She sat down at the computer and read the readouts from the scan she’d run over the weekend. Huh? Still nothing. What the heck was this stuff?

  There were no peaks. Nothing. It was as if she’d run a blank. That couldn’t be it. She’d checked it four times and run it twice. Something odd was going on here.

  She rolled over to the sample drawer and took out the vile. She held it to the light, and something clicked.

  She recognized this dust. It had been on her bed sheets and sprinkled over her body when she and Shade had made love. She’d been too busy enjoying herself to obsess about the dust at the time—something that never would have happened normally.

  The dust of an angel.

  Shade’s dust.

  Her heart sped up as a metallic taste settled on her tongue. How did it get to her lab? What would happen if someone found out exactly what it was?

  Oh, God.

  Did Shade know it was here? She set down the vile and gripped the bench as the events of the past few days ran through her mind. He’d happened to be in the park that day and said he was there on business. Was she his business?

  Was their meeting and relationship all a lie?

  Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. She would not cry over him. She wouldn’t. She choked back a sob and put the vile in her lab coat pocket. Then she did something she thought she’d never do as a scientist. She cleared all memory of the data and runs. Then she made sure the rotors, the little cylinders that held the samples, didn’t have a speck of Shade’s dust in them by dousing them with alcohol and liquid nitrogen.

  Even though her heart threatened to shatter into a thousand pieces and her hands shook uncontrollably, she couldn’t let this secret get out. It was her world now, even though she felt like someone had torn off one of her limbs.

  She went to her desk and packed up her things in a printer box, not taking the care to organize it. That thought almost made her break down right there, but she held herself together. She’d break down when she got home; when she was alone.

  She looked around one more time at the place she’d worked for so long and didn’t have a moment’s loss for it. She’d always hated it. This just gave her an excuse to leave now instead of later. After all, she’d just committed a felony by destroying files and data from a government-owned lab. They might not be watched like most labs, but she’d still get in trouble. She had savings and could find another job in something she actually liked.

  “Lily! What the hell are you doing?” Glenn roared.

  “I quit.”

  “You don’t get to fucking quit!” Spittle flew from his mouth, and his face turned beet red.

  “Actually, yes, I do.” She lifted her chin and tried not to let her fear show. She just needed to get out the door, and then she’d be safe. Glenn didn’t even know where the sample drawer was. It would take another tech looking around for everyone to realize what she’d done. Frankly, she’d cleaned everything up enough that they may never notice.

  She walked past him, and he grabbed her arm, forcing her against the wall.

  “Fuck you, you bitch. You’re mine. You can’t just leave.”

  Panic seized her for just a moment before her body hummed with energy. She growled and pushed back, her body glowing gold. “Back off, Glenn.”

>   Glenn’s eyes widened and he back-pedaled. “You’re….you’re one of them.”

  He knew about them? “What do you know?” Was Glenn in on this? Why did he want the dust analyzed so badly?

  “I don’t know anything, I swear.” She narrowed her eyes and he paled even more. “I promise! The guy just came in and said I needed to get you, specifically, to look at it. I swear!”

  “What guy?”

  “I don’t know, but he flew away! Flew! Holy shit. I think I need to sit down.”

  Bile filled her mouth. “What did he look like?” Please, don’t let this be a setup. Why it would be Shade, she didn’t know, but already, her heart hurt.

  “I don’t remember. He had brown...wings…though. Oh, God. He had wings.” Glenn crumbled on the floor in a dead faint and Lily relaxed.

  Brown wings. So, it hadn’t been Shade. Why would an angel want a lab to know that angel dust existed? She needed to talk to Shade and tell him…but what good would it do? If Shade knew about this, he was using her.

  And she’d let him.

  Lily kicked Glenn in the shin—ah, that felt nice—and his eyes fluttered open.

  She shifted the box in her hands and glared. “I’m leaving, Glenn. You can’t tell anyone what happened here. Or…or you’ll be sorry.” Oh, that’s just great. What B-list movie could she quote next time? She’d have to work on her delivery.

  Glenn nodded, tears running down his cheeks. “I promise. You were never here. I don’t know anything about any dust.”

  Lily nodded. Thank God Glenn was a weasel and easily intimidated. She’d made it to her car and started driving toward home when her adrenaline crashed and her body shook.

  He’d lied.

  She was sure of it.

  No. She didn’t know the whole story. For all she knew, it could be a huge coincidence. She snorted and angrily wiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. The traitor. There were no coincidences. Not in her world—old or new.

  Somehow, she made it home and stumbled inside. She’d quit her job, accidently revealed herself to Glenn, might have found a conspiracy, and Shade might be lying.