by G. A. Rael
The angel shot into the sky with enough force to shake the earth, but Jordan barely had time to take it in before Max started running. She regretted her decision to go along for the ride as soon as they rushed through the first cluster of trees, but Max’s movements were as controlled as they were swift. He moved like air through the forest, as if every branch and rock was just an extension of his own body.
Jordan held tightly to his fur and when she finally got the nerve to look, the sight of the forest rushing by her was mesmerizing. Her heart thundered and her head spun, but once she remembered how to breathe, the elation set in.
A shadow eclipsed the light from above and she looked up to see a dark shape passing over the trees. Samael’s wings were fully extended as he glided overhead at a swifter speed than Jordan had thought possible. As fast as Max was, Jordan knew he was being more careful with her on his back and the angel gradually began to outstrip them as the mountain’s peak came more fully into view.
“There!” Jordan cried, looking up at the pass through the trees she’d noticed when fleeing the demon. The trees were high enough in that area that Samael would have to gain altitude, so it provided a slight advantage.
Max shifted course immediately and they hurdled toward the mountain so fast Jordan was sure they were going to collide. Just as they were about to make it another shadow passed overhead and she looked up to see Samael perched atop the peak, his wings giving one last strike against the air before he folded them against his chest.
The werewolf doubled around the bend to lose momentum before sliding to a halt. He kicked up enough dust and leaves in the process to make Jordan cough as Samael dropped down to join them.
“Not bad,” the angel said with a triumphant grin. “You almost had me for a second there.”
Max snorted angrily. Someone was a sore loser. Not that it had been a fair fight.
Sam reached for Jordan’s hand to help her down off the werewolf’s back and Max shook the debris out of his fur. He shifted back quickly, still glowering at Samael. “Not bad… for a bird.”
“It was a good race,” Sam said, extending his hand. “Sometime we’ll have a real one.”
To Jordan’s relief, Max shook his hand. “Alright, fair’s fair. You get tonight, I’ll take her out tomorrow.”
Sam seemed like he was about to reply when he looked down at his phone and frowned. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Jordan.
“I got called into work,” Sam sighed, dragging a hand through his hair.
Jordan blinked. “Work? Since when do you have a job?”
“Since I graduated the Academy,” he answered, putting his phone away. He folded his wings and shrugged his shoulders as they receded. “Rookies always get the extra shifts.”
“You’re a cop?” Jordan asked in disbelief. “How did I not know this?”
“I did,” Max said, raising his hand. “My brother won’t shut up about how he aces every target practice.”
“You’ve been busy,” Sam said, turning her chin up toward him. “But I’ll tell you what, you can come over to my place to congratulate me properly tomorrow night.”
Jordan fell off balance and into the angel’s chest, bracing herself against him, which seemed to be exactly what he’d planned. They hadn’t actually kissed since the engagement party, but she found her lips parting automatically as he bent his head to claim them. He tasted as smoky and sinful as he smelled, and she was sure you could get drunk just from tasting those lips. When he pulled away, the way she staggered seemed to prove it.
“Think you can fill in?” Samael asked dryly, turning to Max.
The werewolf’s mouth quivered, but he glanced at Jordan and managed to suppress whatever inappropriate comeback was on his lips. That was a point in his favor. “I think I can handle it.”
As Sam took off and Max started searching for his clothes, Jordan busied herself with looking for them even though she wasn’t in any great hurry to ruin the view. They were alone, and she knew what they should probably be using that time for. When the day had begun, she wasn’t even willing to entertain the idea, but the more time she spent around Max, the harder it was to keep pretending like she wasn’t attracted to him.
She always had been, if she was being honest with herself. The fact that she was Darren’s girlfriend and that Max was his best friend had kept her from letting that attraction turn into a thought, let alone an action, but the rivalry between them proved to be a fuel for something else, now that she’d opened her mind even slightly to the possibility.
Not that he necessarily felt the same way. The way his demeanor changed once Samael left made her even more doubtful. If anything, he seemed more nervous than she was. For all his talk of wanting to get her alone, he didn’t seem to know what to do with her now that he had her.
“So,” he said, pulling his shirt back on. “Where to now?”
Jordan looked over at the picnic basket since they’d come full circle and set it aside before sitting down on the blanket. “It’s a nice day,” she remarked. “And the sun will be setting soon. We could stay out here and watch it.”
He seemed surprised by the suggestion and Jordan noticed he sat further from her than he could have. “Sure. If that’s what you want to do.”
“I have simple tastes,” she admitted. When he laughed, she asked, “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, you’re just… not what I expected.”
“What do you mean?”
“Queen of Babylon?” He arched an eyebrow.
“Hey, you’ve known as long as I have. Maybe that’s what I’m supposed to become, but it’s not who I am.”
“Fair enough. But you’re different from the way you were when you came here, too.”
“How so?” She wasn’t expecting this side of Max. Quiet. Thoughtful. Attentive. Maybe there was more to the werewolf than his snarky rich boy demeanor let on.
He shrugged. “When you first came into town, you had this whole buttoned up church girl persona going on. Then you started dating Darren and I thought it was only a matter of time before he’d be wearing sweater vests and smoking a pipe.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image. “I guess I was a little more reserved back then.”
“If by reserved you mean uptight, yeah.”
“Okay, fine. I was uptight.” She sighed. “So much has happened this last year, I don’t really know what changed.”
“I do. Hermes.”
Jordan frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’re different around him,” Max said, leaning back as he gazed up at the darkening sky. The edges were already beginning to turn pink and the sun itself looked like it was made of liquid gold.
“Different? I hate him.”
“Maybe,” he laughed. “But in a way, I think you’re more comfortable with him than you are with anyone else. Even Darren.”
“How do you figure that?”
“I’ve never heard you mouth off to either of them the way you do with him.” His eyes glimmered in amusement. “It’s kinda hot.”
Jordan blushed. “I’ll let him know. I’m sure he’d love to have a threesome.”
“No, thanks,” Max said, grinning. “I prefer one-on-one. Quality over quantity and all that.”
Jordan’s face turned even warmer, but she knew if she let him fluster her, he’d think he always had the upper hand. She moved closer and when she saw the surprise in his eyes, she knew it was working.
“You talk a big game, but I wonder…” she mused, letting her gaze travel down his face as she ran a finger over her lips. “Is it all talk?”
His eyes grew heavy and his breath became shallow as he stared at her, mesmerized. Jordan still wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, but she could sense that it was working from the way his hand swept down her cheek, his fingers brushing her curls. “God,” he muttered under his breath.
Jordan smiled, slipping her thigh over his as she placed a hand on his c
hest and felt the heat of his skin through his shirt. “Hoping he’ll come and save you?” she taunted.
Max wrapped his arms around her and had her on her back in a split second. Jordan recovered from the shock even faster, surprised at the heat that grew deep in her core now that she was close to the werewolf. If he was right about Hermes bringing out a different side of her, he seemed to have the same effect without even realizing it. The awkwardness between them had melted away, leaving only curiosity behind and Jordan decided that the sink or swim approach wasn’t half bad.
“I’ve wanted you from the moment we met.” His words were forceful, but there was pain in them, too. He met her eyes only for a moment, but she turned him back, refusing to let him look away. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to deny yourself the very reason for your existence for two years, Jordan? Something you can never have?”
“That’s in the past now,” she murmured, exploring his body with her hands. His shirt was so thin, but it proved such an unreasonable obstacle. “We can both have what we want now. The only question is,” she whispered, leaning up close enough to brush her lips against his ear. “Do we want the same thing?”
His hand closed around her wrists and pinned them to the earth, firm but gentle. The look on his face was strained, like he was fighting with his desire for reasons unknown to her. “I…” Clarity shone in his eyes for a moment, but the lust was still there. “I want you, but I want you to want me for the right reasons. Not because of Hermes, not because of the ritual, not because I won some stupid date by default.”
“The date is stupid now, is it?” she teased, slipping her thigh between his. Heat flamed on his face, making him even more charming and she could feel his cock stiffen up through his jeans. “And here I was having a lovely time.”
“You know what I mean.” His voice was rough. Poor thing. He ground against her a little, letting out a pained breath. “Fuck…you make it hard to be a decent guy, you know that?”
“Seems to be going around,” she purred. “But as cute as you are when you’re decent, I was promised the big bad wolf and I intend to collect.”
He growled and the sound made her weak in so many hidden places. It echoed through her skin and she dug her fingers into his dark hair, loosening it from the light mousse that kept it slicked back so devilishly. “Woman…you live up to your reputation.”
Jodan laughed huskily. “And you fall so far short of yours. Tell me, is your hesitation because you’re worried about me or because you feel bad about taking something Darren wants?”
The name cleared the confusion on his face and he stared at her. For a moment, Jordan feared she’d crossed a line, but then he came crashing down on top of her, pulling her into his arms as his mouth met hers like a head-on collision. She dove into the wreckage without hesitation and dug her nails into his back as she peeled off his shirt. His tongue raided her mouth as she slipped her hand into his jeans and palmed the thick cock she’d been staring at all afternoon.
He was all growls and lust and relentless hands that seemed to turn to claws at will, when there was fabric he didn’t have the patience to remove properly. The last thing on Jordan’s mind was a popped button or two. For months, she had been repressing the things that made her weak, but now she’d found a way to unleash something else and it made her feel powerful. The way she had when Chase had taken her virginity under the moonlight and her power had first come to the surface. She wanted more and as Max moved on top of her, pushing himself between her legs, it felt like the first time all over again.
Raw. Sensual. Thrilling, with an edge of fear that passed between them like a current as their bodies closed the distance between their divergent lives. The aggression that had come over Jordan may have taken even her by surprise, but Max wasn’t the least bit shaken. Contrary to her first assumption, he knew exactly what to do with her and he was more of an animal as a human than he ever was as a wolf.
Darren and Chase were so gentle, but while Max took care not to hurt her as he sank inside of her warmth, he didn’t treat her like she was fragile, either. He claimed and clawed and drove into her with all the force she craved and he drank in her aggression all the same. Even when she made his back bleed from trying to draw him closer because he felt too good to be true and she wanted more.
“Jordan,” he moaned into the kiss, letting her know that he was taking as much pleasure as he was giving her. Every thrust sent him deeper into her core, to the center of pleasure that had her whole body quivering.
She met his lips, too close to release to distract him with words. She just needed him to keep doing exactly what he already was. Practical strangers or not, they knew each other perfectly in that moment and Jordan didn’t want it to end.
Luckily for her, Max’s endurance was more than impressive. She lost control and her cries of pleasure echoed through the forest as he cupped her breast in his hand and lavished attention on her neck that might have made her come on its own. The feeling of his teeth on her skin was innately sexual, and she wanted him to claim her that way, too. Unfortunately, the orgasm made it impossible to think clearly enough to voice that desire and he proved to have more restraint than she did.
He buried his face in her neck with another growl, as if it took too much self-control to tease her with what they both wanted so badly. His seed filled her and she climaxed again, gasping as she held him close. The pleasure was blinding, but it was something else that took Jordan by surprise. Something softer yet even stronger than the climax still pulsing through her body.
“Do you feel that?” she whispered, afraid to break the spell if she spoke too loudly. The sun was down and the forest had been plunged into ethereal darkness, fireflies hovering lazily in the air like fallen stars. Max stood out as the far more impossible beauty, his face still flushed and his eyes still full of hunger. For her.
God, why did it feel so good to see him this way, consumed with desire for her and her alone? They barely knew each other, and yet he felt like part of her. Not just because their bodies were still connected, but something deeper.
“Yeah,” he said in a husky voice, gazing at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Maybe he was. She felt the same sense of knowing that something had been unlocked within her as she had the first time she’d made love to Chase, and then Darren, but something about this was…different. “It’s the mating bond, I think.”
“Mating bond?”
The uncertainty in his gaze told her she wasn’t the only one who had reservations about what she was. He seemed so confident that she had never expected it, but it endeared him to her all the more. “Imprinting usually goes in one direction, until… well, sometimes it always does. Sometimes the person we imprint on feels it too, when we make love.”
She stared at him, startled by his words. “Love?” she echoed. “Who knew you were so poetic?”
He looked away, flustered. How someone so powerful and rough around the edges could be so easily toppled was more amusing than she ever could have imagined. And charming. “Yeah, well…”
“It’s sweet,” she said, still catching her breath. She could feel his pulse, and she felt his power in her veins. She’d taken something without meaning to, but now she didn’t want to let it go. “Is this really how you feel?”
He nodded, searching her gaze. “Did you feel anything?”
“Uh… did the moans not make it obvious?”
“No, not that,” he snorted, tracing his fingers along her collarbone as he laid next to her. “I mean, did you feel anything happen magically?”
“I don’t know,” Jordan admitted, rolling over.
“Well, what did you feel the first time it happened?”
She bit her lip. “I set the forest on fire.”
Max blinked. “Good to know.”
“It didn’t happen that overtly with Darren,” she assured him. “It’s been gradual with Sam, too, but we haven’t really…” she trailed off, realizing she didn’t want to bri
ng anyone else into this moment. Not yet. “I guess we’ll find out.”
“Unless I’m a dud.”
Jordan pulled him down for another kiss and smiled. “You are definitely not a dud.”
Only time would tell what he had unlocked, but if the power was as unbridled and chaotic as their lovemaking had been, Jordan was alright with it taking a little while to emerge.
Chapter 32
Jordan
It had been two weeks since Jordan had begun dating Samael and Max, and while each outing with the latter had ended in his bedroom—not to mention the kitchen, the living room, the forest, and once, even his car—things were moving more slowly with Samael. Jordan wasn’t the one who’d put on the brakes, either.
While she’d been cautious in the beginning, the headfirst approach she’d chosen with Max had proven pleasantly effective and she’d hoped that things would be even easier with Samael, considering that they already had a friendship to build upon. Jordan had never had the time to date when she was on the run, and before that, she’d never had the option. It was oddly freeing to get to explore this new world, especially since Chase and Darren had given her their blessing to do so.
Samael’s company was always good for a distraction, whether it be from the impending war with Heaven or the fact that Hermes was back and yet more distant than ever. He seemed to genuinely enjoy their time together as much as Jordan did, which was what made the way each date ended—usually with nothing more than a chaste kiss—all the more confusing.
The last time they’d been out, things had gotten hot and heavy toward the end. They’d gone back to his apartment after a surprisingly fun night out at the pool hall, but while his momentary passion had eased Jordan’s doubts that Samael was every bit as uninterested in being her consort as he had been in the beginning, he’d brought the evening to a crashing halt with some halfhearted excuse about needing to be up early in the morning. Jordan knew from his former roommate that he worked third shift, but far more concerning than the fact that he’d lied to her was the reason he felt like he needed to.
