For Want of an Angel

by Rosalie Lario

  But then, if the Consortium and the rest of the angels have their way, humans won’t be doing much of anything anymore, will they?

  And therein lay the reason for her lack of sleep. How could she refuse to help the Fallen now that she knew the potential consequences? How could she simply walk away and leave it to them to find a way to save humanity?

  Yet how could she risk her life, not to mention her heart, by staying?

  Samantha slid to the ground and dangled her feet over the ledge. Now she knew why Aaron had been so insistent on bringing her here. He’d known how hard it would be to refuse his plea for aid. He’d sensed the confusion she’d feel upon meeting other nephilim.

  A soft scrape along the ground alerted her to someone’s presence. She stiffened and glanced behind her, but it was only Aaron. Relaxing her shoulders, she turned back to the water.

  Aaron wordlessly stopped beside her and sat, dangling his bare feet like hers. Finally he spoke. “I woke and you were gone.”

  “Couldn’t sleep.”

  “You have a lot to think about,” he said flatly.

  Tension hardened her muscles once more. Here it came. He was going to ask whether she would aid them...and she still didn’t know the answer to that question.

  “Want to go for a swim? The water’s warm.”

  She blinked and stared at him. Wasn’t he going to ask if she’d help them?

  “Really?”

  He grinned at her. “Sure.”

  Relief at her temporary reprieve had her grinning back. “That sounds awesome.”

  Still smiling, Aaron rose to his feet. With a practiced move that made her gasp in awe, he grew his wings. Holding his hands down to her, he said, “Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”

  Though he hadn’t meant those words in sexual terms, she couldn’t help but think that a ride from him was just what she needed right now.

  Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands in his and allowed him to pull her up. “I’m all yours.”

  *****

  Samantha’s words elicited a tremor of longing in Aaron. How he wished she truly meant what she said. He wanted nothing more than for her to be all his. But he knew she hadn’t meant it like that, and frankly right now, he’d take what he could get.

  When he lifted Samantha into his embrace, she wound her arms around his neck, curiosity lining her face. “Where are we going?”

  “There’s a nice bank just downstream. We can take our clothes off and jump in without being in full view of anyone standing at the mouth of the cave.”

  From the way she tensed at his words, he realized she hadn’t given conscious thought to the fact they’d be swimming in the nude. But she didn’t protest, thank the heavens. Rather, she ducked her head in what he suspected was an attempt to hide the soft blush that stained her cheeks.

  Lord, but his beloved was arousing. Her blonde hair hung in loose waves a few inches from the nape of her neck, and her soft, creamy skin smelled of peaches, dew, and sunshine. When he flapped his wings and lifted off the ledge, she turned her head to observe their surroundings. A chilly shaft of wind kissed them, and he couldn’t help but notice the way her full breasts beaded underneath her black tank top. His cock hardened in automatic response, and he gritted his teeth against the painful pressure of his erection pressing against the zipper of his jeans. This was beginning to be an all too familiar state of being when his beloved was near.

  Aaron slowed his wings as they reached the bank. He touched down lightly then set Samantha to her feet. As she surveyed the area, he let his wings flex and bow outward. Even though most angels were quite accustomed to absorbing their wings into their bodies when not in use, it always felt good to stretch them out. Sometimes more than good.

  The wind ruffled his feathers with an almost-orgasmic brush, and he stifled his groan. Between that and the massive erection his beloved’s presence inspired, his body was one seething mass of sensation.

  Perhaps swimming in the stream with Samantha had been a bad idea. He had no clue how he was going to stop from ravaging her with all the mindlessness of a Neanderthal.

  Then again, the way her nostrils flared when she turned back and saw him unzipping his jeans told him she would be very unlikely to protest were he to do just that.

  Samantha sat on the ground and began to tug her boots off, but then her gaze flickered back up to his wings. “Are you leaving them out while you swim?”

  “I’d planned on it.” He drew his wings closer to his body. “Do they bother you?”

  “No,” she said so quickly that he knew she meant it. She slid her hands under the hem of her tank top and begin to slide it up. “No, of course not. They’re beautiful. I was just curious.”

  He nodded, glancing away as she removed her shirt, but the memory of her gorgeous, perfect breasts was seared into his brain. He could barely wait to have his tongue, his mouth, on them again, taking turns pleasuring each of the hardened tips.

  Take it easy, Aaron. Before you scare her away.

  Biting his lower lip to distract himself from the gloriousness of her body, he tugged his worn jeans down his hips and off his body. He wore no other article of clothing, so he wasted no time in turning toward the water and propelling himself into it with his wings. They shivered in ecstasy as they touched the warm, steamy water.

  He heard a soft splash and turned just in time to see Samantha emerging from below the water. She brought to mind the legendary mermaid as she smoothed back her wet hair from her forehead and shot him a shy smile. “The water temperature’s perfect.”

  As are you.

  “Do you like it here?” he asked.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said. “The most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

  “We thought so too, when we found it. We knew this would be our home, for so long as we could remain here undetected by the Tribunal.”

  She waded through the water until she was but a few feet from him. Only the sexy curves of her shoulders were visible, glistening like pure honey in the daylight. “So you’ve lived here the entire time you’ve been in hiding?”

  “Just about.”

  When he noticed her shooting yet another curious glance at his outstretched wings, he flicked one playfully toward her, sending a small spray of water shooting onto her. “Do you want to feel it?”

  “Um...” There was no mistaking the flush that shot up from her neck to the root of her hair. “I thought...I got the impression that touching your wings was a very personal thing.”

  “It is,” he answered honestly. “An angel’s wings are very sensitive. Few are generally invited to touch them.”

  “Oh.”

  Her throat worked as she swallowed, but she moved forward, stretching the tips of her fingers out to brush lightly against the underside of his wing. He bit back a groan but was helpless to stop the shiver that crept through his body, hardening his cock even more with painful intensity.

  A shadow of a smile claimed Samantha’s lips. “That feels good, doesn’t it? I mean ‘good’ good.”

  “Yes.”

  “As good as...?”

  When her gaze flicked downward to where his erection stood to attention beneath the water, he caught her drift.

  “Being stroked below? Almost, yes.”

  “I wonder.” An embarrassed expression flitted across her face, but she continued on. “What if you had both at the same time?”

  He inhaled sharply in surprise. Half fearful that she’d change her mind, he crushed her body to his and claimed her lips in a searing kiss. She opened her mouth and eagerly intertwined her tongue with his. The slippery, erotic slide of her legs as she wound them around his waist was almost his undoing. His cock nestled at her center, and there was no mistaking the moisture of her own body as she slid back and forth along his erection.

  With a flick of his wings, he propelled them toward the grassy bank. When her back made contact with the earthen wall he started to paddle them downward to lift them both out of t
he water, but she stopped him with a firm hand on his left wing.

  “Wait.”

  He pulled back to meet her eyes. “What’s wrong.”

  She flushed. “Nothing.”

  Sliding him back with her hands on his chest, she turned him around and shoved slightly upward. He took her hint and lifted his wings, scooting himself up so that he sat on the edge of the bank. The movement put her head in line with his hips, and she wasted no time in closing her grip around his stiff erection, stroking her hand up and down.

  He threw his head back with a groan, fingers digging into the earth. Her touch was like magic, the electricity from her fingers sparking a fire within him that he feared would never be quenched. When he lowered his eyes to her face, she shot him a look of blazing passion that took his breath away.

  “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered, her words surprising him because he had just been thinking the very same thing about her.

  “Nothing compares to your beauty.”

  Her soft snort clearly said she didn’t believe him, but before he could argue the point, she lowered her head and her lips engulfed the head of his cock. His words were drowned in a cloud of ecstasy, and he was powerless to hold back the groan that tore from his throat. Her hand slid down to the base of his shaft and she licked the head of his cock before lowering her lips onto it once more, taking him in deeply. The pleasure of her touch was so intense that clear thought wasn’t possible.

  When his wings stretched out to the sides, expanding to their full width, she glided her free hand up his thigh and out to one wing, her fingers doing a sensual dance that matched the rhythm of her mouth on his cock.

  “Samantha,” he croaked, curling a hand into the nape of her neck.

  She responded by redoubling her efforts, stroking her mouth up and down until he saw nothing but stars, swallowing as much of him as she could. And what a feat that was; he wasn’t a small man by any means.

  On and on she went, her hands and lips working him into a frenzy he had no hope of recovering from. If she didn’t stop, he was going to come, and there was only one place he wanted to be when that happened.

  Forcing his hands to close over her shoulders, he pulled her away. “I want to be inside you.”

  “Yes,” she sighed, her eyes glazed over, and he took that as a signal to lift her out of the water and lay her down on the bank beside him.

  The sweet smell of her arousal tickled his nostrils, and suddenly being inside her wasn’t quite as important as getting a taste. He worked his way down her body slowly, starting with a passionate kiss and winding his way down to one full, luscious breast. He closed his lips over it, using his teeth to work her sensitized nipple, and she moaned and arched up into his mouth.

  Heavens, but she was so responsive. So open. Never had he experienced that before, not even with his prior mate...

  No, he refused to think about Elena. He wouldn’t let her memory sully his time with Samantha...especially considering he didn’t know how much time he had left with her. She’d made no promises to him. In fact, she gave every indication that she had no intent on staying with him permanently.

  “Aaron,” she gasped, fingers curling around the hair at the nape of his neck.

  Grinning at the turn of events that now gave him power over her, he pressed kisses to her stomach then down to the sweet valley between her thighs. When she let out a low cry and spread her legs, he positioned them over his shoulders before feasting on her center. Like the very finest of peaches and cream...but far more addictive.

  One hand closed over and kneaded her right breast while the other moved to her clit. He stroked the delicate nub, sucking it into his mouth while his finger slid into her welcoming heat. Her body clenched around it and he groaned, the memory of his shaft inside that snug entrance practically making him come then and there. When he removed his finger, she let out a whimper of protest, but then he slid two back inside, stretching her tight opening, and she stiffened against him, legs clenching as she cried out her release.

  There, that’s it.

  He slid up her body, the tip of his cock nudging her entrance.

  “Yes,” she gasped, eyes open and unseeing. She grasped his hips and tugged him down, feeding the tip of his arousal into her.

  He swallowed a groan and pressed on, sliding into her moist heat inch by agonizing inch. Heavens, but nothing compared to this feeling. The world could collapse around them at this very moment and he’d be none the wiser.

  “Please,” she cried out, and he continued on, shoving into her until his shaft was fully embedded within her heat.

  He let out a guttural groan. “Feels good.”

  “Yes,” she moaned. Her fingers dug into his backside as she ground herself into him, making sure she took in every inch. “So deep.”

  He slid partially out then thrust back in, her ragged cry urging him to repeat the movement. Again and again, until he built a steady rhythm that had him gritting his teeth from the almost painful pleasure of their bodies colliding together. His mate liked it rough, because she lifted her legs into the air and spread them into a wide “V”, hands urging him further down.

  “Please...fuck me harder.”

  With an unintelligible murmur, he obliged, sliding almost all the way out only to slam into her again. And again...and again...riding her so hard that the sounds of their slapping flesh could be heard even above their moans and cries. So deep that he could no longer tell where one ended and the other began.

  This...this was what making love was supposed to be like. Rough. Animalistic. So instinctual that thought wasn’t even possible.

  A claiming.

  She yelled out and her legs began to quiver against his sides. The clenching of her womb propelled him into a climax so hard that his seed shot from him with a blinding force and a cry tore from his throat. He slid his hands under her, cupping the curves of her backside and tipping her up from the ground so she could accept him as deeply as possible. With a harsh scream, she came once more, pulling every drop from his body.

  They stayed frozen like that for what seemed like an eternity, until he’d poured every bit of himself into her. Finally he collapsed on top of her, his limbs unable to hold his weight for even another second. She gasped and wrapped her legs and arms around him, holding him tight to her body.

  Wow...that was...amazing. Indescribable.

  Perfect.

  Aaron blinked back the moisture that crept to his eyes. What would he do if Samantha decided to leave this place? To leave him? How would he survive without her?

  One thing was for certain.

  Now that he’d found her, he didn’t know how he could go on living without her.

  Chapter Eleven

  Hours later, Samantha woke to find herself in a strange bed. Her initial moment of confusion gave way to languor as she remembered repeatedly making love to Aaron by the stream. On an abandoned mountain ledge. Even by a waterfall no more than twenty or thirty minutes from the compound, before he’d flown her back here for yet another round in his bed.

  They’d made love so many times she’d lost count. It had seemed so natural to have him with her. Inside her.

  As if they belonged together.

  She stretched her sore muscles, forcing herself to forget that last thought. They didn’t belong together. This was just lust.

  That was all.

  A quick glance around confirmed that Aaron was nowhere in sight. She forced her achy body out of bed and redressed in the same clothes from earlier, which she found strewn around Aaron’s bedroom. When she went out into his study and glanced at the monitor, she discovered where he was.

  The monitor to the dining room showed that he and several other Fallen, as well as Eva and Tayla, were seated at the gigantic table, and from the looks of it they were in heated debate.

  She could guess what they were discussing, and it made her stomach feel heavy with dread.

  The prison.

  The very place they wa
nted to infiltrate.

  And she, with her ability to disrupt electronic signals, was so much better suited to do so than any of them.

  Her sore muscles stiffened with fear, as if saying, Don’t go down there. But that wasn’t the right thing to do, and truth be told, she had to make the decision eventually. She couldn’t keep everyone waiting forever.

  Forcing herself to move, Samantha exited the chamber and made her way down the stairs. She didn’t pass another soul as she wound her way through the kitchen then paused in front of the door leading into the dining room.

  “...should leave as soon as possible. Every moment we waste could potentially cost that many more human lives,” a man—Michael, maybe?—said.

  “Lucas contacted me earlier,” said another male. “His surveillance indicates that the west entrance is the least-guarded one. It’s our best chance for going in undetected.”

  “We have no chance if we can’t disarm that security system, and it’s state-of-the-art,” came Tayla’s distinctive voice.

  There was a thick, measured moment of silence before the first person spoke again, and this time Samantha could tell it was in fact Michael.

  “If we could get Samantha on board, given what you’ve told us of her ability, she could easily—”

  “I won’t push her,” Aaron’s voice interrupted, steady and unmistakably hard. “It was enough that I practically had to blackmail her into coming here, into agreeing to hear us out.”

  “She’s our best option,” said another male. “Without her the risk is—”

  “And what of the risk to her?” Aaron asked heatedly. “We’re asking her to pull off the biggest, most dangerous job she’s ever had. To infiltrate a prison full of guards. Of angels? One mistake, one misstep, and she’s dead. Have you considered that?”

  Samantha swallowed the bile that rose in her throat and pressed her hand to her stomach to quell the sudden nausea that rose within her. Aaron had just voiced her greatest fear. Worse, he had confirmed it.