by Kim Loraine
"If I may, milady?" the knight interjects. I'd nearly forgotten the man was here. Tamiel takes up every inch of my focus. "After the storm passes, when it's safe, I have something to show you that might be of interest."
I turn my attention to him. "What?"
"A way we can escape now that we have an angel."
Tamiel
"There is no way out of here," I tell the wanker. He looks like an idiot in his chainmail, and clearly, he's off his rocker. "The portal is a one-way trip."
The knight shakes his head, eyes trained on the sword at my hip. "There is a way. But I can't get through without angelic grace."
I don't even try to hide my laugh. "You can't get through?"
"We," he amends. "We can't get through, I've tried and failed more than once. It's a tear in the fabric between worlds."
"There's a fucking hole in purgatory? How?"
The knight frowns. "You expect me to know? I stumbled across it. I've been searching for a way out since I arrived."
This is dangerous. A hole in the fabric of this world means weakness. If Lucifer were to escape his prison and find out, he could rip purgatory to shreds and claim all the souls stuck in this place.
"Show me," I growl.
He nods, and my unease dissipates, but only slightly. "I'll take you there, but only if you promise to bring me through when you leave."
I can't risk bringing a dangerous soul through to earth. He could be lying through his teeth, planning to call a demon and trade information for a place amongst their ranks. Not to mention the demons who arrive here in order to drag the souls of the damned to Hell. This knight would have me as the perfect bargaining chip…an angel for his freedom. My grace is a hot commodity here in between worlds and I won't tell Helena of the struggle I had getting to her once I came through the portal.
"Well, we can't do anything until this storm lets up." I step farther into the cave and stare down at the pathetic mattress made of leaves and strips of fabric. "Is this really where you've spent all your time?"
The knight shrugs. "It's all I need."
Fuck. This isn't good enough for my Helena. She deserves comfort and safety, not a dank hole in the side of a mountain. I assess the man infringing on my time with Helena. Something is…off about him. He doesn't feel like a typical soul. And he should have been judged by now. Everything surrounding him says he's from a time long ago, a warrior, a crusader. The way Helena seems to trust him makes me uncomfortable. He's a danger. "And you've been alone until now?"
"Your woman is the first soul I've encountered who has lasted this long."
Helena is uneasy. Her body radiates tension against mine. I need to get her away from here. From this knight with his offered hope for escape, from this future with nothing but a hole in the earth as shelter. "Is this all there is?" I ask him, gesturing to the walls of the cave.
"There are a few tunnels that lead to fresh water. A hot spring deeper inside. It's not all bad here."
"Isn't it?" Helena asks. "This is purgatory. We're here to be punished."
My stomach turns. No. That is not why she's here. "You're wrong, love. You're here because of your curse. Because of that cunt, Calista."
She takes my hand and holds tight. "I can't break the curse. It's too late. I've died. She's won."
It breaks my heart to hear her say those words. She's a fighter. The strongest woman I've ever known. I can't let her settle for defeat now that we've been given a glimmer of hope. "Come with me. Let's see what purgatory has to offer."
We walk past the knight and head into the darkness. He can wait. I don't like the way he looks at Helena and I don't want the two of them spending more time together than necessary. The man offers a wry grin as I glance over my shoulder.
Helena clings to me in the dark and I pull her close because I can't let her go. I need to be touching her. But she doesn't try to get away either. "I trust him," she whispers as we walk farther back into the cave.
"I don't." My grace illuminates the walls, casting a glow across dripping stalactites and lighting our path.
"He saved me, Tamiel. He kept me away from the beasts that tore that man apart."
"No, he didn't. Those beasts weren't coming after you. They were taking that soul to Hell because he deserved it. This knight is playing you."
"How can you be so sure?"
Frustration rolls through me. "Do you really have to argue this with me? I'm an angel. I've been here since before purgatory needed to be created. He wants you. You're the first woman he's had near him in who knows how long. Men are still men, even in purgatory."
"And you think I'm stupid enough to let him have me?"
The thought of another man moving inside her sends uncontrolled jealousy over my entire being. "Possibly. You looked damn cozy with him when I arrived."
"Ugh, you're impossible," she groans.
"And you are the most frustrating woman I've known. Don't you think I know what lust looks like on a man?"
"Don't condescend to me, Fallen. You didn't die. I did."
Anger burns in my chest. "I held you in my arms as you left me. You left me. Again. I watched the light leave your eyes, knew your soul was gone from this earth. For the second fucking time."
"And I arrived here with one thought. I never got to tell you I bloody love you. Do you know how much that broke my heart? I was able to see your face as I died, and I couldn't say the words even though they were on my lips because I didn't have any breath in my body."
I barely heard her beyond the first thing she says. She loves me. "You…you said you love me."
"And I do, you arse. I gave myself to Calista to save you. Wasn't it obvious? You're my soul mate and I love you more than I love my own freedom."
"Helena, don't you understand what you just said?"
"That I love you?"
"Yes."
Her eyes go wide. "But I've never been able to say that to anyone."
"Exactly. The curse on your heart lifted."
I take a breath, ready to tell her what happened with Calista, but she throws her head back and lets out an irritated growl. "What does it matter? I'm dead."
"But you can love me. We can love each other. No matter where we are. Calista is dead. I killed her. Turned her to ash for what she did to you." Her eyes swim with myriad emotions. "I broke Gwen's curse, Izzy is safe, and you can earn redemption if you want."
"And the moonstone?"
I drop my gaze and shake my head. "She had it under a protection spell. As soon as she died, it vanished."
A frown pulls her eyebrows together. "So my sisters aren't safe. They have no magic and someone else must have been working with Calista. A failsafe because she knew death might come for her."
"There's no reason for your sisters to be a target. Not now. Calista had it out for you three, but anyone else involved in the plot to free Lucifer will be focused on that." I drag my free hand through my hair. "It's time to let this go and have faith the angels will see to Lucifer's continued imprisonment. We've done all we can. You love me. I love you. Take comfort in that."
She goes silent and releases my hand, walking ahead of me and I don't try to bring us back together. She has to come to this on her own now. I've said my piece. As she walks, she mutters to herself, gesturing and spinning herself up as I watch. Then she turns a corner and gasps. That one sound sends me running as fast as I can to her.
She's standing inside a chamber filled with water, steam rising from the surface. Then she looks at me and I wish there was color in this damnable place because I want to see her eyes as I know them. Not this strange shade of gray. With trembling fingers, she removes her clothes, standing naked before me. A puckered scar mars her beautiful chest, right over her heart and I close the distance between us so I can trail my fingertip over the place Calista hit her with the deadly spell.
"You will regret condemning yourself to this place. You don't belong here. I'm not worth this." Her voice is uncharacteristically weak and
soft.
I cup her face and thread my fingers in her hair. "I would only regret living a life without you. You are worth everything. Everything, love."
Her hands go to my shirt and she tugs frantically, pulling the fabric over my head. Then she goes to work on my jeans and before long, we're standing nude together with a hot spring at our disposal. My cock is aching with need for her.
Silently she takes my hand and pulls me toward the water. "I need you to prove to me you're really here. Fill me, fuck me, love me, Fallen."
"As you wish, love."
We step into the water and I don't care what's looming in the future. I'm here with her, the only place I belong.
20
Helena
The water is hot, but Tamiel's gaze is what's burning my blood. He's hungry for my body, and I'm starved for him. I wrap my arms around him as soon as the hot spring is waist high. His lips touch mine and my nipples stiffen to tight buds, tingling and aching for his fingers, tongue, teeth, anything he'll give me.
"God, I need you. I've missed you so much," I moan against his mouth, but he's tense rather than willing. "What is it?"
"I nearly lost my mind with grief, love. I was a broken shell of a man. I…" he trails off, words tight and barely understandable. I stare at him in shock. He's…crying. "I tried to make myself forget you. I took back my wings. I walled up my memories of you. Fuck, Helena, I betrayed you."
I run my hands over his broad chest and across his shoulders. He thinks he betrayed me by trying to move on? I'm the one who threw myself in front of what I knew was a deadly spell. "I love you," I murmur against his warm skin. I inhale the scent I've been craving, spicy and woodsy, masculine.
Finally, he relaxes a fraction, his arms come around me and he pulls us closer. "Say it again." The words are almost a primal growl as he grabs my arse and lifts me until I wrap my legs around his waist.
"I love you, Tamiel." His hard cock brushes my sensitive flesh, delicious friction across my clit, exactly where I need it. "Fuck, I love you."
"Promise me you'll never leave again."
His hand snakes between us and he aligns his length with my pussy. I've never been so ready for anything. "I…oh, God, I promise."
I writhe, needing him to lower me onto his straining cock. "Promise me you'll be mine."
"Yes, yes, I'm already yours."
"You'll marry me."
I sit up a little taller, staring at him with confusion. "Marry you?"
"Yes. Marry me. Be mine in every possible way."
We're never going to get out of here, and even if by some miracle we do, I'm dead. But I won't remind him of this. He's not an idiot and I can't crush his hope. "I promise."
The fierce determination shining in his eyes makes my body quiver. For a moment I think he's going to back away, deny me until marriage, but then he pulls me down until he's deep inside me and I'm crying out in shock and pleasure. He groans but doesn't look away from my gaze. "Helena," he says, pulling out and slowly sinking back inside. "I take you as my wife."
Oh, God in Heaven, he meant right now. I can't believe it and yet I'm not going to stop him. It's hot as fuck, our bodies joined while we vow to belong to each other for eternity.
Fingers digging into my hips, he pulls me hard against him, so hard his crown hits my womb and I cry out as the first glimmer of an orgasm begins to build. "I promise to love you and honor you until the end of my existence."
My breasts ache, needing his attention, hard nipples brushing against his chest with each roll of his hips. He nips my neck, his tongue trailing my collarbone. Then he murmurs, "Your turn."
In another life, I would've laughed and told him to get over himself, but I want to be his. I want to call him mine. Even if it's only here in this hot spring in purgatory. Taking his face between my hands, I press our foreheads together and whisper, "Tamiel, I take you as my husband. I promise to love you and honor you until the end of my existence." My voice doesn't waver, my gaze locked on his.
He kisses me like it's the first time, or maybe the last time. We're two desperate souls clinging to the only thing we have left. The love between us our lifeline.
His hips rock into me over and over, each drag back rubbing at just the right angle to make my toes curl. I want to come, but I need him to go over that edge with me. "Harder, husband. I want to feel you spill inside me." That does it. With me still wrapped around him, he takes us out of the water and sits on the edge of the pool.
"Ride my cock, love. Take your pleasure and bring me mine." I don't tell him, but his skin has taken on an iridescent sheen, his light illuminating the cave walls around us. He's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen.
I work myself over him, taking him deep and kicking my hips forward, loving the harsh breaths I bring from him. I'm almost there, so close I swear I can see my climax on the horizon if I close my eyes.
"I'm going," he warns, his cock pulsing and growing even larger. "Fuck, Helena, come now."
His fingers trail down my belly until he finds the swollen bud of my clit. With a few expert circles, I fall over the precipice and headlong into an earth-shattering orgasm. His rough groan echoes off the cave walls joining my own cry of his name.
I feel his release, and a twinge of sadness takes hold in my heart that we'll never get to share the wonder of creating a life like this. I'll never be a mother, never see Tamiel's features in a child we made together. I've never wanted any of that, until him. Tamiel makes me truly realize what I'd been missing all these lifetimes. What Calista stole from me. I may have experienced a thousand lives, but I never truly lived.
"You're mine," he says, breathing hard but his expression sated.
"For all eternity."
"Fucking finally."
Tamiel
The storm has stopped but Helena is wrapped in my arms and I don't want to move from this spot. We'd returned to the hot spring and cleaned our bodies, me taking care of her, to stroke and caress every inch of her skin, her doing the same to me. Then we lay on our discarded clothes and stared in silence at the formations at the roof of the cave. She's not asleep, that's not possible here, but she's resting against me as we lie with our limbs tangled and our fingers twined.
"The rain…" she begins but trails off as I draw a lazy circle around her nipple with my free hand. Her little moan makes my cock harden, ready for another round with my wife. Fuck. She's my wife.
"It's stopped. But I don't want to move from here. If we move, that means you have to cover this beautiful body and I'll no longer have easy access to your pussy."
"Ah, so that's the real reason you came here. You're a horny bastard."
A laugh rumbles through me. "Definitely." Her fingernails scratch lightly across my torso, running down my stomach and over my hip. She's so close to the place I want her most.
I groan when she encircles my shaft and strokes, long and slow. "See? Horny bastard," she says. "You just had me and yet you're greedy for more?"
"Always." My eyes roll back as she teases my tip, nails lightly tracing the sensitive slit before she uses her thumb to spread pre-come across the swollen head. I can smell her arousal, the scent of her like a fucking drug. I need to taste her before I fuck her again. Taking her wrist, I move her hand from my needy cock and pull it behind her back. "On your knees, wife," I growl.
Her nipples go rock hard at my command and the reaction makes my dick pulse, so hard it's almost painful. I release her wrist and let her use her hands to prop herself up.
"Arse in the air, love." She angles herself slightly, but it's not enough. The crack of my palm against her ass cheek fills the cave and she cries out before sharpening the degree of her bend. "That's better." The lips of her beautiful cunt are on full display beneath her firm, round arse. "Now, don't move. I can't restrain you properly in here, so it's completely up to you if you obey."
"What if I'm disobedient?"
My cock jerks at the prospect. "I'll punish you before I let you come."
>
She answers with a moan. Her pussy glistening from arousal.
On my knees, I lean down and kiss the base of her spine before letting my tongue trail over the left side of her ass. My teeth graze her skin and I'm rewarded with a shiver from her. Technically, she moved, but I'm willing to let it slide. If I'm going to punish her, she'll have to be writhing under me first. One finger trails along her ass crack, the shivers in her body amplifying the closer I get to her tight little hole. But I bypass that forbidden place, for now. I slide my finger deep inside her pussy in one smooth movement and the moan that escapes her sends a thrill through me.
"I…I'm not sure I can so soon," she admits.
"Oh, love, I'm not going to fuck your cunt. First, I'm going to eat you until your legs give out, but then, I'll be using all this" —I gather the slick arousal from her pussy on my fingers before I spread it over her clit— "to prep your fantastic arse before I slide deep inside."
She tenses, but then arches her back, pushing closer to me. "No one's ever done that to me."
Fucking right. "You can't know how much I love hearing that." I lower my head and take my time, licking her thigh, trailing my fingers over her sensitive clit, until I can't hold back any longer. The scent of her wetness and the sight of her ass, spread and waiting has me forcing myself not to stroke my cock. I bury my face in her and taste her sweetness. From this angle, I can rub her clit and fuck her cunt with my tongue.
"Oh, fuck," she cries, her pussy clenching around my working tongue. I slide back and forth, teasing her perineum and testing to see if she's ready for me to take it one step farther. She tenses and tries to shy away, so I change my position, lying on my back, her beautiful pussy on display over my face.
"Sit on my face and let me make you come."
"But I thought you were going to punish me if I moved."
Oh, how I love her. "I will. I'll spank your ass while I fuck it. Now, I'm hungry for some dessert and only your honey will do."
