Oriel

by Alisa Woods

  She couldn’t stop herself. The urge—the curiosity—was too great. She ran a hand along the top of his wing. The feathers were even softer than they looked, but the strength of the structure underneath was like a steel beam, rigid under her touch.

  Oriel sucked in a breath… then flexed his wings back again, out of her reach. “That was…” He swallowed. “A mistake.” He stepped back from her and tucked his wings in again.

  “Why?” She was edging closer to him. “Does it hurt?”

  He laughed again and shook his head. “You can’t hurt me, Lizza. Angelings are immortals. We don’t live forever, but nearly so. Much longer than humans.”

  She frowned and tried to close the gap between them.

  His eyes flew wide, and he regarded her approach like she was a dangerous beast suddenly let loose. When he was the freaking angel. Angeling. Whatever.

  She gestured to his face but didn’t try to touch him again. That seemed to be a bad thing, for some reason. “But you can be hurt.” There was still blood on his face.

  He wiped at it and frowned at the red smear that came away. “I didn’t notice. But it should be healed.” He leaned forward and ducked his head for her inspection. She wiped away the remaining blood, and sure enough, there was no sign of a cut. Even the inky streaking was mostly gone.

  He took her hand and waved his other over it. The blood disappeared.

  Whoa. “So, super healing, too.” She whispered because they were close, and holy heck, the heat was just rolling off his bare chest. With muscles so perfectly sculpted he was like a piece of art. And the way he was looking at her… like her touch was doing something to him. Something good. Or maybe bad. It was hard to tell. She swallowed and stepped back, taking her hand with her.

  He seemed to breathe easier when she was a few feet away.

  “I have a million questions,” she said. And she knew they were all banging around in her head, but at the moment, the only one she could think of was, Why does my touch affect you so much? And it felt like the one thing she couldn’t say. Because then she might have to admit that he was affecting her, too. And that wasn’t a road she could go down.

  Especially with a man who wasn’t a man. A man with wings.

  “Sit down. Please.” He gestured to the couch. “I’ll try to explain.”

  She retreated to it and curled up, all ears for whatever he had to say.

  He perched again, and as he did so, the wings and toga disappeared. Just poof! Gone. He was back in his black body armor.

  “How do you do that?” she blurted out. Then she balled up her fists in front of her mouth again. She was supposed to let him explain.

  He smiled that easy, brilliant smile again. The one that made her heart lurch around against her will. “I told you—magic. Or as Charlotte calls it, dimensional energy.”

  Her hands flew away from her mouth. “Wait, what? Charlotte knows about you guys?” But duh. Lizza almost smacked herself in the head. Charlotte was sleeping with Tajael. Wait… she was sleeping with an angel?

  Agitation made Lizza jump up from the couch again and scurry behind the end. She gripped it with both hands and squeezed her eyes shut. Get a grip, Lizza. But full-blown images of a very naked Oriel were grinding through her mind. She had just seen, up close and personal, precisely how gorgeously muscular and masculine he was. And if Charlotte was getting it on with Tajael, that meant it was possible to… well, why wouldn’t it be possible to have sex with an angel? And with Oriel’s extreme reaction to her slightest touch…

  Lizza swallowed down the dryness in her mouth and tried to will away the hot flashes rushing through her body. For the love of Pete, she scolded herself. You’ve got angels and magic and freaking teleportation staring you in the face, and all you can think about is Oriel’s hot body? She sucked in a breath. It worked. The surging heat in hers calmed a little.

  She chanced opening her eyes. Oriel was staring at her, fists clenched on the couch like he was holding himself back.

  “Okay. Sorry. I’m good.” She held up a hand for him to just stay where he was. She slowly worked her way back to perching on her end of the couch, mirroring him. “Okay. Explain. All of it. I promise I won’t interrupt again.”

  He let out a low breath and relaxed his grip. “I don’t want to frighten you.”

  “You’re not. Please. The only way I can process this is to understand it. That’s how my brain works.”

  A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Very well. Charlotte’s over-dimension is real. It’s made of magic—dimensional energy—and it’s populated by a host of immortal creatures. Angels. Angelings. Demons. Fae. Vampires—”

  “Vampires?” She shook her head. “Sorry. Go on.” She focused on his lips, trying to keep her mind wide open to just… accept whatever this was. For the moment. Until she could figure it all out.

  He gave her a concerned look but kept going. “The important thing for you to know is that there are dark forces in the immortal realm who do not want you and Charlotte to succeed in your experiments. You’ve already breached the barrier between the realms. The fae—immortal creatures who are the sworn enemies of angelkind—would destroy you, if they could. It’s complicated, but there’s a binding magical treaty which prevents them from harming humans. Angelkind—at least, those in the light—were created to love and protect humankind. But those who have fallen into shadow have allied, to some extent, with the evil forces within the fae, especially the Winter Court. And shadow angels such as the one who attacked today have the ability to harm any they choose. There is a battle raging, Lizza, and you and your experiments are at the epicenter. I am here, along with Tajael and a host of other angelings of the light, to protect you.” He stopped, peering at her, no doubt wondering if she understood even a tenth of what he was saying.

  And the answer to that was… probably not. But she got the gist well enough. “There’s a war. Over Charlotte and me and the dimensional drive.” Dimensional drive. Holy crap, they were inventing a technology to invade this realm filled with other beings! “You have crazy powers, and you’re on our side, protecting us from the other guys.”

  “Yes. Essentially.”

  She blinked and looked him straight in the eyes. “Why?”

  His expression softened. “I told you. We were made for this.”

  Angels… created to love and protect humankind. It made sense, she supposed. And that love part… she guessed Charlotte and Tajael took that part literally. The quiver in her stomach was a full flutter-storm—she couldn’t think about that right now. There were more important things like…

  “How did you get us from the car to my apartment so fast?”

  Oriel winced and hesitated.

  “Oriel, please.” Her flutter-storm jumped up to Category Five Stomach Hurricane. This was important. She could feel it.

  He sighed. “I opened a door… and traveled.”

  “Traveled,” she echoed. “As in dimensional travel.” Of course. Because Oriel didn’t belong in her world, so he had to travel back and forth. And he had taken her, too. She had traveled!

  “Oriel…” She said it in one long breath, the idea of it forming fast in her mind.

  Oriel was already shaking his head. “No.”

  “You don’t even know what I’m going to ask—”

  “No.” He stood up from his perch, and she followed.

  She took a jerky, stumbling step toward him, but his blazing eyes and that look of almost-fear stopped her a few feet away. “Take me there. Please.”

  “I can’t. I won’t,” he insisted then stabbed a finger at the door. “The only thing keeping the shadow forces from traveling into your living room is the wards the dragons have put up around your apartment.”

  “Wait… dragons?” Her eyes went wide again with that.

  “Yes, dragons.” He stepped closer, his eyes alive with anger. Or maybe just passion. It was hard to tell. “There is much you do not understand, Lizza. And I’ll not put you in
danger—”

  “No. Of course, not.” She put up her hands to calm him. “I mean, it’s your job to love and protect humans…” Why did she have to say that—the love part. Crap. But it affected him. He twitched a little and stepped back. They had gotten too close again. “It’s your job to protect me,” she said, more firmly, keeping her distance. “Right?”

  He tipped his head.

  “Because of the research, right?” she pressed. “Because you’re supposed to help us complete our work.”

  “Angels help me,” he muttered. Then he grimaced. “But yes. That’s the idea.”

  “And Charlotte already knows all about you guys.” An idea blazed through her brain like a lightning bolt. “She’s been there.” It wasn’t a question.

  Oriel’s wince just confirmed it.

  Lizza shook her finger at him. “You can take me there. You need to take me there.”

  “What you need is to stay here where it is safe—”

  “But there’s a safe place there—in the over-dimension.” His face gave him away again. “Aha! There is! Oriel, please.” She stepped forward, breaching that no-go zone he was keeping between them. She implored him with her eyes, stopping just short of grabbing hold of his body armor. “I am literally begging you. This is everything to me. This is my work. This is my vow. Help me keep it. Help me understand all of it. Help me make it work!” She sucked in a breath.

  He was wavering, a torment across his face. He was so close to agreeing, she could feel it.

  “Please,” she breathed.

  He was shaking his head, but it was a yes, not a no. “A short trip,” he ground out between his teeth. “Then we’re right back here behind the wards.”

  “Absolutely.” Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt.

  He turned and strode to the door, cursing and waving his fist at it again. The wards. Some kind of magical protection. It must be a barrier going out and coming in.

  When he finished, he turned and held his hand out to her.

  She practically ran across the room to him.

  The instant they touched… the world disappeared.

  Chapter Four

  Holy angels of light… he was a fool.

  That explained why Oriel stood, hand-in-hand with Lizza, in his cell in Raeph’s Dominion. He quickly dropped her hand and stepped away.

  She marveled at the plain crystal walls of his cell. Their soft glow lit the pale skin of her cheeks and made her abundant red hair shine. But it was the look of wonder in her blue eyes that captivated him… along with the marred brightness of her soul. Having wrestled her away from a shadow angeling—having nearly lost her—a strange possessiveness had welled up inside him. But the only claim he had to her was as her Guardian… and he was doing a substandard job of that by any measure.

  “Is this heaven?” She licked her delicate pink lips in a way that tightened everything inside him.

  “What? No.” He took another step away from her. He was practically up against the door now. “Heaven is a domain accessible only to Seraphim, Archangels, and Aeons. This is my cell.”

  “There’s a whole hierarchy?” She seemed dazzled.

  “Yes.”

  Her keen eyes locked on him. “So this is like… your apartment.”

  “Angelings of the light do not live separately from one another. This is more like… a bedroom.” As soon as the word left his mouth, he regretted it.

  Her thin, dark-red eyebrows lifted. “You brought me to your bedroom?”

  He scowled. “Only to avoid notice.” When her eyebrows did not fall again, he added, “You have to understand—angelings are nothing like humans.” She ran her gaze across the length of his body, and it did strange things to him. He didn’t think his stomach could feel any more tight. “All right, we are alike in some ways. Anatomy primarily. The wings are an extension of the angel power in our blood. But we do not eat or sleep or… do other things that are common and necessary for humans.”

  She was rapt with his explanation. “What other things?”

  He grimaced, but he might as well speak it. “We do not have sex. Lust is one of the deadly Sins for us, along with Wrath, Greed, Intemperance, and the others.”

  “Wait… no sex means...” Her pretty brow furrowed. “So, you’re not… born. You’re created in some way.”

  Oriel tipped his head back and closed his eyes. His cell—the place of his refuge and contemplation and occasional Penance in the pursuit of Virtue—was the last place he wanted to have this conversation. Not that he wanted to have it at all.

  He opened his eyes and said quickly, “No, I am born of human flesh. My mother was human, my father some shadow angeling I will never know. I was born in Sin, Lizza. It is not a thing of pride, but it is a fact. And not a particularly relevant fact at the moment—”

  “Hang on,” she said, holding up a finger to stop him. “What about Tajael and Charlotte?”

  “That’s… complicated.” Sweet magic. He should return her to her realm before this got worse.

  She frowned. “So Tajael is one of these angelings who are not ‘of the light.’ What did you call them? Shadow.”

  Oriel dug both hands into his hair. “No. Tajael is of the light. Can we move on from this topic, please?”

  She leaned back, and the corners of her mouth drew down. “I’m sorry. You’re taking a risk in bringing me here, aren’t you? And I’m badgering you with…” She gestured vaguely to him. “Things you find… offensive. And I guess Sinful.” She seemed vexed by this.

  “It is fine.” He let his hands drop. “Rest assured, my lack of Patience is not your Sin but mine.” He took a deep breath. “But if we can move on from my Sins, I should very much like to return you to your realm. You have seen a Dominion of light. The over-dimension, as you call it. Can we leave now?”

  She frowned but didn’t answer, just stepped to the wall and placed her palm against it. “Why does it hum? It seems almost alive.”

  “Everything in this Dominion is made of magic—dimensional energy,” he explained.

  She looked back over her shoulder. “And we’re safe here?”

  “We are deep inside Raeph’s Dominion. He is the leader of my Chastity faction. We are all Protector Class here, and there are a hundred angelings within the Dominion walls. No shadow angeling would dare breach it… unless he wished an early death. And war. Which I’m afraid, to be honest, is exactly what things will come to.”

  She left the wall and came to stand altogether too close to him. “The attack—you saved me. I haven’t really thanked you for that.”

  “Thanks are unnecessary.” The nearness of her shining soul, here in his own cell… he stepped back, pacing the small confines of the room, nervously propping himself against the wall furthest from her and folding his arms across his chest. “I would give my life to protect any human.” And he would give it twice to protect hers. That thought tangled his next words. “B-but… that’s simply a Guardian’s duty. I fear the angels are engaged in folly with this whole business. To be honest, I fear there will be no good end to any of it.”

  She frowned. “No good end. What does that mean—precisely?” She remained in her spot by the door—thank the heavens—which gave him a moment to breathe.

  He kept his arms locked across his chest for safekeeping. “We’re in a delicate balance at the moment—a balance you and your experiments continually upset.” She scowled, so he unlocked his arms and held up his hands in surrender. “It’s the simple Truth, Lizza, as much as I wish it were otherwise. The fae are afeared that your dimensional drive will allow you access to their realm. That you and your technology and your mathematics will take the thing they value most—unfettered access to power. They fear you, and so they wish to destroy you. This latest attack…” He shook his head. He really needed to confer with Tajael when he returned to see what the new tactical situation was with this development. “Charlotte was kidnapped by a princess of the Winter Court—Alvara. She and the king, Remasa
y, held her prisoner. Of course, Tajael and a host of others, myself included, mounted a rescue. One that was successful only because the shadow forces, for the most part, remained uninvolved. But this second attack… it was shadowkind alone, and I fear that perhaps Elyon has returned to the fray.”

  “Who is that?” Lizza had crept closer, but only to take a seat on the thin, elevated pad that comprised his bed. He rarely slept, but it served as a spot for repose and contemplation. Worry etched her face, and he hated to burden her with full knowledge of the situation—but if Elyon had targeted her, she needed to know.

  “He is the most wretched of the Fallen Angels.” His words held a righteous anger, the kind of Wrath that empowered the Warrior Angels. “He and his Regiment commit all manner of unspeakable Sin. But he is only one of the dark angels. For the most part, they are lost in their Lust and Wrath and do not bother with the human realm or the angels of light. They loathe humanity because they believe God loves you more than angelkind.” Something that Oriel knew to be true, as any of angelkind did—he simply did not curse the light for existing. “That Envy of humanity is part of their Fall. But Elyon is different—he is obsessed with humankind and the angels of light, desiring their destruction at all costs. He was temporarily defeated, but I fear if he were to gather the angels of darkness together, at the behest, say, of the King of the Winter Court, whose sole aim is to crush humanity before it can escape its earthly bonds…”

  “Crush?” It was a whisper, and her face was pale… heaven of light, he was frightening the life out of her.

  His arms unlocked, and he quickly knelt at her feet. “I will let no harm come to you!” It was a fervent vow, out before he could think better of it.

  A smile bloomed on her face, and she gave a small shake of her head. “Here I was thinking you were the sweetest guy I’d ever met. Turns out you’re not a guy at all.” He was transfixed by the glow in her eyes—and that darkness which still haunted her soul.

  Oh, the temptation! He could lift up, mere inches, and press his lips to hers. Not for a Lustful kiss, but a life kiss. To banish that darkness and let her soul shine with its full and rightful glory!