Her mouth dropped open. “This place has eight floors? I don’t believe this. A castle. You’ve built a castle inside a freaking cave!”
Yes, in a way he supposed they had. “The intent in building this compound was to stay here as long as possible.”
There was a sudden rustling from the corridor that contained the staircase. Eva noticed it almost directly after he did, confirming his suspicions that her auditory sensory perception was above that of humans.
“What is that?” she asked him.
“I believe those are some of my brethren.” They would have received warning of his arrival through the audio-video surveillance systems installed in each of their sitting rooms. No doubt they’d seen Eva through the cameras and wanted to introduce themselves.
No, wait…
Too late, the other reason why they would be headed down here registered. How could he have forgotten?
“Eva, I need to tell you—”
Before he could finish his words four of his brethren entered the chamber. Ignoring him, they stared at his beloved with matching, barely-veiled expressions of hunger on their faces.
Damnation.
Praying none of them would mention it, he said, “Brethren, I’d like to introduce you to Eva.” For her benefit, he pointed to each of them. “Eva, this is Ethan, Jason, Lucas and Aaron. They—”
“Why have you brought her back here like this?” Ethan interrupted. “Are you eager to break out a fight?”
His nose flared as he drank in Eva’s scent, and Michael fought the urge to snap at him. He’d brought this on himself by failing to consider what it would do to his brothers to be around her when he hadn’t yet taken her as his mate. “I—”
“Shit, Michael, why haven’t you mated her yet?” Jason asked in his typical straight-forward manner.
“There’s—”
Eva’s gasp cut off his words. Her horrified gaze flew to his. Mortification poured off her in waves. “They can tell we haven’t had sex?”
“Of course, little one,” Aaron explained to her. “Until you’re mated, your scent will call to us.” He gave an uncomfortable shift in place, trying to unobtrusively adjust the crotch of his plain black shorts. “So forgive us if we’re a little tense.”
Michael could practically see the moment Aaron’s words penetrated her mind. Mouth open, Eva whirled to glare at him. “You mean, it wasn’t special, what you felt for me? My essence calls to all of you?”
When his brethren glumly muttered their assent, she threw him a furious glance that spoke of her betrayal as clearly as if she’d said the words aloud.
His heart stuttered as one thought came to mind.
He was in trouble.
Chapter Ten
Eva glared at Michael, who wore an oh-shit expression on his face. Her mind raced with the thoughts of everything he’d told her over the past few days. Kismet, he said it was—that thing they had between them. But how could that be true if the other angels were just as attracted to her? It wasn’t kismet, it was just biochemistry.
Disappointment and betrayal coursed through her. And when Michael winced, she cursed him for being able to read her emotions. She couldn’t even save face by pretending it didn’t matter to her.
“I’m sorry, beloved—”
“Let’s talk about it later.” She furiously blinked back the moisture in her eyes. No way she was about to have this conversation in front of his friends. Turning to the other Fallen, she studied them without pretense. They were all tall but the angel Michael had introduced as Ethan was the shortest of the bunch. Of course that was relative. He still stood probably close to six feet. Jason was the tallest and most slender and had a wiry grace about him. Unlike Ethan and Jason, who were dark-haired, Aaron and Lucas were more dirty-blonde. But despite their differences, they all had one thing in common. They all exhibited a blatant, rip-their-shirt-off type of sexual appeal.
Not that any of them was wearing a shirt.
The four men withstood her perusal in silence, their downcast gazes and shifting movements betraying their discomfort. What if one of them had come to her apartment instead of Michael? Would she be dreaming of that man instead? Imagining a life with him? The thought was so distressing she couldn’t bear to think it.
Lucas cleared his throat and shuffled forward, extending his hand while not quite meeting her eyes. “Sorry about all this. We’re just caught a bit off-guard. It’s been awhile since we…”
He trailed off, a note of embarrassment wafting off him. And when she realized he was going to say something like “It’s been awhile since we had sex” she felt her cheeks grow warm too. “Nice to meet you. All of you.”
For a moment they stood in awkward silence. Michael cleared his throat. “Where’s Mara?”
Aaron was the first to respond. “She went on a reconnaissance mission with Ben and Lily. They’re still working on getting a spy to uncover evidence of the Tribunal’s true plans.”
Eva blinked at the unfamiliar word. “Tribunal?”
“It’s the justice council for all of angelkind,” Michael explained to her. “In effect, the rulers of our people.”
“Huh.” How little she knew about angels. She was willing to bet few other humans, if any, knew about this Tribunal.
“Seth, Gabe, Nate, and Zach are also out gathering information,” Ethan volunteered. “I’ll tell you more on that later.”
“Good,” Michael replied.
Another tense beat of silence passed. The echo of frustrated desire wafted off the men’s bodies, feeding her discomfort. Every minute she stood here they grew hungrier. What was that all about? And if she stayed, how on Earth were they going to handle it?
“Perhaps you should show Eva to her room,” Lucas finally suggested to Michael. “The hour grows late.”
“Oh. Yes.”
Eva sensed Michael’s embarrassment as he turned to her.
“Come, beloved, I’ll show you to your quarters.”
Ignoring his outstretched hand, she followed his lead toward the staircase. As she left she was all-too aware of the tension in the men who tried so desperately not to look her way. She guessed it was out of respect for Michael. She climbed the stairs behind him, taking note of how they’d been hewn from the rock that surrounded them on all sides. How on Earth had these twelve angels managed to carve eight levels on the inside of a mountain?
Once they were two stories up, she asked, “How do the twelve of you manage to share one space? I mean, I know it’s big in here, but still.”
He let out a soft laugh. “We argue, much as any other family would, but we operate on a system of democracy here. Majority vote rules.”
Eva counted out six flights of stairs before they arrived at the top level. It contained a long, narrow hallway that forked out to their right and left. The artificial lighting was even dimmer up here than on the ground floor, giving the whole level a spooky, Halloween-like feel. She half-expected a masked man with an axe to pop out at her. Or a ghost.
Michael pointed to the left. “Seth, whom you haven’t yet met, lives on this end of the floor.” Turning he started toward the right. “And on this end are my quarters.”
“Wait.” She stopped so abruptly that he kept going for a few paces before turning back to face her. “How many beds do you have in your living area?”
He frowned. “Just the one.”
“That’s not going to work.” No way. Not when he’d kept such a big secret from her. Not when she didn’t know if what they had between them was real or some dumb byproduct of her angel genes.
Sighing, he shut his eyes. “Eva—”
“Don’t ‘Eva’ me.” The fury she’d felt downstairs when she’d found out the others were also drawn to her essence came back in one blinding burst. “You lied to me.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “I did no such thing.”
“You said what we had between us was unique. There was nothing unique about it. Tell me, how did you decide which one of
you was going to come for me? Did you draw straws? Pick a name out of a hat?”
“It wasn’t like that.” He stalked toward her, looking for all the world like her image of an avenging angel.
Eva forced her gaze up from his bare chest, with its rippling muscles. She was seriously beginning to wonder if the lack of shirt was a deliberate attempt at distraction. If so, it definitely worked.
“What was it like, then? Because from where I’m standing, it looks just like that.”
Stopping in front of her, he grabbed onto her shoulders. “Eva, I was the one who was most drawn to you. Your essence called to me above all others. That’s how I knew you were meant to be mine. Damnation, you can be a difficult woman to talk to.” The little shake he gave her showcased his exasperation.
Glaring at him, she snapped, “Well why not pawn me off on one of your brethren if I’m such a pain in the ass?”
The look he gave her was filled with reproach. Blinking back the moisture in her eyes, she looked away. She’d be damned if she was going to feel bad about saying that when he was the one who’d failed to tell her she was some sort of angel sex-magnet.
Finally, Michael released her. His voice was stiff when he said, “The hour is very late, and I’m sure you’re exhausted. Follow the hallway down and you’ll find my living quarters. You’re welcome to the bed and everything else in the rooms.” He brushed past her and headed in the other direction.
Turning, Eva watched him walk away. “Where are you going?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
He paused and swiveled toward her, his expression guarded. “Since Seth is out, I’ll stay in his quarters for now.”
A moment of uncertainty filled her. Here she was, in a strange place with no conception of how to escape, and he was abandoning her? Even if she’d wanted him to go, it was still a little frightening.
He must have read the fear in her eyes because his expression softened. “No one will bother you. I’ll come for you tomorrow and give you a tour of the cave. I do believe you’ll quite enjoy the bathing facilities.”
With those words he turned, leaving her to her jumbled thoughts.
***
Michael’s chambers were very much like him. Large and imposing. A wooden door opened up to a spacious sitting room. The dim glow of the light illuminated the stone walls, overstuffed lounge chair, and entertainment center housing a midsized television. Eva snickered at the thought of him sitting in here watching sports or something.
A video surveillance system was set up in one corner of the room. Striding toward it, she saw several screens, each containing views of different parts of the cave entrance. One even appeared to look outside, though it was too dark to tell. It was clear no one was going to get inside without them knowing about it. How much was she willing to bet there were booby traps set up throughout the cave too?
She noted a bookshelf along one wall and strolled over to it. Tattered copies of books sat on it. Kafka, Shakespeare, even Emily Brontë. Huh. Did he actually read these? After running her fingers along the bent spines, she decided to stop stalling and head for the bedroom. For some reason, even though he’d give her free reign, going there felt like she was invading his private space.
Nothing more than a white, gauzy curtain separated the bedroom from the sitting area. Lifting it aside, she stepped into the room. A large, plush throw rug covered most of the ground. There was space for no more than a dresser, two nightstands, and a huge four-poster bed. More of the same gauzy fabric covered the canopy, lending the whole room a honeymoon-like feel.
“Who knew angels were so romantic?” she murmured. She couldn’t help but wonder if Michael had decorated this room himself, or if one of the female angels had done so.
The sight of the bed triggered her exhaustion. It had been one hell of a day, and the little sleep she’d managed to snag while in Michael’s arms hadn’t done much to refresh her. Stepping onto the rug, she kicked off her sandals. The heavy fibers tickled her toes as she strode to the bed, lifting the canopy curtains aside. She looked down at her wrinkled, dirty dress. Was she going to be stuck wearing this thing forever? After a moment’s hesitation, she drew it off and slipped into bed, sliding the covers over her nude body. Michael had reassured her no one would bother her here, and she believed him.
The bed smelled of him. That arousing, spicy fragrance that even now drew moisture between her thighs. It wrapped around her body like a warm cloak, caressing her skin and eliciting memories of their time together on the roof of her apartment building. His scent might drive her crazy before the night was through.
Eva couldn’t help but wonder what her ex Travis was doing now. He hadn’t seen her and Michael together long enough to get any sense of what he was doing in her apartment. Did he think she’d been kidnapped by an evil being bent on destroying her? Or could he possibly think the worst of her?
Well, she’d never know. Not now.
“That life is over.”
She shut her eyes, ignoring the moisture that leaked out of the sides. Tears would accomplish nothing. Besides, it wasn’t like she’d left so much behind. Her mother was dead. Her job sucked. Her apartment was nice but certainly not enough to make up for the rest of her crappy life. But still, back there she’d known what to expect every day. Now she was facing the complete unknown.
Oh lord, what was she going to do? Stay here with Michael? Did she want that? Did she even have any other choice?
Half angel. I can’t believe I’m half angel.
With that final thought, she gave herself over to sleep.
Chapter Eleven
A whisper of a sound nudged Eva out of an amazing dream involving her, a human-sized vat of iced latte, and a wicked angel who set every nerve in her body ablaze. Sighing, she rolled from her side to her back…and made contact with a hard object. “What the—?”
Her eyes shot open to see Michael seated at the edge of the bed looking down at her with an expression that could only be described as hungry. He colored, as if he was embarrassed to be caught. “Sorry, I came to see if you were awake.”
“Well…” Disconcerted, she blinked at him. “I am now.”
A hint of uneasiness filtered off him. He slid off the bed. “I can come back, if you want to sleep mo—”
“No,” she interrupted, pulling up on the bed sheet to make sure it covered all her important bits. “No, I’m awake.”
He must have noticed her tugging the sheet more firmly over her breasts because his gaze traveled there, growing heated. The air between them became stifling, and she fought the sudden urge to throw the bed sheet off. Her anger from the night before had faded into confusion. Where did she stand with this man? Did he care for her at all, or was she simply the equivalent of a mare in heat? Someone he was biologically obligated to respond to?
“I thought you might like to see the rest of the compound,” he finally said in a tight voice.
“Yes,” she croaked out, arching her back into an involuntary stretch. “What time is it?”
His eyes, which had traveled down her body again, shot back to her face. “Close to noon.”
Whoa, that late? She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept until noon. Probably high school.
“I just have to”—she fought back a blush, motioning to her discarded dress—”you know, get dressed.”
“Oh.” A pained expression crossed his face. “I’ll wait for you in the sitting room.” With those words he turned and left.
Eva broke into a grin as she watched him go. She couldn’t help herself. The chiseled muscles of his back flexed and rippled with every move, and her eyes seemed glued to the spot. Lord, everything about him called to her.
Probably because of your angel blood.
Her smile faded. If there was one thing she’d hated about the Consortium it was having her life decided for her. And just when she thought she might have the option to choose something else, she found out her decision had been made there too. She couldn’
t help but want Michael, and for some reason that really burned.
Throwing her dress and sandals back on, she stepped out into the sitting room. Michael paced back and forth in front of the door. For the first time she noticed he’d changed his slacks into black leather pants.
Holy hell. Just the sight of him was orgasmic.
She gulped and forcibly stopped her mouth from dropping open while her eyes traveled up and down his body. His pants were a little snug and about an inch too short, showcasing his ankles and bare feet, which made her guess he’d borrowed them from Seth, the angel whose bedroom he’d hijacked last night. He was still shirtless, of course, as she’d noticed in his bedroom. She’d come to the conclusion that the lack of shirts was normal for angels, and with their wings it made sense. Made her wonder what the female angels wore, though.
He stopped pacing when he saw her. “I thought we could get you some breakfast, and then I’ll show you the bathing facilities.”
A bath was just what she needed. “Sounds perfect.”
With a nod, he led her down the hall and back to the staircase. She did her best to keep her gaze planted on the stairs and not on his perfect ass in those smoking-hot leather pants.
“This level is shared by Jason and Nate,” he said as they passed the next level down. He kept going. “Lucas and Aaron share this floor. Below that are Gabriel and Zach. Then Lily and Ethan—”
“Wait.” Eva screeched to a halt on the steps. “How many female angels live here?”
“Just Lily and my sister, Mara.”
“Well how do they do that? I mean…you know, with the essence thing and all,” she finished lamely, feeling heat creep to her cheeks. “Or is it just a nephilim’s essence that has that effect on angels?”
A look of understanding crossed his face. “We’re drawn to any female with the blood of an angel, whether half or whole. However, Mara is mated to Ben. Also, Lily is mated to Seth, though their relationship has been strained for quite some time, which is why they keep their living quarters on different floors.”
For Love of an Angel Page 8
