For Love of an Angel

by Rosalie Lario

  Absently chewing on her lip, she tried to work this all out. “So once I’m…mated, as you say, my essence will no longer entice other angels?”

  His eyes flickered. “Correct.”

  Talk about a cosmic gag reel. If she didn’t have sex with Michael the other angels would be hornballs in a perpetual state of frustrated agony. Wasn’t that rich?

  It’s not like you’re completely out of options, her all-too logical brain told her. You could always have sex with another angel.

  Her body rebelled against the thought. Despite the fact Michael hadn’t been honest with her, she still wanted him, and only him. What she didn’t want was to be pushed into a new life. To have all her decisions made for her.

  “Interesting,” she managed to respond in an even tone. Following him down to the main level, she walked past the swinging, wooden door he held open for her and stepped into the kitchen. It looked like the other rooms—same stone walls and dim lighting—but a state-of-the-art kitchen had been set up, the steel appliances set into niches carved in the wall. A large rectangular counter sat in the middle of the room. It was made of the same stone as the walls and had six burgundy, leather bar stools set up on the opposite side of the kitchen appliances.

  She shook her head. “I’m not even going to ask how you got all this stuff in here, much less set it up.”

  Michael let out a chuckle. “Would you like me to cook something for you?”

  For some reason she wasn’t nearly as hungry as she should have been. “Do you have any fruit?”

  Nodding, he stalked over to the refrigerator and opened it. He snatched an apple out of the sliding drawer and tossed it to her.

  She caught it and took a bite. It was perfectly crisp. Where on Earth did they get all this stuff? “You said something about a bath?”

  His lips curved into a grin that made her heart give a momentary stutter. “I should’ve known that would interest you most of all.”

  “Yeah.” Looking down at her rumpled dress, she muttered, “I wish I had something else to put on afterward.”

  His brows furrowed, but then his face brightened. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  She watched him leave the kitchen. Couldn’t stop herself, really. Shrugging, she strolled over to a bar stool and took a seat. Strange, but she hadn’t seen a single soul today. True, she knew more than half of them were gone. But what about Aaron and Lucas? Ethan and Jason?

  Michael walked back into the room just as she was finishing her apple. “Here you are.” He held out two articles of clothing. The first was a pair of camel-colored cotton capris, and the second was a black tank top.

  Lifting a brow, she took the top and examined the deep racer-back. The back straps were so thin there was hardly any fabric there at all. So that’s what the female angels wear. “What poor soul did you steal these from?”

  “My sister. She won’t mind, I can assure you.”

  “I hope not.” Among human roommates, taking someone else’s clothes without permission was asking for a serious fight. She had absolutely no desire to war with an angel over anything, much less clothing.

  “Come.” He nodded toward the door. “I’ll show you the bathing facilities.”

  Michael led her back to the staircase, but this time they went down. Again she noticed the lack of angels. “Where is everyone?”

  “They left earlier today. Had to go on a research mission. It’s just the two of us for now.” His stilted tone, along with the note of discomfort floating off him, made it clear why they’d really left. Her essence made them uncomfortable.

  Could she possibly be more humiliated right now?

  After leading the way to the lowest level, Michael took her down a long, narrow corridor. The walls shone, and when she touched them she came away with moisture. Eew, slimy. She opened her mouth about to ask about it, when she heard the soft whoosh of running water. They rounded a corner.

  Freezing in place, Eva’s mouth dropped open. She surveyed the large, open area. Perpendicular to the entrance, a wall of rock rose about two feet from the ground forming a bank of sorts for the stream that trickled through the space.

  “Oh my God, this is incredible!” She rushed toward the bank and leaned over, looking from left to right. The water slowly swept in from a crevice on one end of the cavern before flowing out a small hole on the other.

  “I thought you might like this.” Michael chuckled and took his place next to her. “Touch the water.”

  With a shrug, she bent to trickle her fingers through the water. She gasped and swiveled her head toward him. “It’s warm.”

  “Hot spring.” He gazed at her from between heavy lids. “Feeds down to the stream below, on the outside of the cave.”

  “Unbelievable.” She shivered in anticipation of the feel of the water against her flesh. A wooden bucket lay on the bank and when she peeked inside she saw several tiny bars of soap. “This is perfect.”

  Eva moved to snatch a bar of soap, but when she lifted it out of the bucket, Michael grabbed her hand. “Wait. I have one more area to show you.”

  “But…” She gave a longing glance toward the stream.

  “Don’t fret.” Michael laughed. “You’ll find this place worth the wait.”

  “Okay. If you say so.”

  She made to drop the soap but he said, “No, keep it.”

  Perplexed, she followed him up the stairs to the main level. They walked through the living room and toward the entrance. “Outside? Is that where you’re showing me?”

  “You’ll see.” When they reached the pitch-black cavern, he held her hand and showed her how to slide the toe of her sandal along the ground to make sure she stayed on the worn path.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the light from outside the cave started to filter in. When they finally reached the mouth of the cave, Eva took a deep breath before stepping out into the daylight. She scanned her surroundings. “Holy crap. I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”

  Michael let out a husky laugh beside her. “Close, but not quite.”

  They were on a ledge about twenty feet above a flowing stream that cut in between their mountain and the neighboring one. Bits of gray rock peeked out in between the dense green patches of trees that forested the bluff, and a light mist flowed up off the water. Looking up, she saw the top of the mountain curved slightly forming a canopy of sorts over the water. It was perfect. No angel would be able to spot this part of the stream from the air. They would have to fly down a fair distance to see it. And no doubt Michael and his crew had installed precautionary measures to advise them of anyone approaching from above.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite so beautiful,” she murmured.

  “Nor have I.”

  His voice was hoarse, and when she gazed back at him, she found him studying her face instead of the landscape. Blushing, she glanced back down to the stream.

  “Do you care to see it up close?”

  Eva sucked in a breath. “You mean…fly?” When he nodded, she said, “Absolutely.”

  She started to place the soap and the clothes he’d given her down, but he stopped her. “Take them with you. I can touch down next to the stream and you can bathe there.”

  “Oh.” Startled, she glanced at him. “How’s the water in the stream? Is it also heated?”

  He threw her a teasing grin. “Come see.” Winding his arms around her, he sprouted his wings and started down.

  The wind zipped through her hair, stealing her breath away as she soared through the air. It was a totally surreal feeling, like chasing the wind, and it was over all too soon. Michael touched down on a rocky bank next to the stream, gently placing her on her feet. Even from here she could feel the warmth of the water curling around her toes, caressing her flesh. The compulsion to jump in was overwhelming. She looked at Michael. “Do you ever actually bathe out here?”

  “On occasion, as do the others.” He lifted a brow. “Race you to the water?”

&n
bsp; She blinked at him. “You’re going in too?” When he did nothing other than give her the one-brow-up look, she glanced down at her wrinkled dress. “But, I was going to—”

  Blushing, she cut off before she could finish her sentence. His look told her he knew perfectly well she planned on bathing naked.

  “At the risk of offending your sensibilities,” he said, “I’d like to point out that I’ve already seen you nude. Lovely as you are, and much as I want to, I won’t go where I’m not wanted.”

  There was no doubt in her mind he wouldn’t touch her unless she wanted him to. The problem was, despite everything, she still wanted him. But she could control herself long enough to take one measly bath. Couldn’t she?

  Taking a deep inhale, she said, “Fine. You’re on. Last one to the water has to make lunch.”

  Laughing, he shrugged out of his pants and hit the water before she even finished kicking off her sandals. He kept his back to her, for which she was grateful, as she slipped out of her dress and tiptoed to the bank with the bar of soap. The water hit him at mid-chest, which meant it would be to the top of her shoulders or so.

  “Um…the water doesn’t flow heavy, does it? Because I never learned how to swim.”

  “Never fear,” he said without turning. “Your feet will remain under you.”

  “Good.” Lowering herself to the ground, she felt the heat rising from the water even before she took the plunge. “Oh…it’s so warm!”

  “Yes.” The word came out as a sexy rumble. “It’s a few degrees warmer than the stream inside the cave.”

  Oh…it’s heaven. She used the bar of soap to lather off under water, scrubbing furiously until she was sparkling clean. All the while she kept her eyes on Michael, who slipped through the water playfully while respecting her privacy by keeping his back to her. But when he sprouted his wings, she couldn’t help but gasp.

  “What are you doing?”

  “The water feels good on them.” The huskiness with which he spoke combined with the things he’d already told her about angels’ wings made it clear they were an erogenous zone. Biting her lip, she gave in to her urge to creep closer and examine them in depth. They were beautiful. In the light of day, she noticed each wing had a unique pattern of black on midnight blue.

  “Can I touch them?”

  “Please,” he said hoarsely.

  They were just as soft under the water as they were out of it. He flicked them up and the water rolled off them in round little beads, leaving them bone-dry within a matter of seconds.

  “Amazing. Who would’ve thought I’d someday be suffering from a major case of wing-envy?”

  Chuckling, he turned to face her. “I’ve heard rumors of nephilim who can grow wings as angels do, but I’ve yet to see it.”

  Holy cow. How amazing would that be? “Probably for the best I can’t do that, though. I thought puberty was overwhelming enough. I can’t imagine having to come up with an explanation for a pair of wings.”

  When he laughed, the spicy scent of his breath wafted over to her, sending an erotic shiver down her spine. She stiffened, studying him without pretense.

  “What’s the deal with essences? I mean, why do you angels respond so strongly to them?”

  “Not just us.” He shot her a look. “You have angel blood within you as well, Eva. It’s why you respond so viscerally to us.”

  “Not all of you,” she pointed out. “I’m way more drawn to you than to Ethan, Aaron, or any of the other guys I met last night.”

  When his lips curved into a slow smile, she realized she’d just proved his point from last night. Your essence called to me above all others, he’d said. That’s how I knew you were meant to be mine.

  She blinked at him. “Well, damn.”

  Michael laughed but then sobered. “Do you recall when I told you that without sex our strength and immortality begin to fade?”

  “Yes. You said after several hundred years you would grow old and die.”

  “That much is true, Eva, but it isn’t sex per se that’s needed.” When she blinked in confusion, he continued, “Angels are drawn to each others’ essence. We feed off it during lovemaking, and somehow it perpetuates our eternal life. A side effect is that it makes breeding much more difficult.”

  She noticed her mouth was open and snapped her jaw shut. “Wait a second, you’re telling me that you need to have sex with someone who has angel blood in order to stay immortal?”

  “Yes.” His gaze on hers was intense. “You cannot imagine how difficult it was when we escaped our prison. Twelve of us were free, yes, but the scales were unbalanced. Only two women. The rest of us, being outcasts and marked for death, had no prospects for mates other than—”

  “Nephilim,” she finished for him.

  He nodded. “We’ve spent years tracking down potential nephilim. Not an easy task when angels profess to hate humans. You can understand that any unions between our kind and yours were done in secret. The only way to tell would be—”

  “By our essence.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Whoa.” Shaking her head, she fluttered her hands through the water displacing it. “How many of us nephilim do you think there are?”

  “It’s anybody’s guess, but we cannot imagine there are many. Other than a daughter of Ethan’s best friend, we initially knew of no other nephilim. We cannot sense your essence until we are but a few miles away, so that makes the search more difficult.”

  “Wow. So what about the other Fallen? What are they doing about this whole thing?”

  He folded his wings into his back. “They’re also searching out potential mates. We must be strong if we are to prevent our former brethren from exterminating humankind.”

  Eva absently kicked her legs out trying to tread water. She couldn’t imagine having to rely on others for strength and eternal life. How very strange. “Wait.” Her eyes shot up toward his face. “Since I’m a half-blood, what happens if we mate?”

  Michael cocked a brow. “Very astute question. Your life would be radically prolonged, Eva.”

  Her mouth dropped open. She couldn’t wrap her mind around this one. Her thoughts settled on something else he’d mentioned. “You said sharing each others’ essence makes breeding harder.”

  “Yes. Though the sharing of essences prolongs our lives, it depletes the body’s reproductive resources. That’s the reason there are so few angels.”

  “Sharing of essences,” she murmured. “It sounds almost spiritual.”

  “In a way it is.” He shrugged. “Though it’s biological as well. The blending of essences is what lessens others angels’ attraction to those who are in a mated pair.”

  “Hmm…” Brows furrowing, she pondered his words. There were many physical similarities between humans and angels, but a lot of differences too. In so many ways he was an enigma to her.

  A huge spray of water blasted her in the face, shocking her from her jumbled thoughts. Blinking, she saw Michael’s outstretched wings inches from her.

  With a sly grin, he dragged them back toward his body.

  “Hey! You splashed me,” she accused him.

  “From all the way over here?” he asked with a cocked brow.

  “You used your wings. Don’t pretend you didn’t!”

  He chuckled. “You can’t prove it.”

  It was by far the most playful she’d ever seen him, and she couldn’t help but respond to it, and to the placid beauty of her surroundings. “That’s it,” she grumbled in mock outrage. Holding her hands half out of the water, she pushed, sending a wave of water in his direction.

  He easily blocked it with his wing. “That all you got?”

  “No fair.” She unleashed a torrent of water on him, edging forward as she splashed until she was mere inches from him.

  “Mercy. I surrender,” he said in a laughing tone.

  “Ha! I knew you would.”

  But the moment she stopped splashing he grabbed her wrists, pulling her toward his
body. She went willingly, laughing as she drew her arms around his neck. “I can’t remember the last time I just horsed around.” It had been years, and she’d forgotten how fun it could be.

  “I’m glad you’re relaxing.”

  Michael wrapped his arms around her waist, supporting her, and she let her feet kick up, treading water. Her toes brushed against his calves, spreading little electric shocks up her body. The same happened where his hands touched her back.

  “Why do I feel a vibration whenever I touch your body?”

  “It’s our essences calling to each other.” He threw her a sexy smile. “I feel the same at the touch of your flesh.”

  She edged closer to his body and, suddenly, her lower torso came in contact with a whole other body part. One that was too hard to ignore. Literally. Sucking in a breath, she pressed in to him, letting her right foot rub against his calf. She wanted him. Desperately. Wanted to feel him inside of her. There was no point in denying it.

  “Is it so bad here?” he murmured, as if he sensed the direction of her thoughts.

  “No, it’s paradise.” And she wished she could enjoy it more. “It’s just that…I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “You want to have a choice as to what sort of life you live.”

  She gave him a surprised blink. “Well…yes. I want control over my life, and it seems like that’s the one thing I never seem to have.”

  “You think I don’t understand, Eva, but I do.” He gave her a sad smile, lifting one hand to brush it along her cheek. “It was never my intent to rob you of your free will. That’s something my former brethren, with their Consortium, desire of humans. But not I.”

  He knew her better than she thought. Better than anyone, even though he’d only known her for a few days. That, more than anything, fueled her desire for him. She slid her leg up his thigh, reveling in the responsive tingle of her flesh. Our essences calling to each other. Prolonged life for her, strength and immortality for him.