The Redemption Series

by Melynda Price

“Saved or unsaved?”

  He thought about that a moment. “Saved.”

  Liam’s brow arched questioningly. “Afraid you’re going to run into someone you’ve killed?”

  It took every last bit of Haden’s self-control not to wipe that smart ass grin off Liam’s face. “Forget it,” he growled, quickening his pace.

  “Perhaps if I knew who you were looking for—” The note of curiosity in his voice was unmistakable.

  “I said forget it.”

  Liam shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  They remained silent for a long time after that. The more they walked, Haden realized it seemed as if the towering city was moving farther and farther away. He resisted pointing out the observation as they crossed a steep valley and climbed a high ridge. Then suddenly, there it was, just over the next hill. Haden stopped on the bluff, taking a moment to digest the imposing magnificence of the mythical city of gold. Tipping his head back, he tried to assess the height of the massive wall stretching as far as the eye could see, east to west, but the stone structure disappeared into the clouds.

  “So that’s why they’re called the pearly gates,” he murmured blithely. “They truly are made of pearl.”

  Liam cast him a brief glance before returning his attention forward. “This one is. There are others around the city that are made of different precious stones. The surrounding wall is impenetrable. It’s as tall as the city itself, measuring fourteen hundred miles in height and distance square. The walls are two hundred feet thick, with twelve gates total, three at each north, south, east and west entrances. This is the gate of St. Peter, and no, he isn’t truly residing at the entrance, deciding who will and will not enter Heaven. Each of the gates are named after one of the twelve disciples.”

  “Bet you don’t have a lot of people coming in through Judas.”

  “Oh, you’re funny.”

  Haden shrugged, “I try. So, why do I feel as if this is more than an architecture lesson you’re giving me?”

  “Because it is—just in case you’re of a mind to lead a rebellion to overthrow the High Court.”

  Haden grunted, wholly insulted. Oh, he was planning to overthrow something all right, but it wasn’t the High Court he had his sights set on. “You really don’t know me at all, do you?” It wasn’t a question and he cared not to hear Liam’s response.

  “That’s exactly my point, Haden. I don’t know you. I think you’re going to turn right, and you go left. I expect you to zig, and you zag.” Liam turned from the bluff and headed down what appeared to be a sheep herder’s path.

  “Well, let me ease your cynical little mind,” Haden grumbled, following him down the well-worn trail. “I’ve no intention of bringing war here.”

  Liam glanced over his shoulder, looking wholly unconvinced. “It’s not like it hasn’t happened before.”

  True. Haden couldn’t image what egomaniacal thoughts must have been going through Gahn’s head when he aligned with the Dark Court and attempted to overthrow the Living God. Asinine…

  “Each gate is guarded by two cherubim—” Liam continued.

  The note of pride in the angel’s voice as he spoke of his home was not lost on Haden. The angel clearly loved it here, so how much more must he love Olivia to give it all up for her? Given the choice, Haden wasn’t sure he’d have made the same decision. Then again, there wasn’t anyone or anything he wouldn’t have walked away from to save Anya. That he’d failed her and his son caused bone-deep grief that ate at his soul, and he lived with that guilt every single day. He only hoped that once he claimed his vengeance against Gahn, perhaps finally he could put Anya’s memory to rest.

  “—No one enters or exits the city without their consent.”

  Dragging his attention back to Liam, he didn’t even try to contain his sarcastic bark of laughter. “And you think they’re just going to let me walk in there?”

  “Unfortunately, they can’t deny you admittance. Seems your humanity has become your personal ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card.” Liam shot him a withering glare and growled, “So don’t fuck this up.”

  It was with mixed emotions that Liam led Haden toward the heaven’s gates. A sense of wellbeing overcame him at coming home, but along with it came the gnawing ache of separation from Olivia. At least when he’d been bonded to her, the distance had been tolerable. He’d still been able to sense her presence, feel her emotions, but where there had once been the light of her spirit, there was now a dark void of nothingness that made him restless and irritable.

  He felt at odds with himself. The pull to be home, near his Creator, was strong as ever, but he felt a degree of that presence no matter where he resided. It was what sustained him, gave him life and fueled his body. He had no need for food or drink, no requirement of sleep—at least he hadn’t before the incident at Rebecca’s that still left him unsettled. After spending three days in a state of unarousable slumber, he could no longer deny something inside him was changing. His body’s physical needs were shifting, and it seemed the more he indulged his flesh, the more it controlled him—physically and emotionally—yet he remained helpless to resist his feelings and need for Olivia.

  He’d always been a warrior who prided himself on self-control, once thinking himself incorruptible to lusts of the flesh. That was until he’d come face to face with an emerald-eyed raven-haired beauty that had turned his life upside-down and stolen his heart. Guess everyone had their breaking point, and Liam had found his in the arms of a beautiful young woman whose very life depended on him.

  Oh, he hadn’t fallen for her right away. He’d done his damn best to tow the line, to love her from afar, but a male could only withstand so much temptation before finally cracking. Looking back on his relationship with Olivia, he couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment he’d stepped across that line and descended the slippery slope that would now bring him full circle, standing before the High Court, petitioning to return to Earth again—except this time, he had no intention of ever leaving. He didn’t expect this to go over any better than the first time he’d left. Only now they’d have the distraction of Haden to contend with. Whether this would prove to be an asset or detriment was yet to be seen.

  “Why so dour,” Haden asked, cutting into his thoughts. “By the look on your face, one would think we were going to your trial and not mine.”

  Liam stopped several feet from the gate, out of earshot from the Hunturion guards. Once inside the city, he couldn’t be certain he’d have a chance to speak with Haden in private. For all he knew, the Neph would be taken into custody the moment they entered and remain sequestered until his hearing.

  Haden stopped several steps later and turned back to face him.

  “Olivia asked me to give you a message.”

  Haden tensed, his pale green gaze locking on Liam’s. “Oh yeah, what’s that?” the strained edge in his voice saying more than his nonchalant words.

  “She told me to tell you thank you, and that she was sorry. Don’t s’pose you’d care to explain to me why that woman would feel the need to apologize to you—for anything—ever.”

  Haden shrugged and waved his hand through the air as if shooing away a fly, a failed attempt at negligence. That bastard knew exactly what he was talking about.

  “Who knows the workings of the female mind? Certainly not I. Though, I suspect you’ll have your answers soon enough.”

  When Haden dismissed him and turned to keep walking, Liam grabbed his arm and jerked him back around. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that we’re all on one-collision course or another, and yours is about to get messy, my friend.”

  “I’m not your friend, dammit.”

  “That was figurative. And believe me, the feeling’s mutual—friend.”

  “I want to know what happened between you and Olivia in the Everglades.”

  Haden’s brow arched quizzically. “Have you asked her?”

  “No. And I’m not going to, either. Talking about you u
psets her, and clearly you’ve done a good enough job of that already. I’ll not add to her discomfiture.”

  A brief scowl passed Haden’s countenance before locking into a dispassionate mask of apathy. “It seems to me if she wanted you to know, she would have told you. This is a conversation between you two. It has nothing to do with me.”

  With the speed of a striking viper, Liam lashed out and caught Haden by the throat. The defiant fury burning in that bastard’s murderous glare no doubt mirrored his own.

  “It has everything to do with you!” Liam snarled. “I don’t know what the fuck you’ve done or said to her, but for some unfathomable reason, she cares about what happens to you. She cares enough to send me into a burning building for you. She cares enough that she pleaded with me to save your miserable life. She cares enough that she’s begged me to speak on your behalf in court. And just now, she asked me to tell you she was sorry. What the fuck for, Haden? What in the hell did you say to her?”

  “The truth,” he rasped simply. “I told her the truth.”

  With surprising quickness, Haden sent a palm strike into Liam’s wrist, breaking his grasp on his throat. He turned to proceed toward the gates, when in a surge of preternatural speed, Liam flashed into Haden’s path, blocking his way.

  “The truth?” he growled. “Is that what you call the twisted manipulations of your mind?”

  “The truth is simply that. It is a reality of facts, unchanged by your beliefs or mine. Now kindly step out of my way before I move through you. My patience is wearing thin.”

  Haden’s controlled response only added fuel to Liam’s fire. He knew the dispassionate act was just that. Liam could see the sparks of rage flickering in his pale green eyes. The hard set of his jaw didn’t match his bored, monotone voice. No, Haden was definitely pissed off—livid even.

  “Listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen after we enter these gates, but I promised Olivia I’d do what I could to help you. But first, I want to be clear about something. After this is over, you and I are done. And any association you have, or have had, with Olivia is finished. If I see you anywhere near her again, I will kill you. Are we clear?”

  Haden chuckled.

  Sardonic bastard...

  “It burns like acid in your veins that she cares for me, doesn’t it?”

  “She cares for you like one would care for a homeless mutt. She feels sorry for you, Haden. You have her pity, not her love—there’s a difference.”

  A glower of pure malice flashed in Haden’s eyes, a look Liam returned with an equal censure.

  “Funny, it certainly didn’t feel like pity when she had her tongue in my mouth and her hand down my pants.” He shrugged noncommittally. “Guess that was my mistake.”

  The thread-bare leash on his temper snapped. Acting on pure instinct, Liam buried his fist into Haden’s gut. A satisfying whoosh of air exploded from his lungs. “You’re lying—” he snarled, daring Haden to say otherwise.

  It took the bastard a moment to catch his breath as he stood there, bent over, hands braced on his thighs. But not nearly long enough as far as Liam was concerned. Cocking his head, he glared up at Liam defiantly and coughed a few times, clearing his throat, and then rasped, “Am I? Why don’t you ask her about it?”

  Fucking asshole… Liam knew damn well they’d kissed. That Haden knew the taste of her honey-sweet lips twisted like a knife in his gut. When he’d rescued her from Haden’s clutches, she’d confessed as much to him, though the details around that kiss weren’t as he would lead Liam to believe. “Was that before or after she drove her knee into your ballocks, trying to escape you?”

  A flicker of surprise crossed Haden’s arrogant face.

  “Didn’t think I knew about that, huh? Do you think I’m stupid, Haden? You think I don’t see what you’re doing, you manipulative little prick. I’ll not let you sew discord between Olivia and me by believing your lies or doubting her loyalty to me. Now, it’s going to be pretty hard for you to testify without any teeth, so I suggest you shut the fuck up before I have a change of heart and throw you to the wolves.”

  Chapter Three

  The two armed cherubim standing guard at the entrance stood at attention as they approached. Broadswords drawn, the onyx blades reflected opalescent colors that shimmered in the light. Immanuel’s Stone…what Haden wouldn’t do to get his hands on a weapon like that. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t tempted to try it.

  The angels exchanged questioning glances. There was no fear in their eyes, just suspicious curiosity. Then again, it probably wasn’t every day a Nephilim attempted to enter their midst. If he’d been expecting a welcoming party, he’d be sorely disappointed. The pang of rejection soured his already fowl disposition. Though it was not for himself that he cared, he was well past the give a fuck stage in his life, where he longed to be loved and accepted, wanting desperately to belong and fit in. He couldn’t care less what these angels thought of him.

  No, his anger was for Olivia’s young and the lifetime of rejection that child would face, as a result, of her carelessness. These holier than thou assholes would never accept a half-breed as kin, and so would begin an existence of pain and sorrow for an innocent youth whose only crime was in being born.

  Haden sent Liam a seething glance, a slew of blasphemies hovering on the tip of his tongue. The angelic guards must have taken notice of the steely glare because in unison they tensed the grips on their swords tightening to white-knuckled. Liam grabbed Haden’s arm and pulled him back a few paces, all the while the guards’ watchful eyes never left him.

  “What are you doing?” Liam growled under his breath. “Trying to get yourself killed?”

  Haden wasn’t arrogant enough to think, for even a minute that Liam actually gave a shit about his wellbeing. Hell, if the warrior had his way, Haden would have died in that burning cabin a week ago. How was it possible he didn’t know Olivia was pregnant? Perhaps he did, and that selfish asshole was just that good at feigning ignorance.

  “Look, if you’ve got something you want to say to me, I suggest you do it before we enter these gates.”

  Haden’s answering chuckle earned him a warning growl from Liam. Did he have something to say? Hell yeah, he had something to say, but he’d chew off his own goddamn tongue first.

  “You laugh? Do you think this is a joke?—that those Hunturion soldiers wouldn’t just as soon kill you than let you through this gate? So how about you show them some fucking respect, huh?”

  “Respect is earned, it’s not assumed,” Haden growled contemptuously.

  “And it isn’t given where it isn’t first extended. Now move your ass.”

  Liam shoved him toward the gate, and it took every last bit of the self-restraint Haden possessed not to nail that high-handed prick in the jaw. But he knew if did, his chances of entering these gates un-manacled would quickly drop from slim to nonexistent. Perhaps it was wishful thinking that he’d be given the freedom to search for her. Then again, when did he ever ask permission to go somewhere or do something? No, at the soonest opportunity, he and Liam would be parting ways.

  “Otvoriti verata.” Open the gate, Liam commanded as they approached.

  Kade and Anders each opened a pearlescent side and stood at attention as he and Haden passed through. What a difference this homecoming was to his last. He’d been greeted by Hunturion officers of the High Court, promptly shackled, and then hauled before the elders like a fallen criminal. Then again, he had violated Universal Law. Oh, he could argue it had been justifiable, that he had no other choice—and he’d done just that, to the tune of finding himself imprisoned and his bond to Olivia irrevocably broken. Hell, if it hadn’t been for Haden and the High Court’s desire to bring him to justice, he’d still probably be there cooling his heels behind bars.

  “Barışık olmak.” Be at peace. The officers relaxed their stance, but their speculative gaze remained fixed on Haden.

  “Yani bu mahkeme ilgi odağı haline gelen Nephilim mi
? Bana bakıyor, endişe overrated olmuştur.” So this is the Nephilim that has the court all abuzz? Looks to me, the concern has been overrated.

  Anders’ violet gaze swept over Haden with dispassionate disdain. Haden tensed under the angel’s assessing stare, his surly scowl darkening by the second. It wasn’t until those sea-green eyes flickered to Liam in question that he realized Haden didn’t understand the angelic tongue. Was it possible Gahn never taught the boy the ancient language?

  “Onu, Anders, sizi aldatmasına izin vermeyin. Sizi temin ederim, o oldukça öldürücüdür.” Don’t let him fool you, Anders. I assure you, he’s quite deadly.

  The angel’s half-hearted snort said he wasn’t entirely convinced of that claim. The scoff was a universal language that needed no interpretation on Haden’s part. The Nephilim tensed his weight shifted, hands clenching into fists Liam had no doubt he intended to start throwing in short order. He clamped his hand on Haden’s shoulder, staying the half-breed’s assault, and growled under his breath, “Don’t be stupid. I know you saw what that sword was made of. You think he won’t hesitate to run you through?” And to Anders he snapped, “Sadece dediğimi duymadın mı? Ne halt ediyorsun?” Did you not just hear what I said? What the hell are you doing? Then to both of them he snarled in English because that was the tongue he’d used of late, “I was commissioned to bring the Nephilim before the court—alive. Do not force me to stand against you in defense of this prick.”

  Anders acquiesced with a respectful dip of his head in Liam’s direction and his hand dropped from the hilt of his sword. Keeping a hand firmly on Haden’s shoulder, he guided him forward. “What in the hell were you thinking?” he snarled once they got out of earshot.

  “I was proving a point,” Haden growled, shrugging out from under Liam’s grip.

  “And what point was that? That you’re suicidal?—or just plain stupid?”

  “That my kind will never be accepted by yours. We’ll forever be looked down upon and a source of contention between those who do align with us. You may think what I’m telling you is insignificant, but I promise you, one day you’ll remember this conversation and feel quite differently about it.”