A Fire in the Heart

by L. J. LaBarthe

  “Perhaps we could go to our room?” Michael asked.

  “Are you sure? I don’t….”

  “I am positive. I need you, Gabriel. I need to feel you. I need to be comforted by you and loved by you, and I know no other way to do both at once in as much intimacy.”

  Gabriel nodded. “All right.” He got to his feet, then bent down and picked Michael up. Michael’s arms went around his neck, and Gabriel kissed him again, breaking the kiss so he could see where he was going as he walked out of the study and down to their bedroom.

  In the bedroom, Gabriel laid Michael down, and then he covered his lover’s body with his own. Kissing Michael again, soft and slow, Gabriel ran one hand down his side, not doing anything other than kissing his lover and rubbing his hip. Michael’s arms were tight around Gabriel’s neck as he deepened the kiss, pulled Gabriel closer, and wrapped his legs around Gabriel’s thighs. As Gabriel purred low in his throat, he felt Michael’s fingers on his wing joints, rubbing the sensitive spots that always drove Gabriel wild.

  “Mishka,” Gabriel growled in between kisses, “you know what that does to me.”

  “I enjoy the consequences,” Michael replied. Before Gabriel could reply, he felt the brush of power as Michael used his abilities to get them both naked. Then they were skin to skin, lying together pressed tip to toe, and Gabriel ran his hand back up Michael’s side as Michael gave a little buck up into him, his hard cock evident against Gabriel’s belly.

  “I want you,” Michael whispered as Gabriel broke the kiss, ducking his head to nuzzle Michael’s neck. “Please, Gabriel.”

  “You have me, solnyshko,” Gabriel said, and he shifted a little, then slicked his cock with his power and positioned himself.

  “You do not need to prepare me,” Michael said. He sounded determined as well as lustful and Gabriel growled against his lover’s skin. “I need you now.”

  “Okay.” Gabriel shifted again and slowly pressed his cock into Michael’s body, hissing as tight muscles stretched and yielded to him, surrounded him, gripped him. “Fuck, Mishka….”

  “Language, Gabriel,” Michael said.

  Gabriel started to laugh. He couldn’t help it. The incongruity of being scolded for language while having sex with Michael struck him as enormously funny, and he had to pause in his ministrations while he got himself under control again. He could feel the touch of Michael’s mind on his own, the brush of Michael’s Grace against his own, and he knew that Michael knew and understood Gabriel’s mirth.

  “Are you able to continue?” Michael asked, and Gabriel nodded, still chuckling.

  “Aye. You’re adorable.”

  “I am no such thing.”

  “You are to me, and that’s all that matters.” Gabriel braced himself on one hand and began to thrust, moving slow and firm. Between thrusts, he slipped his free hand between them and wrapped it around Michael’s cock, stroking him in time, his thumb smearing pre-come over the head. Michael moved with him, rocking back onto his cock and thrusting into his hand, and Gabriel groaned, ducking his head once more to nibble the smooth column of Michael’s throat.

  “Gabriel,” Michael murmured, tilting his head a little in order to give Gabriel better access. “I love you.”

  “Love you too,” Gabriel said. His thrusts were gradually speeding up, growing harder and shorter, and he knew that he wasn’t going to last very long. It had been three long weeks since he’d been alone with Michael, three long weeks of worry and sorrow and stress, of being strong for Michael and of thinking of the Venatores and the problem that they all now faced. In Michael’s arms, feeling Michael’s love and desire, Gabriel felt his worries melt away for the moment, and he gave voice to a throaty groan and came hard.

  Panting, he continued to stroke Michael’s cock, and a few moments later, he felt Michael come, even as Michael arched into him, his blunt nails digging into Gabriel’s shoulders. Gabriel kissed him then, hard and hungry, pouring all his love and devotion into the kiss, trying to say what he couldn’t with words: that Michael was his world, that Michael’s happiness was more important than Gabriel’s own.

  “I feel thusly about you also, Gabriel.” Michael’s mental voice was colored with his love.

  “I’m the luckiest being in Creation.”

  “No. You are the second luckiest, for I am the luckiest. I have you.”

  Gabriel kissed him harder, and Michael returned it, matching Gabriel’s love and unending devotion with his own.

  “Everything will be okay now, I know it,” Gabriel thought.

  “How are you certain?”

  “Because we’re together, Danny and Lily are both okay, and these are good omens.”

  “I see.”

  Gabriel ended the kiss and gazed down at his lover. “My dearest Michael.”

  Michael touched his cheek with gentle fingers. “Yours alone, Gabriel.”

  Gabriel turned his head so that he could kiss Michael’s fingertips. “Best thing ever.”

  “As you say.”

  7

  AS SOON as her phone rang, Angelique put it onto loudspeaker and answered it, her heart in her throat. Her caller ID read that it was Raphael calling, and she expected the worst as she answered, “Hey, Raph. We’re all here—Riley, Baxter, Liam, and Declan.”

  “Oh good, then I don’t have to call everyone,” Lily said.

  “Lily!” Angelique shrieked her beta’s name, even as the others shouted greetings and questions.

  “Hello, everyone.” Lily’s voice was happy, and Angelique devoutly hoped she had good news. “How are you all?”

  Calls and shouts of, “Good!” and “Awesome, how are you and Danny?” were the raucous reply, and Lily laughed.

  “Hush, you lot,” Angelique said, waving at the men to quiet down. “Lily, how are you? How’s Danny?”

  “That’s why I’m calling. Raph lent me his phone. Danny’s awake.”

  There was another outpouring of noise—happy, relieved shouts and yells, whoops, and cheers—and Angelique felt tears on her cheeks even though she was smiling. She was so relieved, it took her a moment to find her voice as she brushed the tears from her cheeks and gestured to the others to be quiet.

  “We’re so glad to hear that,” she said. “What happened?”

  Lily laughed. “God, I am so happy to report it. Three weeks, Jelly. He was out for three weeks. I don’t know what happened to his brain. Raph’s still running his tests. But Danny’s awake, and he’s hungry. He’s with the physical therapist right now, and I’m in the waiting room. Iss is cooking tea for us.”

  “So did Raph magic him out of the coma?” Baxter asked.

  “Actually, no.” Lily’s voice became thoughtful. “These three weeks have been interesting if nothing else. The Archdemons—Adry and Ondrass especially—tried their powers as well, but that coma refused to shift. Then Iss said he’d try, something about music moving mountains and all. To be honest, I thought it all sounded a bit twee, a bit ridiculous. I thought it was a silly notion. I mean, how would music succeed when medicine, science, and magic had failed?

  “But he sat down with me, and he played to Danny for three days. He played all sorts of music, and Tabbris brought us food and drink while he played. And then today, Iss started playing this music, he said it came from Eden. And then Danny woke up.”

  “Wow,” Angelique said. “That’s amazing.”

  “Iss is a love, isn’t he?” Lily continued. “He’s such a sweetheart. He talks a mile a minute, and he’s the most amazing musician. He’s so sincere and so caring. He and Raph are very good together, and Tabbry, he’s a bit rough around the edges, but there was no mistaking how much he cares about everyone, not just Iss and Raph.”

  “Did he call Mike Donkey-face again?” Declan asked.

  Lily laughed. “He did! Michael didn’t react—he was too relieved, I think.”

  “Or he’s getting used to it. I wonder how he’d react if I called him that,” Declan said.

  “He�
�d turn you into a radish,” Angelique said.

  “Yeah, probably true.”

  “So, we’ll be here at Raph’s clinic for another two weeks,” Lily said. “Raph wants to run more tests and Danny needs to do some work with the physio and the physical therapist, but the worst is over. I’m so relieved, guys.”

  “God, so are we,” Angelique said.

  “Tell him hi from us,” Baxter said. “And give him a big hug.”

  “I will,” Lily said.

  “Should we come and visit?” Riley asked.

  “I’ll check with Raph. Either way, it’ll only be another few weeks until we come home. I don’t think Danny will be clear for any sort of strenuous active duty for a while, but you know how he is. We can’t leave him sitting on his sexy behind while we work. He hates feeling useless.”

  “I’m sure we’ll have loads for him and for you to do in two weeks,” Angelique said.

  “Are you running any ops right now?” Lily asked.

  “Actually, we’re heading out to Bangor, Maine, tomorrow,” Angelique said. “We’re doing intel gathering; this TCC Corp. has offices there, so we’re going to go and do some snooping.”

  “Lovely part of the country,” Lily said.

  “It is, yeah,” Liam agreed.

  “Okay, I’d better go. Danny’s just heading toward the door. I’ll tell him hello from all of you, and I’ll be in touch again soon. Keep us in the loop too.”

  “You can count on it,” Angelique said.

  “Great. See you soon,” Lily said.

  A chorus of farewells filled the room, and Lily laughed, said, “Bye,” and ended the call. Angelique leaned back in her seat and scrubbed her face with both hands.

  “Thank fuck,” Baxter said.

  “You took the words out of my mouth,” Angelique said. She lowered her hands and shook her head. “I was so scared, you guys.”

  Declan moved to sit beside her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. She didn’t protest, instead leaning into him as he held her.

  “I was too,” Baxter said. His voice was soft. “I really thought we were going to find ourselves minus a beta and kappa.”

  “I did too,” Riley said. “I prayed every night for Danny to get better.”

  “And now he is,” Liam said. “This is a good day, guys.”

  “You know? It really is,” Angelique said. She grinned. “Tomorrow we go to Maine, and we’ll have a wander around, take in the sights, do some research, eat some food, and then we’ll come home and see if we can visit Lil and Danny.”

  “I feel so much better about all of this,” Baxter said. Angelique watched as he leaned into Liam, and they sat together, shoulder to shoulder, on the deep gray carpet that covered her living room floor. “I know we have a job to do, and I know we’re in a crisis situation, but it felt wrong to be going out and doing things without two of our pack around.”

  “I know what you mean,” Angelique said.

  “It felt dishonest to me,” Riley said in his quiet, diffident manner. He looked at the carpet, not meeting anyone’s gaze. “I know that we are all well and healthy and able to do our jobs, but without part of our pack, it felt as if we were trying to pretend that everything was all right. Okay, not us, because we were honest and open about it, but the Archangels.” He colored slightly. “They wanted us to work and keep busy, which is a nice thing to say—keep busy and the time will pass—but they aren’t part of a pack. They don’t know what pack ties are like.”

  Baxter sighed. “Remember, Riley, Mike and Gabe were pretty worried. I don’t think Mike was really that aware of anything beyond Lil and Big D, and Gabe’s focused on Mike.”

  “I know, I know. I just… I don’t know.” Riley shrugged.

  “I know what you mean,” Declan said. Riley looked up in surprise. “You guys work as a team, a unit. There are five of you, and you do all your missions together; when you’re working a job, you think and act as one, not five. So when one of you is down for injuries, or hell, a cold, whatever—it feels as if part of the whole is missing, and so the whole can’t function properly.”

  Riley nodded. “That’s exactly what I was trying to say.”

  “Yeah. So the Archangels don’t behave in that way because they’re like the overseers of the rest of angelkind. Each of them is CO to a choir in the Heavenly rank. Gabe’s got his Seraphim, Tzad’s got the Ophanim, the Cherubim look to Gabe and to Raph. The Dominions answer to Metatron, the Powers to Uriel, the Virtues to Remiel and Haniel. The Principalities answer to Raziel. Michael oversees all of them, as the Field Marshal of Heaven, and Samael walks alone.”

  “Where did you learn all this stuff, dude?” Baxter asked.

  Declan shrugged. “Selana and Jake were good teachers.”

  “Your life in Puerto Rico must have been pretty damn interesting,” Angelique said.

  Declan grinned at that, looking over at Liam, who was also smiling. “Yeah, it was.”

  “Well, you guys can sit up and chat if you want, but I’m going to bed,” Liam said. “I’m wiped. We’ve got an early start in the morning, don’t we?”

  “Yeah, Shateiel, Asaf, and Vel are coming around nine,” Angelique said.

  “Then I’m going to bed.” Liam got to his feet and stretched, his shirt riding up to reveal his firm, muscled stomach.

  “I think I will too,” Baxter said.

  “Me as well,” Riley said. “Anna gave me the shots to block the heat, so I don’t need to worry about that anymore for this cycle.”

  “I guess we should too,” Angelique said, looking at Declan.

  He nodded. “It’d be a good idea. Sleep well, you guys,” he added, turning back to the others.

  “Night,” Baxter and Liam said in unison, and Angelique waved.

  “Sleep well.”

  LYING BESIDE Liam in the soft velvet darkness of his bedroom, Baxter replayed the events of the evening over and over in his mind. He was tired and knew he should try to sleep, but his mind flittered from idea to idea and refused to quiet. The result was that Baxter felt as if he were wide awake, but he knew that if he got up, he’d feel exhausted. So he sighed and tried to empty his thoughts so that sleep could come.

  He wasn’t very successful, and he rolled onto his side, punching his pillow in frustration. Liam shifted as well, and Baxter could see his outline as a dark shape within the dimness of the room.

  “Can’t you sleep either?” Liam asked.

  “No. My mind’s going nonstop.”

  Liam chuckled. “Mine is too. I thought I’d get to sleep pretty easy now we’ve heard the good news from Lily.”

  “So did I. And yet, here we are, awake.”

  “So we are. Well, so long as we’re both awake….”

  Baxter felt Liam’s hand on his hip, gently tugging him closer, and he moved obligingly, pressing against his lover as Liam’s hand slid around to his small of his back.

  “What did you have in mind, babe?” Baxter asked.

  “Oh, a little of this, a little of that.” Liam grinned, and Baxter chuckled as he felt the bed dip as Liam moved closer.

  “Like what?”

  “This.” Liam kissed him then, his lips meeting Baxter’s, and Baxter opened his mouth eagerly to his lover, reaching up a hand to tangle in Liam’s hair. Baxter loved Liam’s hair, the way it fell down the nape of his neck, how thick and silky it felt, the sun kissed highlights between the light brown strands. He loved how it sometimes fell in a shaggy curtain over Liam’s face and how Liam would push it back when he was working on his car.

  Liam rolled them so that Baxter lay beneath him, pinned to the bed, and Baxter groaned as he felt heat and desire flood him so intense and so rapid he was almost breathless. He ran his free hand down Liam’s back, his fingers following the line of Liam’s spine and tracing each ridge and joint until he reached the curve of Liam’s ass.

  “You have such a fantastic ass,” Baxter panted as Liam broke the kiss and ducked his head to nuzzle Liam’s neck.
r />   “Funny, I was just thinking the same about you,” Liam said. His voice was a rough purr, sounding like gravel on silk. Baxter shivered in pleasurable sensation as the timbre of Liam’s voice skipped his ears and went straight to his cock.

  “I think you should fill my ass,” Baxter said. “Like, right now.”

  “Patience, baby.”

  “Oh, fuck patience. Just fuck me, Liam, love.”

  Liam laughed a breathy laugh. “Okay, okay.”

  As he clicked on the bedside lamp, Baxter, blinking, smirked as his gaze traveled down Liam’s body. “You can’t tell me you’re not eager for it,” he said, slipping his hand down from Liam’s hair to his shoulder, then down his torso to his groin, and teasing the head of Liam’s cock.

  Liam hissed at the small touch. “Never said I wasn’t. Fuck, Bax.”

  Baxter was concentrating on teasing the slit of Liam’s cock with his index finger, running his thumb around the crown, and he hummed. “Hm?”

  “Just… oh, fuck it.”

  The next thing Baxter knew, his hand was being batted away, and Liam was slicking himself. Then Liam gripped his thighs and Baxter spread his legs, bending his knees and reaching up to grab the pillow from beneath his head to shove it beneath his hips.

  “Bax….” Liam’s voice was gruff now, full of lust, and Baxter bit his lip as he wrapped his legs around Liam’s hips.

  “Fuck, babe.”

  “Getting there,” Liam said, and he grinned.

  Baxter laughed at that and tugged him down for a hungry, sloppy kiss, even as he felt Liam slowly tease a finger into him and thrust a few times before withdrawing it and slowly pressing in his cock.

  “I was going to say, no fingering,” Baxter panted, as he arched into the penetration.

  “Why? Don’t you like it?” Liam asked.

  “I do. I just prefer dick.”

  “Oh. Fair enough.”

  “Your dick, specifically.”

  Liam laughed at that. “I should damn well hope so.”

  “Yours is the best dick,” Baxter said solemnly, trying not to laugh. “It has an impressive length and girth and a slight curve to the left, which is really sexy.”