Forbidden Angel

by Chantal Cross

  “No.” Leo takes a deep breath. “You’re right, I don’t understand what you’re going through. However, you need to stay away from anyone who can’t be trusted.”

  “According to you, that’s everyone.”

  “Ebony, try to understand,” Leo says gently. “The other Huntsmen don’t want what’s best for you.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “You were coming to my office before Gabriel stopped you. Why?”

  “I wanted to train.”

  “Exactly. You come to me when you need something. Why is it that you don’t go to the others?”

  Leo speaks again before I can provide an answer.

  “Because you know they won’t be able to help you. I’ve gone to great lengths to prove my trust and loyalty to you. They haven’t. They have their own motives, their own intentions. I’m not saying every one of them serves Rhiannon, but I know none of them serve you. Not deep down in their hearts.”

  Magic whirls inside me. I can’t get myself under control enough to calm it.

  “Gabriel’s made it no secret that he wants you for his own selfish desires,” Leo says. “I know you’re not foolish enough to let him have you.”

  I think back to the last time in our secret training room. I told Leo I desired him.

  “If you care so much,” I lean over his desk. “Why haven’t you taken me for yourself?”

  11

  Ebony

  I can see by the way Leo pulls back; he doesn’t know how to react. I’m scared for a second. It’s amazing how an icicle of fear can turn into a frozen staff that splits your guts, all within an instant.

  I think he’s going to pull away, maybe say something about how this is not right, but then he swings back towards me. It’s as if he fought himself briefly then found he couldn’t.

  His hands curl around my arms. It happens fast, but everything has slowed down. I can feel how his fingertips graze my skin, right before they close tightly against me. The hard pressure of his hands is only a bit painful, an enhancement of pleasure, not a barrier to it.

  His grip on my arms tightens further as he yanks me against him. A gasp slips out of me as I feel his body press up against mine. His hard, warm chest thrusts against my breasts, crushing them between us. My nipples feel hard and hot like they could pierce through his shirt.

  My own clothes rub against me, and somehow this only makes me more aroused. The smooth fabric caresses me, teasing me with the promise of the skin beneath. My fingers move, hands jerking upwards from where Leo has them pressed against my sides.

  He keeps my upper arms held tightly to my body, but I can move from the elbows. My hands come up and slide along his waist, the feel of his thin shirt only enhancing the hardness moving underneath.

  I can feel myself trembling all over, in my core, my lips and worst of all in my knees. I don’t know if I’m about to attack Leo with all my strength or fall into a puddle at his feet.

  Those hands press tighter on my arms, and as he crushes me even tighter to him, one arm wraps around my shoulders. His other slips around my waist and pulls me tight.

  My upper body bends away, stretching my neck, I try to look up at him, but my head is sinking back. He’s just too tall, and he has me twisted in his hands.

  His lips touch mine. At first, it’s not even a kiss, just his breath on my lips. A faint touch, a mere suggestion.

  The hand around my shoulders trails up through my hair, grasping the back of my skull. With the heat of his mouth so close to mine, he presses against my head while lowering his own.

  He presses his lips firmly to mine, controlling everything with his hand around my waist and the other, bending my head towards him. His lips start to move against mine, and I melt—the strength literally goes out of me, and he feels it.

  He takes a sharp breath and gathers his arms around me, lifting me off my feet. His arm around my waist presses me hard against him, holding our bodies together. His hand on my head keeps me still, with our lips pressed hard against each other.

  With gentle, pulling motions of his lips, he works at my mouth. A small sound of pleasure rises from my throat and becomes muffled by his mouth. His own groan of pleasure meets my own, and I feel him opening even wider, making the kiss even deeper.

  My body is singing, taught as a drawn bow. My hands beg to touch, my nipples burn, and a place deep inside that I barely knew existed is alive and erupting like a long-dormant volcano.

  He pulls back, just slightly, to take a breath. My eyes flutter closed, and a small, helpless cry escapes me.

  With a growl that is all-male, he crushes me against him even harder and dives on my mouth again. His lips search at mine, sliding, kneading, lapping. I open my mouth and try to reciprocate, but I’m loose like a doll. I can barely think.

  I feel his hot tongue gently teasing at the edges of my mouth. The grip of his hands becomes so fierce it’s unbearable. The aching in my body becomes so intense I squirm and try to scream. Leo’s lips work even harder, and his tongue finds mine, twisting together in a hot, fast dance.

  I’m so high from the kiss I hardly notice as he starts to loosen his grip. He releases me, gently making sure I’m on my feet. He runs his hands up my arms, to my shoulders. He grips me lightly, looking at me, but I can’t get my eyes open all the way, nor can I stop the contented smile that’s spread across my face.

  My first kisses had been beautiful, sensational. But I was dying. I was between this world and the next, and my body was already numb from pain. I know Seth and Lucien got so much from them but for me, it wasn’t the same. It couldn’t have been.

  This kiss is above and beyond. My body is throbbing and tingling, and I can’t catch my breath. I ask my eyes to open, but they just flicker, showing me images of the walls and Leo’s concerned face.

  “You okay? Ebony?”

  “Hmmm…” I literally cannot speak. After blinking a few times, I manage to keep my eyes open. My soft smile doesn’t stop glowing as I look over his face.

  When he sees my eyes open fully, the confused hesitation on his face ebbs away. His grin stretches out across his face in complete satisfaction. He looks smug and mischievous at the same time. The way his eyes dance and his grin entrances, I just want to kiss him again.

  All I can do is smile. He grips my hands briefly, still smiling. Without a word, he moves away.

  The smirk should bother me. He looks like he got away with something, even like he won some kind of contest. It does worry me.

  Shouldn’t a kiss just be a kiss? It’s special and sacred, a joining of flesh, a promise. Why does he have to taint it with a male ego problem?

  Did he win something against me, or someone else?

  That’s the main question.

  It doesn’t matter… Not right now at least. Right now, I have to process the feelings in my own body.

  I sink back against the wall, letting my knees finally give way. I slide to the floor, not caring that it isn’t comfortable. I can barely feel anything right now.

  Because my skin, my lips, are alive with the memories of Leo’s touch. My skin doesn’t just tingle, it undulates like waves. Beautiful sensations flow across me and within me. When I linger on my mouth, on the press of his tongue and gentle kneading of his lips, I feel the heat spreading down my belly in a wide trail.

  Something inside me is screaming, and it won’t let me rest. When I run my hands across my arms or up my thighs, the hot point between my legs burns so hard, I actually flinch against it.

  What would it feel like… If someone touched it? What would it feel like to open like a flower, letting that trapped heat rage through every cell of my body?

  I’m thinking of Leo, but I’m also thinking of Seth. Gabriel crowds into my mind. Lucien too. First, I’m just thinking of kissing them. A do-over for Seth and Lucien is definitely in the cards. If they awakened me as much as they did when I was literally dying, what would they do for me now?

  Leo is luscious and tempting,
but he’s never been my first choice. If his kiss can feel like this, what would Seth or Lucien do to me?

  This thought gets stuck in my head. It goes round and round like a bee trapped in a glass.

  What would they do to me…?

  My body aches so hard I slam my thighs shut, squirming from the waist. I grip my own arms, wrapping myself tightly in my own limbs.

  The images pound through my brain, and I can’t stop them, I don’t want to stop them.

  I’m laying between my boys, all of my boys. And they are all touching me, teasing me, kissing me. No inch of my skin needs to be left out when you have this many lovers. There is no need that cannot be fulfilled.

  I close my eyes, touching my lip again. It’s as if my skin is steeped in sensory memory and it just keeps replaying the kiss, the firm touches, the stroking fingertips that thrilled me to the bone.

  With a long, rattling sigh my body relaxes, all the sensations pounding like a wave, intensifying to a point then slowly rolling away.

  I can breathe again. I can blink my eyes open and begin to think.

  I still can’t drag myself away from the memory of the kiss.

  And I don’t want to stop thinking about the others.

  About kissing them. All of them. Maybe even, all of them at the same time.

  12

  Dorian

  My failing has been my undoing.

  Having promised my Queen a body to possess, I’d set myself up to fail, unable to give her what she desperately wanted and still wants.

  Death would be kinder than my fate now. Although my home is a stunningly ornate mirror, its cold sheen haunts me; I’m never free of it. Whenever she demands it of me, I’m forced to spy on those I once called friends. True, our ties were severed long ago, but my love for Ebony is still there.

  I don’t think it’ll ever stop.

  Even amidst the envy that still plagues me, my broken psyche polluted by 1,000 years of immortality, I still feel pangs of guilt. The gruesome images I torment the other huntsmen with don’t phase me — those bastards betrayed me as much as I did them. None of us have ever played fair in our quest to have Ebony for ourselves.

  But when she asks me to hurt Ebony, I find myself trying to fight against what I’m ordered to do. I’m not able to say no, but I wish that I could.

  From my vantage point, I watch as she glides toward me. Her legs clack against the floor as she moves. The twisted beauty she’s become is as unnerving as it is bewitching; to think of Ebony being like this is a fantastic but terrifying idea. I’d wanted her to myself, no matter the cost. But if this is the cost, maybe it’s better she dies…?

  “Dorian, show me the girl,” Comes her taut tone. Gone is her sultry voice, replaced by displeasure and intolerance; Rhiannon’s annoyed at something, but I can’t tell what.

  “As you wish.” I offer with glum reservations, already wanting to be left alone.

  As furious as I am for being forced to live a life such as this, I’ll take the punishment as any warrior worth his salt should do. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t detest the sight of her…

  My Queen. Oh, she’s my Queen. Wicked and untrue, a vision of beautiful hatred, her dark desires as intoxicating as her shifting form. I love to hate her and hate to love her, my soul bound to her until she sees fit to kill me.

  Despite her telling me to reveal Ebony’s location, Rhiannon doesn’t so much as glance my way. I can see her dancing around at the corner of my vision. However, she doesn’t come close. Gripped by confusion, I find it hard to focus my magic on locating Ebony. Then, finally, her aura comes to me. Honing in on it, I bring a murky image into crystal clarity.

  I’m full to burst at the idea of seeing her, but then I see Leo.

  To my horror, the two of them are wrapped in each other’s arms, lost to their rising emotions.

  “My, my, my, it doesn’t seem like she misses you at all,” Rhiannon jibes, her words like knives.

  I want to turn away. I want to stop seeing this hellish image, but I’m duty-bound to watch as long as Rhiannon wants. “Dorian, be a dear and get closer, would you? I want to see how far our pretty, little Ebony has fallen.”

  She’s doing this for her own amusement. There’s no way she needs to see more, everything is perfectly clear. This is about making me suffer. Making me pay for my past mistakes.

  It’s working.

  The anguish I feel being forced to watch Ebony bears down on me. To witness her in such a passionate position is excruciating. Her body’s pressed so tightly to Leo’s that they’re almost joined beyond their physical form; the deepest of connections.

  I knew that each huntsman would make a move now that I’m not there, but I hadn’t anticipated this. It’s unbearable. Too painful, like needles being pushed under my nails.

  I want to disobey. To tell Rhiannon that I’ll no longer be a pawn in her unholy plans. Despite how badly I want Ebony, I won’t be subjected to this level of abuse.

  However, I say nothing.

  If I could cry, I would. But since being trapped in this shiny prison, I’m unable to show my emotions. All I can do is feel them. God, do I feel them! But I have to suffer in silence, compelled to carry out every whim my Queen orders of me.

  “They do seem fond of each other, don’t they. Dorian, do you think Leo will be the first to have Ebony? Judging by this, I suspect so.”

  Rhiannon's pushing so hard to break me. Some part of me believes she already has, such is the fury I’m feeling. Leo doesn’t need to worry about Wrath, he should be worried about me.

  “You’re quiet, my dear, Dorian, is there something wrong?” Her devilish eyes flash my way, her pupils dilating as she scrutinizing me. At the corners of her lips, her cheeks grow full under the strain of her wide grin. Rhiannon is positively elated. She’s humming with energy, enjoying the pain I must withstand.

  “No.” I soberly offer. Her eyes squint at me, her angular figure rushing toward my mirrored surface.

  “No what?” She growls.

  “No, my Queen.” I begrudgingly answer back, the bile I feel toward her is enough to drown us both. I can’t tell if I hate her or Leo more at this point — both of them are wretched for what they’re doing to me. Even Ebony has invoked my ire.

  She’s always fought against my love, my devotion. Ebony might not be able to remember doing such things, but the humiliation is still fresh in my mind. Everything I’ve done is for her. Even my betrayal. It was all so that she could be reunited with her true self; Rhiannon can bestow gifts to Ebony she’s never dreamed of.

  Yet she dismisses them with youthful carelessness.

  Nonetheless, when I think of her sweet innocence, how pure she used to try and remain, I realize that Leo has abused his position more than anyone else. He’s poisoned her. Twisted her into his plaything, her innocence now colored with the deep yearnings of lust.

  “Oh, Dorian, you can tremble with frustration as much as you like,” Rhiannon interrupts, her teeth a block of blinding white against her darkened features. “But who you should be mad at is yourself. You failed. You didn’t bring me Ebony, and now the other huntsmen can have their way with her.”

  I hate that she’s right.

  Not all her words are true, however, I know that my failings have brought me here. If it weren’t for my stumblings, Ebony would be in my arms right now, giving herself over to my passion.

  Leaving me to my quiet reflection, Rhiannon watches Ebony and Leo continuously come together. There’s hunger in her eyes, an ache to see where it leads. I ache to know that answer too, but for reasons far removed from her own.

  I want to make sure Leo doesn’t take what’s rightfully mine. If I can’t have Ebony, no one can. Even in spite of my current predicament, I still feel vehement about this. No other huntsman is as worthy as me. Yet all Ebony’s ever done is reject me, choosing others instead.

  Damn them all, I silently curse, wishing my words could do more. If I were myself, free from this cruel cage
, I’d be bringing the full venom of my envy down upon everyone.

  Only able to watch or torment myself with wicked thoughts, I await my Queen’s instructions. I know she has more planned for me. The way she’s examining me, her eyes lapping up my pain is proof of that. She’s looking for the slightest sign of discomfort. I hope she can’t tell that what I feel goes well beyond discomfort.

  It’s the blackest of heartbreaks.

  Sneering, she gives me a twinkle of her eyes, the malice there so palpable that it’s suffocating. I thought my own actions were sinful in the past, but Rhiannon knows no bounds. It’s her greatest strength. The only person who can damn her is Wrath, and he’s been surprisingly silent since his attack against Ebony.

  I pray he brings all his might raining down on Rhiannon. She deserves it. They all do.

  “Dorian,” Rhiannon coos sweetly, her speech not matching her menacing expression. “I think you’ve suffered enough for one day, now it’s time to see what the others are up to… Show me, Seth.”

  As I leave behind Leo’s office, I search with vigorous desperation to find my old brother. If I can locate his aura quickly, I won’t have to endure any more heartache watching Ebony.

  When I find Seth, I hope I’m not asked to show him nightmares so visceral that they’ll haunt his waking hours. The way I feel right now, my own despair will corrupt the darkness, turning it murkier so that he’ll never find his way out.

  He’ll suffer along with me.

  13

  Seth

  The bastards. They’re all liars and cheats. How dare they call themselves brothers, say that they care about me when all they do is take?

  They’re worse than Ebony’s rejection.

  My feet tread the floor with enthusiastic annoyance. I’m too wound up to think straight, my head is swimming with all the whispers I heard last period.