Dark Angel

by Heaton, Felicity

  His eyes slipped shut when she ran her hands up his back and stroked the start of his wings, her palms gliding between them along his spine. A groan rose in his throat as her fingers skimmed along the point where his wings connected to his shoulders and teased them.

  Damn, that felt good.

  Apollyon kept still, enjoying the feel of her hands running over his feathers and not wanting to scare her away. She giggled when he folded his wings, the sound light in the air, no trace of fear or any negative emotion in it.

  She skimmed her hands across the breadth of his furled wings and then down the outside of them, teasing his flight feathers, her touch light and soothing.

  “I wish I had wings,” she whispered.

  He slowly turned to face her. “You do?”

  She nodded and cast a glance over them, from the point where they arched above his head to the tips of his longest feathers where they grazed his calves. “They’re beautiful. If I had wings, I’d never stop flying.”

  “You are beginning to sound like an angel. We love nothing more than to fly.” Another smile tugged at his lips as he caught the sparkle in her eyes, a shimmer of something that looked a little like envy.

  “Really? Nothing more than flying?” Her lips curved into a smile and a hint of colour touched her cheeks. “Could have fooled me.”

  He grinned at her insinuation. He loved that too, but flying had a special place in his heart, as it did with all angels. Taking her up last night, standing atop the Eiffel Tower with her, had been magical and had made him realise just how deeply he had missed flying when he had been stuck in Hell. He hadn’t wanted to leave, could have stayed there all night with her in his arms, tucked safely in his wings, but she had been cold and kissing her had become too tempting.

  “Come inside and I’ll find us some breakfast.” She walked towards the doors.

  His gaze fell to her body and he bit back a groan. Her small dark red slip hugged her curves, shifting in a sensual way with each step, threatening to get him going again. He couldn’t take his eyes off her slender legs or her backside as it swayed. Divine.

  He was staring at her so much that he forgot about his wings.

  Pain ricocheted along the length of the bones as they banged against the doorframe and he grimaced and focused, trying to make them disappear.

  “You could just duck like you did last night.” Her gaze landed on him, had heat flaring in his veins but it was her words that stopped him dead and had him staring at her.

  Was she approving of his wings now?

  The thought that she might be and the affectionate shine in her hazel eyes brought a smile to his lips, one he couldn’t contain and quickly became a grin as it dawned on him that his wings weren’t the barrier between them he had feared they were.

  He ducked and kept his wings tucked so he didn’t knock anything over in the dining room.

  Serenity walked into the small pale kitchen, opened a tall white box that he recognised as a refrigerator, and looked inside. He leaned to his left so he could see the contents, curious as to what it contained. There was milk and cheese, things he had often seen in the pool and could easily recognise, but there was other food he couldn’t identify.

  Studying the mortal world from a distance did have its drawbacks.

  Most of the time, people didn’t mention what things were called so he couldn’t hear their names. Sometimes, he would receive briefing documents that kept him up to date with the latest inventions so he was prepared for being called to Earth, or other angels would tell him of things they had experienced if they had a reason to come down to the bottomless pit.

  His stomach growled at the sight of the food.

  He pressed a hand to it and frowned. He had forgotten how much energy he used when on Earth. Due to the circumstances of his eternal duty, he was one of only a few angels who didn’t need to eat or sleep when they were in Hell as well as in Heaven. On Earth, things were different. Certain parts of him changed or switched off, and other parts switched on. Hunger was one of them.

  Serenity bent over, revealing the curve of her bare bottom.

  His body ached at the sight.

  Lust seemed to be another.

  But he was beginning to feel that this was something other than lust.

  She took a pot from the refrigerator and pulled a black machine away from the back of the kitchen counter. He studied her movements, curious and unable to curb the desire to learn new things about the mortal world. She filled a large glass jug with water and poured it into the machine.

  What was she doing?

  “Do you want some coffee?” Her breezy smile turned shy and she muttered, “Maybe not.”

  She had figured out what effect coffee had on him then.

  He hadn’t exactly done the best job of concealing it, so he wasn’t surprised that she had noticed.

  He walked into the kitchen, until he was close enough to her that he could feel her heat and smell her sweet floral scent, and that ache in his body grew worse, pressing him to do something about it.

  “I could go for a cup, if you are.” He raked his gaze over her, memorising the subtle curves hidden beneath her red satin slip, recalling how good she had looked bared to him.

  Her cheeks matched the colour of it when his eyes met hers again.

  “Are you hungry?” She glanced away, at the cupboards, an awkward edge to her air.

  “Starved.” He pulled her against him and kissed her, swallowing her small gasp.

  Her hands landed on his bare chest as he slid his over her hips, and for a moment, he thought she was going to stop him again, but then she moaned and kissed him, her lips dancing softly over his, stirring fire in his veins.

  Apollyon pressed her against the kitchen counter and gathered her into his arms, his tongue tangling with hers and stealing her breathy moans. He savoured each one as he held her, lost himself in her all over again. The world fell away until there was only her. Only her hands as they wandered over his chest, warm against his skin, setting him aflame wherever she touched. Only her as she kissed him deeper, stoked his passion and hunger so it built inside him, twisting him tight with a need to have more of her.

  To drown in her.

  He groaned and angled his head so he could kiss her deeper still, could pour out the need that felt as if it might rip him apart if he didn’t find a way to make it flow out of him.

  She pulled back, breathing hard, and smiled shakily, her eyes dark with the need he could feel in her.

  He stared at her mouth, hungry to kiss her again, finding it hard to give her a moment to catch her breath. She twirled under his arm and out of his reach, going back to the black machine and pressing a button.

  “Do you want a shower?” She turned back to him.

  “With you?” He could go along with that idea.

  She blushed again. “I was thinking alone.”

  “I have been alone long enough.” He smiled but it faltered and he frowned at the sudden feeling of emptiness inside him.

  He had been happy a moment ago.

  Before that, he had been content.

  And before meeting her he had been fine.

  No. He hadn’t been fine.

  He had been lonely.

  Meeting her had made him realise that.

  He had watched her so much that he had lost awareness of the feeling. It had drifted to the back of his mind, put there by how often he saw her in the pool. She had chased away his loneliness even back then, making him feel as though he wouldn’t be waiting forever and he wasn’t alone. He had known her, studied her, stalked her as she put it, and he had never realised.

  Not until he had met her.

  He had watched her in the pool, had watched her smile and laugh, each of them touching his heart without him knowing it, and had felt her pain when she had been sad and hurt. He had responded to it, desired to assist her and make her feel better so she would be happy again.

  She had called.

  He had res
ponded because he had feelings for her.

  Apollyon tensed when her fingers lightly brushed his cheek and shook himself back to her.

  She stood before him, smiling up into his eyes. A smile for him. He had brought it back and now she smiled even when she was confused. Her feelings travelled through her touch and into him, deep into his heart where he could decipher them.

  She was concerned and he knew what she was going to ask.

  “Where did the serious look come from?” she whispered with a small frown, searching his eyes as though they held the answer.

  He caught her hand, kissed her palm and smiled.

  He had feelings for her. That was where his sudden seriousness had come from. That and the question ringing in his mind.

  Could she love him?

  Was it really possible for a mortal to love an angel?

  CHAPTER 10

  Apollyon wished more than ever that some of his fellow warriors were in Paris as questions crowded his mind, weighing him down and leaving him uncertain of himself. He needed to ask them if it was truly possible for a mortal to love an angel so he could ease the strange tight sensation in his chest.

  Fear.

  It was cold and sharp, felt as if it was hollowing him out inside. It wasn’t fear in the passing sort of way, like the fear he’d had about her not being able to see past his wings. This was genuine fear, bone-deep and crushing, suffocating him.

  He shook it away but it was hard to let it go, even when he reminded himself that he had never felt fear, not even when he had faced the Devil and cast him into the bottomless pit for millennia. He wasn’t going to start now. He wasn’t going to be afraid of Serenity.

  He would make her fall for him.

  He would make her love him.

  “It’s nothing.” He kissed her hand again and then her wrist, working his way up to her elbow. “What about that shower?”

  “What about the coffee?”

  Apollyon grinned, lifted her onto the kitchen counter, and settled himself between her thighs.

  “I do not need the coffee.” He rubbed himself against her, lost himself a little again as pleasure built inside him and he made a new discovery.

  Kitchen counters were a good height, perfect in fact.

  “I can see that.” She ran her hands around his hips, sending a shiver over his skin that only added fuel to the fire blazing inside him. “We can shower later.”

  He liked the sound of that. Right now though, he was going to make love with her and make her see that this wasn’t lust that he was feeling.

  Serenity stroked his shoulders and touched his feathers again. He wasn’t going to make them go away. She had to be his like this, while he looked like himself, not like a mortal. He didn’t want to hide any part of him from her. He needed her to accept him as a whole.

  Apollyon skimmed his hands up her thighs, slipping them under the hem of her red satin slip and raising it. He ached at the sight of the neat thatch of curls at the apex of her thighs and clutched her backside, bringing her right to the edge of the counter. She dragged her fingertips down his chest, over his stomach, and to his hips again.

  They stopped there, running along the waist of his black loincloth, and he sensed her hesitation.

  She didn’t know how to undo it.

  He went to remove it for her but she snapped her fingers and it was gone, and so was her slip.

  Where did she send things when she did that?

  He pushed his curiosity away and focused on the moment instead, filing a mental note to ask her about her powers later. A moan trembled on her lips as he cupped her breasts and she frowned at him as he stroked his palms down her body, tracing her curves.

  She sighed when he feathered his fingers up her thighs and then delved between them, teasing her.

  She teased him by leaning back, planting her hands against the counter behind her to support herself, and he groaned as he lowered his gaze to her breasts and her dusky nipples. Hunger bolted through him and he couldn’t stop himself from dropping his head and capturing her right nipple. Her moan was sweet and sultry at the same time as he suckled it, licked and nipped at it.

  He slid one hand around her back, settling it on her bottom, and stroked his other hand down through her damp folds. She was slick for him, warm and wet, enticing. He groaned against her breast, dipped down to her warm core and eased his finger deep into her, gaining another long moan from her that had his cock aching, hungry to be inside her.

  She moaned again and threaded her fingers into his hair, loosening it from its ponytail and clutching him to her breast. He licked her nipple, swirling his tongue around the hard bead, and slowly pumped her with his finger, loving the feel of her warm velvet depths around it. He stroked the soft spot inside her, running his finger around it, applying enough pressure to make her gasp and cling to him.

  The moment she tightened around him, he pulled his finger out and stopped touching her. She whined and ran her hands down his neck and over his wings.

  A shiver bolted through him when she clutched them, holding him to her with them, her grip so tight it felt as though she wasn’t going to let him go.

  He kissed up from her breasts to her neck, licking and sucking it, drawing a mixture of giggles and moans from her. She stilled when he took hold of his cock and ran it down through her folds, and sighed as he eased himself into her, stretching her tight body.

  “Apollyon.” She kissed him, still holding his wings, clinging to him.

  Her kiss slowed but grew passionate, dominant in a way that he hadn’t expected from her—a way that thrilled him.

  He took hold of her hips and held her steady as he slowly thrust into her, long strokes that would have him coming undone before long, but the sound of her moaning into his mouth was worth it. She kissed him deeper, her tongue tangling with his, her grip on his wings tight and unrelenting.

  “Apollyon,” she whispered against his lips between kisses, saying it with such hunger that he drove deeper into her, struggling to keep his pace slow.

  He gathered her into his arms, kissing her, moving deep within her, feeling the intensity of their bodies fusing as one. He could sense her feelings, experienced the pleasure that radiated through her, throbbing in waves that crashed over him and threatened to carry him away with her.

  It felt different to last night, almost overwhelming in the strength of emotion it evoked in him. Emotion that drove him to hold her closer, to clutch her to him as fiercely as she clutched him to her, and to never let her go.

  She was everything he needed.

  Air in his lungs.

  Life in his breast.

  She was everything.

  He held her close, as close as he could get to her, seeking a stronger connection between them so he could know that this meant something to her too.

  Her hands left his wings and she gripped his shoulders, drawing him closer still and wrapping her legs around his waist, until he could barely move inside her. He thrust shallow and slow, drawing the moment out, wanting it to last forever as her lips played over his, as gentle as their lovemaking, and he was lost.

  He searched her feelings, trying to discover how she felt, needing to know what this meant to her.

  It had to be more than lust. She had to want him too.

  Need him too.

  He sensed the moment he broke through whatever barrier Serenity had kept him at bay with, and her feelings flooded him, warm and full of affection, heating his heart until it felt as though it would melt.

  He felt her confusion too, her growing feelings and how they frightened her.

  They filled him, wrapped him in their embrace, until they joined with his.

  Could she feel him too now?

  He wanted her to. He opened himself to her so she wouldn’t be afraid and would feel his emotions and know that she wasn’t alone. He felt something for her too. This was more than lust and hunger. This was something magical.

  She buried her face into his neck a
nd her fingers into his hair, holding him, clinging as though she never wanted this to end too.

  Apollyon thrust deeper into her again, longer strokes that elicited breathy moans from her that washed over his skin. Her body tensed around his and he brought her right to the edge of the counter, clutching her backside to support her so she wouldn’t fall, and drove harder into her. Her moans grew louder, and he groaned with her each time he plunged into her warm depths, searching for release, wanting to feel her climax.

  She threw her head back and uttered his name as she came, her body quivering and clenching him, drawing him into joining her. Release rushed through him and he growled her name as a raw curse as he seated himself in her, clung to her as he throbbed and his entire body quaked from the force of his release.

  He rested his head on her shoulder, breathing hard as he struggled to remain standing, sensation bombarding him and tangling him up inside. Serenity remained still in his arms, holding him, her body gently quivering around his. He could sense her nerves, that he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t sure what to do now, how to process the feelings growing inside him.

  When he finally convinced himself to move, to draw back and look at her, she smiled shyly at him.

  “I think we could use that shower now.” A hint of colour climbed onto her cheeks.

  He nodded, withdrew his cock from her, and set her down. She scurried off into the living room.

  Apollyon went to follow her and then paused. He looked back at the coffee machine. The black contents of the glass jug called to him.

  He smiled.

  Perhaps he could use a lift before the shower.

  He had done things slow, had drawn out her feelings for him and revealed his own. This time, he would unleash his passion again, the wild way she made him feel, because he had the feeling that she needed it again, needed to lose herself in the intensity of a shared moment, one where the only thing that mattered was finding pleasure in each other’s arms. She needed time to come to terms with her feelings, and he would give it to her, wouldn’t press her until she was sure of herself again.

  He found a cup and poured some of the coffee into it. It was hot but it didn’t stop him. He blew on it a few times and then sipped it. The effect was instantaneous. His cock twitched and he groaned at the thought of showering with Serenity. He took a mouthful of coffee, grimaced as he swallowed the hot liquid, and then went after her, his erection growing harder with each step.