by Sadie Moss
WANTED ANGEL
Feathers and Fate #3
SADIE MOSS
Copyright © 2020 by Sadie Moss
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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CONTENTS
1. Trinity
2. Sawyer
3. Trinity
4. Trinity
5. Trinity
6. Phoenix
7. Trinity
8. Trinity
9. Trinity
10. Beckett
11. Trinity
12. Ford
13. Trinity
14. Trinity
15. Trinity
16. Trinity
17. Trinity
18. Ryland
19. Trinity
20. Knight
21. Trinity
22. Trinity
23. Remington
24. Trinity
25. Trinity
Epilogue
Also by Sadie Moss
Chapter One
TRINITY
New York City is a different place at night than in the daytime.
That’s probably true for all cities, when you think about it. But when the city is suddenly full of powerful people who want to kill you, it definitely becomes a different place. Not just a different flavor of ice cream, but an entirely different dessert altogether.
A chocolate brownie made out of death.
Mmm. Brownies.
Gah. Focus, Trinity!
I’m hungry. It might be affecting my state of mind. I should probably have had a snack before the men and I left Beckett’s penthouse for this mission.
“We really shouldn’t be out here,” Phoenix remarks in a low voice.
“If you’ve got a better plan,” I whisper back, “I’d love to hear it.”
The bounty is still out on my head. Whoever created all those demonic portals in a network covering Earth has offered supernatural mercenaries ten million dollars to kill me.
As flattering as it is to have such a massive price tag attached to me, we’ve got to find a way to get rid of it. A way that hopefully won’t end up with me or any of the seven sins dead. Sawyer had an idea, which is why we’re out here right now, despite the danger—and despite some of his brothers putting up an awfully big fight about this plan.
“Hmm. Another plan. I dunno, maybe just wait it out?” Nix suggests, nudging me playfully with his shoulder. “I can think of a lot of stuff we can get up to while we wait. Hell, I’ve got plenty of ideas to help pass the time, you know what I mean, sugar?”
I’m used to Nix’s various dessert-related nicknames for me by now, so I just roll my eyes at his words. But there’s a fond look on my face—I can feel the smile tugging at my lips. I know I’m not really fooling Nix at all. He and Remi have made it easy to fall into a kind of intimacy with them, one that goes beyond just sex. They’re the personifications of Sloth and Gluttony respectively, so it makes sense. Those are the two most relaxed sins, so to speak.
The others have been a bit more difficult to get a read on, despite the fact that we’ve all gotten close.
Especially Beckett and Ryland.
The former does everything he can to shove me away, and the latter is like a solid block of ice, burning even as he cools.
I’ve kissed all seven of them. I’ve done a lot more than that with several of them. Collectively, we’re starting to feel like a… a unit. A team.
But there’s still something missing. And honestly, I can’t tell if it’s because the men are holding parts of themselves back from me, or if it’s because I’m holding something back from them. They still don’t know my true purpose for coming into their lives.
I’m supposed to redeem them.
No one but Ryland knows that, and the secret of my assignment feels like a heavy weight around my neck. I haven’t outright lied to the men, I just haven’t been entirely truthful. But the closer I get to them, the more that distinction feels like nothing but semantics.
I haven’t told them everything, just like they haven’t told me everything.
And what will happen if I actually succeed in my mission and do redeem them? What will become of this thing that’s building between all of us?
I shove that thought away before the tight ache in my chest can expand any further. I need to be focusing on tonight’s mission and leave the worrying about the assignment Anderson handed down to me for a different night.
“Beckett’s defenses won’t hold forever at the penthouse,” I whisper back. “So even if we decided to wait it out, there’s no guarantee we could wait long enough. And I won’t risk you guys getting attacked.”
Nix frowns, and I don’t think it’s just because his laziest suggestion got vetoed. He looks genuinely worried.
I mean, that makes sense. This is definitely dangerous, going out into the city while there’s a bounty on my head, every supernatural creature gunning for me in order to claim the prize.
But we have to do something.
Being a CEO and billionaire means that Beckett can do things like own a penthouse that takes up the entire top floor of a skyscraper in Manhattan and fortify it with state-of-the-art technical and magical security—but it’s not impenetrable.
And besides, I’d rather be out here doing something about the bounty on my head, fighting back. It’s better than sitting around waiting to see what happens and hoping that the whole mess will sort itself out. In my experience, messes don’t sort themselves out, they just become bigger disasters while you wait in vain for them to disappear.
“She’s right,” Ford says, not whispering so much as lowering the gravelly rumble of his voice. The personification of Wrath does not whisper. Oh, no. Ford sounds like he smoked a pack of cigarettes and then gargled glass. He just growls at various decibel levels.
I tell myself that it isn’t sexy, but given how many times I’ve had sex with the man, I think that it’s pretty clear that’s a lie.
Okay, fine, it wasn’t that many times.
But for a fallen angel who’d never had sex before in her entire existence a couple months ago, any sex is a lot. And all of our encounters were pretty freaking memorable.
Nix scoffs, but I glance over at Ford, who gives me a look that’s… well, it’s not quite soft. I’m not sure that Ford is capable of that kind of softness.
But it’s reassuring.
Protective.
“The best defense,” Ford adds, “is a good offense.”
As he speaks, he takes my elbow and leads me around the corner down another alley, following Beckett and Ryland, who are in the lead.
I nudge him with my shoulder. “You would know.”
Ford likes to box in no-holds-barred bare-knuckle brawls for a living, so he’s well versed in what tactics are most likely to win a fight.
“Yes,” he replies, without a trace of humor. “I would fuckin’ know.”
I bite back another fond smile, focusi
ng on the two tall figures ahead of us. Someday I have got to get this man to understand the concept of a joke.
Beckett and Ryland pause up ahead, then look at one another. I never thought I would find someone who’s Beckett’s match in leadership, but Ryland is that person. It’s impressive. He’s impressive, even though I still can’t get a solid read on him.
The one time I ended up naked in a room with all of the brothers, Ryland never touched me. He only gave orders and watched. I don’t know what it will take to melt him, and I’m not sure that it’s even possible. But even though I’m uncomfortable around him… I can’t deny that he’s good at balancing Beckett out and being in charge of the others. Pride and Greed work well together, it seems.
After doing one of their silent conversation things, Beckett looks back at the rest of us and tilts his head in a silent gesture for us to follow him.
I take a deep breath as we continue down the alley.
We’re on our way to see a witch, one that Sawyer knows, and I can’t help my nervousness. I know that the sins will protect me as best they can, but our track record with witches hasn’t been all that great. The witch we went to tried to kill me by taking all of my blood, probably for use in powerful rituals. Angel blood is powerful, after all, even if you take it from a fallen angel like me.
This witch, Valentina, is supposedly very well-known and very powerful. She’s not a death witch like Morrigan, so that’s something. Sawyer assured me that she’s not going to hurt me or try to turn me in for the bounty, but I can’t help but worry that it only means she’s going to want to keep me for her own purposes instead.
Besides, how does Sawyer know Valentina?
Usually when he mentions a past lover, he brags about them, mentions some positive trait about them like how beautiful or talented they are—which isn’t really a surprise, seeing as he’s Lust—but he seems almost reluctant to talk about her.
I wonder what the history is there. Was Valentina someone important to him once? Or an enemy?
Honestly, it’s hard to picture Sawyer having anyone important in his life other than his brothers. He’s handsome, in spite of the vicious scars that cover his body and face. In fact, I think the scars almost make him more beautiful. They make him look more… human. There are certain kinds of people who look too good to be true, completely flawless, and it makes them seem almost untouchable. But a bit of scruff, a scar, some wrinkles—those things make them seem human.
They make them seem like someone you could truly hope to have for yourself. To be worthy of.
Not that I’ll ever tell Sawyer that. Sawyer’s well aware that he’s good looking, and he has no problem getting anyone into his bed. I don’t want to be just another conquest to him. Even though you could say that I technically am, given that we’ve slept together. I’m not going to be someone he can use until he throws me away, someone he can brag about later.
I know it’s stupid to say that I want to be special to him, but… I want to be someone that he cares about because I’m me, I’m Trinity. Even if that means he only cares about me as a friend. I’m not expecting him to think the moon and sun rise and set because of me or anything ridiculous like that.
A light wind picks up around us, stirring my hair, and I shiver. I can’t tell if it’s just wind, or perhaps something else. Something more sinister.
There could be enemies around any corner. We’re right in the heart of one of the many supernatural neighborhoods that dot New York City—neighborhoods I didn’t even know about until meeting the sins. There’s a lot I didn’t know about the world until I met them.
“I’m just saying,” Nix grumbles. “Sawyer could’ve gone by himself.”
“Given how well that went last time…” Remi murmurs sarcastically, trailing off.
Sawyer turns back to glare at him, and Ford chuckles. Ford is Wrath, so he can feel whenever his brothers—or any people near him, really—are angry.
“You wanna know how I got these scars?” Nix says, quoting The Dark Knight.
I grin into the darkness. Nix seems to be the only one of the sins who shares my love of movies and TV. He’s often the only one who gets my pop culture references, and I think it shocked him the first few times I laughed at his.
But my grin slips from my face as I realize what he just said, and the full implication of his words. I glance from him to Sawyer and back again, then I look at Remi—the peacekeeper of the group, the one who always explains things to me when I get left behind.
“Wait. Does he mean…?”
“Yeah. The scars? Those are courtesy of Valentina.” Remi gives a small sigh, taking my other arm and slowing our steps a little as he speaks in a low voice. “She fell in love with Sawyer. Far from the first time that’s happened with someone, but this time… Well, when he rejected her, told her he doesn’t do the whole ‘love’ thing, she cursed him. All of us sins are pretty powerful. It’s hard for people to hurt us, and even harder for us to be wounded in a way that we can’t heal from. But Valentina’s possibly the most powerful witch out there, and she managed it.”
Ahead of us, Sawyer’s back is ramrod straight, which is unusual. Generally, Lust saunters everywhere, swaggers even, his body language matching the drawl in his voice. Even though Remi kept his voice quiet, I know Sawyer heard us.
“Would it be so bad?” I ask, chewing my bottom lip. “For him to try loving someone?”
Of course, I can’t blame him if he didn’t fall in love with Valentina. You can’t force someone to feel something for another person. If there’s anything the sins have taught me, it’s that love is unpredictable and doesn’t always follow logic.
But surely, in all his centuries of existence, there was at least one person Sawyer considered having a serious relationship with?
Remi and Nix look at each other, and neither of them says anything. Ford snorts, which is his primary method of communication, but when I look over at him and raise my eyebrows to demand an explanation, he just shakes his head curtly.
All right, then. Nobody’s going to tell me anything. Sure.
I guess secret keeping is a two-way street.
“If she’s so angry with Sawyer that she cursed him, then are we sure we should be going to her?” I mutter.
“Now she understands why I was so fucking reluctant,” Ford grumbles. Knight nods empathetically. He’s walking on Ford’s other side, a silent shadow in the dimly lit street.
“Valentina’s not going to want to kill you,” Beckett says from up ahead, and I almost stumble over my own feet in surprise. I didn’t realize he was listening in. “She’s got her own code. Whatever she’s got against Sawyer, she’s not going to take it out on you.”
Next to him, Ryland holds up a hand. We all freeze, Ford and Remi both dropping my arms so they can be ready to fight.
Is there someone nearby? Have we been found?
“She’s here,” he whispers.
We all move forward, creeping around the corner until we’re faced with one of New York’s many bridges.
I can’t imagine anyone as powerful as Valentina living under a bridge. Is she camped out under here disguised as a homeless person?
Ryland moves forward quickly but confidently, striding under the bridge and vanishing into the darkness. I swallow hard, unsure if I can follow. My feet feel like lead. What if there’s an ambush of some kind waiting under there?
Beckett takes my arm and leads me under the bridge, and I press myself up against him before I even realize what I’m doing. It’s just so natural to trust him like this, and it’s become a habit for him to hold his arm out and for me to take it. His presence soothes me. Beckett’s been protecting me from the beginning. I know he’ll keep me safe no matter what happens.
As we step into the darkness beneath the bridge, I can’t see a thing. It’s all shadows on top of shadows, and I press myself as close up against Beckett as I can, terrified.
“Where’s the damn door…?” Ryland mutters up ahead.
Oh, I see. Valentina doesn’t live under the bridge. This is just the entrance to wherever she does live. It’s a well-chosen hiding spot, I’ll give her that.
“You all right, angel?” Beckett murmurs, his mouth by my ear.
The heat of his breath makes goose bumps scatter across my skin, and I nod firmly.
It’ll be okay. I have my men with me.
Normally, this is where I’d remind myself that they’re not really my men, but at the moment, I can’t bring myself to do that. Because right now, it feels like I need them more than I ever have before. Not just as backup and self-appointed bodyguards, but because… well, if things go sideways tonight, they’re the people I’d want to have with me in my final moments.
The last ones I’d want to see before the end.
Holy crap. That’s big.
Huge.
I’m really falling in love with the sins, aren’t I?
I need to save up all the courage I can muster to face Valentina, so instead of answering my own silent question, I tighten my grip on Beck’s arm as we follow Ryland, stepping through into the witch’s lair.
Chapter Two
SAWYER
My shoulders are so fucking tense it feels like they’re turning to stone.
As we step through the doorway and enter the dark corridor beyond, I let out a breath, trying to banish the demons that howl in my head. My brothers know how much I dislike the idea of asking Valentina for help, and I’m sure the angel has picked up on my tension as well. But for some reason, I don’t want Trinity to know the true depth of my unease.
I haven’t seen Valentina since the day she cursed me, leaving my face and body marred with scars.
