Fallen Embers (Fallen Guardians #9)

Chapter 18

Chapter

Eighteen

An hour later, showered and changed, Nia ran downstairs to the brightly lit, silent kitchen. After what Lore had told her, fear became a living, breathing entity, every creak causing her heart to lodge in her throat.

Cautiously, she peered through the kitchen window. It was probably midday but ever so gloomy. What little of the outside she could see appeared cloaked in whirling mist. No sign of Lore.

Had the angels already summoned him?

Then she shook her head. No, he wouldn’t leave her alone without telling her. But the need to find him grew. Besides, she wanted to talk to him about something that had been on her mind since the disastrous will reading.

She hurried for the exit door when it opened. Lore walked inside, a light dusting of snow on his shoulders and pretty hair. He raked back the strands, and the flakes fell away.

His brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

Just looking at him, the banked sexual heat within her stirred again. “I couldn’t find you.”

“I was outside, making sure everything was safe, but I have you in my senses, always.”

Her gaze searched his. “And the angels?”

“They’re gone now.”

Still, unease stretched her nerves. She nodded and bit her lip. His gaze dipped to her mouth and heated. She half expected him to kiss her.

He glanced at the table instead, and his brow furrowed. “Why haven’t you eaten?”

“I was about to.” Nia forced herself to cross to the counter by the opposite wall and picked up the large, clear plastic container with the cake in it. Trying not to show her worry, she blurted the first thing that came to mind. “What’s life like in the Celestial Realm when you’re not working?”

Lore arched an eyebrow. “I’m hardly ever not working ,” he murmured, leaning against the counter across from her. “When I do get a moment of quiet, I go to the archives and read the scrolls or tomes, whichever I need information from, or have a sword session with Jehoel or the thrones.”

She cracked open the lid before shooting him a quick look. “Can you actually see into the Celestial Realm right now? See whomever you want?”

A smile. “You really are curious, aren’t you?”

She scrunched her nose. “Naturally.” Then those angels could see him, too? See them?

“No,” he said, picking up on her thoughts again. “This place has strong wards. Even the seraphs, as powerful as they are, will not be able to see inside.”

Nia released a deep breath, relaxing a little. Man, anxiety was screwing with her mind.

But with Lore so close, just recalling what had happened between them, and that latent heat started to unfurl.

God, she clenched her inner muscles. Why only with him did she feel this way—and yet felt nothing when she’d seen Zayn and Zac earlier?

Because Lore was an angel?

“Yes,” he finally answered, distracting her. “My mind can traverse the realms, the universe if needed, to see what’s happening. I wasn’t here when you came down because I flew. It helps me think, and I also wanted to check that all was as it should be in the surrounding area.”

Think ?

About them?

Her stomach heaved, and her desire waned a bit. Unable to remain still, she hunted down a side plate from a small stack in a cupboard.

“Think about what?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Us?”

He rubbed his jaw, something she’d never seen him do. “Yes. And other things. Nia?—”

“It’s fine. I get it.” We can’t do this again. It’s too risky.

She shut the cupboard door, returned to the table, and set the plate down. At least he didn’t beat around the bush. She’d give him that. Still, it sucked so damn badly.

Grabbing a butter knife from the dish rack, she sliced a serving and moved the wedge onto her plate. Fork in hand, she speared a piece of the creamy chocolate offering and ate it, but the gooey cake stuck in her tight throat.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She pivoted for the sink, got a glass of water, and gulped some before she faced him. Might as well get on with the crucial things she had to do now. “Nothing’s wrong. I have to go back home?—”

“Not yet.”

“You said the same thing earlier.” She tipped her chin up. “I know Kas is dead. Surely you can keep me safe from whatever else is after me, though you won’t say who, what, or why that is.”

“Nia, you are psionic?—”

“You don’t know that for sure.” She set her glass down. While she might have believed it initially, Nan’s words pounded in her head: You are someone else’s spawn. Maybe even a demon’s, considering your ability to SEE them. “It’s only an assumption until your archangel sees me and confirms it, right?”

“Your awakening powers are the first sign.”

“Stop, please,” she groaned. “How many other ways does it have to be said that I am some demon’s spawn? Nan said so! And that’s probably why my father refused to reveal my origins or where he adopted me. If I truly were descended from the Watchers, Nan would have been ecstatic,” she said bitterly.

“Nia, listen to me?—”

“No, it makes perfect sense. It’s why I can see demons and why Nan could never lo?—”

Shit, not going there! “I’m going to find out the truth, one way or another. Find out who my parents were.”

Then maybe she’d finally have closure. Appetite gone, she put her unfinished slice in the container and packed it away.

Lore came around the table, stopping a foot from her. “You cannot go back to New Orleans.”

She cut him a flat stare, which seemed not to dent his infinite patience. “Kas is dead.”

“His minions, however, aren’t.”

“What?” Her belly roiled. “Shouldn’t the hold over them be broken with Kas dead? I know because Saia explained all this to me.”

His gaze skimmed her face. “It should, yet it’s not. Which is why I must find out what happened.”

“God! It will never be over, will it?” Mouth tight, she glared out the window, helplessness sweeping through her. “I have to get out of here.” She made for the door.

He appeared in her path.

“Lore, I need space. I’m spitting mad that the hunt for me is never-ending, and at you for keeping this from me!”

“Nia.” He clasped her wrist. “I didn’t want to worry you, but letting anger consume you is a definite pathway to recklessness. You won’t sense danger until it’s too late.”

She scowled at him.

He didn’t release her, and his thumb gently caressed her inner wrist. She hated that he could make her so aware of him, even as mad as she was. “You were already hurting from the funeral, then that letter,” he said quietly. “I thought I did the right thing.”

She pulled away and rubbed her hot face. How could he possibly understand anything or know this sensation of loss, of having the entire foundation she thought was her life shattered, leaving her adrift, when he didn’t do emotions?

Her anger deflated.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not your fault.” She walked around him, her shoulders tight with tension, but he grasped her arm. His touch sent an unwanted spark through her even as his eyes searched hers, intense and unblinking. “Why does it not matter?”

Bitter laughter escaped her. “Because you’re an angel. As you pointed out several times, you don’t have emotions like us humans.”

“I feel you, Nia?—”

“It’s not the same thing.” She jerked free. “That’s just carnal urges, a bodily need as you’ve seen. Once satiated, it’s a mere memory, then forgotten.”

His brow lowered.

Nia ignored his narrowing eyes. “What I’m talking about comes from here.” She poked her chest repeatedly with a finger. “It bleeds from the deepest depths of your soul and consumes you whole. And right now? I feel extremely alone.”

“You have me.”

Tears burned her eyes, those same damn emotions swelling her throat. “For how long, Lore? In the end, you will leave. I need more. I need to find my family.”

“Nia, I…”

At his hesitation, the hope she didn’t know she hung on to crumbled. “Yeah, I get it. You can’t promise me anything.”

She sidestepped him and made for the door, trudging out into the freezing air to the front courtyard. Though she wore only a sweater, the chill didn’t deter her.

God, she was so tired of this—of longing for something, for affection that was always out of her reach.

The swaying, strung-up sandbag snatched her attention. Nia marched across and punched it over and over until her knuckles hurt, and the anger and pain became a frozen ball in her chest. She grabbed the swinging bag and pressed her perspiring brow to the chilled leather?—

Lore’s powerful arms came around her, pulling her into his hard, warm body, his scent of wide open spaces and citrus consuming her with longing. But she couldn’t have him either, not for the long-term like she wanted. Needed.

She moved away, swiping her hot face with her sleeve. “You shouldn’t do that. Shouldn’t hold me. We’re outside.”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Really?” His expression hardened. “I am eons old. I know what I mean to say.”

“Not for this!”

He stepped closer, a formidable wall of strength, power, and heat—God, he was throwing off so much heat—and the slumbering desire within her spiked again. “I’ve already broken several sacrosanct vows. I knew what I was doing when I?—”

He grabbed her hand, and in a blink, she was back inside the kitchen. “Stay here.”

“What?”

Fury bled into every line of his hard, handsome face.

It terrified her. “Lore?—”

“I’ll be back.”

His form blurred and vanished, leaving behind only his scent and lingering warmth where he’d stood.

Her heart shot to her throat and her gaze darted to the kitchen windows, but none of them faced the front courtyard. She sprinted for the stairs to the next level and for the door at the end of the corridor. It opened to some kind of workshop with wooden statues lining the walls. The sound of swords clanging had blood whooshing in her ears.

No, no! She darted around the massive worktable to the window. She grabbed the dusty granite sill, brow pressed to the pane. Panting, she stared out through the dirty glass. Two angels fought Lore with such deadly impact that her blood iced.

“God, please, please, don’t let anything happen to him.”

The pair flew at Lore, one with wings of chocolate and the other of chestnut flapping so hard, she could actually hear them through the abbey’s thick wall. They flashed, corralling him again. The fight grew faster; she could barely follow. One ducked to Lore’s back, sword thrusting forward?—

“No!” she cried out as the long weapon sank into Lore.

He stumbled free of the blade. It didn’t stop him. He ducked a blow coming at him from the front and rammed his huge sword behind him with such deadly precision that it plunged straight through the heart of the one who had wounded him.

The angel faltered, and his entire being shuddered. In a burst of light, he shot up into the sky.

Lore didn’t even glance back. He countered the dark-winged angel, his own fiery extremities spreading. With his wider wingspan and enormous sword braced, he appeared utterly perilous. Through the grimy window, she could see a wet gleam spreading over his chest. But he should have already healed, shouldn’t he?

They appeared to be talking.

Whatever words they shared, his stance revealed unyielding tension.

The dark-winged angel’s arm moved in a flash, his sword pressing into Lore’s throat.

“No, no, Lore. What are you doing?” Her breath misted against the glass. “Take him out?—”

With a powerful thrust of his free hand, Lore slammed the angel in his belly. He folded over and vanished.

Nia pivoted and sprinted for the door, but Lore was already there. His chest heaving, his gaze skimmed over her as if she were the one injured.

“What happened?” She clutched his shirt, her gaze fixed on the blood covering his chest. “You’re bleeding!”

“I’m okay.”

“ I’m not! I saw that sword go through you—” She darted around to his back and swallowed hard at the exit hole glistening with blood.

“Nia.” He faced her and gently stroked her cheek. “It’s nothing.”

It was always nothing with him.

Mouth tight, she yanked his shirt apart. Buttons snapped, hitting the floor. She blinked at the seeping wound. “Why aren’t you healing?”

He glanced at his chest, then shrugged. “It seems emotions have made me a little vulnerable.”

Her breath escaped in a rush. “What?”

“I’ll still heal faster than a human,” he pointed out.

“Will your full healing power return?”

“Yes, but only when I return to the Celestial Realm. There are certain steps I would need to take…”

When he said nothing more, she let out a sigh, grasped his hand, and tugged him down the gloomy passageway.

“Where are we going in such a hurry?” he drawled. “Bed?”

Like all males, his mind would go there.

“This corridor is fine, too,” he baited. “I like you trapped between the wall and me.”

She snorted as that infernal heat spiked again at his seductive promise. Even though she knew he was doing so to take her mind off his injury, she loved this emerging teasing side of him.

Nia opened the door to the room she occupied and pointed to the bed. “Sit. I’ll be back in a sec.”

She dashed to the small bathroom and found what she wanted in the cabinet beneath the sink. First aid kit in hand, she straightened and squeaked at the figure looming behind her in the cloudy mirror.

“Christ, Lore! You scared the heck out of me!” she grumbled, setting the kit next to the sink. “You can’t stay put, can you?”

“You weren’t there. I grew bored.”

“For two seconds?”

A shrug. His gaze drifted over her face.

Her heart melted. “Well, since you’re here, let me clean that wou—” She blinked as she parted his open shirt. “Oh…never mind. I’ll just clean this mess off, then.”

She snagged the hand towel from the rail, wet it, and gently wiped away the gore from his completely healed chest.

“Happy?” he asked.

“Beaming.” But meeting his amused stare, she rolled her eyes and tossed the towel into the hamper.

He pushed back the hair from her face and brushed her mouth with the gentlest of kisses, and her breath caught. They had kissed before, but this…this felt so different.

Tender. Warm.

His mouth caressed hers, then he licked the seam. While she loved it, he was driving her crazy with these tormentingly gentle touches. She wanted hard. Fast.

Her aching body demanded it.

She wrapped her fingers around his fiery hair, lifted onto her toes, and sucked on his lower lip.

He growled, eyes flaring with heat. “Why do you steal my kisses?”

She huffed. “We’re still kissing the person we like.”

“Like?” An eyebrow rose. He scooped her into his arms, startling a shriek out of her, and strode for the bedroom, dropping her on the bed. “Let’s see how much I like you then, shall we?”

She raised onto her elbows, her heart careening in her ribs as he crouched near her legs. He removed her boots and dropped them. Leaving her socks on, he undid the button on her jeans, his warm fingers brushing the skin of her stomach, and she shivered. His brow furrowed. “You are cold.”

Heck, she didn’t know anymore, not with the prickling energy of her awakening powers and that spiraling, carnal heat burning her up inside. He reached for the zipper.

“Lore, wait.” She grasped his hands, her gaze searching his. While she wanted him more than her next breath, it would kill her if he had regrets after. “You sure about this?”

“I wouldn’t be here, trying to get your clothes off, if I weren’t.”

Strangled laughter burst free. Heck, why was she denying herself this momentary happiness? Her worries would still be there, waiting with arms stretched wide. Then she shut it all out. At least she’d have these memories. And that infernal heat that caused her core to throb, aching for fulfillment, would hopefully end.

She lifted her hips and wiggled out of her jeans.

“Whatever internal fight you won, I approve.”

Nia rolled her eyes, and that hint of a smile she was starting to watch for appeared as he slid her jeans off her legs. He grasped the hem of her pink sweater and removed it too, leaving her in her cotton underwear.

She sat up, pushed his shirt off his wide shoulders and down his powerful arms, and dropped it aside.

Still hunkered down, he cupped her face with one hand and trailed his mouth along her jaw to her lips, then he kissed her with the same kind of hunger that was tearing through her.

His tongue found hers, and he drew it into his mouth, sucking and licking. His other hand wasn’t idle. Nope, he lowered the cups of her lacy bra and squeezed her breast as he trailed his lips down her neck to her chest.

His mouth fastened on her nipple. He suckled, then tugged. God, she whimpered, feeling the pull all the way to her core. He rolled her sensitive nub with his thumb, strumming her desire.

She grabbed his hair and kissed him. With a low growl, his tongue slicked over hers, and she shuddered. Need swamped her. And all she could do was let him explore her whichever way he wanted, because this man—this angel—was already worming his way into her heart.

Without breaking their sensual kiss, he moved and sat on the bed, pulling her astride him.

“Wait.” She reached between them for his zipper. But he shook his head, and the next minute, his pants were gone, leaving him naked under her.

And her cotton-covered core settled against his hardening sex. He grunted, his mouth back on hers.

Loving the smidgen of power she had over this formidable, dangerous male, Nia rubbed her aching clit over his rigid length. Her own arousal spiraled upward. He gripped her ass and squeezed, moving her over his cock.

God! Everything in her remained fixed on the throbbing ache between her thighs. But he was so new to this, so she put her needs aside.

As she sucked on his tongue, she reached between them, moved her panties to one side, and dragged her achy wet slit along his hard cock.

A masculine groan rumbled free. He broke their kiss, and eyes like twin flames of silver met hers. His gaze lowered between their bodies, and she blinked as he sliced off her panties with a dagger she didn’t even see him summon. He tossed both his weapon and her underwear to the floor.

He gripped her hips again and said huskily, “Much better. I see you.”

“Move up the bed,” she breathed, chest heaving, drawing his attention to her breasts.

No heaving and grunting for him as he moved them in a blink to the middle of the double bed with her still straddling his hips. He lay back. His sunset hair spread out like flames on the dark sheet. He slipped his thumb between her slick folds, finding her clit and toying with it.

Desire soared. Desperately needing him inside her, she grasped his rigid cock and watched his face as she lowered onto his heavy erection.

This was his first time, and she hadn’t been with anyone for a long time, so she pushed down slowly. As the rounded head of his shaft breached her, a gasp caught in her throat at his sheer size…then the burn?—

God, she was stretched to the point of discomfort.

He stopped breathing, his gaze locked on her nether lips enclosed around his cock.

She pushed down some more, letting him feel as her body accepted each inch of him. Then she slid all the way to the root and bottomed out, his hard shaft pulsing inside her. She shifted a little as the tingle in her core overcame the slight burn. Pleasure surged.

“You…” he rasped.

“I know. You feel just as incredible inside me,” she breathed. “So full.” So good!

He grasped her hips and shifted his experimentally, and his cock stroked her insides?—

“ Ohhh !” A moan broke free, the urge to move fisting her hard, but she waited. It was his first time.

When he looked at her with that blazing, half-lidded stare, she started to slowly retreat, almost removing herself from his cock.

“No!” he growled, tightening his hold, keeping her there.

“What?” she teased, her voice husky. “It’s all about pleasure…” And she came down on him again.

A dark groan escaped him.

Braced on her knees, she worked him faster and faster, gathering momentum. His grip tightened on her hips. His jaw clenched.

Still so much control?

“Let go,” she whispered. “We’ll fall together.”