Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (59 page)

“He has just ann
ounced your arrival,” Tau replies
.

“Oh…is
that all?” I ask skeptically,
“B
ecause it sounded to me like he s
aid a lot more than ‘we’re home
.
’
”

“He also declared today as
‘Ruination Day’ for all who
oppose
you,”
Tau adds
, his lips twitching while
his
gray
eyes turn
to mine.

“
Ruination D
ay? W
ho talks lik
e that?
” I ask
as my
narrow
ing
eyes go
to Xavier again.
“What does that even mean?”

“It means that
anyone who objects to your presence is invite
d to fight him in order to demonst
ra
te
his
dissention
,”
Tau replies
with
a
n
undeniable degree of satisfaction
.
“They respect strength, so he’
ll show them strength.”

My eyes drift
back to
Xavier who i
s staring down every other angel in the room like a ruthless dictator at a book burning
,
while the light from the fireplace dan
ces
over the planes of his skin
. Every line of his body denotes
the fact that he
i
s
ready to pounce on someone at the least provocation
. My skin prickles
, assessing the several tiers of angels within the room.

How long could
he last against
them?
I wonder
as
dread fills
me
at the mental image of it
.

“They also respect being treated as equals,” I
reply
matter-of-factly.

I walk over and
I
stand beside Xavier.
“Um, can I just say
something?” I ask
in an exasperated voice. Every e
ye in the hall i
s already on me
,
so I continue
. “
Hi, I’m Evie,” I introduce myself
uncomfortably
,
looking around. “T
here’s a slight change in plans—
t
here’ll be no ruination
today,” I glare
at Xavier,
“
instead,
I’d like to thank you
all for coming to help
us
.
Maybe once you’ve all been around me for a
while,
you’ll see that I’m not creepy and then we can all be…uh, friends?
”

A
ripple of musical voices sound
around us a
s the angels study
me like they’d like to melt me down to see what I’m made of,
but thankfully,
Tau steps in to address them. He speaks in Angel so I have
no way
of following him, but it sounds like he’
s giving them orders.
The unmistakable look o
f respect i
s on every one
of their faces as they listen
to him.

Xavier’s eyes dance as he leans near my ear and says
, “Was that your best attempt to win them over?” 

I frown
at him.
“No, I was just try
ing to give them a reason not to a
ttack you
,”
I whisper
back.
“But now I’m not sure why I bothered.”

Xavier’
s cheek brushes against mine as he leans
closer.
“
So you came to save me?” he
asks
with a hint of humor
in his seductive tone. “You ha
ve so much courage.
I
ha
d forgotten some of what it’
s like to be near you
—
your
vicious
appeal
—
the
savage
longing you create
.
I find that I have
to learn
how
to breathe again
.
”

“Right,” I reply
sarcastically
, while wetting my lips that have gone dry. “I hate to ruin your
illusions of me, but I was
only
trying to protect me.
”

“No, if that were the case, you woul
d’
ve found a means of
escape, but you didn’t
. Y
ou entered the arena and st
ood right beside me,” he replies
, and seeing his point, I bit
e
my lip.

“It was just
a normal response to a per
ceived
threat,” I
contradict
him.

“It’s a normal response for an angel protec
ting her mate,” Xavier counters
, like a skilled tactician.

“No, any normal female would try to talk
her way out of trouble,” I say
with a brittle smile.

Xavier’s fingers co
me up to play with
a strand of my hair as he says
, “There is noth
ing remotely ordinary about you—
acce
pt it. I’l
l show you what you are.”

“And
,
what am I
?” I ask
with a raise of my
eye
brow
while
I pull
my hair back from
his
large hand
.

“Mine,” he replies
softly
with conviction
. T
he light from the chandeli
er overhead makes
his hair
golden
and his wings a deep, b
l
ood-red
color
.
“I will tear open the sky to make you see it.”

W
ildly careening butterflies take
fli
ght in my stomach
, causing my eyes t
o shift
from the
intense
,
mismatched ones
to the doors that
lead
to the West Tower
.
Despite my agitation, a
smile curves
my lips
as I breath
e
, “Reed,” with r
elief so strong it mak
e
s
my legs weak.

As Reed
w
alks toward me, I admire
the
seductive
way h
e moves
while
my eyes wander from his green ones
to
his bare chest. His
dark-
gray wings, tuck
ed casually behind him, unfold when mine flutter
in
some kind of primal signal to him
.
I ca
n’t help
touching him when he reaches
me, letting my arms wra
p around the back of his neck while
my red wings spread out. Rising up on tipto
es,
my cheek brushes
his
.
I whisper
near his e
ar, “You’re okay?”
half
in
question
and half
in
relief.

Feeling his
arms wrap around me, he presses
me to him and
responds
, “Yes, you?”
The
incredible
scent of him assails
me, causing my fingers to reach up and entwine
lightly in
his hair.

Before I can answer him, Xavier gi
ve
s
a low snarl next
to us. Reed instantly stiffens, but otherwise he does
n’t outwardly react, except to plant a long
,
sensual kiss
on my lips.
Ending our
kiss, he l
eans
his forehead against mine,
while
saying,
“I missed you,”
with a
sublime
smile
.

“You wouldn’t have had to miss me if you’d
let me come with you,” I reply
, my hand slipping to his shou
lder
,
while I straighten
.

“Flawless reasoning
,” he replies
with a small s
mile.

“Did
you find anything…bad?” I ask
while trying not to hold my breath.

“Yes
,
I
did,” he says with a look of supplication.
“Os
tentatious decor
is everywhere.”

I gi
ve
h
im a furtive look, knowing he i
s
purposefully not answering my question.
Reed’s hand slip
s from my back to my side
,
position
ing
me next to him so that he can
face Tau and Xavier.
Addressing
Tau, Reed says
, “The residence and grounds are still being secured.
Zephyr and
Russ
ell
are
continuing to locate
latent spells
and portal
s, but there are layers of them—
what we anticipated. It may be some time before we can safely allow Evie access to the entire estate.”

“She will be well pr
otected,” Xavier says
in a cold
voice. “
I will not leave her side.”

“
You are not
needed
in that regard,” Reed counters
in an equal tone.
His fingers lightly touch
the
mark of my wings
on his chest. “I will see to her
.”

Tau’s gray eyes are on me when he says
, “Xavier is Evie’s
guardian
. He is well acquainted with the role.”

Reed
, still outwardly calm, squeezes
me tighter to him. Feel
ing him tense, my heart
accelerate
s
while my face
flushes, like I’ve
just been caught in something
tawd
ry
.
“He
r
guardian
? But,
he’s
a Seraph
,” Reed replies
with a t
ilt of his head, clearly unhappy with the news
.

“Yes,
I am
,” Xavier agrees
in answer
to the implied question.
“
I have been hers
since her inception.”

“Clearly, it’s time that you were reassigne
d to another soul,” Reed replies with
his green eyes narrowing.
“This one now has an
aspire
.”

“There is no other soul for me
,
n
or angel for that matter,”
Xavier says
without
emotion. “And if you believe
that you deserve her, I’m here to let you know just how misguided you have become.”

“I look forward
to
yo
ur challenge then,” Reed replies
with a genuine smile of pleasure.

“I will not keep y
ou waiting long,” Xavier returns
with the same kind of smile.

Alarmed by the
satisfied lo
oks on both their faces, I ask
them
, “What are you talking about? What challenge?”

“I will explain i
t to you later, love,” Reed says
gently, while petting my cheek with the back of his fingers.

Tau
does
n’
t share their smiles as he
says
, “Evie has agreed to dine
with me this evening. I’ll meet with
Pr
eben and make the arrangements.
” Then, his
eyes soften when they fi
nd mine again. “Woul
d you like to rest before we dine
?” he asks
me.