Angelic Avenger (20 page)

“Okey-dokey.” She bounced off and I had a brief moment to wonder who had put her hair up in that neat braid. Whoever it had been was now elected to do it every morning until we passed her on to her mother’s next of kin.

The thought brought a flash of sadness to my heart. Until that moment, I’d not considered how drastically my life had changed in the last few days. It was a good kind of change, though. I liked it. I don’t know which part of the realization shocked me more, the fact I would miss the little dynamo when she was gone or that the changes in my life were for the better instead of the worse.

“Shoes.”

Gray’s laughing whisper brought me back to reality to find myself still pressed against his oh-so-happy body. I blinked up at him and frowned at the laughter brimming over from his eyes.

“We have to feed the troops and I’m hungry for more than a romp of hot and sweaty sex.”

I blushed. I couldn’t help it. That was exactly where my mind had slid when he’d made the comment. My inner self had whispered,
Hungry? We can fix that. Send them out to eat and let me feed you.
Of course, I would have never said it out loud, but a girl’s allowed to have lascivious thoughts, too.

IHOP was packed on a Sunday morning, but we waited patiently. Gray tucked me under his arm while Craig and Ben sat on either side of Lizzy, listening to her babble on and on about something. I was too busy snuggled up under Gray’s arm, watching the women who strolled in cast covetous glances at my men. It was fun to think of them that way. The hostess was watching them like she was imagining all sorts of things. It’s great to be the envy of the neighborhood.

I swear I’ve never gotten that kind of service anywhere. My coffee cup was never cold or remotely empty. Of course, it was hard to keep the balance of cream and sugar the way I wanted it, but it was worth it to watch the waitresses fall all over themselves to serve us. It was a nice brush to my ego to have Gray throw his arm around me and pull me closer to him instead of flirting with the servers, who were all too interested in figuring out which one belonged to me.

Ben noticed the attention and his blue eyes lit up with laughter as he pointedly ignored all the questions about Lizzy they kept asking. Craig, bless his heart, was totally oblivious. I guess he was so grateful not to be thrown out on his ear he was on his best behavior. His attention was centered on the other girl in our party so all the passes went straight over his head. Somehow, that made me think better of him. Maybe he was cut out to be a one-woman man, after all. I’d have to keep that in mind if I started making more mortal friends.

After three helpings of pancakes for Lizzy, we were off to Gray’s house. Craig carried Lizzy and I found myself looking to see if her belly was rounded like a kitten that had gorged itself, but saw no evidence of it. Children were truly amazing creatures.

We walked across the parking lot, laughing about the vivacity of the young as we headed to where we’d parked both my car and Gray’s.

There was no excuse for not seeing Turel step from behind two parked SUVs except carelessness on our part. Having an angel around had made us believe we were safe because there hadn’t been any outward attacks. I didn’t even recognize him for what he was. Later, I’d curse my distraction and inattention.

Turel stepped out from between the parked SUVs as if he were going to walk into the restaurant. It was so normal I almost missed the way he looked at us. That heartbeat of warning was all that saved Lizzy’s life. Ben and I noticed it at the same moment. He grabbed Craig and shoved him out of the way at the same time I jumped between them.

Turel’s amiable face morphed with rage as his cold hand contacted my shoulder instead of Lizzy’s leg. He screamed in outrage and a part of me noticed Gray hustling a wide-eyed Craig across the parking lot while Ben ranged beside me. Two of us and one of him should have been good odds, but not in this case.

Gavreel!
I sent out the call even as I prayed Turel’s rage would keep him from magical pursuit. Ben and I weren’t equipped to handle that.

Riding to the rescue, Gavreel materialized behind the angel. Turel, realizing he’d lost his advantage, phased out in a blink, but not without one last snarl at me. Seconds passed before the pain hit. I didn’t understand it, not really. I was immortal. Since I couldn’t die, very few things hurt me for more than the moment or two it took for minor wounds to heal. Major ones took longer, though, but I hadn’t really gotten any major ones. Until now. I tried to raise my arm and frowned when it wouldn’t respond, glancing to see what the problem was.

Seeing it made the injury seem so much worse. Where Turel’s hand had grabbed me was blistered and the cotton of my shirt was fused into the skin in a perfect handprint. I had a brief moment to frown and wonder how he’d done it before my knees buckled. Ben caught me and snatched me up to hurry toward the cars with Gavreel behind us. Somewhere before we got to my car, I passed out and was glad when the agony faded into blackness.

Chapter Eighteen

The haze of oblivion gave way to Gray’s voice as he railed at someone, presumably Gavreel and Ben since they were the ones I remembered as I passed out.

“I can’t believe you would let her get hurt like this. You never said he could actually physically hurt her. I’d never have agreed to this fiasco if you had. You
let
her walk into this blindly. How very like
you.
”

“Gray,” Gavreel’s voice was soothing, “I healed her. She’ll be fine. By rights, Turel shouldn’t have been able to do this. She shouldn’t have been in any physical danger at all…”

“You honestly want me to believe you didn’t know he could do this?” Gray’s voice was hot with anger.

I struggled to open my eyes even as I took inventory of my body. My shoulder didn’t hurt anymore, but my body was heavy, as if something was holding it down. I tried to lift my arm, but it was as immobile as my eyelids. None of my muscles wanted to move and I fought down the panic that welled in my heart.

“If I had known he could do this,” Gavreel snapped back at Gray, “I certainly wouldn’t have left her unprotected. Wait, she wasn’t unprotected, was she? Foras was here to keep Turel at bay. Why did he leave?”

The silence in the room was heavier than I was and I finally managed to get my eyes open. I found myself lying in a bed that wasn’t my own. Gray’s scent clung to the pillows, so I was presuming we had fled to his house as planned after the attack. I had to admit the room looked like him, with dark cherry furniture styled Early American. Dark earth tones dominated the dimly lit room. My first impression was that it was evening until I realized the drapes were pulled, but sunlight leaked around the edges. I fought to sit up and realized Ben must have been keeping watch from outside the room as he called out to the others.

“She’s awake.”

Gray swept into the bedroom with such a panicked expression I couldn’t help but feel for him. It made absolutely no sense at all. I was the one laying in bed feeling like someone had run over me with a truck.

“I like your room,” I whispered and was shocked at how hoarse my voice was. It was as if my throat was too dry to talk.

“Well, I was planning on introducing you to my bed under better circumstances, but at least I can say I got you here.”

It was a lame attempt at a joke, but everyone in the room smiled at it, anyway. The relief was tangible. I guess they all thought the rogue had up and killed me off. Nah, I’m harder to kill than that. I hoped, anyway.

“What happened?” I looked over to my shoulder as I tried to sit up. I caught myself a second before I flashed the room and blushed. I was naked. Of course, I was. It made sense, though. In order to heal me, Gavreel would have needed to see what he was doing. He wasn’t a true healer so the gift was harder to work for him. “How long was I out?”

“About four hours,” Ben answered as he strolled in behind the angel, who had taken a moment longer to reach the room than Gray. “Gavreel managed to heal the worst of it, but you took a pretty bad blow to your shoulder. Can you move your arm?”

“I feel like death warmed over, no pun intended,” I groaned and tried. With extreme effort the right arm lifted and I moved it about. “Yeah, I can move it. Why am I so…?”

“Because I was forced to tap into your magic to heal the wound.” Gavreel’s voice was laced with something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It might have been embarrassment. “It was beyond my abilities, I’m sad to say.”

“We don’t know how Turel managed to gain that particular ability.” Gray hurried to answer the question in my gaze as I stared past him at his sire. “The best we can figure is that he thought to catch us off guard and take little Lizzy. Your quick thinking saved her. You and Ben, that is.”

He glanced up at the other man with a slightly apologetic smile. I was beginning to wonder what I’d missed out on in my healing-induced sleep. Why is it all the good stuff happens when you’re unconscious?

“Lizzy is okay?”

“She’s fine,” Gray assured me. “Craig has her out back playing. They were playing ‘stalk the child’ last I checked.”

“Is it safe for her to be outside?” I couldn’t help but ask. After all, if we’d been more vigilant, maybe I wouldn’t be the one wounded. It would have been nice to give as much as I got to the bad guys every once in a while.

“Turel may be mad, but he won’t come while he can feel the presence of a true angel here to protect you. You all may not be a match for him and he knows it, but a true angel is, at worst, an even match or the better of him.”

Something flashed across Gray’s face and I was glad Gavreel couldn’t see it. He was still upset about what had happened, but I couldn’t figure out why. This was what I did, after all. Well, not exactly, but close enough where I couldn’t complain about it. While Danger wasn’t exactly my middle name, it did run hand in hand with my lifestyle.

“Can you two leave us alone for a few minutes?” I didn’t look at Ben and Gavreel when I asked nor did I acknowledge their agreement as they left the room and closed the door behind them. Magic flared and I realized someone had warded us against eavesdropping. “Did you do that?”

Gray shook his head. “Gavreel. I don’t possess that particular ability.”

That confirmed that he did possess some of the angelic powers inherent in his blood, but that was a question for another day. I filed it away as a point of curiosity satisfied.

“Remind me to thank him.”

“Thank him? He lets you nearly get yourself killed and you want to thank him for a little privacy?”

“Should I be thanking him for his protection, instead? After all, it’s not like Foras is lurking around the shadows right now to lend a hand.”

It came out with a bite. Gray’s face darkened and I found myself glad to see his temper getting the best of him. I have to say I preferred a mad Gray to a frightened one. Anger I could handle. This kind of fear, I couldn’t. I simply didn’t understand it well enough to deal with it. I pushed the advantage while I had it.

“Turel can’t kill me, Gray. I’m immortal. So he hurt me a little, big whoops. We live, we learn, we adapt. I won’t be so quick to step in front of him next time.”

“That’s the problem, Bella.” Gray sighed and reached out to take my hand in his. “He nearly did kill you. Gavreel doesn’t know how he did it, but he reached out and sucked the magic right out of you. Magic is what animates you, you know. He nearly drained you in that one brief touch. I just found you. I can’t lose you so fast, especially like that.”

It was news to me. No one had ever really explained how it worked, being alive and soulless like I was. To be fair, I’d never asked, either. I think I was afraid of what the answer might be. Magic made sense. Reaching up to cup his face, I smiled at him.

“I’m not dead. Well, I am, but not in the literal sense of the word. Stop panicking and come here.”

More than anything, I wanted him to hold me close, and warm the spot deep inside that I hadn’t even realized needed warming until he had come along. He didn’t need to be asked twice, but crawled up next to me, sliding under the covers with a grin. Gotta love a man who can follow orders.

“You know, it would be a lot more fun if I took my clothes off, too.”

I gave an embarrassed laugh. I’d forgotten I was naked, but apparently he hadn’t. “Nope. I don’t suppose you have my pajamas handy?”

“Sorry, honey. I could grab you one of my shirts, if that would make you feel better.”

His blue eyes sparkled with mischief as I nodded slowly. That was a loaded question, but I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to find the catch. Without hesitation, he reached down to hook the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head. I laughed at him as he flipped it over my head, somehow managing to get it right side out without trying.

“There,” he whispered as he slid down to cuddle me close. I dissolved into giddy giggles. “Now we’re even. I’d say that’s a good compromise, wouldn’t you?”

Part of me screamed
no,
but the side I wanted to listen to whispered that compromise wasn’t always a bad thing. I sighed as I settled against his chest and he wrapped his arms around me as if he was afraid I would disappear. It bordered on slightly uncomfortable, but I didn’t complain. We each had our own needs to bring to the table, or bed, as it were. I quickly squashed that line of thinking and relaxed against him. Thoughts about magic drifted through my mind, but I made no effort to organize the chaotic thoughts until one grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.

“What about a spell?” It popped out of my mouth before I had a chance to think it over well enough to make it a coherent question.

“What?” Gray’s face wrinkled with his frown. I suddenly realized that while he didn’t always smile, he rarely frowned. It was one of the things I liked about him.

“You’re magic, in part. I’ve met people with angelic blood who aren’t inherently gifted but could master spell casting. What if the damage from Turel’s touch was a spell instead of a newly discovered talent? It makes no sense for him to be able to reach out and harvest magic like I do souls. Magic like that isn’t something an angel can give or take away. That’s a decision to be determined by the Powers. Follow the logic, here.”