Enchanting Wilder (45 page)

“Do we really know what we’re doing?” Kai had asked in a muted tone as we spied on the group of heavenly beings just beyond the forest somewhere in the middle of an unknown dwelling.

“Not really,” I had said, giving him a nervous glance. “Maker wants us here and we told her we’d do it. It’s not like we have to kill them.”

“But she will.”

He was right. I knew if we were to bring them back to her, she’d just make examples out of them. It was her way of showing just how powerful she was.

“It doesn’t matter,” I tried to rationalize. “We’re here and we have to do it.”

“Even if it feels wrong?” Kai had asked quietly, his need for insubordination overwhelming him.

I gulped and turned to Kai, the pit in my stomach growing more and more empty. As much as I’d try to hide it, I sometimes felt the fleeting yearn to give Maker the finger and tell her to shove it, too. “I…I think so?”

Kai sighed and we waited for the angels to move closer.

They had apparently been assigned to stake out the area and clear it of all monster activity.

Before the Earth got overpopulated with oceans of people, God made it His duty to scout out places before He allowed humans to live there. That was before His plate got too full.

Eventually, it became too much. Maker’s army became way too big and that’s when Pursuers were brought in to do the job.

You know, to fight the battles the angels were too valuable to do.

It made no sense to me. I steered clear of Pursuers and they did the same to me. It was a non-verbal agreement we had going on and I liked it that way.

“Oh crap,” Kai said, spotting the group of four angels making their way toward us. “They’re coming. What’s our plan?”

I rested my hand on Kai’s arm to hold him back, but instead of giving him instructions on what to do like I normally did, I was stunned silent by one of the angels. Dressed so unlike the mortals, he had on dark black pants and an even darker shirt that buttoned to his clavicle. It was tight enough that I could easily see what was underneath, but not too much where if I ran into him on the street, I’d feel the need to look away. It was subtle and mesmerizing. I caught a glimpse of his legs and I had to gnaw on the inside of my cheek to stop from visibly fanning myself.
How can two stubs on a body be so incredibly beautiful?
His boots were heavy and a dark brown color, covered in soot and mud, the make of them unlike anything I’d ever seen before. I tilted my head to study him harder. Everything about him intrigued me. Demons didn’t necessarily go with the mortal times either, but we weren’t so far off the scale as this angel.

His comrades weren’t dressed like him. They looked much like what you’d imagine an angel would look like. White, robe-like clothes, immaculate shoes. They bored me, but the other one…the beautiful one…

His beauty, just the raw allure of him, shined brighter than any light I’d ever seen. I almost had to squint. He walked with such purpose and strength.

I knew in that moment we were going to let him go. My decision was made. I couldn’t allow him to be within a hundred feet of Maker, let alone in Beneath for her to do with him as she pleased.

If I was going to do anything that day, it was going to be to save that brown haired, emerald-eyed angel. If Maker found out—to hell with her.

I didn’t care I was a demon made by the worst creature on Earth and he was obviously an angel made by God. I needed him to be safe.

For the first time in my long life, I wanted him. I wanted something for me. Something other than what Maker told me to want. I desired to throw caution to the wind and tell Maker to shove it. Even if it meant Limbo.

My mind reeled with the possibilities of talking to him when a branch snapped under my foot. It took the angels mere seconds to notice us, running in our direction, weapons blazing.

Kai’s nose flared and a look of panic crossed my face.

“Run!” I whisper-yelled.

And we did. Our feet whacked against the hard dirt of the forest, rocks and twigs penetrating the thin soles of my shoes. I picked up the long hem of my dress and attempted to run with a faster speed than my body really allowed. We both gasped for air as our feet took us somewhere and nowhere at the same time. The farther we ran, the closer they got to us.

There was no way out and the outcome wasn’t looking good for us.

Sure, I’d planned my entire life with a nameless angel, but I wasn’t about to let him find out what I was and capture me.

“Halt!” one of the angels called.

I heard the buzzing first, something blazing through the air. Then came the white-hot discomfort as I hit the ground, my legs tied with thick rope they shot at me.

I groaned and turned on my back, withering in pain. The sting of my fall didn’t hurt nearly as much as my pride, though. I’d always though demons trumped angels. I was sorely (pun intended) wrong.

“State your presence,” the beautiful angel instructed me, his pristine, gleaming knife pointed at my head. As the seconds ticked by, his posture never wavered. He covered his face from the sun with his empty hand, attempting to get a good look at me.

He was gorgeous, almost grossly so.
I silently wanted him to move his hand so I could fully admire his magnificence.

Kai moved into the fetal position next to me as another one of the angels pointed an arrow at him. Two more stood behind them, holding their stance.

“We were just looking for food,” I had said, attempting to look small and meek.

“Food?” the beautiful angel questioned as he bent down to get a better look at me. His eyebrows furrowed. “But you’re a…” He turned to the rest of his group. “I have this covered. Go inform Apolly the area is clean.”

“But sir?” one of the other angels had said, apprehensive, but I was too afraid to look at him in fear he might see my true form.

“Go!” demanded the beautiful angel, his voice booming throughout the woods.

In an instant, the three angels vanished and the beautiful angel untied my binds. “What are you?” he had asked, a look of sheer curiosity in his eyes. Which, of course, made him that much more handsome.

“We’re…mortals?” It came out as a question, and I knew the moment the obscure word came out of my mouth he didn’t buy it, but he smiled anyway. His loveliness hit me straight in the gut. It sucker punched me and demanded my attention.

“I’ve never seen something like you before.”

I thanked him for untying the ropes and helped Kai sit up. Silence grew between us.

“I do not fear you,” he said, tilting his head, giving Kai a meddlesome look, too. “Why do I not fear you?”

My body quaked as his eyes drifted back to me. It was then I saw his eyes. They were the color of turquoise, even more beautiful than the sapphires Maker wore. I’d never witnessed such a thing—nor do I think I’d ever forget it. “I don’t know, but I do not fear you, either.” We were on two opposite ends of the spectrum. Feeling that way was certainly out of the norm.

“But you’re…you’re a demon. I know I’m to annihilate you now, at least, that’s what I’ve always been taught, yet I cannot bring myself to do it.” He shook his head and tugged at the ends of his hair with his hands, his gold ring on his left hand glistening in the sunlight. “Why?”

Kai groaned beside me and slapped his hand over his face. “It’s because you find her beautiful.” He looked to me with wide eyes, whispering, “Is he really that dense?”

The look of shock on my face couldn’t possibly translate.

Kai was never one to keep his mouth shut.

“Kai, quiet yourself.”

“No, no,” the angel said with a laugh. “He is right. You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. It’s just—I do not see all demon inside of you. Yes, it’s there, but there’s something else. Are you…” he stopped, “are you an angel?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.” Heat rushed to my cheeks because I had no idea who my father was.

The angel smiled radiantly. “You are. I can feel it now. The light. It pulls to me. You must let me see you again. I have to leave now. Where can we meet?”

I smiled and looked to Kai who just shrugged a shoulder and looked away, bored.

“Salem, Massachusetts,” I had said quickly, blushing as I watched a smile tug on the angel’s lips. “Gallows Hill.” It was my favorite place in the entire world.

“Tonight. Before daylight breaks. I will find you.”

I nodded and accepted his hand as he helped me to my feet. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Aget,” he had said with a smile he sent straight to my soul. “My name is Aget. And yours?”

I bit my lip. “McKenna.”

He smiled and bowed his head, vanishing into thin air.

“What are you thinking about over there, Mighty?” Declan asks, smirking my way.

I lick my lips and sit straight in my new chair in Beneath. “Just our first meeting. Do you remember? You caught Kai and I spying on you.”

Declan laughs, grabbing my hand from his seat. “I do remember. If I recall correctly, you were head-over-heels.” He waggles his eyebrows and kisses the air. “You wanted to throw me onto that dirty ground and do naughty things.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “You were so much more eloquent back then.”

“Hey!” he jokes. “Don’t hate on this.”

“This?” I smirk with a raised eyebrow. “I’m kidding. It’s just so crazy how this whole thing has come full circle.”

Declan returned to Beneath just two days ago. After the showdown with Maker, the angels and The Leaders, Declan thought it best to go and have words with the people in Heaven. Though the other angels weren’t pleased he had, yet again, fallen in love with a hybrid demon-slash-angel, God saw to it that Declan kept his ranking, title and be allowed to help me rule.

Declan looks down at his lap, chewing on the inside of his lip. “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

“All those years without you. Not knowing where you were, just that you were gone…it was the most horrible time in my life.” Declan’s eyes find mine, sadness seeping out of him. “When I found you for the first time, I learned what really mattered to me in this life. It was like the world was full of everyone playing their music incredibly loud. Just boom, boom, boom. Over and over. The sounds mixed and combined into one huge mess of noise I could hardly bear. There was no way to turn the volume down, and then out of all that bewilderment and confusion, I heard your song. For the first time, I could hear the words, make out every syllable. God, your song was beautiful. Maker took that away, sending you into Limbo. I went for so long without you, and that booming, annoying music returned.”

My skin tingles at his admission, my heart opening even more for this amazing man.

“Now your song is the only one I hear again, and I’m so grateful for your symphony.”

I stand from my seat and sit down on his lap, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, clasping my hands loosely behind his head. “I love you, Declan Aget Wilder. It’s no longer my song. It’s our song. I hear it, too. So clearly.”

Declan groans a heady sound, it emanating from deep within his throat. “I love you so damn much. Thank you for finding me.” He smiles. “And to think, that demon we saw in my dream all those months ago wasn’t anyone to be worried about.”

My eyebrows furrow. “I forgot to tell you about that.”

“Oh?”

“While you were away, Sally decided to come clean.”

“Yeah? What did she say?”

“You’re never going to believe this.” I shake my head and smile. “She sent me to you in that dream because she knew it would push us together. She knew you were an angel all along.” Declan’s mouth hangs open and I nod. “I know. She made up that entire rouse to get us closer. The threat of The Leaders taking away your memories was concocted by her. She knew you’d see the real me. Not my cloak. It was all her doing. The red-eyed demon wasn’t real.”

Declan rears back. “It was her way of pushing us along? My fate was never to die by demon?” He shakes his head, clearly just as astonished as I was when she told me. “She’s sneaky and really committed.” He laughs. “I need to buy that woman a bottle of wine.”

I snort. “We need to buy her an entire winery.”