Summon Toren (Archangels Creed #3) (14 page)

First things first. Find work and a base from which to study his prey. A quick glance revealed a small diner with a sign proclaiming computers and high speed internet service available for customers. Just what he needed. He crossed the street diagonally, speeding to a jog for the last few feet for an oncoming pickup truck.

The diner's arrangement for the computers left much to be desired with the machines lining a counter along one wall, screens fully visible to the room at large. No doubt a deterrent against teens visiting pornographic sites. The owner deserved public recognition for civic responsibility.

He ordered a large breakfast with the pragmatism of a man who has no idea when his next meal will turn up, and ate quickly. Finished, he moved to a computer, selecting the second from the door, a little uncomfortable with exposing his back to the room. Fingers flying over the keyboard, he rapidly went through several pages, clearing the machine's memory after every few clicks.

A light flowery scent invaded his senses as a young woman sat at the computer next to him. He stifled the urge to cough and clear the cloying odor from his throat. A quick glance in her direction confirmed his initial impression. Slim and brunette, her snug jeans served only as an exhibition prop to display her ass and legs. Her shirt, made of some soft and clingy fabric, revealed a hint of cleavage and clung to her breasts in a way that made a man's hands absolutely ache to hold and take their measure.

Thankfully, not
this
man. Ezekiel was tempted by very few things and that wasn’t one. He clenched his fists for a moment, then resolutely returned his attention to his task. Allowing the American slut to sidetrack him would derail his whole mission, and the woman sitting beside him was the quintessential American slut. With a practiced determination, he erased her presence from his awareness, something he’d learned to master since his earliest days as Askazura's apprentice.

Back then, when he was seven years old, it had been a candy bar, unwrapped and ready to eat. And any boy who allowed the candy bar to distract him from memorizing an assigned passage from Sun Tzu's "The Art
Of War" would receive a flogging and ten days on punishment duty.

Ezekiel paused the memory when it reached the one
that held the single instance when he’d suffered punishment. He cleared his throat with a vigorous cough, but it wasn’t to clean his air of that woman’s scent, but to gain more oxygen for his suddenly claustrophobic lungs. Fifteen days with your head covered in a sack had that effect on you. For Ezekiel, having his mouth or face touched were two things he couldn’t tolerate. He’d fought the phobia for years before resigning to owning it.

The one thing
that punishment had gained him was the ability to master the skill of focus. Distractions like Miss America on his right were as tempting as a camel’s ass.

He scanned the help-wanted ads listed on the local paper's site. Restaurant help. Factory worker. An assortment of other jobs with specific requirements that he didn't have, or didn't bring him in proximity to his enemy. Truck driver for the local feed store. Ranch hand.

He quickly consulted his map of local properties. The ranch bordered the one he needed access to. Perfect. With a few keystrokes, he had directions to the place.

Finally. After eight months, revenge was eminent. He would have the blood of the man who had pinned him with the blame for a botched illegal arms deal. The man had set every extremist group on Ezekiel's trail.
Not something he appreciated since his very birth put him in the center of religious conflict.

He stood to leave.

"Um, excuse me?"

Great.
The American whore of course would have the nerve to speak to him and force civility.

Ezekiel
managed to stop and glare at her.

Of course she
didn't get the message. Her blue eyes just closed in a slow blink and she smiled. "Sorry to bother you, but I'm new here. Do you happen to know where the C-Bar ranch is? I'd rather not drive all over Montana searching for it."

Ezekiel started to growl some nasty reply and stalk off then her words sank in. She was going to the same place he needed to go. And it sounded as if she had her own car. Hitching a ride with her would save him a long cold hike through some nasty snow drifts. Okay then. He forced a somewhat friendly grin to his mouth. "I'm headed there too. Trade directions for a ride?"

A shadow of wariness passed through her eyes and she tilted her head a little as if gauging the danger.

She needed a little reassurance. "I'm not a serial killer or rapist. Promise. Just a soldier down on his luck and looking for work." He lifted one shoulder in a little shrug.
"I'll help you get to the C-Bar if you'll give me a ride."

She lifted a
perfectly sculpted brow and seemed to consider for a moment. "Okay. But if you step out of line I'll gut you."

Great.  An American slut with a knife she thought she could use. Well, it was what it was. He'd deal.

A rough shuffling sound approaching from the right drew his immediate attention. The stench hit him immediately. Guy smelled like he'd rolled in a week old carcass like a dog would. And he looked like that might be a possibility too. Hair that might have been light colored hung in greasy mats to his shoulders and his visible skin was stained gray with filth, dirt clearly embedded in lines and creases and packed into large pores.

"'Scuse me,
mister. You's headin' to the C-Bar? Wonderin' if I might get a ride." The man's breath could be bottled as paint stripper and his visible teeth were broken, decayed, and crusted with all sorts of nastiness. Some part of his emaciated form stayed in perpetual motion. Tweaker.

The girl might be an American slut, but she didn't need to be around anything like that either. "Nah, I don't think so, man." As soon as Ezekiel got the refusal out, the man turned to the slut.

"Please ma'am. I ain't had no work in months an' my ol' lady jus' had another baby. I got no other way to feed 'em."

Ezekiel saw the exact moment she gave in. Her face softened with compassion and pity. The tweaker saw it too. The glance he gave Ezekiel was filthy with triumph.

"I don't see what the harm could be. Hopefully they'll have work for all of us." She shrugged and gathered her coat and handbag. "My truck's in the side lot. If you're both ready we can go ahead and go."

The tweaker pasted himself to the slut's luscious rear and followed her to the parking lot. Ezekiel pulled his coat on and shouldered his duffle bag, At the back of the woman's pickup truck, the tweaker was clearly making her uncomfortable, crowding way to
o close and making no secret of leering at her tits and ass. Served her right.

Except the look she shot Ezekiel was full of fear. She was in over her head and had no idea how to get out. Her kindness had put her in a dangerous situation. Ezekiel had no idea why since it was totally out of character for him, but he found himself saving her ass.

"Why don't you get the truck started, miss."

She gave a grateful nod and slid away from the tweaker, wasting no time in climbing into the cab of the truck.

The nasty bastard grinned at Ezekiel. "That's one fine piece of ass and I'm gonna have a go at it. You stay outa my way and you can have what's left." He drew one side of his greasy coat back to display the handle of a cheap hunting knife that had seen far better days. "Get in my way and you'll grow a new mouth."

Ezekiel shook his head, deciding how best to handle the situation. He'd prefer to leave the tweaker right there, but you never knew what kind of idea someone like that might get. Guy might even think he was bad enough to come searching for Ezekiel. He'd rather not have to look over his shoulder for something like that at this point of his game. Better to get him outside town and cut his throat and toss him over a hill somewhere.

"Whatever, man. I know a spot a little way out of town, perfect for it. I'll give her directions there instead of the C Bar. But you gotta ride in the back. You've already spooked her. If you get in front, she'll be suspicious and end up taking us both to the Sheriff's office."

The tweaker nodded, eagerness lighting his weird eyes. "Good. I'll get in back then. How long to the place?"

Ezekiel shrugged. "Not sure with the road slick. Fifteen minutes maybe." He started for the passenger door. The slut probably wouldn't allow him to drive, of course. "Get in. See you there."

The tweaker clambered into the truck bed with surprising agility, considering his condition, and took a position up near the cab where a big toolbox that spanned the width of the bed would block some wind.

Ezekiel swung into the warm cab and nodded to the slut. "You realize he was planning to rape you? Now he thinks I'm going to help him."

"What?" she gasped as she put the truck in gear.

"That poor old guy, so down on his luck you fell for his story, is planning to rape and kill you." Ezekiel watched anger flush her face. "He even generously offered me his leftovers."

"And you let him get in the truck?" She glared at him. "What were you thinking?"

"That I'd wait until a few miles out of town to cut his throat and roll him over a hill."

"You're insane! You can't do that!"

Ezekiel took a deep breath. "Look, he's a meth head. At best. I'm not leaving him here just so I can spend the next few weeks sniffing over my shoulder for his stench. You want to bring him along so you can dodge him through the hay loft at some isolated ranch?"

Her mouth hung open in the kind of shock that said she’d never had anything like this happen to her. Or maybe it was a look that said
will my luck ever improve
. It was hard to tell and that was a new one for Ezekiel. The idea that it could mean the second had him curious about her. Her stuttering done, she finally managed, "Well, he didn't actually do anything." She turned onto the street. "You can't kill someone for idle talk."

"Fine. Your ass." He should have known better than try to help the slut. She deserved everything she got.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Sam fought her way through the inky blackness, fighting to reach that point of light above her. And the sound of her name. Echoing. She felt cold fingers slowly wrapping around her legs, preventing her from kicking to freedom. She fought harder. Suddenly she saw him at the light, waiting. He was familiar. The cold fingers wrapped tighter on her leg and she strained and screamed his name.

“Toren!”

He reached through that pin point of light and grabbed her hand and yanked her to safety. She burst awake into consciousness and found herself wrapped tight in his embrace and pressed possessively to his body. She gasped against the skin of his neck, gobbling up the air and scent of him.

“I have you, I have you,” he whispered, stroking her head and back. She realized he sat on a bed. Her gaze landed on the
stained and faded painting with the little girl in a field of flowers and realized they were in the shack. She immediately became overwhelmed with the feel of his skin beneath her fingers and lips. Taste. It was a reflex. He tasted like something that should be licked all day long.

Then memory reasserted itself.
Terror slammed her and she leapt out of his arms and scrambled back on the bed, away from him. “Oh God you’re…” she pressed against the wall at the head of the bed and pointed at him with a hesitant finger. “…you’re a-a-a.” God, was she still dreaming? “Am I dreaming? Am I in a coma or something?” She really was hoping he was real, but of course, he was way too good to be true.”

“You’re not dreaming. And I
am
real, and I
do…
”

She watched him lower his head with his hesitation.

“You do what? You have wings, you’re, you’re some kind of angel. I think. Are you bad?”

“Do you think I am?”

She shook her head then nodded. “Yes, I do. You must be.”

He grinned at her, it was such a sexy look. He couldn’t be good. “Why? Because I…”

Again he hesitated. “Why do you keep stopping, is it bad? What do you want with me? To kill me?”

He frowned. “No. Why would I want to kill you? You’re…”

She frowned. “Oh my God you did it again. Did you hit your head when you fell from Heaven?”

He chuckled. “I didn’t fall from heaven, I’m just…worried.”

“About what?”

“About what you will think and how you will feel about me now that…”

She swallowed nodding. “Now that you grew wings and did impossible things back there to those other impossible things. I think you need to be more worried about me losing my mind because I can say it’s not looking too great for me at the moment.”

“I was going to tell you.”

“But you didn’t because…because you got so distracted with my sex appeal and beauty.”

He leveled his serious gaze on her, making her heart skip a beat. “Exactly.”

She snorted a dry shaky laugh. “That was a goddamn joke,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “Not for me.”

She covered her face with both hands and moaned. “I’m dreaming, I must be dreaming. I’m down with the flu bad.” She stopped her rambling when he moved and sat right next to her.

“I’m real.” He took her hand and placed it on his steaming hot chest. “Feel me. I’m real. And I…want you.”

She had to whimper at that one. “Why are you even here,” she barely made her voice work.

He lifted her hand to his lips and stared her in the eyes while he pressed soft kisses to her fingers. “I’m Toren. The Mercury Warrior of the
Fifth Universe. And I’m on a mission to stop a great evil on Earth.”

She fought to focus on the meaning of his words but it was hard when his breath and lips warmed her fingers. “Those…things back there?”

“They’re part of it. A small part.”

Sam couldn’t dismiss him as nuts. Not after seeing it with her own eyes. And he was too damn real to say she was hallucinating. “What…how do you plan to…why are you messing around with me
? I don’t understand, I know damn well I’m not that pretty or sexy. What are you really doing here?” She hated the tremor in her voice.

He stared at her for several long seconds, seeming to consider his words. Which made her nervous. “I’m here to create a warrior. I am supposed to find two humans that are in love, get them to marry, and use the power of their consummation to create a hybrid warrior suitable for this operation. I give a portion of my angelic powers to them and in exchange I inherit a portion of their humanity.”

She narrowed her gaze. “Did you…did you do that… is that why you’re…” she flicked her finger toward him, “…all into me? Cause you’ve inherited this humanity?”

He shook his head. “No. I liked you before this.”

She snorted. “It
would
take a damn angel to be into me.”

“I’m Toren. The Mercury Warrior. ”

She nodded slowly, trying to figure out why the repeat. “And so that means…you’re not just any old angel is what you’re saying. And you don’t appreciate me acting as though liking little ole me is dumb.”

He raised his brows. “Exactly. You don’t know your own beauty and strength. That’s understandable. But to say that I don’t, is
…yes, pretty foolish.”

She pffted with a role of her eyes all while her heart went rabid with excitement. “Where’s this human couple then?”

He shrugged, looking at her chest before raising his gaze back to hers. “They’ll come along.”

“They’ll come along.” She nodded absently. “And how do you know? You…see into the future?”

“No. Well, not exactly. I just pray and it happens.”

“Really.” She couldn’t keep
the
oh please
out of her tone. “So they’re just gonna show on up at our front door.”

“That’s the idea.”

Geeze he was starting to sound way too much like Josephus.

“Don’t insult me.”

She snapped her gaze to his. “Say what?”

“I said don’t insult me. I can hear your thoughts
. Yes, especially yours.”

She gasped, offended.

“I can’t help it with you it seems.”

“Well you had better start
helping
it Mr. Fancy Angel, thoughts are
private.”
She gasped again. “How long have you been
listening
to them?”

“I began hearing them
when you passed out at the truck.”

“Oh thank God.”

He grinned at her and licked his lower lip, making her stomach flip. “But I knew your thoughts way before that.”

She choked on a light huff. “And how the hell?”

He narrowed his gaze like the answer pained him. “You’re body tells me.”

“Body language?” She snorted, picking
at the covers in her lap. “Please, I gave no such signals.”

“Oh yes you did. And you are now.”

Her heart raced and again her stomach flipped along with a tingle between her legs. “Are not.”

His eyes rolled shut and he took in a deep breath. “I can smell your arousal.” He opened his eyes slowly and pinned her with his seductive and tormented gaze. “I can even taste it.” His eyes rolled shut again and he shook his head a little. “Makes me…makes me
have to taste you more.
”

This time when he looked at her,
Sam swallowed. Shit. He meant like
now.
She suddenly felt like she was being tugged from inside her blood. Oh hell,
she was.
“Toren,” she whispered, crawling on the bed toward him like a sleek panther. His eyes riveted to hers as he continued pulling her until her lips were right before his. He angled his head and leaned in. Sam’s lips parted when the tip of his warm tongue swept slowly over them. “What are you doing?” she gasped lightly.

He angled his head the other way and licked again, a slow, sensual lick. “Tasting you.”

Hunger slammed into Sam and when he licked a third time, she parted her lips and reached for his tongue with hers. When their tips touched, his gasp hit her mouth and fueled the fire in her blood. She moaned and climbed into his lap, taking his face into her hands and kissing him with a boldness, reaching as far into his delicious mouth as she could to taste. His hands surged up her sides, under her t-shirt, firm and hungry on her skin. He groaned deeply between ragged breaths.

“God, I want you,” she whispered. “I need you.” She reached for the
hem of his t-shirt and he stripped it off. Sam sat in his lap and began tasting his chest. When he tried to pull her to his lips, she pushed him onto the bed and forced his arms down. “My turn,” she gasped. “Be still.”

She straddled his waist and sat on his groin, moaning at how hard he was. She moved her butt on him, stroking his erection.

He got up on his elbows, watching her. “Take off your shirt,” he whispered, staring at her chest, eager.

Sam hesitated. Why that? He looked up at her with such an intense need, breathing harder. “I have to see you, please.”

To hell with it. She tore her shirt off but couldn’t resist covering herself after. That tugging sensation occurred in her arms then. Her hands moved of their own accord until they were holding on to his legs behind her. Toren’s jaw worked as those bright eyes studied her breasts intently before they slid like liquid silver up to hers. “Don’t ever hide them from me.” His voice was thick and severe. He lowered his gaze back to her chest and Sam felt her back arching until the small mounds jutted forward. She gasped at feeling him controlling her. It was scary and yet…excitingly erotic.

He reached with an index finger and slid the pad slowly over her nipple, watching it intently as though he waited for it to do something amazing. Heat shot into her core and she ground her hips on his hard shaft beneath her butt, needing relief and stimulation. He looked down at what she was doing, his hands dropping to her waist and moving her harder on him, his sexy mouth open and his forehead furrowed in ecstasy. Sam would die if she didn’t make him feel good. He almost behaved as though he’d never…

She paused, wondering. “Are you…a virgin?”

He looked up at her, wonder and innocence in his gaze. “I’ve never…done this before.”

Oh
wow.
The idea this was his first time made her want to make it holy shit amazing. “Did you like it…when I sucked you?”

His eyes rolled up and his brow creased with agony. “Yes.”

Sam gasped. “Do you want me to suck you now?”

He didn’t answer with words but it was clear he was desperate for exactly that. The idea that he’d never experienced the pleasure before was such a damn turn on for Sam. And sweet as hell. Heaven.

Sam got off him and slowly removed his jeans. He seemed suddenly a tad hesitant like it was unfamiliar territory now. Like he knew what to do for her but was clueless about his side. Why did he even know what to do for her? “Are you…allowed to do this? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

Toren hissed like h
er words hurt and his mouth opened in what looked like ecstasy.

“What’s wrong what did I—”

Still up on his elbows, he gritted his teeth then put his head back. “Do it. Please.”

The desperate raw edge in his voice lit her up in a way that was new. She stripped him down and then herself. Then she laid on her back next to him on the bed
and looked at him. “Like this.”

He didn’t have to be told twice or explained to. He got up and straddled her head, knees on either side. Sam gasped at how he looked from that angle. His cock was enormous and his glorious abs and chest went on forever ending at that handsome face drawn in harsh lines of desire. She would give him the orgasm of his life.

She took hold of his cock and stroked it softly, watching his muscular abs heave. He put his hands on his head, watching her, seeming astonished, that sexy mouth open. She leaned and licked the slit as she stroked his abs then kissed the tip repeatedly. His gasps were shocked. “Make it go deeper,” she whispered, laying her head on the bed. Toren opened his knees and brought his shaft lower. Low enough to get the entire head into her mouth where she moaned and sucked at it, her tongue swirling along that thick ridge. Toren gasped and fell forward, his hands on the bed. Sam angled her head up to accommodate him.

“Oh Father in
heaven,”
he gasped, moving his hips slowly, making his thick shaft move in and out of her mouth.

Sam moaned all over him, holding the base with one hand and stroking his balls with the other. The skin was tight and hairless. He became more aggressive, moving faster, his groans more feral. She grabbed hold of his waist and squeezed, feeling his warm muscles
going from silky cords to solid rock beneath her fingers. She stroked his abs and chest, her own moans becoming desperate with his ecstasy.

“Sam, Sam, Sam,”
he half groaned and gasped.
“
Feels…so good, God so good.
Sam!”
His words made her squirm, the way he said them, the way he called her name, like he was dying from the pleasure. “It’s…” He grunted and moved his hips faster. “…
happening!”