Aurora sighed as she gazed at the double rainbows that crowned the aquamarine sky before vanishing beyond the ocean’s distant horizon. Gold particles shimmered in the warm air, and then a strange undulation rippled across the peaceful vista.
Spellbound, she held her breath as the rainbows and gold dust transformed from a picturesque paradise into a pair of dazzling wings.
The dream fragmented and floated away, and an eerie sense of discordance whispered across her soul.
Wings. Butterfly wings?
She stirred, for once not comforted by her childhood dream, and a familiar fear swept over her.
What am I?
Am I real?
Her nails dug into her palms, chasing away the remnants of nighttime fantasy. A pleasurable ache warmed her muscles, and she smiled before she curled on her side and snuggled beneath the bed sheets.
The silence soaked into her and awareness weaved through her mind.
She gasped and her eyes flew open. She was facing the wide glass doors, and sunlight streamed in, bathing the room in a golden glow. Broken images of archangels and gray aliens tumbled through her mind, and she sat up, clutching the sheet to her breasts.
I’m safe, here.
Her galloping heart slowed, and she took a few calming breaths. Where was Gabe? What did archangels even do when they weren’t rescuing humans from alien abduction?
Had he left her alone, again? After the night they’d shared?
It was only sex. How many times did she have to remind herself? But even so, a part of her had hoped things would be … different, now.
Idiot.
She had plans, and they didn’t involve staying in bed all day, waiting for him to reappear. Although if she was honest, she had no idea what time of day it was. Things like time got confusing when you planet hopped.
Two days. That’s how long she had known Gabe.
I think …
She twisted around and spied the shirt of his she’d worn yesterday before Mephisto’s visit in a heap by the door to his bathroom. She inched her way off the bed and padded across the room, the sheet trailing on the floor behind her like an impressive train.
She pulled on the shirt and hugged her waist before slowly making her way to the bedroom door. Last night—this morning?—in Eblis’ club when she thought she was safe from the Guardians, she’d entered the astral planes. She’d just wanted to check that she could. That she hadn’t somehow lost the ability.
There hadn’t been any psychic barrier, and for a brief, glorious moment, relief had whispered through her.
And then vanished as terrifying waves of disaster smashed into her. But before she’d been able to make sense of it, Gabe had dragged her back to her body.
And they’d had brain exploding sex.
Twice.
The door to his office was open. She walked along the landing, her heart thundering in her chest. Was he in there?
She reached the door, and the breath caught in her throat. He was slumped over his desk, his head cushioned on his folded arms. He didn’t look like an archangel. He looked like a man exhausted by grief and ancient heartache.
Empathy at his loss crushed her chest, even though she barely knew him. Even though he hadn’t admitted to any such loss. Yet when he’d told her archangels could procreate, the raw suffering in his voice had told her everything.
Thank goodness she hadn’t confessed about finding the picture of his family. He might have saved her from the Guardians, but she didn’t think he’d forgive her for that transgression.
Not when that beautiful, regal woman had been his soul mate.
It didn’t matter how long ago his woman and child had died. He still loved them. Would always love them. So fiercely that he still couldn’t speak about them.
How must it feel, to be loved by an archangel?
Don’t go there.
It would never happen. And she sure as hell wasn’t about to fall in love with him.
That would be a disaster. Her heart would wither, and she’d never be able to get her life back on track. Because one thing was for sure. She had no intention of staying on his island for the rest of her life.
She needed to find a loophole in the Guardians’ draconian laws, otherwise she’d never see her family again. Just as her mother had never seen her family again after she had left her own world. And while her mum loved her dad and was happy to stay with him, eventually her mind had shut down under the strain.
Her mum clung to the edges of sanity by insisting there was only one world. This world. By denying her heritage, she had scrubbed her mind of all telepathic links. The precious link Aurora had shared with her since she had been a child.
But even that hadn’t been enough to halt the fog that insidiously crept through her mind.
A sliver of fear sent a shiver along Aurora’s arms. She hadn’t traveled to another dimension like her mother had. But if she could never return home, she might just as well have.
Would she wake up one day and believe this was all there was? That her life up until meeting Gabe was nothing but a strange, barely recalled dream?
But while her dad loved her mum with all his heart and would do anything for her, all Gabe felt for her was lust and a sense of responsibility.
That was no way to live. And there was no way she was going to, either.
Gabe raised his head and their gazes locked. Heat flared in his eyes, and it was obvious he found her tangled hair, and the crumpled shirt she wore, irresistible.
Stop thinking that word. Yet she couldn’t help it when his focus on her was so compelling.
His shirt was unbuttoned, showing off his perfectly toned chest, and stubble darkened his jaw. It should be illegal for a man to look so mouth-wateringly fuckable.
From force of habit, her fingers went to her throat, but her necklace hadn’t miraculously reappeared while she’d been asleep. What was she thinking? Mephisto had most likely destroyed it without a second’s hesitation.
“Morning.” Her voice was husky. She sounded like she was begging for it, and that wasn’t far wrong.
“Afternoon.” His scorching gaze slid over her body, and she resisted the urge to curl her toes, and possibly melt over his floor while she was at it. “Come here.”
She’d taken a couple of steps toward him before she even realized. How did that even happen? They needed to talk, and they wouldn’t if she got close enough for them to kiss.
She came to an abrupt halt. It’s just chemistry. And she couldn’t afford to be distracted all the time when in Gabe’s company.
“Gabe.”
“Aurora,” he countered, his smoky voice a caress for her senses. It was obvious what he had in mind, and if she didn’t get her imagination out of the gutter, another day would slide by and she’d be no closer to her goal of freedom.
Focus. “I need to contact my parents. I’ve been staying with them since I finished Uni. I can’t just disappear for a few days without letting them know I’m still alive.” They weren’t due home until today—I think it’s today—and she didn’t want them registering her as a missing person with every police force in the country.
He frowned, and she thought he was going to take issue with her few days comment, but he appeared to think better of it.
“That’s for you.” He glanced at the laptop she’d tried to access yesterday. “I can hook you up to your Internet so you can send them an email.”
Excitement flared through her. The way he’d said your Internet suggested there was another network out there, something far more powerful. Exactly what she’d been hoping for.
“Thanks.” She took another couple of unintentional steps toward him. He was like a star and she an adrift moon, impossibly captured within his orbit. All she had to do was make sure she didn’t fall under his radiance and burn. “Is there a cosmic net or something that you use? I mean, I don’t suppose you have much use for the net on Earth.”
His eyes narrowed. Clearly, she had to work on her subtlety skills. “Why?”
“I want to research the Guardians.”
“I’ve told you about them.”
Maybe this wasn’t going to be as easy as she hoped. “I know. But I want to see if I can find a loophole.”
“There’s no loophole.” There was a grim edge to his voice. “Do you think I wouldn’t have told you if I knew something like that?”
He had a point. After all, he’d had eternity to discover everything about the Guardians. But that didn’t mean he had.
Another few steps and she was standing by his desk. So close to him, she could breathe in his wild, exotic scent, and the heat from his body lured her like a bewitched moth to his immortal flame. She wanted to crawl onto his lap and lose herself in his embrace. Who was she trying to fool? If he said nothing could be done to beat the Guardians, did she really think she’d uncover something revolutionary?
Her drugged gaze slid down his naked chest before snagging on his thighs. After leaving the bed, he’d dragged on a pair of shorts. The incongruity of an archangel wearing shorts caused a strange twisting sensation in the pit of her stomach.
It was so normal. It was hard to reconcile that this gorgeous man before her wasn’t even human. She had firsthand evidence that he could teleport, and he hung out with winged creatures, but it didn’t change the way she saw him.
“I’d like to try.” Her voice was soft.
He exhaled a long-suffering sigh. “Okay. But don’t get your hopes up. Those bastards’ clauses are ironclad.”
After a quick trip to the bathroom, she made her way to his kitchen. Although she’d eaten yesterday, it hadn’t been a lot, and she was starving. Unlike yesterday, there was now an enormous basket of exotic fruits on the table, as well as freshly baked bread. There was even a selection of teas in an adorable wooden tea chest. Had he bought all of this while she’d been in the bathroom? Or had he just thought it into existence?
Either way, everything tasted amazing, even if she didn’t recognize any of the fruit, and she’d just finished eating when he strolled into the kitchen. He’d obviously had a shower, and his damp hair was unbelievably sexy.
She cleared her throat and tried to refocus her brain. “This is all lovely. Thank you.”
He shrugged and looked faintly taken aback by her remark. Did he really think her so ungrateful? “Didn’t want you passing out on me.”
“Are the fruits from your island?”
He glanced out of the window, almost as though he had no idea what she was talking about.
“No. I leave the rest of the island to the wildlife. I bought this from a trusted local.” Then he gave her a wicked grin. “Local being relative. The fruit is from a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy.”
“You’re joking.” Sure, the fruit had been a little on the fantastical side, but alien?
“The tea, on the other hand, I bought from a specialist store in London. You can thank me later.” This time his lascivious grin sent her hormones into freefall.
“That’s …” She struggled to find the words. Because there were no words. She sniffed, ridiculously touched that he had even remembered she drank tea, especially since it had only been a passing comment when they first met. “You’re a big softie on the quiet.”
Did I just call the Archangel Gabriel a big softie? She smiled up at him, even though a faint warning hummed through her mind, but she brushed it aside.
Just because she appreciated him, didn’t mean she was in danger of falling.
He coughed, although he might possibly have been choking. “If you ever say that about me to anyone, I’ll have to shoot you down in flames. Okay?”
“Fair enough.” Do I sound besotted? She had the awful feeling she did. And she couldn’t help herself. “If anyone asks, I’ll tell them you’re the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.”
“And the insults just keep on coming.”
She laughed. “Sorry. You just don’t seem like an immortal to me.”
“Please,” he said. “Quit while you’re ahead.”
“Well, that’s no fun.”
His big body shook with silent laughter as he placed the alien laptop on the table and opened it. She hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding anything. “I’ve reconfigured it. You shouldn’t have any problems. Just give a thumbprint of your DNA here”—he pointed to the bottom right corner of the screen— “so it accepts your commands.”
She pressed her thumb on the corner, and instantly the screen blazed into rainbow-bright life. Unfortunately, the keyboard was as indecipherable as before. “How do I use it?”
“Already thought of that.” He shot her a grin before tapping a key and a wafer-thin, QWERTY keyboard slid out from beneath the alien one. “One of a kind, made to order. Just highlight any text you want to read, and it’ll translate into English.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.”
“This might help with your search.” He placed a small crystal globe in front of her.
She touched the globe with the tip of her finger and tiny streaks of lightning flashed through it. “Does it work like a mouse?”
“Only superficially. You can use it that way without a problem. I access the network psychically and the globe works as a focal point, analyzing data on an organic level.” He gave her an assessing look. “I don’t know if it will work for you, but it might, with your unique brain structure.”
How did he manage to make that sound so seductive?
“Okay, then.” She kept her gaze fixed on the screen. The last thing she needed was him seeing how easily she was charmed by his words. She forcibly pushed it to the back of her mind as she examined the laptop, which didn’t have any visible power sockets.
“How is everything powered here?” She doubted he was connected to any national grid, but he had light, air conditioning, and everything she’d used in the kitchen had worked—even though there hadn’t been any plugs.
“Solar, hydro, and wind.” This time his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m completely off the grid here.”
“That’s amazing.” Probably not that amazing, considering who he was, but she was still impressed. “We’ve got solar panels—the only ones in the village, would you believe it? It’s always been my parents’ dream to be entirely self-sufficient, but it’s hard in a cottage with a pocket-sized garden. Mum and Dad have been working for years to set up a wind farm for the village, but you wouldn’t believe some of the opposition to it.”
“Wouldn’t I? These are humans you’re talking about.”
“Ouch. That’s harsh. Not all humans are arseholes.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
She wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. Although his voice was grim, there was the hint of a smile on his lips.
“In any case,” she added, “I bet your methods of harnessing the elements are far more advanced than ours. Environmentalists would love the chance to share your technology.”
His jaw tensed, as though she’d just struck a nerve. “It’s not my technology. It was ancient knowledge here before I ever discovered Earth. And it’s a damn sight better than the so-called advances made in your Age.”
Ancient knowledge? Before he had discovered Earth?
Questions ricocheted through her mind. He was referring to lost civilizations. Great, unknowable cultures that had existed before his time.
It was like she’d discovered the key to a hidden treasure trove to the past. Was it possible, back then, that people from Earth were also telepathic? That losing the ability was a late deviation in evolution, and not something that had happened a million years ago?
“What—?”
“I’m not discussing it.” The flirty manner of moments ago had vanished. He sounded as autocratic as the day they’d met.
Mentally, she kicked herself for pushing too far, too soon. She craved answers that he might be able to give, but her fascination had blinded her to one important thing.
If a great culture she knew nothing about had once existed, wasn’t it also likely that was when Gabe’s beautiful partner and child had lived?
She didn’t want to remind him of that painful time. And her reasons weren’t entirely altruistic, either.
It was nothing to do with her that he still missed them. Before she tumbled down that particular rabbit hole, she forced a smile to her face. “How do I log on?”
He came to her side, and his arm brushed hers as he placed a finger on the globe. It was hard to remain perfectly still when she wanted to rest her head against his powerful biceps. But if she did, it would be too easy to forget everything but the need to kiss him again, and it wouldn’t stop with a kiss.
She couldn’t let herself be distracted. She had to contact her parents.
Within seconds, the screen displayed a familiar search engine image. He stood up, breaking their tenuous contact, and she tried to ignore the chill that raced over her arm.
“I’ve accessed Earth’s net. You won’t have any problem sending your parents an email.” His gaze bored into her. “Don’t promise them the impossible, Aurora.”
He left the kitchen, and with a heavy sigh, she logged onto her account. There was so much she wanted to tell them. But how could she explain what she’d done, when by trying to help she had only made everything a million times worse?
Gabe was so sure she could never leave his island, and she was hellbent on finding a way. She couldn’t tell her parents about that, either.
All she could do was reassure them she was okay and pretend she was staying with friends for a couple of weeks. She wasn’t going to think beyond that just now. If she hadn’t discovered an answer by then—well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.
When she finished, she left the kitchen. She wanted to freshen up before starting her search on the Guardians. Hopefully, Gabe hadn’t left the villa yet, since she needed to ask him something.
He was sitting on the second step of the stairs, his forearms resting on his thighs, and a strange pain drilled through her chest. It wasn’t just because he was so gorgeous it should be illegal. The kind of gorgeous who walked the red carpets and hung out with the beautiful people. It was because, despite everything she knew about him, she still saw him as a man.
But he was an archangel, an alien, and she had to remember that.
“Is it okay if I use your shower?”
“You don’t have to ask.” There was a rough note in his tone, almost as though her question had wounded him. “This is your home now, Aurora.”
This would never be her home, and they both knew it. But he was trying to make her feel welcome, and that meant more to her than he would ever know.
“Thanks.” There was a constriction blocking her throat, and she avoided looking at him as she passed him on the stairs. Just in case he saw something in her eyes that he shouldn’t.
Something she didn’t want to face, couldn’t risk, because if she allowed herself to fall for him it would be the biggest mistake she ever made.