Dressed in long black pants, leather boots, and black top, Aurora figured she looked the part for a trip into a pirate’s lair. Not that Gabe was any more willing about taking her to the Fornax system than he had been last night, but at least he’d stopped arguing.
They were sitting in the kitchen, facing each other, and he was painstakingly initiating telepathic contact with her.
His touch was delicate and electrifying, nothing like the day they’d met, when his intrusion had been the equivalent of a casual glance.
It was hard to remain perfectly still and relaxed when his mind brushed hers in a sensual caress, as he wove elusive links and connections between them.
Her brain simmered with denied arousal, and she dug her teeth into her lip to keep her focused. Not that he appeared able to read lascivious thoughts, for which she was intensely grateful.
“Am I hurting you?” He ground the words between his teeth, as though he was in physical pain. “I’m going as slow as I can. Your brain is beautiful.”
She totally melted. “You say the most wonderful things.”
“I don’t want to inadvertently damage you. I’ve no idea how deep inside your brain your protective network penetrates.”
Until she’d met Gabe, she’d had no idea she possessed such a thing. Did her mother even know about it? Or was it such a part of her people’s biology that it was hardly worth commenting on?
And that reminded her.
“What did my mum say to you when you met her?”
Fierce concentration etched his face. She shouldn’t have distracted him. But then he gave a pained grunt and caught her gaze.
“She told me to keep you safe.”
Considering the circumstances, she’d been expecting something more profound. “Was that all?”
“No.” He sounded reluctant. “She—” He reared back and bit out a curse in that ancient language he favored, and alarm streaked through her.
“What’s wrong?” Had he discovered something terrible lurking deep inside her brain?
“Nothing.” He withdrew from her mind, and she gave an involuntary sigh. “Just received a message from Zad. Another archangel. He’s at the beach and on his way here. Talk about crap timing.”
Had Zad turned up to continue what Mephisto had started? From the corner of her eye she saw a figure emerge from the forest, and trepidation snaked through her as she followed Gabe onto the terrace.
He threaded his fingers through hers and pulled her to his side, a blatant gesture of possession. Was he expecting trouble from Zad?
“Zad.” Gabe didn’t sound overly friendly. “Caught me at a bad time. I’m late for an appointment.”
Mesmerized, she gazed at Zad as he came to a halt by the edge of the terrace. His mahogany wings were coated in fine dust and were ragged around the edges. He was dressed casually enough in black jeans and shirt, but understated power radiated from him, as tangible as a living entity.
Why did she find that comforting?
“I was passing,” Zad said, his voice deep and melodic, and she still couldn’t tear her gaze from his dark eyes. “Thought I’d stop by.”
“Like I said.” Gabe sounded defensive, although she couldn’t think why. “I’m seeing Kala. You know how she is if kept waiting.”
Was that the pirate they were scheduled to meet?
“Not personally.” Zad shot her another glance. “Don’t let me keep you. I’ll stay here and entertain your guest.”
“No need. Aurora’s coming with me.”
“You’re taking a human to the Fornax Galaxy?” Zad didn’t raise his voice, but fury throbbed through each word. Fascinated, she glanced between the two archangels. What was going on? Why did Zad give the impression he was concerned about her welfare when he’d never even met her before?
Equally, why wasn’t she irritated by his interference? Especially when she’d fought so hard to accompany Gabe to his meeting.
“She’s under my protection.” Gabe was obviously irritated enough for them both. “No one touches her.”
Zad turned to her and held out his right hand, palm up. His gaze meshed with hers and his challenge was blatant.
“Zadkiel,” he said.
She placed her left hand on top of Zad’s. “Aurora Robinson.”
He held her hand longer than was strictly necessary, but there was nothing predatory about it. Even Gabe’s death grip on her other hand relaxed.
“I once knew your parents,” he said, and she gaped at him, speechless. Before she had time to even process his comment, never mind respond, he took a step back and unfurled his wings. “Look after her, Gabe.”
With that, he soared into the sky and she watched, awestruck, until he disappeared over the forest.
She turned to Gabe, who was glowering into the distance.
“What did he mean?” she asked. “How can he know my parents?”
“Beats me. I think your mother thought I was him at first.”
“What?”
He shrugged, like he didn’t care, but she saw the frustration. He really was as clueless as her. “I’ll ask him, if you want me to.”
“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand. “Who is he?”
He turned his mesmeric eyes to her. “You know who he is.”
Yes, but that wasn’t what she meant. She didn’t even know why she was so certain there was more, only that there was. “What is the Archangel Zadkiel to you?”
For long moments she didn’t think he was going to answer. And then he let out a measured breath and focused on their joined hands.
“Zad was the first archangel to fall. Centuries before any other of us did. Zad and his beloved”—Gabe hesitated for a second, and a ghostly finger of presentiment trickled along her spine—“were Eleni’s distant ancestors. Eleni was almost the last of Zad’s direct bloodline. He adored her.”
Gabe
Gabe wound his arm around Aurora and teleported to Anzu, the largest planet in the Seventh System of Fornax, directly into the outer sanctum of Kala’s personal penthouse suite. It wasn’t strictly protocol, and only the fact he was an archangel allowed him to bypass the numerous security measures set up to block a multitude of lesser beings from entering the building. The female guard who gave him a piercing once-over was a high-grade half-blood demon and didn’t appear impressed by his arrival.
“The Primus is expecting me.” He tightened his grip on Aurora’s hand and hoped she’d do as he’d asked and keep her mouth shut. Demons weren’t the most benevolent of species.
“Wait here.” The guard flicked a disinterested glance at Aurora, and her lip curled in clear affront that he’d dared to bring a mere human, uninvited.
That made two of them. He’d had no intention of agreeing to her demands, but then Zad had turned up and he’d committed himself.
As soon as the door shut behind the guard, Aurora let out a ragged breath.
“This is nothing like I was expecting.” Her voice was scarcely above a whisper as he completed his third scan of the room since arriving. “I thought the pirates would live in a dodgy dive somewhere.”
“Under no circumstances refer to Kala as a pirate.” Gods, she’d incinerate Aurora on the spot and only ask questions later. “She’s third-generation pureblood demon and doesn’t let anyone forget it.”
“Oh.” For one misguided second, he thought she was going to leave it at that. No such luck. “I don’t really understand. What’s the connection between the demons and the pirates?”
He swallowed a groan of frustration. He really should have left her at home. But since she was here now, she needed to get a few facts straight.
“When the demons were banished from Earth, many of them ended up in the Fornax Galaxy. Along with a lot of their half-blood descendants—those that survived the initial banishment, that is. But over millennia the chasm between the demons and those they considered unworthy of acknowledging as their descendants widened. Remember I told you they breed indiscriminately? They only claim parentage if the offspring is exceptional. Most of the time demon spawn is left to its own devices.”
If demons, like archangels, were able to procreate only with the one they loved, would they also cherish every child? “The crème of the hierarchy spread throughout this Galaxy, conquering worlds populated by primitive mortals. Their abandoned descendants, for the most part, merged in the mortal populations. But a segment carved out lucrative careers in piracy.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened in comprehension, but before she could ask another inevitable question, the door to Kala’s inner sanctum opened, and the guard beckoned with an autocratic jerk of her head.
Gripping Aurora’s hand, he followed the guard inside. Twilight slanted through the glass wall that gave panoramic views over the impressive sky city, bathing the luxuriously appointed room in a surreal glow. Kala, tall, sleek, and demonically beautiful, stood in front of her desk, arms folded, pale gold wings partially extended. She always confronted him that way. Flaunting their haunting beauty, the cream highlights threading through the gold in a perfect inverse of his own long-lost wings.
“Primus Kala.” He inclined his head in a gesture of greeting, acknowledging her rank.
“Archangel Gabriel.” She glanced at Aurora. “I see the rumors are true. You are ensnared by a human female.” Chilly amusement tinged her words. “How quaint that you felt the need to bring it with you.”
Gabe refused to rise to the bait, despite the fact Kala had deliberately used the one language in the universe that Aurora could understand. He wanted answers from Kala, and he’d get nothing if he pissed her off.
“I’ve heard there’s a tribe based on Anzu who trade in minors from the Andromeda Galaxy. Heard any of those rumors?”
She didn’t rise to his bait, either.
“Those who specialize in minors have no need to raid Andromeda. We have plenty of our own ripe for harvesting in the lesser Sectors.”
Aurora sucked in a shocked breath and her nails dug into his hand. He tightened his grip, a silent warning. She was under his protection, but they were in Kala’s jurisdiction, and if Aurora annoyed the demon it was doubtful Kala would give a shit about protocol.
He hadn’t been giving a shit about it either, lately.
“My intel was clear.” At least, Eblis had been clear that the pirates from Fornax had been discussing a solar system located in Andromeda. His informant who’d named this planet had been virtually incoherent with terror and hadn’t categorically stated anything that made much sense.
Fortunately, Kala was unable to penetrate his mind, just as he was unable to penetrate hers.
“Your intel is faulty.”
“If the Higher Councils in the Andromeda Galaxy discover the trade, they’ll turn Fornax inside out.”
“There is no trade, Gabriel.” Kala rolled her shoulders and her wings expanded by a fraction. “The dickless wonders who rule Andromeda would stand no chance against Fornax. And they know it.”
“Evalyne isn’t an ordinary child, though,” Aurora said.
Fuck, she just couldn’t help herself, could she? Fortunately, Kala took as much notice of her as she would a pet cat stretching.
“If you have any solid evidence, then share it. Otherwise you know what you can do with your intel.”
He wouldn’t give her Eblis’ name, but he could tell her about the pirate leader he’d interrogated. It was a long shot that Kala would know of him, but her connections in this Galaxy were legion.
If there was a tribe specializing in such abductions, he needed Kala on side if he had any hope of hunting them down. No matter how much she despised the people of the Andromeda Galaxy, she wouldn’t go to war over something in which she had no personal involvement.
Unless the order had come from her direct. He wouldn’t put it past her, but his gut feeling was she was as completely in the dark as he was. And beneath that icy exterior she was furious that something of this magnitude might be happening in the Seventh System without her spies having discovered it.
“This child,” Aurora said, not even wincing when he gripped her hand tight in warning, “was taken because she has archangelic blood.”
Fucking great. She’d now blown to hell any hope of Kala’s cooperation. It didn’t matter what tenuous suspicions they had. It had been millennia since any mortal had possessed a trace of archangelic blood, and only then on Earth. Kala would conclude he was wasting her time.
If he didn’t appease the demon right now, she’d likely liquify Aurora’s brain.
“Kala.” He didn’t get the chance to say anything more. She raised one hand in an imperial gesture, her gaze fixed on Aurora’s face.
“The Andromeda minor has archangelic blood?”
At least she hadn’t thrown them from her domain. “It’s one theory we’re considering,” he said.
“Yes.” The conviction in Aurora’s voice rang through the room. “She does.”
“The Nephilim were obliterated in the Great Cleansing.” There was a gleam of malice in Kala’s eyes. Most demons considered the genocide of archangelic offspring was something to be celebrated. “They haven’t existed for millennia before my time.” She paused, and her wings undulated in a sensual play of power. And then she gave a deadly smile. “Officially.”