Chapter Five

 

THEA

 

Thea glared at the man who had saved her, her arms crossed over her bare breasts, waiting for him to speak. She was finding it hard to breathe around him—the way he’d touched her, the way he looked, sent her senses into overdrive.

He was incredibly sexy; chocolate hair covered his head and he stared at her with gorgeous smoky-gray eyes. His golden skin seemed to shimmer and he was tall and wide with a broad chest. Thea could see the outline of his hard muscles through his shirt and couldn’t stop thinking about how mouthwatering he must be naked. He regarded her with a stern expression, but she could have sworn she’d seen a flash of desire earlier and when he was behind her washing the cut on her back, he’d almost kissed her neck. Did she imagine all that?

She was confused by her reaction to him. The whole time he’d touched her, waves of arousal rose within her, heading straight to her nipples. She’d been squirming from pain at first, and then from her pussy when it became hot and wet as he healed her. She had never been so aroused so quickly. She tried to clear her head of the images that kept running through her mind. Even though so much had happened, and she’d nearly been torn to pieces, all she could do was picture her legs wrapped around his waist, his mouth on her breasts, his cock buried deep inside of her. The last thought actually made her blush, as though she were some virginal schoolgirl. What was wrong with her? He seemed to have noticed. A confused expression flashed over his face.

“What do you need to know right now?” His voice was as sexy as him—deep, rich, and demanding.

“What are you?” When she had reached out to pull on his emotions earlier, she’d detected nothing. He was blank, a brick wall. Exactly the same as the monsters that chased her. “You’re obviously not human.”

“I’m a Power angel.”

Thea opened her mouth but found herself speechless. She barked out a humorless laugh. “Seriously. Tell me.”

He said nothing. His smoldering eyes bore into her, his face expressionless.

Her brow furrowed, nervousness tickling her stomach. Maybe she was going crazy. Since her birthday, strange things had been happening. Was it all in her head? Maybe he wasn’t there at all, maybe she’d mentally conjured this perfect-looking man out of thin air and was having a very vivid, sexy hallucination. But his touch had been real—as real as anything she’d ever felt.

She tried to justify her disbelief. “Angels are… are….”

“Are what?” A glimmer entered his eyes. Was he mocking her?

“Blond,” she stated. “And have beautiful voices, and they have wings and sing hymns and guide people to make good choices. They’re not warriors and don’t fight like… you.”

“And how would you know?” He tilted his head slightly to one side. “Have you met one before? Maybe in this delight of a neighborhood?”

Thea struggled to think of something to stay. “You’re nuts,” she blurted out. Yes, that must be the case. An angel? Please. Of all the things to tell her.

“Can we move on from the hysterics?” He actually had the nerve to sound bored. “You need to pack.”

“Prove it,” she said, a smirk on her lips. “Prove you’re an angel. Wow me.”

The gray in his eyes seemed to swirl and an irritated look crossed his face. To her surprise, he stripped himself of his shirt. His body was as incredible as she had imagined it; perfectly formed with hard lines and muscular angles. It was impossible to drag her eyes away from his bulging chest and broad shoulders, until his whole form shimmered in a silvery glow and a set of gigantic wings unfolded from his back.

Thea gaped at him in utter amazement. She had been so wrapped up in pain and confusion, she thought she’d imagined them flying.

His creamy-white wings were massive. Large enough that they wouldn’t fit in the room if he unfolded them completely. She wanted to touch them, to stroke the ruffled-looking feathers. A soft glow encased his body, similar to the glow around the men outside the window at the bar, and a creamy halo hovered just above his head like a crown, making him seem even more majestic and grand. Her longing for him spiked and she squeezed her arms against her hardening nipples.

“Are you suitably wowed?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Thea swallowed, a thousand thoughts racing through her mind at once. It couldn’t be true. She would believe almost anything except that angels were real. Because that meant heaven existed and God existed. And how could that be true when she and Amber, and so many people they knew, had lived such horrible lives? How could that be true when her mother had died giving birth to her, and her father had never been capable of looking after her?

“I don’t know,” she muttered, a tremble rocking through her at the intensity of his gaze. She lowered her eyes to break eye contact and remembered the cut on her leg. He had promised to teach her how to heal herself. She had seen the wounds on her arms disappear and experienced palpable relief when he’d healed her back with his fingers. If she could do it too, then this was real.

“Teach me how to heal myself,” she said.

He stayed frozen for a moment, as if weighing up her request. He shimmered again and his wings and halo faded. He approached and knelt down in front of her, close enough that she could almost feel the heat radiating from him. She panicked slightly—she was practically naked—but it didn’t seem to affect him, he barely glanced at her upper body.

He ripped the hole in her jeans wider to give access to the wound then took one of her hands in his. His touch was electric and hot, so potent it made her quiver with the pleasure it sent through her entire body. She almost jerked her hand away, overwhelmed, but instead forced herself to hold still, sucking in her breath.

“Focus on your fingertips,” he said. “Call on the energy from the Stream.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an inexhaustible stream of energy that comes from, and leads to, the Creator. It belongs to angels to use when we need it. Imagine pulling on a stream of white energy from within yourself. Imagine sending it to your fingertips. Imagine them getting warm.”

She closed her eyes, imagining the same white light that had surrounded him filtering along her arms, to her hands and into the tips of her fingers. Her fingers began to heat up, a pleasant warmness spread through her entire hand. When she opened her eyes, she saw that her fingers were indeed glowing in his hands.

He released her hand, his rough skin grazing hers. “Touch yourself.”

She snapped a look at him but his expression remained blank, not giving any indication that he understood how his instruction could be construed. Still, his words affected her—causing a tight, hot wire-like feeling to stretch just below her belly.

“It might not work since you’re only learning, but we can try,” he added.

She reached down with her warm hand to stroke the skin on her thigh the way he had touched her back, very gently. To her surprise, the skin began to knit together immediately. She watched the wound completely disappear, the pain fading away into nothing, leaving only a swipe of blood. She turned back to the angel and his eyebrows were pulled into a slight frown.

“Incredible,” he said under his breath. “When did you come into your power?”

She thought back. “I’m not sure. I started seeing those… things about a week ago, on my birthday.”

“It doesn’t usually happen this quickly. You must be powerful.”

“What do you mean?” She had power? What kind? What else could she do with it? She had managed to heal herself; she had to believe him now whether she wanted to or not.

“You’re a Nephilim,” he said. “Meaning, you’re a half-angel. One of your parents is an angel; the other is human. For some reason, you’ve only just come into your powers but not knowing how to use them makes you vulnerable.”

Thea stared at him. Every sense of logic she had told her that couldn’t be possible and yet when she thought about her life, certain things began to make sense, like her ability to sense and manipulate emotions, the fact that she had never known her mother, who must’ve been an angel. And she certainly couldn’t explain the beings she had seen or the viciousness of the attack she’d just endured. She had lived in this neighborhood all her life and never seen or experienced anything like that.

“What exactly are my powers?” she asked.

He stood up. “Not now. It’s time to go. You have your answers.”

Frustrated, she exhaled loudly. She went to her wardrobe and grabbed a bra, top, and another pair of jeans. The angel turned away, allowing her to dress. She eyed him from behind. So angels were real. And they were handsome and powerful and stern. Nothing like she would have ever imagined them to be. He couldn’t even crack a smile and yet mocked her like a child. Were all angels like that? Maybe he didn’t like humans.

“At least tell me why they sent you,” she said, smoothing down her top. “Why you?”

“Why not me?” he said, almost in a growl. “Who would you prefer?”

“I don’t know,” Thea said, lifting her shoulders. “Someone able to smile once in a while?”

He turned to face her, his plain expression flavored with annoyance. “I’m not here to entertain you. You need someone to train you and help you learn how to control your abilities. I’m the best there is. You should be honored.”

Thea shook her head, annoyed. Trained? Like a puppy? Not happening. Especially not by this man, who’d been abrupt with her from the start, despite his careful treatment of her wounds. “I should be honored? Honored that I was attacked by those creatures? Honored that I almost got ripped apart? Honored that you had to come and save me, a poor damsel in distress?”

His face hardened with each word she said, but she couldn’t give a fuck.

“I don’t need to be saved by a warrior who can’t stop the horrors happening in this city every day. Or by a God that keeps himself hidden from those he’s supposed to inspire? People are raped and drugged and killed every day; where are you then? Where is He then? I’ve gotten this far without the help of you or God, and I’ll be fine to continue without you.”

The angel’s stance didn’t change. The only indication of his agitation was in the grounding of his jaw. “You’re being irrational. If I was able to find you here, the demons will find you here. You cannot escape them. Pack. Now.”

“No.” She grabbed her phone. “You go. Thanks very much, but I’ll be fine.”

With a low grunt of frustration, the angel grabbed her around the waist quicker than she would have thought possible. He flew up to the ceiling, his rock-like arm digging into her stomach, pressing her against his chest. He swept his free hand over the length of the room. The room began to glow and then burst into flames, smoke eating up the remaining air.

“No!” She struggled to get out of his arms while her home and everything she owned burned.

He leapt out of the window, holding onto her as he flew over the city.