sheen of sweat broke out across my chest. Jake ran a finger lightly across it and smiled with satisfaction. He lifted one of my fingers to his mouth and sucked gently on it.
“Enjoying yourself after all?” he asked. My mouth felt too dry to speak, but I forced out an answer.
“Can we just get this over with?”
I thought it was a pretty safe bet that Jake would want to draw out the experience as long as possible, but his answer caught me off guard.
“We can do it however you like.” He tore off his shirt and threw it to the ground so his bare chest was looming over me, his chocolate hair falling over his blazing eyes. He dipped his head and I felt his teeth graze my ear. “This is just the beginning,” he whispered, moving down and running his tongue along my breastbone. “You think this is intense? Just wait, I’m going to push you over the edge. You’ll feel like you’re about to explode.”
I trembled with fear beneath his touch. There were a hundred things I wanted to say, but I willed myself to keep quiet. At the back of my mind a voice was screaming out.
I reached up and let my finger travel lightly down Jake’s chest. He shivered and pressed against me more heavily.
“I’m nervous,” I whispered, making my voice sound as innocent as possible. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“That’s because you’ve been with an amateur,” Jake said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”
I couldn’t think what else to say to delay the inevitable. There was no sign of Xavier or my family. It was too late now; there was nothing else I could do. I lay back and closed my eyes, accepting my fate.
“I’m ready,” I said.
“I’ve been ready for a long time,” Jake purred and I felt his hands shift and travel up my thighs.
Suddenly there came a sound like a deep groan from the bowels of the cave. It was as if the very rock itself were being torn apart. The sound echoed off the walls, causing Jake to sit bolt upright, suddenly fiercely alert, his black eyes darting. The sound suggested the ceiling above us might be on the verge of caving in. I sat up, straining to hear a comforting sound.
I heard Jake let out a vicious stream of curses right before the far wall exploded in an ear-splitting shower of dirt and stone, and a familiar 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible plunged through the jagged hole. The car seemed to soar through the air almost in slow motion as it plowed into the cave and landed meters from us with a sound like a thunderclap. Its body was long and sleek, just like I remembered; its headlights blazing and its sky blue paint scuffed from the dive it had just taken.
“Xavier?” I whispered.
The windshield was coated with dust, but a moment later the driver’s door creaked open and a figure stepped out. He was just as I remembered him, tall and broad shouldered with eyes of liquid blue. The honey- colored strands of hair that fell across his forehead were still streaked with gold and around his throat, I could see the crucifix winking in the gloom. Behind him, Ivy and Gabriel stepped out from the passenger doors, looking like pillars of gold in the dark chamber. Their expressions were hard and their steel gray eyes were fixed on Jake. A wind blew up and their golden hair fanned out behind them. It took me a moment to realize that their wings had emerged, as they always did in preparation for conflict. They reared up behind them, like the wings of an eagle, casting shadows ten feet high against the stone walls. They looked as strong and majestic as always, but I could sense that just being in this place weakened them. They didn’t belong here and soon their powers would begin to diminish. There was no sign of Michael — I assumed he had opened the portal and disappeared. But his sword glittered in Gabriel’s hand. Molly too was nowhere to be seen. She must have been left behind in Alabama — this part of the mission would prove too dangerous for her.
Xavier’s face flooded with relief. He stepped forward and reached out to me but stopped when he registered my state of undress. His gaze traveled over the bed, the flowers, and the rumpled sheets. Our eyes met and the pained expression in his made me feel like someone had slapped me across the face. He looked confused at first, then angry, and then strangely blank, as if the roller coaster of emotions that hit him was too overwhelming to manage.
It was Jake who first broke the silence.
“No!” He lunged toward me and grasped me so tightly I cried out in pain. That seemed to spur Xavier into action.
“Take your filthy hands off her!” he growled. He went to run forward, but Ivy and Gabriel appeared by his side in an instant, holding him back. Jake glared at them like a ferocious animal, his black eyes wide with rage and panic.
Gabriel’s lip curled in an expression of mockery I’d never seen him wear before. “Did you really think you’d get away with this?” he asked in a soft voice that was all the more menacing.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Jake hissed. “How did you get in?”
Gabriel stepped forward and swung the sword in an arc, casually testing the weight of it in his hands.
“Let’s just say we had unexpected reinforcements.”
Jake hissed like a serpent, spraying spit through the air.
“You wouldn’t understand, but we take care of our own,” Gabriel said.
I felt Jake’s fingers dig harder into my shoulder. “She’s
“You cheated and you lied,” Gabriel said. “She is ours and we have come to claim her. Release her before we make you.”
For a moment Jake stood completely still. Then suddenly I felt myself lifted off my feet, his fingers wrapped around my neck. I was dangling in midair and the pressure around my throat was almost unbearable. My feet kicked helplessly and I struggled to suck in whatever wisps of air I could.
“I could break her neck in an instant,” Jake taunted.
“To hell with this,” Xavier said and before anyone could stop him he charged forward and rammed into Jake with his right shoulder, as if he were on the football field. Taken by surprise, Jake released me and I sank onto the bed, gasping for breath. They tumbled backward into the water. Jake seemed taken aback by the passion behind Xavier’s attack. Xavier swung, his fist connecting solidly with Jake’s jaw. They tackled each other again, rolling over rocks in the shallows as they struggled for control. I heard Jake grunt repeatedly as Xavier’s fist thudded into him. It was evident who was physically superior. But Jake wasn’t one to play fair and as soon as he regained his composure for a moment, he swept a hand through the air and Xavier was flung across the cavern and crashed onto the bed beside me. Jake snapped his fingers and iron chains materialized around us both, binding us to the spot. Jake approached like a predator, waiting for the kill. He loomed above us for a moment and then his fist shot out and punched Xavier square across the left eye. Xavier’s head snapped to the side and I saw him wince, but he didn’t give Jake the satisfaction of knowing he was hurt. I screamed and struggled against the restraints as Jake’s fist smashed into Xavier’s jaw and a trickle of blood ran from his lip.
Then a force lifted Jake clean off his feet and threw him across the cave. The chains that bound us dissolved. Xavier groaned and rolled onto his side, facing me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry I let this happen. I swore to always protect you and I let you down.”
I stared at him for a moment before throwing my arms around him and burying my face in his neck. “You’re here,” I whispered. “You’re really here. Oh God, I’ve missed you so much.”
We stayed locked in our embrace for several long moments before we sat up to see my brother and sister squaring off against Jake. He had transformed from a dapper gentleman into something that looked barely human. His dark hair was mussed, his nose was bleeding, and his eyes were glistening with rage.
Ivy and Gabriel together looked like unassailable opponents.
“Let Bethany go, Arakiel,” Gabriel warned in a low voice. “Before this gets out of hand.”
“You’ll have to kill me,” Jake spat. “And you did a bang-up job of that the first time.”
Gabriel pointed Michael’s sword directly at Jake. “We do not come unprepared.”
“You think I don’t know what this place does to you?” Jake asked. “Every second you spend here, you grow weaker.”
“There are four of us,” Gabriel pointed out.
“Including one human and one angel so easy she was about to surrender herself to a demon.”
