“And it still might.”
“Don’t placate me,” Lily snapped. “If there’s any fault, then it’s mine for not acting sooner. But unlike you, I’m not ready to give up.”
I snarled at her implication. “I haven’t given up. Nor am I scared.”
“Then stop the caterwauling and instead start thinking of how we can prevent this happening again.”
“We can’t prevent attacks if our information network has been compromised. The only defense I can see working is if we can form groups large enough to repel any attacking forces.” Already, plans formed in my mind of calling my brethren back home-manning, or should I say vamping the ramparts so to speak. Only in large numbers could we hope to repel with fewer casualty any future attacks like the one I’d barely survived.
“I’ll put the call out that it’s time to come home then,” Lily said, closing her eyes and communicating with her thralls.
“You do realize if our information network is compromised, it’s just a matter of time before the daemons appear here?”
“Good, because I’d say we have a score to settle, don’t you?” Lily’s innocent beauty transformed for a moment into that of the predator she was at heart.
I could only grin in reply, my cockiness reasserting itself. “We won’t be caught unaware again, I promise.” And I meant it. I would not fail my people again. My funk dispelled, I had to ask the question burning on the tip of my tongue. “Why did you tell Rafe where to find me?”
Lily shrugged and smiled. “He looked so miserable when you left. Moping about and what not. I had to do something. I truly think the man is in love with you.”
“He’s not a man. He’s an angel,” I mumbled even as my heart beat faster at her words.
“Whatever. You both have the hots for each other. So why fight it?”
“Because.” Did I need to write her a list?
“Are you still worried you might kill him like we do the humans?” she asked, cocking her head at me.
“Considering sex with us is toxic to most beings, wouldn’t you be?” I replied sarcastically.
“And if I told you angels are immune?” Lily’s sly smile rang bells in my mind.
I frowned at her. “And just how would you know that fact when even he doesn’t?”
Lily’s casual shrug didn’t fool me for one moment. She had access to more knowledge, at least where angels were concerned, than she was letting on. But I found it hard to task her given she’d just paved the way for me to be with Rafe. Suddenly, I didn’t find myself so tired or despondent anymore. And I was anxious to see Rafe.
Naked.
Of course, I still hadn’t changed my mind about sending him away, back to Heaven where he’d be safe. But before I threw him out of my life, I couldn’t deny myself one selfish taste of his lust-and if my hope was right, his love.
Chapter Twelve
Lily left me with my thoughts and my body mostly healed, the red lines scoring my body, a faint reminder that would disappear in a day or so. My mind tumbled in disarray over the news she’d imparted, the fact Rafe could handle my touch. I ordered up several of my thralls, finding myself really hungry after my ordeal, and as I sucked on their necks one after another, I tried not to think of Rafe. Easier said than done. With the green light from Lily, my excuse of being toxic no longer acted as a barrier to us being together.
I loved him. I couldn’t deny that fact any longer. He made me feel things I’d never imagined, and not just physically. Had I suffered only from lust, I think I would have handled the Rafe situation with ease, but having my heart involved complicated things. Like, did he love me, too? Doubt, another aspect to my mushy feelings that I didn’t enjoy at all. And unlike other things I didn’t like, I couldn’t just kill this problem or tear its head off.
I finished eating without coming to a decision, but at least I felt a lot more like my usual strong self. I thought long and hard while I showered the grime from my body.
To do or not do Rafe? A crude question, but one of importance, at least to me. My selfish half said “Hell yeah!” However, my newly discovered softer side asked if it was fair to use him and then discard him. Even worse, both sides of my psyche wondered if having a taste of him and the pleasures I’d find in his arms would make removing him from my life even more painful.
Self-indulgence won. I couldn’t, make that wouldn’t, deny myself a last chance at happiness. A fantasy moment that I would treasure and use as inspiration in the upcoming battle with the daemons.
Decided, I toweled off and walked out into the bedroom, nude.
I stopped dead at the sight of Rafe lounging on my bed. A modest woman would have covered her bare parts. Thankfully, I lacked that kind of stupidity. I stood tall and proud, my nipples tightening at the glowing interest in his eyes.
“Come here,” he ordered.
I put a hand on my hip and cocked it. “Whatever for?” I asked with a playful smile.
“Your queen told me there’s no danger. We can be together. So no more excuses.”
Lily meddling again, but I didn’t mind in this case, not when it meant I could finally have what I wanted most- Rafe.
“What happened to my shy and geeky doctor?” I asked.
“A facade.”
“That must have been hard.”
“Not as hard as my cock.”
His crude words made me flush. Talk about switching extremes. “You know, you’re pretty bossy for an angel.”
He just smiled and beckoned me closer.
I approached him slowly, undulating my hips for his appreciative, hungry gaze. I stopped at the foot of the bed. “Aren’t you afraid I’m still too weak from my ordeal?”
Rafe snorted. “You? I doubt it.”
I grinned. I had to give him credit, he understood me all too well. “So who gets to be on top?”
Apparently he did, for in one fluid movement with a speed to match-perhaps even surpass my own-I found myself under him, and lucky me, he was very happy to be on top.
His heavier body fit perfectly over mine, the hardness of his prick nudging the apex of my thighs. Only one thing marred this perfect moment.
“Why aren’t you naked?” I complained.
Rafe rolled off me and stood beside the bed. The bastard teased me, stripping his shirt off slowly to reveal sculpted abs. He unbuttoned the fly of his jeans, and I licked my lips, eyes trained on the prize I’d won. He pushed down his jeans and his black briefs to reveal the cock I’d ride in a moment. Long, thick and bobbing eagerly, he didn’t disappoint, on the contrary, my excitement went up a notch.
I crooked my finger at him and, with a grin, he covered my body again with his, and I just about swooned in delight. Skin to skin, the effect blew my mind. I tingled all over and impatient, I clasped him to me tightly, my arms wrapping around his neck to pull his lips down to mine for a scorching kiss. My thighs I let fall open, welcoming his body between them. The nudge of his shaft head against my wet slit made me moan against his mouth.
The desire he’d incited in me since day one raged out of control. I wanted him so badly. Needed him… now.
“Fuck me,” I panted, unable to wiggle my hips forward enough to sheath him.
He tore his lips from mine and gazed down at me with those glowing blue eyes of his and his lips quirked. “So soon. I wanted to explore you first. Taste you. Stroke you. Lick-”
I pulled on my power and rolled us so that he lay on the bottom with me straddling him. Just as quickly I seated myself in one fluid motion. I sighed in pleasure even as his hands grabbed me about the waist, his fingers digging into me as his cock twitched inside the warmth of my pussy.
“That’s better,” I purred with a wiggle.
He sucked in a breath and his grip tightened. I splayed my hands on his chest, and leaned forward slightly. I
