Sins of the Lost

“Tell me,” he ordered.

Ferocious eyes fastened on his, and Aramael wrenched his arm away. “Something’s wrong,” he said. “Alex needs help.”

Chapter 77

It took every particle of self-control Aramael possessed to remain at the war council table and not bolt to Alex’s side. His whole being vibrated with her need for him, resonated with his desire to respond to her summons. But with Mika’el scowling that way and Raphael’s narrowed eyes grimly daring him to so much as twitch, he didn’t dare. Getting into a fight with another Archangel—or several of them, for that matter, would only slow him down.

Gripping the tabletop with one hand and his sword in the other, he repeated his words, “Something is wrong. She needs help.”

She needs me.

“Damn it, Aramael, you were to sever your connection to her,” Mika’el said.

“The same connection you counted on to protect her from Samael when you thought he was followed her?” Aramael snarled back. Painfully aware of the tension threading through the others, he reined himself in. Made himself breathe. “Let me check on her. Please.”

“This time and how many others?” Mika’el shook his head. “The Hellfire is down, Aramael. An attack is imminent. I cannot spare you.”

You cannot hold me.

He bit back the ill-advised challenge and locked his knees against the need to leave. Whatever had drawn Alex to summon him, it grew more urgent with every second—and it wasn’t going away.

“You don’t understand,” he grated. “I need to see her.”

Raphael snorted. “I knew you’d be a liability.”

“Raphael,” Mika’el said.

His golden eyes venomous, the Archangel subsided.

Mika’el studied Aramael for what seemed eternity. “You’re certain she’s in danger?” he asked at last.

“What does it matter? She’s a Naphil!” Raphael exploded. “His only loyalty is to—” He broke off, staring at the hand Mika’el placed on his arm, then at the warrior. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Well?” Mika’el asked Aramael.

Aramael noted distantly that the table had begun to smolder beneath his grip. Alex had called on him only twice when he hadn’t already been there watching over her. Both times her life had been threatened. Neither time had ended well for her.

Putting any of that into words was beyond his current ability.

At his back, his wings quivered under the strain of holding them closed.

Mika’el rubbed at the back of his neck. “One time, and one time only, Archangel. Do whatever you must, but after this, you break your tie to her, do you understand? And be careful. I can’t spare anyone to go with you, and if you’re right . . .”

Aramael nodded his acceptance of the warning. And the risk.

“Go,” said Mika’el.

Released at last, Aramael’s wings shot open to their fullest, knocking aside chairs, taking out a wall sconce, and creating a wind that had the others grabbing to hold the table in place.

“Bloody Hell,” Raphael growled. “You know better than to launch from insi—”

Aramael didn’t hear the rest.

Chapter 78

As the last footsteps of her retreating colleagues faded down the hallway, Alex put the width of a desk between her and Seth. She searched his face for something familiar, something of the man she’d loved and thought she’d known. But while Seth’s features remained the same, no man remained.

Seth stepped toward her. Instinctively, she shuffled away. He tipped his head to one side.

“What’s wrong?”

Stay calm. “I was worried about you last night.”

“And so you’re running away from me today?”

Keep him talking until—

Until what, help arrived? Not happening, Alex. There’ll be no cavalry. Not this time.

Her palms turned clammy, and her heartbeat thudded in her ears. She was on her own here. A deeply buried part of her stilled at the realization. The admission. There would be no peer backup, no divine intervention, no Aramael rushing in to save her. It had come down to her and Seth and a choice she desperately needed him to accept if she was going to get out of this alive. Intact. She took a deep, shaky breath.

“I was worried about you,” she said again, “but it doesn’t change what I said, Seth. We can’t be together.”

Dark brows met over the hurt in his eyes. “I don’t understand. We chose one another. I love you. I gave up everything to be with you. Always together. You said that, Alex.”

“I know. I know, and I’m sorry it couldn’t be—”

Before she could blink, he stood before her, his hands on her shoulders.

“But it can,” he said. “Don’t you see? I meant what I said. I can make you immortal.”

It took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to cringe from the word, the idea.

His touch.

She made herself stay soft under his hands. Unresisting. No cavalry. Hurt clouded his face. Betrayal twisted it.

“You don’t want to be immortal.” His voice was flat with dawning disbelief. “You don’t want to be with me.”

I did, she wanted to deny, but we never had a chance. We were too different, too far apart. We should never have tried. But she couldn’t speak past the sorrow clogging her throat. Aramael had been right all along. This, human and angel—or whatever Seth was—coming together, was wrong, unnatural.

Seth turned from her. Bracing his hands on the edge of the desk, he lowered his head. Every rigid line of his body screamed pain. Alex’s heart shredded. Whatever had happened, whatever decisions had brought them here, to this point, he didn’t deserve this. No one did. She slid a hand across his bowed back and rested her forehead against his shoulder.

“Please,” she said. “Try to understand. I belong here. On Earth, among mortals, doing my job. It’s who I am. Just as this—this is who you are.”

“But I don’t want to be this,” he snapped. “Not without you. I haven’t wanted it since I first met you, Alex. When I brought you back from the edge of death, when I restored life to you”—he tipped his head to rest against hers—“touching your soul made me feel things I never knew existed. Never knew were possible. I can’t give that up. I won’t give it up.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Please. You can’t save them. At least save yourself. Come with me. Be with me.”

Alex swiped with the back of one hand at the tears on her cheeks. Not for a second was she tempted, but saying so, hurting him like this when she was the reason he had given up so much already—

Suddenly the One’s voice filled her ears, as clear as if the Creator stood at her side. “I know