“You know more about me than most people do.”
Wow. That was just so…wow. The man had build a wall around him so thick that he’d practically entombed himself inside it.
“You’d have more friends if you didn’t try so hard to scare people senseless,” I told him.
“I’m not looking for friends,” he replied. “Now hold still. And stop squirming. You’re pushing rocks into my boots.” His arm wrapped around my body.
“It sounds like I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”
He grunted his assent. “I won’t argue with that.”
“Why do you even want to snuggle with someone you don’t trust?”
“As long as you’re in front of me, I can keep an eye on you.”
I was pretty sure he was making a joke this time. I was starting to identify that slight lift in his voice whenever he was stepping out of his Interrogator shoes.
“I can still maintain the cloaking spell around us both if you’re further away,” I said.
“Don’t be silly. This is more efficient. You don’t have to expend as much magic if we’re closer together. And we’ll stay warmer.”
I threw a weak smile over my shoulder. “That’s got to be the worst pickup line I’ve ever heard.”
His gaze captured mine. “Cadence,” he said in a silky voice, fire in his eyes. “If I wanted to seduce you, I wouldn’t bother with pretenses.”
“Ok. Right. Fine.” I looked away, lowering my head to rest on my arm. Because I needed rest. Certainly not because I was afraid of what I would do if I continued to stare into his eyes.
I could handle this. I could snuggle up with the most devastatingly dangerous, deadly, beautiful angel I’d ever met. It was only for warmth. Nothing more. We were both mature adults here.
Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about, I thought as I closed my eyes.
8
The Ways of Angels
Warm, strong arms held tightly to me. I smiled, snuggling up close to them as I breathed in the earthy aroma of rosewood and magic.
“Good morning, sunshine,” a deep voice nuzzled against my ear.
I bolted upright, stumbling as my boot caught against a spiky bush, much to the amusement of my angel companion. The monster herd had passed. The two of us were alone on the dark, red-orange expanse. That left only one witness to my spectacular stumble over my own feet: Damiel Dragonsire, Master Interrogator and veteran angel. Fantastic.
“Are you all right?” Colonel Dragonsire asked, rising smoothly and effortlessly to his feet. Just like a proper angel should move.
“Of course.” I brushed the dust off my clothes. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’m starting to get the feeling that I make you uncomfortable.”
“Why would waking up with the Master Interrogator breathing down my neck make me uncomfortable?” I asked, my laugh shaky.
His eyebrows drew together. “You are attracted to me,” he declared in a matter-of-fact voice, the cool observation of an Interrogator.
I stuttered out a jumbled, incoherent response.
“That was not a very convincing rebuttal,” he told me.
As though I didn’t already know that.
“Let’s get going before another monster horde decides to march across the Sienna Sea,” I said.
He extended his hand toward the red expanse before us. “After you.”
Right. Because he didn’t want me behind him. Just in case I tried to stab him in the back.
I started running. As we moved across the wasteland, only the crunch of the shifting gravel beneath our boots broke the eerie silence. My head, however, was buzzing with a million agitated thoughts.
As a child, I’d aspired to be the perfect daughter. In the Legion, I’d tried to be the perfect initiate—and later the perfect soldier. And now the perfect angel.
Suffice it to say, that last one wasn’t working out at all so far. I was tripping over my feet as surely as I was over my tongue. This certainly was not how I’d pictured my first mission as an angel. Not at all.
Magic wrapped around me, hot and hard. The Master Interrogator was not a subtle man.
“Would you mind turning down your magic? I’m practically getting a sunburn over here,” I said.
“You are fireproof. You can’t get a sunburn, especially not from a telepathic scan.”
“Why are you in my head?” I demanded. “Again.”
“It’s my job to keep an eye on your loyalties,” he replied, completely unapologetic. “If that means I catch a peek at your…fantasies…” A dark smile flitted across his face. “Well, that’s just how it is.”
I stopped in my tracks. “What fantasies?”
“Of me,” he said casually, turning to face me. “You should remember. It all played out inside your head.”
“I am not fantasizing about you.”
“There’s no reason to be embarrassed. It’s perfectly normal. Most women can’t help themselves around me.”
I tried to formulate an appropriately witty retort, but I had no antidote for that kind of arrogance. So I just threw my hands up in the air and said, “You’re unbelievable.”
“Not now, sweetheart,” he said, his voice a dangerous caress. “We’re working. But when the mission is over, you will have my undivided attention.”
First, he was sure I was a traitor. Then he wanted to recruit me. And now he was trying to seduce me.
“When this mission is over, sweetheart, you will be marrying Eva,” I reminded him.
He chuckled. “My dear, sweet, innocent Cadence. That marriage was arranged by the Legion. It’s not about love. It is about procreation, about making future soldiers with the potential to become angels. Hardly any Legion soldier trapped in an arranged marriage is monogamous.”
“Be that as it may, that’s not the life for me. I have no intention of being just another warm body you drag into a closet for a quickie when you have an itch to scratch.”
“Who said anything about it being quick?” he said with a dark, sexy twist of his lips. “And for the record, I am not in the habit of ducking into closets. Though, if that’s how you like it, I will endeavor to satisfy your fantasies.”
There was that word again. Heat scorched my cheeks.
His hand captured my chin as the other slowly stroked down my face. “So sweet.” He leaned in closer, his voice dipping lower. “When I’m done with you, my sweet flower, your cheeks won’t be the only part of you that’s flushed.”
Heat bloomed deep inside of me, my body responding to the raw, unfiltered eroticism of his words. I felt flushed, dizzy, my legs quivering even as his hand curled around my waist.
“You are a singularly unique angel.” His lips brushed lightly against mine, a tempting whisper of a kiss.
“Colonel—”
“Call me Damiel.”
I couldn’t understand why the invitation to use his first name pleased me. It should have scared me shitless. Anyone in their right mind would have panicked the moment the Master Interrogator’s arms locked around them.