Page 17 of Angel Condemned

Axton

Aneed to comfort Jody burned through me for the rest of the day and into the next. I wanted to distract her from our current situation, shield her as much as I could from the terrors of this place. I wanted her dreaming about good things and not whatever nightmares would plague her. And I wanted to know more about her. Everything she did fascinated me. Like the way her hips swung when she walked back and forth in our cell as she talked about what she’d learned in medical school and her love of something called puzzles.

My hands itched to snatch her up and kiss her like I’d done before. But I couldn’t. That was too dangerous no matter how each passing moment with her felt like I was tempting an addiction that I’d never recover.

“So, I have studied at least twenty other species, including a bit on the Roulex, but I never came across your kind,” she said. “Do you think you’re an advanced race? Like why wouldn’t you be in the first half of my medical book? Aside from your horns and wings, you appear humanoid.”

I picked the thick skin off the ploomert fruit as I watched her. “Our people stay put, mostly. We don’t traipse across the galaxies like others.”

“But you must have visited Earth at some point, right?” She slapped her hand over mouth, giggling. “I mean, not you personally. Unless you live a really long time? Oh God, are you immortal?”

An odd expression filtered over her features like she’d figured out a riddle.

“No. Our lifespan is about the same as you humans.”

“How do you know so much about us? I mean if you never went to Earth, someone in the past who was an Angeliminir had to have as we’ve religions that practically have you painted in their murals…without the horns though.”

She talked a lot when she was nervous. That was one of the many nuisances I’d picked up being with her so far. She also had this habit of pushing her hair behind her ears, then immediately pulling it back off. I don’t even think she was aware of it.

“Why not horns?” They represented power and virility back home.

“Only animals and demons have horns. And don’t avoid the question, if you’ve never left this planet, how do you know about humans?”

“A shuttle used to bring old books,” I admitted because I knew she wasn’t going to let up. “I devoured them whenever I wasn’t sleeping or fighting.”

“Fighting? Don’t tell me you were a bully.”

“No. All warriors are trained to battle, but our technology is not as advanced as the Roulex except our shields.” Fuck! Why had I said that? Didn’t matter though, the Roulex knew they couldn’t get through our barriers to our mountain home. And they coveted our ability to heal. I did not doubt once they discovered both, they’d eradicate my kind as I believed they had countless others. “They are monsters, Jody. They devour other species or use them for their own gain.”

“I could see why they’d want a forcefield that modern weapons can’t penetrate,” she said in an even tone like she was placating me.

Didn’t matter if she believed me or not.

We finished our food and I pretended to rest while she braided and unbraided her hair or picked at her nails. I could feel the questions she wanted to ask me simmering under the surface of her quietness.

But I was feeling myself drawn to her so fast it terrified me. What if I gave in and kissed her again? Would I be able to stop? I dug my nails into my palms, fighting back the desire that grew with every heartbeat. The nervousness that I would reveal too much of my curiosity about her.

She, evidently oblivious, chatted on about biology and medicine. “Do you shed your horns like a snake, does its skin when it gets bigger? Or do you lose your horns like male deer lose their antlers every winter?”

I huffed out a breath. “Neither. They grow until an Angeliminir reaches adulthood then they stop unless broken or cut off.”

My horns ached now with the memory of the Roulex sawing them down every month to keep the points flattened.

“Okay, so horns are a touchy subject.” She balanced up on her tiptoes to see out the small window before turning back to me. “What about wings? They seem to grow back if injured.”

She was treading on dangerous territory. Sure, the Roulex knew about my kind’s healing abilities, but I didn’t want to have her piecing things together. Her mind was sharp, and she might be able to figure out how I was able to heal quickly. And that was too dangerous to trust her with.

Not that I understood the secret either. My mom had said it was magic flowing in our veins. And the Roulex would experiment on me and any half-blood children they were able to get their hands on until they could alter their DNA and heal from nearly any wounds.

“Do you have more than one heart?”

I jerked, taken aback by her question, then held up one finger. “Same as you.”

She nodded.

“Enough questions.” I yawned. “Tell me what your favorite food is on Earth.”

“Like human food and not imported?”

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