Page 43 of Wings of Death

“I’m so glad we’ve found you. It’s going to be okay,” she whispers.

I really don’t like her touching him or being close to him like that, but I hold my ground. Starting a fight is not a good idea right now.

Just breathe, Zarla,I tell myself.

Klara rubs his shoulder as she looks at me. “I can see you care for him, and I am a pretty excellent judge of character. I believe you won’t harm him. But be warned—if you do, it won’t end well for you…?”

“Zarla,” I say, “and I appreciate your concern for him, and believe me when I say that the last thing I would ever do is harm him. It goes against every sense inside me as his guardian.”

She narrows her eyes at me as something in her features clicks, and she gives me a nod, as if deciding she can trust my word.

Kyle steps back from Em and moves to my side. “I need time to process all of this.”

“Yes, we understand,” Klara says.

Em’s gaze quickly shifts to her mother’s. “We’re not leaving him here. He’s coming with us where we can keep him safe. His family needs to see him.”

Klara places her hands on Em’s shoulders. “In due time. We will alert them he is safe. We know where he is, and we can return when he is ready.”

Em doesn’t look pleased as she pouts, but she gives her mother a sharp nod.

“If this is all true, then why don’t I have wings?” Kyle asks.

I hadn’t even thought about that. Maybe he just didn’t know how to release them?

“May I?” Klara asks, and he nods.

She lifts his T-shirt up, and my focus drops to his chiselled, toned body. I swallow hard as she glides her fingers across the skin on his back, searching for his markings.

“Strange… I can’t see any sign of wings here.”

I move to her side and check for myself, gliding my fingers across his skin. My breath catches at the feeling building inside me, and I quickly drop my hand, refocusing on the reason I am looking at his back. Markings. But he has no wings. That much is clear.

Every angel I have seen, myself included, has markings where our wings are. We’re able to release them and retract them when needed. Kyle doesn’t appear to have any markings.

“There’s got to be an explanation for it,” Em says, scratching her head. “Maybe it has something to do with how he got here.”

Kyle lowers his shirt and stands at my side.

I instinctively reach out and stroke his arm. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out.”

Em huffs, folding her arms. “You mean,we’llfigure it out,” she says to me, then turns to Klara. “We need to take him with us. We can figure it out back home.”

Just as panic creeps up inside me at the thought of losing him, Kyle shakes his head.

“No. I’m not going anywhere.”

Em lets out a strained breath, clearly unhappy with the decision. I don’t know these angels, and neither does Kyle. There is no way I’m about to let them take him anywhere. Reliefwashes over me at Kyle being on the same page. I don’t want to have to fight them, but I will if needed.

Em’s gaze darts between Kyle and me. “Keep him safe. We will return soon.”

And with that, she shoots off up into the air. Klara gives us a warm smile before she follows her daughter.

The silence stretches on for a while after they’re gone, and Kyle finally turns to me.

“This is a lot to take in,” he says. “I’ve lived here on Earth as a human for most of my life. It’s all I know.”

A drop of water lands on my arm, and I glance up at the sky.

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