Page 11 of Angel's Vengeance

Slowly, the gnawing tension fled from his shoulders, and the hard surface against his forehead started to register more suggestive pressure than pounding pain.Thank the mages for small mercies.

Yes, there was at least one disaster Rhode would be able to get to the bottom of, the least of which would be finding out just how the hell a female charmer existed in the first place, let alone one who claimed to be an heir to Cyro.What had she been doing in that parking lot?If she was truly who she insisted to be, why on earth would other charmers be chasing her, never mind trying to apprehend her?

And most importantly, just what the hell did she do to him?

With each question unraveling from the tightly coiled yarn ball of neural synapses in Rhode’s mind, more of that collective calm settled into his muscles, easing that strange burning in his core where the alien angel fire from earlier seemed to originate.The flames were gone, barely a simmer in the pit of his soul.Whatever had erupted out of him had thankfully been depleted.He felt almost normal, familiar, with that same hollowness returning to settle low in his gut and weigh his conscience down.

He never thought he’d be so happy to feel so dead inside.But dead was good.He could work with dead.

Instead, Iron and Titan took up residence at each of his sides, neither of the angels touching him but also strategically blocking the sole avenues to the exits.

And just like that, his muscles twitched with unrestrained warning.When Rhode slowly turned around, the scene was not one of a prisoner being apprehended, nor of a demon being threatened with a fire-fueled dagger at its throat.Any of those would have made sense.

What he saw, however, had his hands flying for his kamas.All they caught was air.

“Nope.None of that.”Titan held up the bundle of weapons in his fist and leveled a sadthis is why some people can’t have nice thingsglare at him.“It’s a safe bet that Brass is going to melt these puppies down after the shit you just started in Molly’s dining room.Either that or he’ll give ‘em to Molly so she can take a swing at you.Whatever the case, consider them on probation.”

Rhode heard the angel’s words, but while his brain was slowly processing the repercussions of his earlier actions, it had no juice left to make sense of what Tungsten was doing across the room.

The prime sentinel grabbed a chair, placed it next to the wide-eyed woman, carefully settled his bulk into it, and said, “Before we speak further regarding the circumstances of tonight, it is incumbent upon me to inform you that no harm will come to you here, by my hand or any of my angels.”

Rhode blinked through a shock that did a stellar job of stealing his words.Once he’d found them again, he said, “What?How can you say that?”

Tungsten’s expression was equal parts grim and illuminating, the kind of face a head coach adopted when she had to inform her Olympic competitor that they had just won a place on the podium—but for a bronze medal.Then the prime sentinel hoisted every ounce of karma into his heated stare and promptly blew Rhode’s world apart.

“Because no Empyrean warrior shall ever harm a soul bond of our brethren, whether that angel be sentinel ...or seraph.”

Chapter6

There was a reason Neela always,alwayshad background noise playing in her suite at home, be it music, TV, or, more often than not, YouTube—even while she was sleeping or when she wasn’t there.That was why her low-light-thriving spider plant had the absolute biggest, fattest flowers any underground self-professed plant whisperer had ever grown.

It was also because she knew far too well just how swiftly silence could kill.Stillness often came with far more oppressive and damaging repercussions.

So, yeah, her mouth might have run away with her when Tungsten finally finished his spiel.

“I’m going to stop you right there, big guy.”Neela whipped out her hand.“You’re saying a whole lot of words that don’t mean what I think they mean.Can we backtrack a sec here?”Then she spun her hand in a circle and shut her eyes, as if that would make the redelivery of his message any more palatable.“The fire stuff.Go over that again but slower, please.”

A corner of his lips lifted.“All beings of the Empyrean, like my angels, contain a spark of the Eternal Flame within them, which is the source of all light and life in the realms.When two halves of the same spark come in contact with each other, a soul bond connection is formed, one that links two souls together for all time.The mortals have had many phrases for this concept over the years, but the most current one in Western cultures, I believe, is soulmates.”

Cue suffocating silence.

“Soulmates,” she repeated in a whisper of disbelief.And let the record show she triedso damn hardnot to flick her eyes toward who she newly dubbed the Looming Male of Murderous Intent.

Yeah, no dice there.Whilehewas doing an excellent job of pretending the air around her was miraculously converting into carbon dioxide all on its own, she couldn’t stop stealing glances and wondering whether his incessant pacing was a frustrated habit or one war commanders used to intimidate the enemy.

Because the odds were an even split on that one.

Mated.To a seraphim commander.Of all the things she knew about him, which was pretty close to bupkis,thatlittle fact had been one of the biggest surprises among many.

He was a powerful seraph.A war general.A commander of an entire legion of spies.A prisoner of war.

And now, he shared a connection with her that, according to Tungsten, wasn’t just permanent but eternal.After what her sire had done to him.

If the reality of the situation wasn’t so nauseating, she’d try to laugh it off, except her facial muscles hadn’t been able to do anything except wince through one harrowing experience after another since the sun went down.But they somehow got with the program right quick, as they always seemed to do whenever Rhode’s voice fired up a room.That time, however, it wasn’t amusement that had her jaw hanging open but shock.

“Absolutely absurd.Impossible,” Rhode sneered at Tungsten.

“Is it?What other explanation do you have for why you, of all angels, can suddenly command angel fire?”

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