Page 2 of Angel's Vengeance

As if he needed further evidence of the mutilations that had been committed upon him or justification for what he’d do to avenge them.

Before he could think better of it, he whipped his head to the side, lifted his lip in a snarl, and examined the abomination of what was attached to him.

The reflective surface winking back caused a tight fist to curl in his gut.Seraph and sentinel wings had been cast from the prime mages’ pearlescent energy when the races were created.They contained powerful remnants of the Eternal Flame, the source of all light and life in the realms.Once that energy abated and the wings took form, the appendages were soft but strong, swift, brutally sharp, and always efficient.

They were not metal.At least, not his.

The wind picked up and turned from chilly to biting.Almost icy.It was an apropos change to accompany the glacial sheets of feathers that sat shingled and poised for his command.The silky sheen of his natural-born wings was gone, carved away, and mutated into something wholly dark and other.

Yet one more thing that had been taken.

Rhode extended his fingers toward the latest part of him that had also been irrevocably changed.The list, it seemed, was never ending.

Rhode cursed softly under his breath as he brushed his fingertips up and down the smooth rows of metallic feathers.Mages, what he wouldn’t give for a day with no surprises.A day where he could wake up andnotdiscover some new horrible realization about how the body he was in was no longer his own.Or whether there were any parts of him left to recognize at all.

“Metal,” he whispered into the cold night air, his breath fogging against his wings.

He cleared his throat and shifted his feet farther over the lip of the gutter.Then, with a shift of his muscles, he flung his wings high and wide.The movement was quick and comforting, like an old friend waiting to be called into service, albeit armed with a different weapon.

His wings were warm, just like those of Chrome, Tungsten, Titan, and all the other sentinels.Those angels, too, had been altered when they’d fallen to the mortal realm, with metal claiming more than its fair share of who they used to be.And that was before the sentinels had plucked him from hell and enfolded him into an embrace so loving and vibrant he’d likely never find such warmth again.

Except he had, hadn’t he?It was in the very heat of his new wings and the newfound power that pumped furiously through every tightened muscle.

It was a different sort of heat, one that had only been coaxed out of him in the quiet reprieves from Cyro’s ...attentions.When Rhode’s soiled cell was a blessing because starved solitude meant safety.

Safety and perhaps a certain spark that had been blooming in its vengeful intensity over the past year and a half since his rescue.

Rhode scanned the parking lot below, assessing where to land.Already, his wings were primed and pumping back the early winter’s chill in great gusts around him.Surprisingly, they were neither lighter nor heavier than what he remembered.They justwere.

He’d take it, for what choice do he have?

The only vehicle in the parking lot was a hook-and-chain tow truck tucked next to a row of trees that separated the mechanic’s shop from the wooded area fanning out around it.No life.No movement.Not even a dusting of snow yet to cover the ground.

Perfect.

Rhode crouched low and smiled back against the strain in his thighs.It was a welcome, powerful tension that his muscles embraced with open arms.An inaugural flight that would be the final skill he’d have to master anew before his focus would shift and the tides would change.Before he could finally aim his ire in the direction of who deserved it most.

Cyro.The demon ruler.His captor.His current mark.

And soon, the first to feel the full force of Rhode’s true vengeance.

Smiling at what the future promised, he readied himself to leap, to take the first flight since he’d been captured, when a shadowy figure sprang out from among the trees.

Rhode quickly pivoted and sank back on his heels.Shit.Then he recalled his wings and shivered as the metal faded into translucent energy and his wings were reabsorbed into his body.

“No one is supposed to be here,” he ground out as he stared daggers at the intruder down below.“Damn mortals.”

But the figure didn’t keep running across the parking lot as Rhode had hoped.Instead, the person slowed when they reached the edge of the pavement and looked around through the thin veil of snow that had begun to increase.The white winter coat’s hood did a hell of a job staying in place, surprisingly, as its wearer whipped their head in every direction imaginable until finally stalling out on the tow truck.

Rhode had often thought many things about mortal behavior were odd, but living among the sentinels’ mortal mates had taught him to keep those observations to himself.Still, questions were questions, and as he sat hunched on top of the roof, those puppies began to pile up.Engaging with mortals was the literal last thing he had any interest in, but that didn’t mean his curiosity needed to be ignored.Besides, the sooner he learned what was going on down below, the sooner he could get back to throwing himself off a building in the name of recovery.

He was just getting comfortable when the mortal walked back a few paces, then charged at the truck and slammed a shoulder against the driver’s side window.

A single bored brow arched up Rhode’s forehead.“Really?”

Then a sharp cry rang out as the mortal threw their head back and clutched their shoulder.The hood finally fell away, along with what remained of Rhode’s meager interest in the caper.But right as he was about to retreat, riotous golden curls captured his attention as they escaped their confines and settled around the mortal’s shoulders.

Hershoulders.

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