Page 67 of Angel's Vengeance

All that she could get behind, but that had beenbeforeRhode had welcomed her into the safety of that brand-new vehicle, plunked the key into her hand, and effectively stitched together all the broken bits inside her.For the first time in her life, she could actuallyfeelwhat it meant to belong to someone, to have someone belong to her.There was a magnetism to it that no Internet video or role-playing game could have ever portrayed the truth of.She realized that now.That sensation was so brilliantly vital, it was a wonder how she ever thought there was safety behind avatars in the first place.

And she was itching to get back to that life.But first, she had to make sure her previous life didn’t follow her there.

Neela sat on the cold bleachers and pretended to watch the children play.While her face remained pinned toward the hill, the shadows around the complex drew the bulk of her attention.

All the angels were there, spread out and armed to impossible lengths—lengths she seriously wished they could avoid.While the charmers loved the flare of battle, Cyro loved the flare of a different sort of battle: one with words and far too much exposition to be an efficient use of time.But that was what happened when an immortal ruler had a captive audience and enjoyed the sound of his voice almost as much as the screams of others.

By design, Neela didn’t know where any of the angels were located, including Rhode, only that they were closer than she could imagine.Her soul bond had assured her that she’d be out of there as soon as Cyro surfaced.

It’s not your fight, little demon.And I’ll never allow it to be.Never again.

Rhode had offered her no shortage of assurances that they had a plan for every possible outcome, with tricks up their sleeves Cyro couldn’t possibly know about.

Neela breathed out and momentarily let the cloud of her breath distract her from the mental acrobatics she couldn’t seem to keep her mind from.

“It’ll be over soon,” she whispered to herself as she huddled farther into her coat.“Not much longer.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

The nearby serpentine voice slithered down the side of her neck and jerked Neela’s head to the right.A woman with long blond hair sporting a fashionable lavender fleece ear band and matching winter coat pursed her lips over the rim of a travel mug, but no breath fogged around her.When she inhaled again, she smiled at Neela, and gold irises flashed a different sort of welcome.Hunkered in the shadows at the corner of the bleachers, her tall muscular form began to change shape.Limbs thickened to masculine proportions, and hair shimmered out of sight to reveal the charmer’s familiar gold and teal tattoos, along with the two gold bands around his throat.

Elite, not mystic.

Neela schooled her features so the relief wouldn’t show.If Cyro sent warrior charmers to claim her, then he still didn’t know that magic could harm her there.Just like Rhode suspected.

Neela pinned her shoulders back and prepared to dive into the script she and Rhode had come up with.“I know why you’re here, and if Cyro wants?—”

“You have no idea what he wants,” the elite fired back.

Neela stumbled a moment, surprised by the interruption but not the harshness, then quickly gathered her thoughts again.“What I was saying, asshole, was that if Cyro wants me at all, I’ll come willingly.”

The charmer’s eyes squinted, but that time, he held his tongue.

Yeah, that’s right.This ismyplaybook we’re running.I’m not the wallflower you remember.

“I’ll meet with him and do so without restraint, if that’s what he wants, but it can’t be here.It’s got to be on the other side of the park, away from all these people.No scene on my end if there’ll be no scene on his.”

“The mortals have changed you,” the thing mused.“Someone somewhere made the mistake of letting you think you have any say in what happens to you.”

“And someone somewhere doesn’t give a shit because you’ve been ordered to bring me to Cyro.”Neela leaned forward.“So you’ll do it because while my choices may be limited at the moment, they definitely have an impact on what he’ll do to you if you don’t deliver.Funny,” she said, resting her knuckles under her chin.“I guess that means I’m the one who has a say in what happens toyou.”

The charmer lunged for her, snapping his teeth, but she just put her hand up.“I can’t be harmed, remember?So save the aggression for someone who will be impressed by it and let’s get this over with.”

As Neela was escorted to the far, far,farside of the park by the elite and two more charmers who slid out from the crowd to join the party, she kept checking in with her racing heart, giving it all the pep talks needed to keep powering her through whatever bravery it had mistakenly blessed her with.

In no world had she ever stood up for herself against her kind, let alone rap them across the knuckles with her newfound take-no-shit temperament.

Which, unfortunately, also had a time limit.She had, at best, another ten minutes of bravado left in her before the cracks in her facade would start to show, and she’d have no choice but to bow out and let Rhode and the sentinels take over.

And shereallydidn’t want to do that.She’d just found her home, her family.Did she want them to think she couldn’t pull her own weight, especially with her sire?

She could do this.She had to.

They reached the end of the unused field, which was far enough away from the meat of the park that the music had become a faint suggestion among the snowflakes.There was no one to greet them at first.Just mounds of untrodden snow piling around thick tree trunks.

Then the snow around one of the trees began to shimmer and move, until it was pulled into the tall shape of a man with broad shoulders, no hair, and the sunken face of the person who’d had a starring role in so many of her nightmares.

“Neela.”Her name on his lips drew fresh score marks down her skin.“So nice of you to meet me.I’ve missed you.”

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