Page 75 of Angel's Vengeance

As if reclaiming some of those lost inches, he brought her gathered knuckles to his lips and gently pressed his insistence into them.“You gave me back my time, and now it’s my turn to give you back yours, because I can’t spend another fucking second walking around this mortal coil like a mindless zombie hoping I’ll find answers any place except where I’ve been afraid to look.You’remy answer, Neela.You’ve shown me how to bask in the sunlight when you’ve only known it through others’ experiences.You’ve cradled and nurtured lives that never had the capability of thanking you but are all the better for your undying care and love.AndIwant to return that love to you.It’s so far past time someone showed you any scrap of the care you deserve, and I can’t live another day knowing that you and I both have an entire lifecycle of a star’s worth of time ahead of us and that we might spend it apart because I couldn’t summon the stones to trust you.”

Neela sniffed away the sharp prickle that was always the precursor to far wetter and messier things, but then Rhode cradled her face and inched his thumbs higher beneath the creases of her eyes, as if anxiously waiting for the first opportunity to care for her, starting with tending to the tears he’d caused.

“Are you being serious?Or is this another whiplash moment that I’ll have to figure out how to endure on my own once you leave me again?”

“The only way I’m leaving is by following you wherever you intend to explore.I love you.I’ll say it as many times as I need to for you to believe me.”

Slowly, the rust caging her heart had begun to peel away, leaving that dead organ free to pump as much joy into her body as she could stomach.Which was, like, a lot.But then another sobering reality dampened the moment.“I can’t be with you in the den, Rhode.It’s too dark, too much like what I’ve known and dreaded.I want sunlight and stars and green grass.But I can’t take you away from your family.I won’t do that to you.”

“You’re not taking me away from anything.You’regivingme everything.I could live under a park bench and sleep like the dead knowing you sat above me hours earlier.”

Neela snorted.“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Try me.”

And then she did.All of it.She tried on every single word for size and came away wrapped in the coziest embrace of comfort and adoration she’d ever experienced.It made her heart swell and her defenses soften.

“I love you, Rhode,” she said, treasuring how those words felt on her tongue.“I— Oh my God, I left him in the car!”

Neela dashed around Rhode, not even sparing a moment to enjoy how adorable he looked with his features twisted in confusion, and bolted to the back of her SUV.A click of the key fob later, the hatch was up, and a giant Anatolian Shepherd leaped out of the vehicle, planting three paws solidly on the ground.The whole sit-stay routine lasted for the span of a good full-body shake before the dog was angling for Rhode and jumping up, licking the face of the angel she adored more than she ever thought possible.

“What-what is this?How?Easy, Lucky, easy!Oh God, he licked my teeth.”Rolling laughs bellowed out of Rhode at such an abnormal pitch she wondered whether she’d get her first noise complaint before she’d even officially moved in.

“His name’s Cerberus now.Officially adopted this morning and my new permanent roommate.Though, to be honest, I was hoping he could be your permanent roommate as well.That’s what I had in mind, at least, when I adopted him, even if you and I didn’t?—”

Rhode swept her into his arms and seared his mouth to hers in a kiss so fraught with emotion that no words could ever have a chance of conveying the depths of his passion.Slowly, brick by brick, his lips punched out the dark windows of her past and let the light pour in with a high-beam’s worth of abundance.It was in every grip of her waist, every gentle tug of her hair.The man’s body spoke of promised eternities in the light and moved with a dance that they had their entire lifetimes to learn.

She’d finally found her sun-filled eternity and no amount of darkness could ever claim their souls again.Because darkness only lurked where one let it, and she was determined to allow as much light in as possible.

Rhode’s possessive grip around her waist tugged at her soul’s desire.“We’re a true family now, little demon, and I couldn’t be happier because you’ve always had my whole heart.”

A lick on one cheek and a kiss on the other sealed the deal.

She was finally home.

Epilogue

One Month Later

The deep loamy soil beneath Rhode’s boots had begun to finally soften as winter took its slow and final march out of the area.He couldn’t say he was sad to see it go.The plans he’d been kicking around were somewhat seasonally dependent, which was why their current trip to Aurora’s Landscaping and Garden Supply Center had been pushed off by a few weeks.

The visit, when he’d suggested it to Neela, had been met with the same amount of exuberance if he’d just told her he’d scored tickets to New York Comic Con, complete with celebrity meet and greets.Plump cheeks, achingly gorgeous smile, strong legs bouncing from toe to toe, and the flush dappling her alabaster skin that he mentally challenged himself to recreate on other parts of her later.Neela’s joy had been a balm to his thawing soul, and when opening day arrived for the town’s plant mecca, her vehicle was the first one in the parking lot.

“Ooh, what do you think of these?”Neela snatched up one of three small earthen pots that held another mound of soil with a green stem shooting out of it.

Rhode leaned forward and squinted at the thing.“What is it?”

“Orange butterfly milkweed.I’m thinking of making a butterfly garden for the monarch butterflies.Did you know that the eastern monarch butterfly population is in the shitter?Down fifty-nine percent in central Mexico due to habitat loss.If I could build out even a small patch of garden that’ll attract them, maybe they’ll call it home this summer and it’ll help grow their local numbers a tad.I know we’re not in Mexico, but every little bit helps, right?”

The fact that this woman had not only researched declining butterfly populations in parts of North America whereshe did not livebut enacted a plan to save them regardless was enough to make him consider tattooing her name across his heart just so he’d always be able to guard her eternal kindness.

Rhode leaned over Neela’s shoulder, picked up two more of those pots that looked identical to all the other pots but what the hell did he know, and put them in their shopping cart.The sign above the planters offered up a variety ofMonarch Munchies, according to the pastel chalked floral script, but he’d have to take their word for it.

Neela rose up on her toes and kissed the edge of his jaw.“I love you.”Then she bent down to a lower shelf he hadn’t seen and put several more pots in the cart.“We’re also getting the grayleaf goldenrod and the smooth blue aster.The aster won’t start blooming until August, while the others start in June, but it’ll last a bit longer into October.Between all the plants, that should give the butterflies most of the summer and fall seasons to enjoy themselves.”Then her eyes drifted around his shoulder and took on a liquid sheen.“Oh my God, they have winterberry shrubs!Those will be perfect for the soggier land near the property’s creek.And they’re partial shade fiends, too, so it should work out great!”

Rhode aimed the cart toward whatever bush thing would be coming home with them next and knew he didn’t have to look any further to know he’d made the right decision.

While the apartment Neela had originally chosen was certainly a wonderful place for her, the fact that she wouldn’t have any land to work, grow, and fill with all the living things she had yet to care for made his heart physically hurt.And while Cerberus would have been the perfect apartment dog, contrary to popular belief owing to his size, it just wasn’t fair to either of them.The dimensions of the cage didn’t matter as long as someone else owned it.So when he’d floated the idea to her about buying a plot of land and building out their own space instead, he’d barely had time to catch her before she lofted herself into his arms and tackled him to the bed in squealing glee.

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