Page 12 of When the Angel Falls First

Does he know about the journal? Does he think I’m a fraud?

He took another step closer, invading my personal space and testing my resolve not to get closer to him. Why was he so damn magnetic? I never had this problem with other men, only Caleb. He was under my skin, with seemingly no effort at all.

“I could use your instincts for my mission. The one I told you about when we first met.”

His words hung in the air between us, creating a potent mix of disbelief and anticipation. I blinked once, twice, waiting for his words to sink in, trying to figure out how to respond. The silence of the bookstore only magnified the moment, making it feel as monumental as it was unexpected.

My silence must have worried Caleb because he swiftly added, “And of course I’ll return the favor. You help me with my mission, and I help you with… whatever you need. Deal?” His eyes searched mine, looking for an answer.

My mind began to whirl, and I glanced down at the worn rug beneath my feet, biting my lip. His offer was tempting, very tempting, but was I willing to put my heart on the line again? The situation with my family was a hot mess, one that had onlygrown more convoluted and painful over time. And then there was Nana Geraldine’s birthday bash. The stress over my great-grandmother’s upcoming party and the whole plus-one expectation was just making it worse. But to get tangled up with Caleb was like signing up to have my heart broken.

“Well,” I began, my lips moving before my brain could stop them. “There is something…” I took a deep breath and quickly spilled out the rest. “I’ve got a family event coming up—a hundredth-birthday party for my great-grandmother—and it could be… well, complicated.”

“Why’s that?” Caleb asked, his tone soft, inviting. Like my own personal catnip, he was always drawing me in. How I longed to nestle my face into his neck and tell him everything. But I stayed in place.

“You remember how things were with my family,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I told him as much as I could bear at that moment. How since we’d had a blow up in my first year of university, we hadn’t seen eye to eye. How their thinly-veiled remarks about being irresponsible still stung, and therefore how I avoided seeing them as much as possible. How our relationship only grew more toxic with time. Except with my great-grandmother. She and I had managed to stay as close as we ever were—maybe because she was a weirdo herself, though she had earned the right by being on the planet for nearly a century.

He stood listening, eyes wide in empathy and the occasional murmur of “I’m sorry to hear that” and a much quieter mutter of “Piece of shit”that I don’t think I was meant to hear.

I finished with a sigh, anxious to hear his answer about the birthday party.

“So, you need a date to run interference. Be your arm candy for a day and keep the family occupied and satisfied.” He stoodtaller, and his look of determination brought to mind images ofmebeing the one satisfied, not my family. Hot damn, this man was dangerous. “Josie, I told you years ago that love is my job, and an event like this, patching up old grudges, well, it’s practically my calling,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m in.”

The relief that washed over me was immense, like a whole shelf of books being lifted off my shoulders. I let out a breath, and for the first time in a long while, the prospect Nana Geraldine’s birthday didn’t seem quite so daunting… even if it was going to make things more complicated with the first—and only—love of my life.

I was just going to ignore that last part for now. I always did prefer to be an ostrich with my head in the sand.

SIX

Caleb

I spentthree days chasing my last few couples all over town, but none of them were ever in the same place at the same time. Which was probably why they were the last ones on my list. They posed a real challenge, even for someone with my abilities. And now that Josie had entered my life again, it felt all the more important to remain focused on this goal.

After all, she was a big reason I found myself without my wings.

And so I sat, frustrated and no further along, back at Rocksmith Café for a club sandwich and a bottomless lemonade.

I was distracted, my senses stretched out to follow the easiest match left on the list, when Victory dropped off my sandwich.

“Look okay?” she asked, a little quieter than usual.

“Looks great, as always.” My power reached out on instinct to inspect her aura, and I was immediately hit by a deluge of turmoil. “Areyouokay, Victory?”

She bit her bottom lip, hesitating.

“Would you like to sit with me and talk about it?” I pulled the typical angel move, glad to focus on any problem besides my own. I was fallen, earthbound and wingless, and yet I’d still rather embroil myself with human imperfections than face my own sins.

Victory glanced quickly around the otherwise empty patio, then sank into the wrought-iron seat across from me. “It’ll sound crazy.”

“I promise I won’t judge.”

“Do you believe in the…supernatural?” she whispered, as if someone was going to jump out screaming at the word.

I smiled. If only she knew. “I do, actually. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve just recently found out—no, I’ve recentlyseensome things I didn’t know were possible. And I’m not sure how to deal with it.”

Going from mundane human to “I’ve got a wolf-shifter fated mate” overnight was probably overwhelming. “Ah. That can be confusing.”

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