Page 4 of When the Angel Falls First

Two more steps, and I nudged one of the wrought-iron café chairs across the patio into Victory’s path. She tripped, her human senses unable to react to the spatial change in time to avoid it. She let out a horrified screech as the tray lifted free of her fingertips, all seven iced drinks tilting forward with her momentum, straight toward the unaware selkie baby.

Jaime moved in a blur of wolf speed, inserting himself between the icy shower and the blissfully unaware toddler.

The drinks hit his chest with a crash, sodas and ice cubesmaking a mess of his tight T-shirt, and plenty of it splashing back to soak Victory’s white uniform shirt.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Shoot. Shoot, shoot—the boss warned me about one more mistake… I’m going to lose my job!” Panic flared in the air around her, but the wolf was rock steady as he settled his hand on her cheek. His aura was all possession, all heat as he spoke.

“It’s fine. Why don’t you and I go get cleaned up. Someone else can see to the table.”

“My boss?—”

“—never needs to hear about this. Come.”

“Okay. Yes, let me get you some towels. I’m so sorry, again. I don’t know how that even happened.”

The wolf followed her silently, but he cast a curious glance around the patio, having caught my interference with his superior senses.

When his eyes landed on me and paused, I couldn’t stop the smile and nod, cluing him into the fact that it was me. With a human, I’d never tip my hand, but here, there was no harm. Knowing what I was would only push him to pursue what his wolf knew was right, even though he had been consciously fighting it because Victory was human.

Almost.

My senses didn’t lie, and somewhere decades back, she’d had a wolf ancestor. It was probably why she was drawn to this place, even though she couldn’t have had more than a drop or two of werewolf blood in her veins.

I left a few bills under my empty lemonade cup to cover the club sandwich plus a generous tip and then hit the sidewalk. My office was a few blocks away, and I was eager to tick Amy and David off my list of couples.

Victory and her wolf hadn’t been on the list, but fallen or no, Icouldn’t resist the pull of new love. My cupid instincts wouldn’t let me.

I let myself into my silent sanctuary, the familiar tang of old linoleum and a hint of dust soothing after all this time. The lights flickered overhead, revealing my well-worn desk and cracked green Naugahyde chair, with a visitor kicked back in it.

“Gabriel. What are you doing here?”

“Don’t sound so thrilled to see me, now.” He grinned, not bothering to do more than oscillate back and forth in my chair. I dropped my messenger bag into the client chair and propped my hands on my hips.

“I’m always thrilled to see one of my brothers, you know that. Just concerned. Is everything okay… upstairs?”

He snorted. “Fine, fine. Same old. Harmony, peace, and more gold than Fort Knox ever dreamed of. I’m here to see how things are with your mission. I had a feeling we’d reached a pivotal moment.”

That gave me pause. Pivotal moment? Each couple on my list was pivotal, in my opinion. They’d made their way on it because I’d screwed up, a fact I could never take lightly. So what could be so pivotal about Amy and David. Unless?—

“Ah, I did give a wolf a little push this afternoon, but they were fated, and he was spiraling.”

He nodded, grin growing wider, as if he had one of those pies and I was the unsuspecting asshole about to get whipped cream up my nose.

“You know the Host is pro-love, whatever form it takes. Supes don’t usually make our list because they don’t need help, but if you think they did, I’m not one to argue.”

He could argue, though. My instincts? They had proven more than once to be wildly off base. And he was right that supernaturals didn’t make the list, only humans. If I waswrong, and it hadn’t been the moment for Jaime and Victory, I could have just set off a terrible chain reaction. Lead pooled in my stomach. What had seemed so right a few minutes ago was suddenly seeming very, very dangerous.

“Hey, don’t start second guessing yourself.” Gabriel rose from my chair and came around the desk to put his hand on my shoulder. “Your instincts were always good, and you’ve spent seven years now making up for past mistakes. That couple you matched today was solid. That’s why I’m here, to give you an extra set of names.”

I was floored. Stunned. “You want to give me an assignment? But I haven’t finished the list. I’m close, but?—”

“This couple is time sensitive, and the Host says you’re the only cupid for the job. Consider it… a turning point.”

Resolve flooded my chest. This opportunity to prove myself was priceless, and I would not mess it up, not this time. “Consider it done.”

Gabriel smiled, the expression broad, making me feel that I was missing something, like an inside joke. With a snap, he poofed out of my office before I could ask.

I sighed and dropped into my comfortable old green chair. There, on my desk, were two new headshots with names written on the back.

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