Angelic Avenger (26 page)

Tony Devereau wasn’t the least bit happy to have stumbled upon our little domestic scene and his gaze flickered between us and the room as he took it all in. He looked enough like Gray to have been his brother in truth. His hair was a little darker and his eyes a little bluer, but it was very easy to see that Gray’s mother had a certain type of man she favored.

“Well, shit.”

My magic flared out in agitation. Before, I could forgive because in all likelihood, he’d not known about Lizzy. This time, he was standing right in front of her. His own magic responded to the stinging reprimand and tried to curl back on me. The surge of fear left a metallic taste in my mouth. I didn’t know what he was, but he wasn’t
quite
human. The very fact I didn’t recognize the magic flowing over me meant I had no defense for it, and my little sting snapped over me like a whip.

Gray’s arms went around me and he cradled me against his body, extending his aura to include me. I don’t know if he actively put anything into place to stop the magical attack or simply his proximity was enough, but it abruptly ceased. I had a moment of total sensory blindness. I had my five human senses, but my magical one had shorted out. Fear bled to panic in that instant until the gentle warmth of Gray’s magic soothed my pain and let me know that whatever Tony had done to me, the effects were only temporary.

Gavreel abruptly appeared in the room. No casual strolling and pretending to be human, but instant materialization. Granted, he was trying to appear as human as the rest of the men in the room, wearing what was becoming the uniform of the day among them of jeans and a T-shirt. If Gavreel’d walked into the room, he might have pulled it off to the newcomer, provided he’d not known Tony.

“Fu— Freakin’-A,” Tony muttered with a scowl. “I should have known there’d be angels mixed up in this whole mess.”

“I see your personal crisis has certainly had a negative effect on your vocabulary, Tony.”

Gavreel’s words were sharp as he stepped between the newcomer and me. Lingering magic I hadn’t even been aware of was suddenly gone from my skin, leaving me shaking against Gray. Lizzy’s hand still clutched at my pajama bottoms and I wondered how much of the feedback she’d been getting. Gray must have read my mind. Could he do that? Either that or he was getting far too good at anticipating my directions if he couldn’t.

“Lizzy, honey—” I could hear the smile in his tone and something else I was surprised to hear—joy. I remembered how much he loved his brother and reminded myself that I’d started the little magic showdown with my own arrogance. I was so used to having a leg up on the mortals that I’d automatically reached for my magic and flung it out. Tony had done little more than turn that back on me, “—why don’t you go on into the dining room and see how Mr. Ben’s faring with the griddle? You can remind him not to make too big of a mess on my sideboard.”

“Okay.” Her voice was light and happy, but she showed she’d not been oblivious to the power being used in the room. Instead of taking the obvious route, which would have taken her by Tony, she skipped through the door behind us and ran through the living room and around to the formal dining room. That’s my smart little girl.

I didn’t know what he was, but he certainly wasn’t mortal. I’d thought I’d seen everything, but apparently I’d missed something strong enough to be frightening. What was it with Gray’s mother and the paranormal?

“What are you?”

So much for subtlety. It slipped out before I could even think about it. I wanted to send my magic out to feel for a clue, but I still couldn’t quite find it even though Gray’s magic was still a soothing balm to my skin and Gavreel’s made an effective barrier in front of us. I could feel it, but it was like hearing words underwater. It was there, but muted to the degree you couldn’t understand even the tone of them.

“Apparently, I’m your new brother-in-law, Soulless. I’m seriously beginning to worry about your taste, Grey. First the blood-sucking lawyer and now the undead. Can’t you find a woman who’s actually human. Maggie certainly doesn’t count. She may have been breathing, but calling her human might be pushing things.”

So Tony wasn’t happy about us in the least. I wasn’t the only one who’d failed to pass muster. Tony made me understand why “in-laws” held a negative connotation.

Great, just great. Yesterday, it
might
have mattered. Today, it was about twelve hours too late. Wasn’t that my luck?

I didn’t know how to answer, so I didn’t. Instead, I reached for two more coffee cups and poured them full of fresh coffee.

“I’m okay, Gray, thank you.” Something inside me warmed as he kissed my temple before letting me go. Picking up the coffee cups, I moved around Gav, pressing one in his hand while I offered the other to Tony. “Don’t sound so happy about it, Tony. It’s all for show. Gray can fill you in on the details. I need to go get dressed.”

Coward!

I told my inner voice to shut up as I picked up my own cup with a casualness I didn’t feel and strolled by him, careful not to touch him. The gentle scent of the anthuriums haunted my steps as I fled to the sanctuary of Gray’s bedroom.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I found someone had thought to give me clothes while I had been downstairs, either my own or manifested. Since I was still magic blind, I couldn’t tell and once I put them on, they’d be wrapped in my own magic so I wouldn’t be able to once this mess wore off. Inside, I tried to digest what had happened and make sense of it as I shook out the folded navy cotton slacks and stepped into them. I decided they had to be manifested since the stiff cotton hadn’t creased on the fold lines. Somehow, that made me smile. At least my angels were looking out for me since my lover certainly wasn’t. Granted, it was the sting of my blindness talking, but there was still a grain of truth to it.

Gray Devereau was mixed up in magic far deeper than his paternal heritage and had neglected to divulge the fact. To be honest, it hadn’t been a question I’d asked when we’d been all cozy, naked, and sharing in my bed last night. Something that important should be volunteered and the fact he hadn’t left me feeling betrayed in some fashion. It didn’t make any sense to me, so I certainly wasn’t expecting it to make sense to anyone else. Whatever Tony Devereau was, it wasn’t on my radar and that scared me. I wasn’t used to fear. Nearly dying at the hands of a spell casting angel, and then finding my own magic whipped back at me in the space of a day had a way of making a girl feel vulnerable.

I was tugging my hair out of the soft chenille turtleneck sweater when the knock at the door sounded. Making no move to answer it, I ran my hands down the soft royal blue fabric. It made me smile and bet Foras was lurking around and had been the one to supply me with clothes. He knew how much I liked soft things against my skin. Would Gray be around long enough to know those little details about me? I wasn’t so sure as he stepped through the door when I didn’t answer his knock.

I looked at him carefully. It had been so long since I’d had to rely on human senses that I’d forgotten how limiting they were. It was frustrating.

“How are you feeling?”

His tone was as uncertain as the look in his eyes. I turned away to face the mirror and braid my hair. It hurt to see that expression on his face. For the first time, the magnitude of the decision we’d made last night rained down on me. In my mind, I played his declaration of love and tried to understand how sincere it was. While I didn’t exactly love him, I was beyond the casual. The dynamics between us had changed because of what had happened, and I wasn’t exactly sure that was a good thing.

“What is he?” I didn’t soften my tone from the hard edge it normally carried, not answering his question. Right now, he didn’t deserve answers no matter how kind the question had been.

“He’s sorry. He was caught flat-footed. Honora called the house after she left here yesterday and it put my family in a tailspin. He was expecting the sweet, gentle woman Honora told him about, not you.”

I flinched inside and turned to face him as I pulled the braid over my shoulder to finish it with quick, deft fingers, before wrapping a band around the end. Covering my hurt feelings with an arched brow, I watched his eyes widen as he realized what he’d said.

“What I meant…”

“I know what you meant, Gray. I need to know what he is that he can do this to me. I’m totally sensory blind. Craig could come in here and shift right next to me and I wouldn’t feel the magic. I don’t care that he’s your brother and rude. That’s between you and him. I don’t have to live with him.”

The implication of my words hung in the air and he looked away. So many emotions and thoughts ran across his face, I couldn’t follow them all. When his gaze returned to mine, I don’t know what I expected to see, but it wasn’t the hard look of determination that I found. There was nowhere to go as he closed the distance between us. With absolutely no hesitation, he tipped my face up to his and kissed me as if he was sure of his welcome.

I thought about biting him. In fact, it was the absolute last thought I had as he opened my mouth gently with his tongue and breathed his magic into me. The only thing that kept me on my feet was his arm suddenly locked around me.

Yesterday, I thought he’d filled up the spot inside that kept me going. I’d been wrong. Today, he filled me up, breathed it into me so that all I could do was gasp against him and let it swamp over me, through me, and drown me in the heat of it. It was like the difference between staring at the sun with sunglasses on, then taking them off. Shocking, blinding, wonderful in the intensity even as the brilliance blazes sunspots so you can’t see clearly.

“Bella…whoa. Sorry guys.” Ben opened the door, took that half step in before he saw us and instantly retreated. I never heard the door close.

We were both shaking as Gray broke the kiss. The lines on his face were sharp and clear as he stared down at me. I watched every muscle flex and relax in his expression and I realized that everywhere around me was sensation. Even the sound of the heat coming through the vent brushed across my skin.

“He’s a wizard.”

I blinked up at him, trying to process the information.
Who was a what?

A ghost of a smile flickered across his face and was gone. Ordinarily, I don’t think I would have seen it at all. If this was how angels saw things, how did they ever manage to get anything done? I smiled in a punch-drunk fashion.

“Tony is a wizard. He comes by it from both sides of his bloodline.”

There was a point here. Somewhere. His gaze was patient as he waited for me to find it. Licking my lips, I tasted him still and my thoughts turned away from wizards and why they were supposed to be important. The texture of the cotton of his shirt was fascinating under my fingers, or was it the smooth ridges of the muscles under it? The memory flashed through my mind about exactly how smooth the skin felt and the curiosity came. Would it feel different, now? My hands reversed direction to slide down to the hem so I could slide under it. He must have thought…

Catching my hands firmly in his, he stepped back and I swayed without his support. The room was suddenly spinning and I had to close my eyes. Oh man. I tried to step toward him and he stepped back, still steadying me with the soft strength in his hands. From that step away, it was easier to focus on him when I opened my eyes. Was his aura brighter as well as sharper around him? Normally, it was a bright haze around halfling, but suddenly it had edges and curves I’d never noticed before. I tried to reach out to touch it, but he wouldn’t let my hands free.

“So beautiful…so mine.”

Was that husky whisper mine? Apparently it was because the lines on his face relaxed into a smile and his hands loosened.

“Give it a minute, Bella. Just give the world a minute to stop shifting and everything will be fine.”

He stepped closer and wrapped me in the warm cocoon of that golden bright aura and I felt the world right itself. I felt like a ship anchored in a safe harbor in the midst of a typhoon. Was he my safe harbor?

The door opened, but I didn’t care to look to see who it was. I could feel Gray’s head turn and tension radiated from his body. Automatically, I reached around to hold him closer to soothe him.

“Fuck, Gray. What did you do?”

Tony and I were going to have a talk about his language. Wait…that thought sounded like
me.
I slowly turned my head, not moving it from his chest much more than necessary and looked at our uninvited guest. My new sight gave me an advantage over my earlier almost introduction.

Where Gray was all bright light and sunshine, Tony was shadows and darkness. There were no edges to his aura, but it shifted and surged like a living thing independent of him. I take it back. It wasn’t darkness, per say. It was more the absence of light as if he sucked it all into himself. I vaguely wondered how true humans would look to my new eyes.

Gavreel strolled up behind Tony. I
felt
his approach in a way I never had before. I was already looking past the other man when the angel appeared over his shoulder.

“Gray, we need…” His blue eyes, so like those of the man in my arms widened, and I watched that usually placid face pale. Emotions flashed across his face too fast for me to process more than the initial shock. “What have you done?”

Somewhere in my intoxicated mind I knew I should be upset, concerned, or something, but I couldn’t muster up the ire. Instead, I smiled at him.

“Whatever it is, I feel fine. There’s really not any reason to be all mad at him, Gav.”

I don’t know how I came to the conclusion that that fresh mask of immobility was hiding anger, but I knew it was. Stepping back, I rocked a little on my heels while I tried to find balance.

“Next time you decide to get me drunk, wait until we’re in bed, okay? I don’t think I want the hangover this is going to leave me with.”

I smiled up at him and the thought of taking him to bed toyed in my mind. I licked my lips and every lascivious thought must have showed on my face because he gently shook his head. It was okay, though. I’d get to play with him, later.