Angel's Blade (3 page)

“I know you won’t, Zeke,” the Alpha
said.

Chapter Two

“I hate flying in these things,”
Orifiel muttered, hands clenched on the seat handles.

Nathaniel smiled. “You could have
flown yourself to New York. I wouldn’t have minded meeting you there.”

His father shook his head. “No.
Raguel needs to learn humility.”

“Ha. Good luck with that,”
Nathaniel said, staring across the aisle. His best friend, Maion, smirked at
him, then went back to tormenting Raguel. He fiddled with the air blower above
them until both of the little plastic dials blew onto the other angel. Raguel
angrily turned off the air, then glared at Nathaniel’s father as if Maion’s
childishness was his fault, but Orifiel didn’t even look over. He switched his
angry gaze to Nathaniel.

Nathaniel smiled sweetly at him,
debating whether he should throw him a kiss. He didn’t know why Maion was being
so difficult, suddenly, and that bothered him more than Raguel’s sullen attitude.

“Don’t you dare,” his father
murmured.

“What?”

“I know you want to wink at Raguel
or something. Don’t do it. I don’t need him storming around on a jet filled
with humans. Just let it go.” Oriphiel didn’t even open his eyes as he
delivered his little admonition.

“But he makes it so easy,”
Nathaniel said, smiling as he leaned his head back against the seat. “And I
thought you wanted him to learn how to be more open-minded?”

“I don’t think goading him into
losing his temper on a plane is the best way to begin his lesson. You’ll have
plenty of opportunities to torment him once we land. You can wait until we
land,” his father replied.

Nathaniel snorted. “I don’t believe
in miracles, Dad. If he actually manages to not be an ass for five minutes, I’ll
be amazed.”

At that, his father opened his eyes
and gave him a very direct look.

Nathaniel, twenty-five years old
and very much his own man, squirmed. “Seriously, Dad. Don’t give me that look.”

“God works in mysterious ways,”
Orifiel finally said, hand over his heart melodramatically.

Nathaniel groaned. “The cliché
generator strikes again.”

His dad just smiled and closed his
eyes. Nathaniel shook his head and settled in for a nap, but not before he blew
Raguel a kiss.

****

When Nathaniel pulled the car
around the oval driveway in front of Castle Archangel, he could hardly keep
himself from gawking. He’d traveled quite a bit in the last five years, heading
out to cities and rural areas along the west coast on assignments as a
journalist, so he’d seen a lot of buildings. However, the castle of the angels
looked like something out of legend: hard grey rock rising above the white
landscape like a fist against the sky. A tower decorated the south-west side of
the building. The front had windows set into the stone, like faceted jewels.
Right now, they glittered warm and golden against the cool silver twilight. As
the car ticked in the cold, he stared for a moment, trying to take it all in.

“Are you going to stare at the
place all night?” Raguel asked peevishly. He was already opening his car door. “I’m
freezing. Let get inside.”

Nathaniel sighed and set the
emergency brake. By the time the plane had landed, he’d felt like strangling
Raguel. His little wink to the other man had backfired, big time. Raguel hadn’t
taken his little joke well and began a campaign of insults and sly insinuations
that had put Nathaniel on edge for hours. Raguel had a seemingly inexhaustible
capacity for cruelty. He wondered if maybe his dad had meant for Raguel to
teach
him
a lesson, too, except Nathaniel had learned patience long ago.
When you’re the only half-human, half-angel in your clan, you got used to
subtle shunning. Raguel had nothing left to teach Nathaniel at this point.

“You ready?” he asked his dad
instead of punching Raguel in the face. The other angel was already walking up
the stone steps
He really should have waited for my dad, his clan leader,
Nathaniel thought, pressing his lips together to keep back the angry words he
wanted to say.

His dad smiled, knowing exactly
what he was thinking. “I am. Are you?”

Nathaniel opened the door and
stretched the kinks out of his neck. “This is your show, not mine,” he said
when his dad followed him from the cozy warmth of the car into the crisp,
winter air.

Orifiel shrugged. “As my son, your behavior
will reflect on our clan.”

“Raguel’s behavior will reflect on
our clan, too,” Maion said, walking up to them with a bag in each hand. “And
since he’s an asshole, I’m a little bit worried about that. Just my opinion.”

“Raguel’s actions will reflect more
on himself than on us, you’ll see,” Orifiel said.

Maion eyed his leader skeptically.
While his friend was distracted, Nathaniel moved to take his pack. Maion danced
out of reach, obviously not
that
distracted. “Oh no you don’t. You’re
our clan leader’s son. No carrying bags for you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Nathaniel
said, grabbing his backpack. “I’m not even a full angel. I’m not going to
impress anybody.”

Maion raised an eyebrow, but didn’t
fight him for the bag. “Uh-huh.”

“When you two are done with your
little argument, I’d appreciate it if we could get inside,” Raguel called from
the door.

At least he had the sense to wait
for us before knocking,
Nathaniel thought. He cocked his head at his father who shrugged
again. Nathaniel gritted his teeth, frustrated. Sometimes his dad’s easygoing
ways drove him insane. He started for the steps, hoping to get there before
Raguel did anything else stupid.

Ah. No such luck,
he realized when he was
halfway up. The heavy door swung open, revealing one of the most intimidating
men he’d ever seen. The man—
no, the angel,
he thought, spotting the
legacy marks that trailed down the man’s skin—crossed his arms over his chest
and stared down his nose at Raguel. He had dark hair and dark eyes and an
impressively muscled physique. He didn’t say a word as he shut the door behind
him. He just stood there, glaring at Raguel as one would a bug on a windshield.

For once, Raguel didn’t say
something offensive, giving Nathaniel a chance to dash up the stairs before he
offended the entire primary clan with his tactlessness.

“Hello, I’m Nathaniel, Orifiel’s
son,” he said a little breathlessly when he got to the top of the steps. He walked
across the small landing and stuck out his hand, praying that he’d made it in
time to offset Raguel’s assholeishness. He sensed Raguel’s growing outrage at
the angel’s lack of welcome even as he moved to block the other angel’s view.
For
fuck’s sake, keep your mouth shut this time,
he thought at Raguel, hoping
he would stay quiet.

The large angel’s heavy gaze swung
to him, eyes penetrating.

Nathaniel’s entire body went hot as
the weight of the angel’s stare sent his libido into abrupt overdrive.
My God,
he’s gorgeous,
he thought, feeling a bit dazed. The angel looked him up and
down, his dark brown eyes finally settling on the hand Nathaniel still held out
gamely.

“Welcome to Castle Archangel,” the
angel said finally, in a voice that hinted of fire and knowledge.

Nathaniel shivered and it wasn’t
from the cold.
God, get hold of yourself, man. He’s just an angel.
The
angel slid his warm palm into Nathaniel’s waiting hand, shocking him with how
warm he was. Nathaniel struggled to stay calm as their fingers touched.

“I’m Zeke,” the angel said.

Zeke is a perfect name,
Nathaniel thought,
flushed and strangely flustered. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with
him. Yeah, he liked big guys. He wasn’t afraid to admit he had a type, but he’d
never been struck dumb when he first met someone.
Get your shit together,
Nathaniel,
he told himself again.

“My father is coming, right behind
me,” he managed to say, sliding his hand away. “This is Raguel.” He rubbed at
his arms, unsettled and hoping like hell it wasn’t obvious.

Zeke nodded, eyes going over
Nathaniel’s shoulder. He ignored Raguel entirely, much to Nathaniel’s
amusement. “Leader Orifiel, welcome to Castle Archangel.” He held out his arm.

Nathaniel’s dad stepped up beside
him and shook Zeke’s hand. “I’m very pleased to be here. I see you’ve met my
son, Nathaniel and one of our clan members, Raguel. This is Maion, another
member of our group.”

Zeke stared at Maion, a slight
frown on his face, then he stepped back. “You are all welcome.” His gaze
flicked to Raguel, then back to Nathaniel. “Come inside, where it’s warm.” He
held the door the door open for them.

Odd,
Nathaniel thought, glancing at his
best friend. Maion didn’t seem to think anything unusual had happened, but
Nathaniel knew Zeke’s frown was for his best friend.
I wonder what that was
all about.
He watched Raguel step inside, Orifiel just behind him, then
realized he’d left the car parked right at the bottom of the steps. “Would you
like me to move the car to somewhere more convenient?” Nathaniel asked.

Zeke looked down the steps, then
shrugged. “No, it’s fine in the circle. We can find somewhere else for it
tomorrow, if necessary.”

Nathaniel smiled. “Okay, thanks.”

“No problem,” Zeke murmured.

His voice sounded like warm
molasses. Nathaniel swallowed against the slow burn of arousal that slid
through him at the sound. He had to get a handle on this before he embarrassed
his father. He did
not
want to screw things up for his dad.

Maion dropped his bag just inside
the entry and looked around. “Wow. This place is impressive.” He ran a hand
down the polished wood paneling along the side of the door, fingers lingering.

Zeke finally cracked a smile. “Yes.
Castle Archangel is very unique. It’s full of our history.”

Nathaniel looked over the foyer.
The staircase that curved up to a second story landing was wide and made of
polished wood. Off to the right a hall stretched past the stairs with a couple
of closed doors along the long wall. Beyond the stairs, he could just make out
windows at the back of the castle.

“Zeke! Who was at the door?” a
woman asked, hurrying down the stairs.

The angel turned, his face relaxing
into affection. “The clan from the west is here, Ariel.”

Nathaniel suppressed a surge of
disappointment as he saw Zeke’s entire demeanor change. Clearly the man liked
women.
The likelihood of him being gay was minuscule and you knew that,
he admonished himself. Still, he couldn’t help looking Zeke up and down as he
sighed quietly to himself. The angel was an incredible specimen of masculinity.
Still, what a pity.

“They are? Why didn’t you come get
us?” the woman asked, hurrying down the stairs with a smile on her face.

She had long straight hair and a
heart-shaped face. She vibrated with welcome and something else. Something
electric. Nathaniel blinked as she made her way down the stairs. It didn’t
help. She still seemed extra energetic, though he couldn’t say why he felt that
way. She
looked
perfectly ordinary to his human senses, but something
told him there was more to her than what he was seeing.
Maybe the angel-half
of my genetics is finally waking up,
he thought, amused at himself. He knew
it wasn’t true.

She halted just in front of them
and Zeke shook his head at her. “They only just arrived, cousin. There’s been
no time to come fetch you.”

She gave Zeke an exasperated look.
He smiled serenely at her. “Okay, fine, whatever,” she said, quirking up the
side of her mouth. She turned to Nathaniel’s father. “Hello, I’m Ariel, the
Alpha’s second. Welcome to Castle Archangel.” She held out her hand. Nathaniel
grinned as the woman’s impeccable ability to pick out the most important member
of their delegation made Raguel bristle.

“We’re very happy to be here,”
Orifiel said. “We were quite pleased to receive your invitation.”

When she turned to him next, he
smothered a start of surprise. Why was she greeting him next? He wasn’t
important, not at all, even if he was his father’s son. He wasn’t even a true
angel.

“Nice to meet you, son of Orifiel,”
she said formally, holding her hand out to him.

He shook it, smiling ruefully. “I’m
Nathaniel, but there’s no need to stand on ceremony with me.”

She nodded, smiling easily. “You’re
the leader’s half-human son, I know. You are welcome here. We are still your
people.”

His eyebrows went up. “Thank you.”
How did she know that? He knew his father hadn’t listed the people he was
bringing with them when he requested an audience with the Alpha.

“Don’t be alarmed by her wise-woman
thing. Ariel knows everything. Or rather, she pretends that she knows
everything,” a new angel said, coming down the hall.