Angel's Honor (6 page)

“He won’t like that. He’s holed
himself up in a cave, in the middle of nowhere. ‘To study,’ he says.”

Gabriel’s eyes flashed. “He will
come.”

Raphael didn’t want to talk about
his brother anymore. He didn’t want his mate and his brother at odds, and he
definitely didn’t want to think about it now. He slid a hand up Gabriel’s back,
relishing the feel of warm skin under his palms. The aerial sex was
exhilarating, but he wanted more. He wanted to see Gabriel’s face when he
climaxed without being worried about crashing into the ground. “Fuck me,” he
said baldly.
Hopefully that will distract him,
he thought.

“Jesus, Raphael,” Gabriel muttered.
His hands tightened around Raphael’s waist. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Raphael said, insinuating a
leg between Gabriel’s thighs. Their cocks brushed against each other and he
sucked in a sharp breath. “Yes, a thousand times yes.” He kissed his mate and
Gabriel groaned into his mouth, hands moving to his jeans. He rolled them again
until Raphael was on his back.

“Yeah, okay,” Gabriel muttered,
stripping Raphael’s pants off and flinging them to the floor.

Raphael opened his legs, wanting
Gabriel to see. He knew that in human terms, he and Gabriel were moving too
fast, but they didn’t have the time for slowness. He wanted to surrender to
instinct. He needed it.

“Fuck,” Gabriel growled. “You’re so
beautiful.” He stroked up Raphael’s thigh, making him shiver.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,”
he said, tugging at Gabriel’s pants.

“Don’t move,” Gabriel said,
standing up.

Raphael didn’t listen. The moment
Gabriel rolled off the bed he leaned over to get lube and a condom from his
nightstand.

“That view is not helping.” Gabriel’s
voice was ragged.

“Raphael grinned and settled onto
his stomach. “You like my ass?”

Gabriel didn’t speak. Instead, he
put both hands on Raphael’s cheeks, squeezing.

“I guess that’s a yes,” Raphael
murmured, squirming when Gabriel’s palms pushed him down. His cock dragged
along the comforter with not nearly enough pressure. “Fuck me,” he said again,
suddenly too desperate to play. “I need you inside me.”

Gabriel groaned. “Let me get my
pants off.”

Raphael turned his head, watching
as his mate unzipped his jeans. He took his time, slowly peeling the fabric
down. Gabriel’s cock sprang out, hard and wet at the tip. He cupped his balls,
then
jacked himself. Raphael shuddered. He had to taste. He
scooted to the edge of the bed and coaxed Gabriel closer. When his dick was
bobbing right at Raphael’s mouth, he sucked him in, savoring the musky
sweetness of his Alpha.

“Christ, Raphael. What are you
doing to me?” Gabriel sank both hands into Raphael’s hair. “You look—” he broke
off, shivering as Raphael tongued under the head.

He sucked, hard,
then
pulled off. “You taste good,” he said, hands going to Gabriel’s ass. He licked
up and down the shaft, then sucked him back in. When Gabriel’s cock bumped the
back of his throat, he relaxed, letting him slide down. Then he swallowed.

Gabriel’s hips jerked, hard. “Fuck!”

Raphael pulled back, smiling around
the penis in his mouth. He brought his hand up and wet his fingers, rubbing the
vein along the shaft until he felt Gabriel’s knees buckle. He eased off and
slipped a finger down between his mate’s ass cheeks. To his surprise, Gabriel
didn’t protest. Instead, he widened his stance as much as he could with his
jeans around his knees.

“Raphael, if you don’t stop, I’m
going to come. And then I won’t be able to fuck you,” Gabriel muttered, hands
on Raphael’s shoulders. He was leaning over now, and not exactly stopping
Raphael.

He teased around Gabriel’s hole. “Yes,
you will,” he whispered against the cock near his cheek. He slipped the tip of
his finger inside Gabriel’s hole.

His Alpha moaned.

Raphael breathed deep, liking the
way Gabriel smelled. “This is exactly what you’re going to do to me,” he said.
He teased his mate’s sensitive nerves, sliding his finger in and out, and then
he backed off, moving up the bed.

Gabriel stared at him, lust-drunk.
Raphael grinned and uncapped the lube, squirting some on his fingers. He lay
back and opened his legs, reaching down to his hole. When he put one finger
inside himself, Gabriel’s eyes widened and he seemed to come to his senses. He
stripped off his jeans and ripped open the condom packet like a man possessed.
When he’d sheathed himself, he crawled up the bed, sensual and wild. He
growled, yanking on Raphael’s hand.

“Yeah, Gabriel.
Fuck me.
Now.”
Raphael threw his head back, arching his spine.

Gabriel sunk two fingers inside, no
warning,
no
preparation. Raphael didn’t care. Instinct
took over where reason fled. He grunted, bearing down, and then Gabriel yanked
on him, lifting his hips. He lined up his cock and pushed inside with one
smooth thrust, no mercy. “Omega,” he
said,
voice so
low Raphael almost didn’t recognize it.

Raphael panted, hands clenched
around Gabriel’s arms. “Alpha,” he said. “I’m yours.”

Gabriel shivered,
then
he began to move, fucking Raphael like a man who’d lost
every bit of his civilized veneer. What was left was raw passion. Raphael
braced his hands against the wall behind the bed, legs wrapped around Gabriel’s
hips. He felt like he was being cracked open and remade, and he never wanted it
to stop.

When he reached down to touch
himself
, Gabriel batted his hand away and curled his fingers
around his cock. Raphael cried out, his orgasm rolling through him so abruptly
he couldn’t breathe. Gabriel made a low sound in his throat, and then his wings
shifted out of his body, covering them both with darkness as he climaxed, too.
His cock pulsed hard and Raphael spared a moment to wonder at the lack of pain.
When Gabriel lifted him up onto his thighs with an incredible feat of strength,
he gasped and then his wings, too, shifted from his body into the air. They stayed
like that for a long time.

“Raphael.” Gabriel was still
trembling when he finally spoke. “Dear God.”

“Yeah,” Raphael said, tucking his
head into Gabriel’s neck. “Don’t let go.”

“Never,” Gabriel vowed, holding
tight.

Chapter Six

“You’d better win,” Raphael
muttered as they walked up the driveway.

Gabriel rolled tension out of his
shoulders. “I will,” he replied, wings ruffling in the light breeze. “Stop
worrying.” They’d flown to Archangel Castle from Raphael’s cabin after spending
the day together. They’d gone to sleep late and woken late. He hadn’t wanted to
leave, especially not for this. He felt like they’d barely had time to settle
into their mating.

“Yeah, well, watch your back.
Samael is not an honorable angel,” Raphael said, hand lightly touching Gabriel’s
arm for a moment.

Gabriel stopped. The woods around
the clearing in front of the castle were quiet. Above them, the full moon shone
bright and strong, lighting the dark sky and ground below. The landscape looked
like something out of a dream. “I know he hasn’t been a good leader, but saying
he is not honorable is a different thing entirely,” he said.

Raphael nodded. “I know what I’m
saying.” He looked away briefly,
then
met Gabriel’s
eyes steadily. “He didn’t want me to come here. He didn’t want me to study the
People’s histories. He tried to have me expelled.”

“Excommunication?”
Gabriel sucked in a
hard breath. “That’s insane.”

“Yes. He’s not rational. My mother was
not amused. I came anyway, despite his threats and given how unfounded they
were, Samael had to back down or risk losing influence over some of the younger
angels, and if that happened, well. You understand.”

Gabriel did. If Samael lost too
many of the younger ones, he risked an uprising. Ironically, his desperation to
hold onto power had him facing a challenge where he could lose not just his
position, but also his life.

Raphael continued. “I’m a teacher.
A historian.
We’ve been raised to respect those of us with
the skill to impart knowledge.” He pressed his lips together for a moment. “That’s
partly why I am so careful to avoid him. I don’t think I’ve set eyes on our
esteemed leader since I first arrived,” he said quietly. “Samael’s eyes tell
the story of his empty soul, and reflect the absence of empathy. He is evil.”

Gabriel considered what his Omega
said. “You are a healer, and know what you see, but even if you weren’t, I’d
still believe you.”

Raphael frowned. “I am no healer.”

Gabriel smiled and started walking
again. “You, of all angels, know what the myths say.”

“Not every story is rooted in
truth, Gabriel.” Raphael sounded nervous.

“This one is.” Gabriel was sure of
it. He ignored Raphael’s small huff of annoyance and headed up the stone steps.
It was nearly ten. They had no more time to spare.

****

“Oh my God, you cut it close,
brother. I was worried,” Ariel said, walking with them through the castle. They
were in the main hallway that ran the length of the building, front to back.
The grand staircase loomed over their heads as they headed toward the private
grounds at the rear of the castle. They’d shifted back to full human when they’d
entered as they usually did when going inside a house, though this particular
structure was more than large enough to hold them, wings and all.

Custom and habit.
How they rule our lives,
Gabriel mused, walking a little faster.
The dim lighting made it hard to
see, but he’d been here a thousand times growing up, though admittedly not
often since his father died. He’d always loved this place. Samael didn’t
deserve such a grand home.
But it’s not just his home, it’s the home of the
People,
he told himself, running a finger down the wall as they walked. The
wood paneling was as smooth and lovely as ever. At least their leader hadn’t
trashed the castle as he had their honor.
Of course, he needs it to look
grand for all those photo ops he’s so fond of.
Samael had a thing for human magazine articles and other publicity
stunts.

“Mom didn’t come, by the way,”
Ariel said suddenly.

Gabriel hadn’t expected her to.
Castle Archangel was where his father had died. “I know.”

His sister shot him a sharp look,
then
seemed to think better of yelling at him. “Raphael’s
mother is here, though.” She glanced at Gabriel’s mate. “Nice lady.”

“Oh God,” Raphael said.

Gabriel smiled. “I’ve heard she’s
opinionated.”

“You could say that again,” Raphael
muttered under his breath.

Ariel laughed. “She wasn’t at all
surprised to find out you’d mated to Gabriel.”

“Did you tell her?” Gabriel stopped
just inside the doors that led outside. Candles burned in the sconces on either
side, casting flickering shadows on his sister and Raphael’s faces.

“No. She knew. She showed up here
an hour ago and walked right over to me.” Her face showed her confusion. “It
was weird.”

Raphael huffed. “My brother
probably told her everything.”

“Your brother sounds like a
know-it-all,” Ariel teased.

Raphael grinned. “He’s older, so
yeah, you could say that. Exactly five years older than me.”

Gabriel noted that he refrained
from mentioning his brother’s power.

“That would make him, what, thirty?
He’s exactly five years older than me, too.”

“Yes.” Raphael looked at Gabriel,
cutting off any further questions. “Are you ready?”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes, thinking.
Why didn’t Raphael want to talk about his brother? Raphael held his gaze
steadily.

“Gabriel?” Ariel slid her hand into
his. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, pushing aside Raphael’s
strange reticence about his brother. He had to focus on the battle ahead of him
and not be worrying about small family issues. “I am.” He settled himself. He
had only a minute left before the challenge.

Raphael pulled his head down and
kissed him softly. “I am here for you, whatever happens.”

Gabriel smiled. “I know.” He hugged
Ariel and pushed open the door.

****

Outside, all the People who lived
in the area and a few from further away had gathered around the large
stone-paved circle that dominated the clearing. They had met here for
centuries, ever since angels had come to the new world, to discuss the People’s
business, celebrate when possible, and more grimly, to battle their enemies.
When
the enemy is your leader, it makes for a particularly grim occasion to be
standing here,
Gabriel mused, waiting just at the edge of the worn stones.