Awaken (Divine Hunter Series) (32 page)

A vision of the horribly charred body that he’d thought was her flashed into his mind. He closed his eyes tightly and willed it away.

Not real.

This is real. This right now.

He inhaled her scent deep into his lungs. The fresh, familiar scent of flowers with a hint of apple from her hair made his whole body relax.

He felt her hitched breaths against his chest and he moved her so that he could see her face. His hands moved up her arms, over her shoulders until they stopped either side of her face. He studied her for a moment, eyes covering every inch of her and stopping at the small red mark at her temple. The healing slice she’d received from the demon that’d held her captive would soon fade to nothing, leaving no trace of what happened, but Michael wouldn’t forget. This woman had somehow managed to forge a tangible mark on his heart and there seemed to be very little he could do about it.

He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “You’re real,” he breathed.

Her full lips curled up into a sweet, tender smile which made his heart clench. “Yes,” she said, “and you’re here.”

He placed his lips on hers and kissed her gently. “Thank God you’re real,” he whispered against her mouth before pulling her back into his tight embrace.

For a moment it felt like it was just the two of them, until. . .

Cough!
“Shit!”
Cough!

Then
Alethia’s voice sounded from behind them. “Okay now?” She was standing over the dark-haired man who Michael had just nearly killed and was rubbing her hand up and down his back.

“Yeah
!” he spat out as he crouched over, hands on his thighs. “But what the fack did you send me to get, Alethia?” As he stood up straight, his eyes burned Michael with a hostile stare.

Alethia’s eyes narrowed. Keeping them pinned on Michael she asked, “What do you mean
, Jaret?”

“I mean what the facking ‘ell is ‘e?” He nursed his hand over his throat.

Michael didn’t react; after all, it wasn’t a question he could give an answer to. He stood with Lacy in his arms, but she too had pulled back a little to look at him now. Her brows were pulled tight and she looked concerned.

Alethia walked towards Michael. “What happened? And why are you alone? Where’s Evo?”

Michael didn’t have to tell her as she must have figured it out from his tortured expression, or pulled it from his mind.

Her face mirrored his. “Oh, no! That stupid son of a bitch!”

* * *

L
acy stood looking through her kitchen window at the man sitting in the moonlight. She’d wondered where Michael had got to. As soon as she’d spotted him sitting on her bench by the willow tree outside, she’d left the light off so as not disturb him.

When he’d appeared in her living room a little over an hour ago with Jaret she was so relieved to see him she hadn’t noticed Evo wasn’t with them. Michael’s rage had surprised her, she’d never seen him like that, and she w
as glad he’d stopped when he did as she suspected Jaret wouldn’t be sitting in her living room, eating the sandwiches she’d made, with Alethia right now.

She’d felt something when she’d placed her hands on his arm as she tried to get him to stop what he was doing to Jaret; a strange sensation, like a buzz of electricity which nearly had her pulling back from him. It felt like his skin was vibrating.

When he’d looked into her eyes just before he’d kissed her, she’d felt something completely different: a connection. She couldn’t quite explain it, but it was there as real as he’d been standing before her.

Safe.

Her heart swelled as he’d kissed her and in that moment she knew how far she’d fallen. The time she’d spent without him, wondering if she’d ever see him again, had only confirmed her feelings.

She was in love with him; she knew that for certain now and it scared her to death.

When Michael had explained what had happened before Jaret pulled him out of Hell, Lacy’d sat speechless. She could tell in his voice that he was worried about what was happening to him. And now, more than ever, so was she.

What would become of him?

She grabbed the thick, navy pullover that was on the back of one of the dining chairs and pulled it over her head as she walked out into the garden, closing the door behind her.

“I wondered where you’d got to.” She sat down on the small bench seat next to him. The crisp fall air almost burned her
lungs, but it was refreshing.

Michael looked at her briefly and attempted a smile. “Just needed to clear my head.’ He sighed and tilted his head back to look at the clear night sky. She did the same.

“The world seems so peaceful. I envy them,” he said.

Lacy looked back at him with a questioning frown. “Who?”

“All of them. . . The people who are blissfully unaware of the evil that surrounds them. They go about their lives normally, without fear or knowledge of the creatures that hide amongst them.” His shoulders slumped. “I wish I could go back to not knowing.”

Michael’s hand was resting on his thigh and Lacy got an urge to hold it. She wanted to reassure him that he wasn’t on his own in this anymore. She reached out and placed hers on top of his. Without saying a word he turned his hand upward and laced his fingers with hers. They both sat
quietly, looking up at the dusting of bright stars that shone against the inky black sky, the moon the only source of light.

“I hope he’s
okay,” he said with a broken voice. A voice that was full of pain and guilt. A guilt he had no right to carry.

She knew he was hurting, knew he was blaming himself. “It isn’t your fault what happened to him so don’t let yourself be burdened that way.”

“I have no choice. I should never have let him go with me. I didn’t try hard enough to stop him.”

Lacy shifted her body so she was turned towards him. “Hey. I haven’t known him for
long, but even I know Evo wasn’t going to let you go down there alone. No matter what you did. It was his choice; just like it was his choice to take the ring from Alethia.”

He didn’t respond, instead, heaving
a sigh that suggested he wasn’t convinced by her words. She hated to see him like this, but until Evo was found, she knew he wouldn’t think any differently.

He turned and took both of her hands in his, a desperation in his eyes that made Lacy’s stomach tighten. “I want to tell you something,” he said and the crease in his brow told her that it wasn’t something good.

“When I was down there, I saw something that scared me. You can’t begin to know how horrible that place is and it does things to your mind; things that you are convinced are real. I saw you. . . You’d died in a fire, or so I thought−it felt so. . . ” He closed his eyes for a second and exhaled sharply. “I held you, thinking you were dead and in that moment I’d never felt pain like it.” He hesitated, “What I’m trying to say is. . . It made me realize how much you mean to me.”

Oh, God.
The breath she’d been holding left her lungs in a rush and she tried to stop her hands from trembling. Her heart sped up as she looked into his eyes, which were illuminated by the soft moonlight. She’d never felt this way about anyone before, never let anyone close to her heart, so how he’d managed to find his way through so quickly she had no idea.

He leaned in and placed his lips on hers. She responded as he placed both arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. She slid along the bench until there was no space between them and she was encapsulated within his strong arms. Her arms went around his neck and as he broke away from his sweet, tender kiss and buried his face in her neck, his warm breath on her skin made her shiver.

They embraced each other tightly. She had no idea what this meant for them, had no idea if any of this was even possible, but right now it felt very real.

She felt his lips move lightly on her neck and
realized that he’d begun to kiss her; small, soft kisses which made her flesh tingle. He began to move up towards her ear and she suddenly lost all of the strength she needed to hold her head up, leaving it to flop to the side. He nibbled her lobe, the sound of those tantalizingly wet kisses, combined with the sting of the cold air made her whole body prickle with a need that was overwhelming.

His name left her mouth on a whisper and she ran her fingers through his hair while he continued his soft torment underneath her
chin and around the other side. When his mouth finally reached her, she kissed him slowly at first, but then it turned into something more and she was filled with a desperation that she’d never felt before. Mouths wide, tongues frantically duelling with each other, this was nothing like how they’d kissed last night before they’d made love, this was full of smoldering passion and if she didn’t keep control of things they’d end up having sex right here under her kitchen window and that was definitely not a good idea.

Somehow, through the fire that had now ignited her whole body, she managed to pull herself away from him.

“Bad idea,” she said through panted breaths. Her voice came out in a shaky whisper.

Michael’s eyes were heavy as he looked at
her. He swallowed hard and leaned his forehead against hers, clearly struggling with the same internal battle as she was. “Thank God one of us was thinking straight.” He smiled. “That could have gotten awkward.”

They both laughed and Lacy leaned into him as he twisted himself around and tucked her under his arm. He placed a small kiss on top of her head and heaved a sigh.

She knew what that sigh was for and it pained her to think about what was happening.

She was falling hard, for someone who wasn’t even human and may not be around for much longer. Right now, she wouldn’t allow herself to think of the future and what might happen to him. Right now they were together. So instead, she would embrace what they had for however long they had it.

Like Michael, she didn’t know what he was, and was scared to think about that too deeply, but she knew deep down in her heart that whatever he was, he wasn’t a monster like those other things. There was no way. Alethia was right: it wasn’t evil inside his heart.

“We should get back inside.” Michael’s voice vibrated in her ear. “Alethia is going to see her father and I should talk with her before she leaves.”

After things had calmed down, Michael had hardly spoken after nearly suffocating Jaret. And even though Alethia’s ex-husband was still wary of him, he’d said he understood why Michael had reacted the way he had. Jaret had even offered to take him back, but Michael had refused, saying that he needed more information about Alethia’s ring and where Evo would have been sent to before attempting to go looking for him.

“Jaret’s offer still stands. He wants to help
.” Lacy sat herself up.

Michael laughed softly. “After I almost killed the guy? Why would he want to help me?”

“Because he’s a good guy. And Alethia seems to be good at persuading him to do things.” She smiled.

“What’s with those two anyway?” He reached up and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

“He’s her ex-husband.” She saw his eyebrow rise.

“You’re kidding me? Those two?”

She nodded. “They seem to have a bit of a love/hate relationship. I think Jaret still has a thing for her.”

“Well, he’s a brave man. I can’t imagine it’s easy being married to someone like−”

“Actually,” a voice said from over by the house. Lacy noticed Michael’s eyes widen as they flicked passed her shoulder. She whipped her head around to see Alethia stepping out from the back door, “it’s more like the other way around. You ever dated an Incubus?”

Michael straightened as Alethia stepped towards them. Lacy flicked her gaze between them both and the awkward look on his face made Lacy smile.

He cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean−”

“That’s
okay,” the deity interrupted, “I understand why you would say it and the answer is no, it’s not easy being married to me, what with the powerful, all-seeing parents and all. . . But I can assure you, it was no picnic being married to a half man/half demon hybrid with an attitude problem and a severe sex addiction.”

Michael laughed. “Fair enough.”

“I just came to tell you that I’ll be leaving for Asirus as soon as I’ve helped Jaret find a place to stay.”

“He’s welcome to stay at my apartment at the
university,” Michael offered.

Alethia looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “Are you sure?”

He smiled at her. “Consider it my apology. Least I can do.”

“I’ll tell him. Thank you, Michael.”

“No need to thank me. I appreciate what he did. Anyway, I won’t be there.” He reached for Lacy’s hand. “I’m not leaving Lacy here on her own.”

Lacy beamed at the thought of Michael wanting to protect her. It meant more to her now that she knew how he felt about her. And she was eager for them to be alone. After everything that had happened today she was pretty exhausted, plus she wanted to help take Michael’s mind off things by finishing what they’d started a few moments ago.