Heaven and Hellsbane (27 page)

“I can’t feel my soul,” I said taking another few steps closer. “But I can feel my heart. It’s racing because I’m near you. I can feel my hands shaking to touch you. I can feel my body warming to be touched by you. That’s what I feel. That’s what I care about.”

“You will feel the absence of your soul if it’s taken from you,” Eli said, his voice softer, his conviction less intense.

We were only a few steps apart now, and I closed the distance. Everything inside me ached to reach for him, to feel the warmth of his hand, the solid form of his chest. I had to know he was real. But I fisted my hands at my sides. “So…you think I’m a fool? That’s why you came back? To tell me so?”

He met my eyes and my chest tightened. “Yes,” he said. “At least that was the excuse I told myself. I hate that you would risk anything to be with me, but…I can’t deny how I’ve missed you.”

I risked a soft touch to his hand, my fingers brushing over his knuckles and the tight grip he held on his sword. An instant later the sword vanished and he turned his hand to hold mine. We stared at the small connection, his warmth spilling into me from that single touch. I could breathe again.

“This cannot be happening,” he whispered. “We should never have been able to come together like this again. You should’ve been restored to your true calling, and I should be fleeing for my life. I loathe Jukar as I have never loathed another living thing before. I loathe him, and the temptation of his offer, but…”

“But?” I asked.

His sapphire-blue gaze swung up to mine. “But if your decision is made and you have turned your back on the seraphim to aid Jukar and his followers, then I don’t have the strength to refuse the reward.”

I wanted to tell him that I hadn’t agreed to anything. I wanted to tell him that we could undo everything—that he could go home if I took Michael up on his proposal. But when he lifted a hand to brush my cheek, my breath caught. I couldn’t speak.

His fingers caressed my face, featherlight, and a warm tingle rushed through my veins. My body went molten hot and things low inside me flexed and tightened. I licked my lips, holding his gaze, my desire reflected in the brilliant blue of his eyes.

“It was easier before I knew what it felt like to touch you, to know you as a man,” he said, leaning closer—his breath warming against my lips. “But now…I am powerless to resist my need for you. Emma Jane…I love you. God forgive me, there is no price too high. I would give my last breath to feel you in my arms again. If we are to be damned, then let us be damned together.”

He pressed his lips to mine and the world stopped. There was only Eli and me, the sound of my heart beating in rhythm with his—the rise and fall of his chest, the feel of him so near to me. No walls surrounded us, no floors braced beneath our feet. We were all there was in the universe, and nothing else mattered.

His arms wrapped around me, pulling my body flush to his, and suddenly I was alive. Every part of my body hummed with the feel of him, the gentle tug of his lips, the harder push of his fingertips against my back, the strong press of his body against mine. I could feel him. I could feel everything, as though I’d been sleepwalking and his kiss had awakened me.

I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t want to. There was time to figure out what we’d do about the future, time to figure out what was best for Eli. I wasn’t ready to think about it. Not now, not when he was here—real and solid, and loving me.

The war in heaven was raging, and it was time to pick a side. The choices were clear, and neither one came without a price. But for now we had this moment, a sliver of time to be in each other’s arms. Heaven and Hell, good and evil, right and wrong—it could all wait a little while longer.

Today, tonight, I’d live in the here and now.

Tomorrow I’d figure out the hereafter.

Acknowledgments

My undying gratitude to my amazing editor, Stacy Abrams, whose talent and patience keeps me sane. And to Ashley Schorkhuber, hands down, the best proofreader on the planet. To Jaime Arnold and Debbie Suzuki, my superstar publicists, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your hard work, tweets, posts, and squeals. And for your tireless belief in my books and me. Yenz ROCK!

Don’t miss the stunning conclusion to the Hellsbane trilogy:

Hellsbane Hereafter

by Paige Cuccaro

Coming Summer 2014!

The war between good and evil is on, and Emma Jane is caught in the middle. Both sides want her working for them and both sides know how to make her suffer if she chooses wrong. But someone has raised the stakes, using innocent humans as pawns, and Emma Jane isn’t sure who is to blame. Discovering the truth will be hard enough, but what she used to believe about right and wrong, good and evil, what she used to believe about
herself
is changing. Emma Jane is changing, and something tells her whatever happens, nothing is going to be the same again.

Being heaven’s bounty hunter isn’t easy
—
Emma Jane Hellsbane just makes it look that way.

Discover where it all began with

Hellsbane

by Paige Cuccaro

Available online and in stores now!

Twenty-three-year-old Emma Jane Hellsbane just found out shee’s not human
—
or, at least, not only human. She’s half angel, too, and now Heaven’s got a job for her: round up all the Fallen angels and their red-skinned, horned devil-demon minions and boot their butts back into the abyss. Only problem? The demons and their Fallen masters fight back...and they don’t fight fair.

Luckily for Emma, she can put a stop to the constant threat of having her head hacked off if she figures out which Fallen angel is her father
—and then kills him before he kills her. Of course, in the meantime, she’ll have to avoid accidentally seducing her angelic mentor, help an old friend conquer his own Fallen sperm donor, and basically save the world from a cataclysmic divine smack down.

No one said being Heaven’s bounty hunter would be easy. But with a name like Hellsbane, Emma Jane was born for the job.