Diving down from the balcony, she swept across Manhattan on air currents kissed by the cool bite of spring. The bright green season had thawed the snows that had kept the city in thrall this winter, and now held court, summer not even a peach-colored blush on the horizon. This was the time of rebirth, of blooming things and baby birds, bright and young and fragile even in the frenetic rush of a city that never slept.
Home. She was home.
Letting the air currents sweep her where they would above the diamond-studded lights of the city, she tested her wings, tested her strength.
Stronger.
But still weak. An immortal barely Made.
One whose heart remained painfully mortal.
So it was no surprise when she found herself trying to hover outside the plate-gla.s.s window of her apartment. She didn"t yet have the skill to execute the maneuver, and she kept dropping, then having to pull herself back up with fast wing beats. Still, she saw enough in those fleeting glimpses to know that while the once-shattered gla.s.s had been flawlessly repaired, the rooms were empty.
There wasn"t even a bloodstain on the carpet to mark the spot where she"d spilled Raphael"s blood, where she"d tried to staunch the crimson river until her fingers were the same murderous shade.
Elena.
The scent of the wind and the rain, fresh and wild, around her, inside her, and then strong hands on her hips as Raphael held her effortlessly in position so she could look through the window, her hands flat on the gla.s.s.
Emptiness.
No sign remained of the home she"d created piece by precious piece.
"You must teach me the hovering," she said, forcing herself to speak past the knot of loss. It was just a place. Just things. "It"ll be a very good way to spy on potential targets."
"I intend to teach you many things." Tugging her back against his body, her wings trapped in between, the Archangel of New York pressed his lips to the tip of her ear. "You are full of sorrow."
It was instinct to lie, to protect herself, but they"d gone beyond that, she and her archangel. "I guess I somehow expected my apartment to still be here. Sara didn"t say anything when she sent me my things." And her best friend had never lied to her.
"It was as you left it when Sara visited," Raphael said, drawing back enough that she could flare out her wings and angle her body into the air currents once again. Come, I have something to show you.
The words were in her mind, along with the wind and the rain. She didn"t order him to get out-because she knew he wasn"t in it. This, the way she could sense him so deeply, speak to him with such ease, was part of whatever it was that tied them to each other . . . that taut, twisting emotion that ripped away old scars and created new vulnerabilities in a whip of fire across the soul.
But as she watched him fly through the lush black of the sky high over the glittering city, her archangel with his wings of white-gold and eyes of endless, relentless blue, she wasn"t sorry. She didn"t want to turn back the clock, didn"t want to return to a life in which she"d never been held in the arms of an archangel, never felt her heart tear open and reform into something stronger, capable of such furies of emotion that it scared her at times. Where are you taking me, Archangel?
Patience, Guild Hunter.
She smiled, her grief at the loss of her apartment buried under a wave of amus.e.m.e.nt. No matter how many times he decreed that her loyalty was now to the angels and not to the Hunters Guild, he kept betraying how he saw her-as a hunter, as a warrior. Shooting down below him, she dove and then rose through the biting freshness of the air with hard, strong wing beats. Her back and shoulder muscles protested the acrobatics, but she was having too much fun to worry-she"d pay for it in a few hours, no doubt about it, but for now, she felt free and protected in the dark.
"Do you think anyone is watching?" she asked, breathless from the exertion, once they were side by side once more.
"Perhaps. But the darkness will conceal your ident.i.ty for the moment."
Tomorrow, she knew, when light broke, the circus would begin. An angel-Made . . . Even the oldest of vampires and the angels themselves found her a curiosity. She had no doubts about how the human population would react. "Can"t you do your scary thing and make them keep their distance?" However, even as she spoke, she knew it wasn"t the reaction of the general population that worried her.
Her father . . . No. She wouldn"t think about Jeffrey. Not tonight.
As she forced away thoughts of the man who had repudiated her when she"d been barely eighteen, Raphael swept out over the Hudson, dropping so hard and fast that she yelped before she could catch herself. The Archangel of New York was one h.e.l.l of a flier-he skimmed along the water until he could"ve trailed his fingers in its rushing cold, before pulling himself up in a steep ascent. Showing off.
For her.
It made her heart lighten, her lips curve.
Dipping down to join him at a lower alt.i.tude, she watched the night winds whip that sleek ebony hair across his face, as if they could not resist touching him.
It will do no good.
"What?" Fascinated by the almost cruel beauty of him, this male she dared call her lover, she"d forgotten what she"d asked him.
For me to scare them away-you are not a woman to stay in seclusion.
"d.a.m.n. You"re right." Feeling her shoulder muscles begin to pull in ominous warning, she winced. "I think I need to set down soon." Her body had been damaged in the fight against Lijuan. Not much, and the injuries had healed, but the enforced rest period meant she"d lost some of the muscle she"d built up prior to the fight that had turned Beijing into a crater, its voice the silent cry of the dead.
We"re almost home.
Concentrating on keeping herself heading in a straight line, she realized he"d shifted position so she was effectively riding his wake-meaning she no longer had to make as much effort to hold herself aloft. Pride had her scrunching her face into a scowl, but contrasting with that was a deep warmth that came from knowing she was important, more than important, to Raphael.
And then she saw it, the sprawling mansion that was Raphael"s cliff-top home on the other side of the river. Though the land backed up against the Hudson, the place was hidden from casual view by a thick verge of trees. However, they were coming at it from above, and from there it looked like a jewel set in the velvet darkness, warm golden light in every window-turning into pulses of color where it hit the clean lines of the stained gla.s.s on one side of the building. The rose bushes weren"t visible from this angle, but she knew they were there, their leaves lush and glossy against the elegant white of the house, hundreds of buds ready to bloom in a profusion of color as the weather grew warmer.
She followed Raphael down as he landed in the yard, the light from the stained gla.s.s turning his wings into a kaleidoscope of wild blue, crystalline green, and ruby red. You could"ve landed on one of the balconies, she said, too focused on ensuring a good landing to speak the words aloud.
Raphael didn"t disagree, waiting until she was on the ground beside him to say, "I could have." Reaching out as she folded away her wings, he gripped her gently at the curve where her neck flowed into her shoulder, his fingers pressing into the sensitive inner seam of her right wing. "But then your lips would not have been so very close to mine."
Her toes curled as he tugged her forward, pleasure blooming in her stomach. "Not here," she murmured, voice husky. "I don"t want to shock Jeeves."
Raphael kissed away her words with an unhurried thoroughness that had her forgetting all about his butler, her body warming with a slow, luscious sense of antic.i.p.ation. Raphael.
You tremble, Elena. You are tired.
Never too tired for your touch. It terrified her how addicted she"d become to him. The only thing that made it bearable was that his hunger, too, was a raw, near-violent craving.
A lick of storm ran up against her senses before he drew back with a hotly s.e.xual promise. Later. A slow, intimate stroke along the upper curve of her wing. I would take my time with you. His lips parted, his spoken words far less incendiary. "Montgomery will like having you for his mistress, Elena."
She licked her lips, tried to breathe-and heard the rapid tattoo of her heart against her ribs. Yeah, the archangel knew how to kiss. "Why?" she finally managed to say, falling into step beside him as he walked to the door.
"You"re likely to get dirty and destroy your clothes on a regular basis." Raphael"s humor was dry, his voice an exquisite caress in the night. "It is the same reason he likes it when Illium occasionally stays here. You both give him plenty to do."
She made a face at him, but her lips kicked up at the corners. "Is Illium coming to join us?" The blue-winged angel was part of Raphael"s Seven, the vampires and angels who had given their loyalty to the Archangel of New York-even to the extent of placing his life before their own. Illium was the only one of the Seven who saw her human heart not as a weakness, but as a gift. And in him, she saw a kind of innocence that had been lost in the other immortals.
The door opened at that moment to expose the beaming face of Raphael"s butler. "Sire," he said in a plummy English accent she was certain could turn cold and intimidating on command. "It is good to have you home."
"Montgomery." Raphael placed a hand on the vampire"s shoulder as he pa.s.sed.
Elena smiled at the butler, delighted by him all over again. "h.e.l.lo."
"Mistress."
She blinked. "Elena," she said firmly. "I"m no one"s mistress but my own." And for all that he chose to work in the service of an archangel, Montgomery was a strong vampire, hundreds of years old.
The butler"s spine went stiff as a board, his eyes shooting to Raphael-who gave a languid smile. "You must not shock Montgomery so, Elena." Reaching out to take her hand, he tugged her to his side. "Perhaps you will allow him to call you Guild Hunter?"
Elena looked up, certain the archangel was laughing. But his expression was clear, his lips set with their familiar sensual grace. "Um, yes, okay." She nodded at Montgomery, then felt compelled to ask, "Will that do?"
"Of course, Guild Hunter." He gave a small bow and waved his hand. "I was not sure if you would wish a meal, Sire, but I have sent a small tray up to your rooms."
"That will be all for tonight, Montgomery."
As the butler whispered away, Elena looked with growing suspicion at a large Chinese vase in one corner of the hall, opposite the stained gla.s.s wall beside the door. It was decorated with a pattern of sunflowers that seemed oddly familiar. Letting go of Raphael"s hand, she stepped closer . . . closer. Her eyes went wide. "This is mine!" Given as a gift by an angel in China after Elena completed a particularly dangerous hunt, one that had taken her into the bowels of the Shanghai underworld.
Raphael touched his fingers to the small of her back, a searing brand. "All of your things are here." He waited until she looked up before saying, "They were moved to this house for safekeeping until your return.
"However," he continued when she remained silent, her throat a knot of emotion, "it seems Montgomery could not help himself when it came to this vase. I"m afraid he has a weakness for beautiful things and has been known to relocate an item if he feels its beauty is not being properly appreciated. Once, he "relocated" an ancient sculpture from the home of another archangel."
Elena stared down the corridor where the butler had disappeared in refined silence. "I don"t believe you. He"s too prim and proper." It was easier to say that, to focus on the humor, than to accept the tightness in her heart, the feelings locking up her throat.
"You would be surprised." Touching her lower back again, he nudged her down the hall and up a flight of stairs. "Come, you can look at your things in the morning."
She dragged her feet at the top of the staircase. "No."
Raphael measured her expression with those eyes no mortal would ever possess, a silent visual reminder that he had never been human, would never be anything close to mortal. "Such will." Leading her to a room that flowed off what she knew to be the master bedroom, he opened the door.
Everything from her apartment lay neatly stacked, slipcovers over the furnishings, her knickknacks in boxes.
She froze on the doorstep, uncertain how she felt-relief and anger and joy all battled for s.p.a.ce inside of her. She"d known she could never go back to the apartment that had been her haven, and more, a furious reb.u.t.tal against her father"s abandonment. The place wasn"t built for a being with wings-but the loss had hurt. So much.
Now . . . "Why?"
His hand closed around her nape with no attempt to hide the possession inherent in the act. "You are mine, Elena. If you choose to sleep in another bed, I will simply pick you up and bring you home."
Arrogant words. But he was an archangel. And she"d made a claim of her own. "As long as you remember that goes both ways."
Acknowledged, Guild Hunter. A kiss pressed to the curve of her shoulder, his fingers tightening on her nape just a fraction. Come to bed.
Arousal kicked her hard, her body knowing full well what pleasure awaited her at those strong, lethal hands. "So we can talk knives and sheaths?"
Sensual male laughter, another kiss, the caress of teeth. But he released his hold, watching in silence as she stepped into the room and ran her fingers over the delicately embroidered comforter on the bed that had been her own, before she moved to explore the vanity with its store of pretty gla.s.s bottles and brushes set tidily inside a small box. She felt like a child, wanting to rea.s.sure herself that everything was there, the need visceral enough to hurt.
As she gave in to that emotional hunger, her mind disgorged images of another homecoming, of the shock and humiliation that had burned her throat when she"d found her things piled up like so much garbage on the street. Nothing would ever erase that hurt, the pain of the knowledge that that was exactly what she was to her father, but tonight, Raphael had crushed the memory under the weight of a far more powerful act.
She had no illusions about her archangel, knew he"d done it in part precisely for the reason he"d given her-so she wouldn"t be tempted to treat her apartment as a bolt-hole. But had that been his sole motivation, he could as easily have sent her stuff to the dump. Instead, every single piece had been carefully packed and moved here. Some of it had been exposed to the elements when her window shattered that night, and yet now looked pristine, speaking of meticulous restoration.
Heart aching at the wonder of being so cherished, she said, "We can go now." She"d come back later, decide what to do with everything. "Raphael-thank you."
The brush of his wing against her own, a silent tenderness as they entered the master suite. No one else ever saw this part of him, she thought, eyes on her archangel as he moved closer to the bed and began to strip without flicking on the lights. His shirt fell off his body, revealing that magnificent chest she"d kissed her way across more than once. And suddenly, the overwhelming weight of her emotions was gone, buried under an avalanche of gut-wrenching need.
Raphael looked up at that moment, his gaze glittering with an earthy hunger that said he"d sensed her arousal. Deciding to save the talking for later, she was raising her fingers to tug off her own top when rain-no, hail-hit the windows in staccato bullets that made her jump. She"d have ignored it, except the hard little pellets of ice kept smashing into the gla.s.s over and over again. "Must be a storm." Dropping her hands, she walked to the one of the windows after glancing over to ensure the French doors to the balcony were secure.
Lighting flashed in vicious spikes in front of her as savage winds began to pound the house with unremitting fury, the hail turning to torrential rain between one blink and the next. "I"ve never seen it come in this hard, this fast."
Raphael walked to stand beside her, his naked upper body patterned with the image of the raindrops against the window. She looked up when he didn"t say anything, saw the shadows that had turned his gaze turbulent in an unexpected reflection of the storm. "What is it? What am I not seeing?" Because that look in his eyes . . .
"What do you know of recent weather patterns across the world?"
Elena traced a raindrop with her gaze as it tunneled across the gla.s.s. "I caught a weather update while we were at the Tower. The reporter said a tsunami had just hit the east coast of New Zealand, and that the floods in India are getting worse." Sri Lanka and the Maldives had apparently already been evacuated, but they were starting to run out of places to put people.
"Earthquakes have been rocking Elijah"s territory," Raphael told her, speaking of the South American archangel, "and he fears that at least one major volcano is about to erupt. That is not all. Michaela tells me most of Europe is shuddering in the grip of an unseasonal ice storm so vicious, it threatens to kill thousands."
Elena"s shoulder muscles went stiff at the mention of the most beautiful-and most venomous-of archangels. "The Middle East, at least," she said, forcing herself to relax, "seems to have escaped major catastrophe from what I saw on the news."
"Yes. Favashi is helping Neha deal with the disasters in her region."
The Archangel of Persia and the Archangel of India, Elena knew, had worked together previously. And now, when Neha hated almost everyone else in the Cadre, she seemed to be able to tolerate Favashi-perhaps because the other archangel was so much younger. "It means something, doesn"t it?" she said, turning to place her hand on the wild heat of Raphael"s chest, the shadowy raindrops whispering over her skin. "All this extreme weather."
"There is a legend," Raphael murmured, his wings flaring out as he tugged her into the curve of his body-as if he would protect her. "That mountains will shake and rivers overflow, while ice creeps across the world and fields drown in rain." He looked down at her, his eyes that impossible, inhuman chrome blue. "All this will come to pa.s.s . . . when an Ancient awakens."
The chill in his tone raised every hair on her body.
Berkley t.i.tles by Nalini Singh.
Psy-Changeling Series.
SLAVE TO SENSATION.
VISIONS OF HEAT.
CARESSED BY ICE.
MINE TO POSSESS.
HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE.