
Alinar Publishing www.alinarpublishing.com
Copyright ©2010 by Felicity Heaton
First published in 2010, 2010
NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.
Annelie fell for Lukas the moment he walked into her pub three years ago. He's stunning, his vivid green eyes lending to his otherworldly beauty, but he's seriously out of her league. When he tells her that she's beautiful and confesses that he wants her, she can't resist him and his passionate kiss. She unleashes her desire and seizes the moment and Lukas with both hands. But Lukas has a secret, one that will test Annelie's love for him and threaten to tear them apart.
He's an angel.
Annelie can't believe it when Lukas says that their feelings for each other aren't a sin, but she can believe his pain when he tells her the reason he's on Earth. He is fallen, cast out of Heaven as punishment for a crime he didn't commit. Lukas isn't about to give up and accept his fate though. He's determined to prove both his innocence and his love for Annelie, and to show her that the intense passion they share is real.
When Lukas and Apollyon discover who framed him, will he be able to stop them from going after Serenity and Annelie? Will he be able to protect the woman he loves and fly away with her into their forever after?
Lukas was looking worse for wear.
Annelie had never seen him drink alcohol. She had often wondered why he came to her pub but stuck to soft drinks. Seeing him slowly sliding down towards the bar, his head propped up on his hand and his eyes closed, she was no longer surprised that he lay off the booze. He couldn't handle it.
His scruffy sandy locks fell forwards when his head slipped from his hand and he jerked up. He rolled his eyes a few times while blinking and then pulled a face as he inspected the damp elbow of his black shirt and the wet bar where he had been leaning. A sigh lifted his shoulders and he stared at the half-full glass of whisky in front of him. Perhaps she should have cut him off after his third, but his charming smile had persuaded her to supply him with a fourth, and a fifth. She regretted it now. At the time, he had looked as though he would be fine. Now, he looked as though he was going to pass out.
Perhaps she shouldn't have given him the first shot. What if he didn't drink because he was an alcoholic and she had just ruined his recovery? She could never live with herself if that was the case.
She handed some change to a patron and walked along the length of the area behind the dark wooden bar to Lukas, neatening her appearance as she did so. She tugged the hem of her black baby-doll t-shirt down to sit smoothly along the waist of her black jeans, and combed her fingers through her long red hair. She always felt as though she looked like a mess when things got frantic behind the bar, and she wanted to look her best for Lukas.
The pub was quieter now that it was approaching closing time. A few regulars remained along with a group of people she didn't recognise who were sitting in the corner near the bay windows. She could finally speak to Lukas without interruption.
Annelie leaned on the damp bar opposite Lukas and swept his fair hair out of his eyes. He leaned away, almost fell off his stool, clutched the brass rail around the bar to stop himself, and then looked at her. She felt an all too familiar jolt when his green eyes met her brown ones and her heart fluttered in her chest when he smiled lopsidedly.
"You okay?" She went to take her hand away but he took hold of it, bringing it down to the bar and toying with her fingers.
His gaze fell there, a look of fascination entering his eyes, and she told herself not to read into it.
So what if this was the first bordering-on-intimate contact they'd had? So what if he had made her heart stop the moment he had first walked into her pub three years ago and it had stopped every time she had seen him since? It didn't mean anything.
At least, it didn't mean anything to him.
Sure, they had talked and whiled away the hours, and Lukas was an amazing listener and always seemed genuinely interested in her problems and helping her solve them, but he had never once shown any interest in her beyond friendship.
She wished that he would.
He was drop dead gorgeous. Six feet plus of masculine beauty. And she wanted to pounce on him whenever he walked through the door.
Which had been almost every other night until recently.
He had gone away for three long weeks without a word, leaving her wondering if something terrible had happened to him. Then the moment he walked back into her life, he hit the drink. Hard.
Lukas didn't answer her. His green gaze remained fixed on her hand and he turned it this way and that, his large hands warm and gentle against hers. Her heart whispered that this was interest beyond friendship.
Someone stepped up to the bar at the far end and she waved to Andy to serve him. She couldn't leave Lukas until she knew what was going on in his head and why he was suddenly drinking, or at least until she was sure he wasn't about to fall off his stool and hurt himself.
Annelie bent lower so she could see his face. His gaze finally left her hand and met hers again, bright in the lights from the mirrored cabinet of bottles behind her.
"I said you okay?" She searched his eyes.
His pupils were wide. He raked his gaze down over her chest, fire following in its wake, and then back up to her face. It remained fixed there, as though he was studying her, intense and focused. A blush crept onto her cheeks.
"Hell of a week." His reply was so quiet that she barely heard him.
"You've been gone three."
His eyebrows rose. "Three?"
Annelie nodded. Lukas released her hand and ran his over the messy finger-length strands of his hair, preening it back. He brought his hand down, pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut.
"Hell of a three weeks." Lukas smiled but she saw straight through it.
Something was up. Andy tried to call her over but she waved him away again. Andy had been tending bar long enough to handle problems on his own now. Lukas needed to talk. She had seen it the moment he had sat down tonight, but the pub had been so busy that she hadn't been able to talk to him other than taking his order. He had never really spoken much about himself and the one time he needed to she hadn't made time for him. He had always made time to listen to her. What sort of friend was she?
"I was wondering where you were." Her tone was jest but her heart meant the words.
Lukas looked at her as though hearing that had made his day and then dropped his gaze to his drink. He ran his finger around the rim of the whisky glass and then sighed.
"Sorry about that."
She never had been able to place his accent. It wasn't British. She had asked him about it once and he had simply said that he had lived in many places. She had told him her whole life story and he hadn't even told her where he was from. She was fine with that though. It added a sense of mystery to him that she liked.
He picked up his glass and she took it from him.
"I think you've had enough of that." She tipped the contents away behind the bar and stashed the glass there. "How are you getting home tonight?"
He frowned, propped his head up on his palm, and closed his eyes. "The usual way."
"I can't let you drive."
A smile curved his delicious lips. "I don't drive. I fly."
She laughed. "Well, I can't let you drink and fly."
He was drunk if he thought he could fly home.
Annelie covered his other hand with hers and he opened his eyes, their green depths meeting hers again. They were sharper now but not enough to satisfy her.
"I'll give you a lift if you wait until we've closed." Hopefully he would have sobered up a little by then and could direct her to his place. She had never seen him outside work before and didn't have a clue about where he lived.
Lukas stared into her eyes for what felt like hours and then nodded. Annelie took her hand back and smiled, relieved that he would wait for her. She didn't want him going home alone and perhaps she could talk to him during the drive and find out why he was suddenly drinking.
The bar would close in twenty minutes but it would be at least another hour before she had finished cleaning up. She glanced back at Lukas. He rested his arm on the counter and used it as a pillow, his eyes closing again. He hadn't drunk that much, but it was still best that he slept it off. Andy would go home when the pub closed and she would be quiet while she counted the money and cleaned the place.
Before long, the pub was empty except for her and Lukas. Annelie tied her long red hair back into a ponytail and wiped the bar down, avoiding disturbing Lukas as he slept. She stopped by him and stared at his face. He looked so peaceful and gorgeous when asleep. She hesitated and then, with her heart in her mouth, brushed the tangled strands of his fair hair from his forehead. His lips parted and he murmured something. She smiled and brushed his skin again, lightly so he wouldn't wake, but enough contact to make her feel a little giddy. When had she fallen for him? It had come on so slowly over the past three years that she hadn't realised she had those sorts of feelings for Lukas until he had gone away, and then she had been worried that he wasn't coming back.
But here he was again, at her bar in the same stool he always occupied, and she was happy to see him.
Even if he was asleep.
He stirred and blinked slowly, as though trying to wake himself.
Annelie didn't take her hand back. She was feeling brave tonight.
"How are you feeling?" She combed her fingers through his hair.
Lukas frowned, his green eyes fixed on the distance, and then groaned. She took that as a negative answer.
"No better yet?"
He nodded, moving her hand with him, and she stroked the curve of his ear. A smile touched his lips and then faded again when he closed his eyes.
"I'm almost done. I'll have you home soon." She went to walk away but he caught her wrist, sat up, and looked at her with such earnest eyes that her heart beat harder.
"I ever tell you that you're pretty?" Those words rocked her to her core. Her pulse raced and her throat turned dry. She shook her head and he reached out with his other hand and ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek. There was nothing but honesty and warmth in his eyes. They sparkled with it, looking brighter now even though the lights were lower, entrancing her. "Your beauty puts angels to shame."
Annelie tried to convince herself that it was the drink talking but failed dismally. She had worked in pubs since she was in her early twenties, almost ten years ago, and had run this one since her parents had retired early. She had enough experience to spot levels of inebriation. Lukas's eyes were sharper and his words weren't slurred. He wasn't drunk anymore. He was definitely still tipsy, but that excuse didn't hold with her heart. It believed him. He really did think that she was beautiful. She blushed. It burned her cheeks before she could get the better of herself. She worked at a bar. She was used to men telling her that she was beautiful at the end of the night, but the way Lukas said it, the fact that it was him, made her believe him.
"You really are." His hand slipped from her cheek to her jaw and he grazed his fingers along the curve of it. He smiled and her heart thudded. He was beautiful. She had never seen a man like him, with such deep green eyes and a smile that could make her heart pound and body tremble. "Beautiful."
"Hush." She took his hand away from her face and held it a moment. "Quit making me blush, Lukas."
His smile held. "I love the way you say my name. Say it again."
Annelie rolled her eyes. "Lukas."
"Not like that." He drew his hand towards him, luring her with it, until she was close to him. She stared into his eyes, her mind racing forwards to contemplate things it shouldn't be. He wasn't going to kiss her. Even if he was looking more sober now, she couldn't let things go down that avenue. "Say it like you mean it. Like you said it just then."
Annelie looked deep into his eyes, lost in them and the way the flecks of pale gold seemed to shift and move against their emerald backdrop, and blinked slowly. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Lukas."
"Mmm, that's more like it." He pulled her closer and tilted his head.
Annelie broke free, pulse rocketing, and ignored the disappointed look on his face. She couldn't kiss him, no matter how tempting it was.
"Let me finish cleaning and I'll take you home." She hurried away to the other end of the bar, not daring to look back at Lukas, not while she wanted to kiss him and was weak enough to go through with it.
By the time she had finished, Lukas was looking far more sober and he was watching her. Annelie could feel his eyes on her, following her around the room as she placed the chairs upside down on the tables. She would wash the floor in the morning before opening time.
She walked over to Lukas and he turned on the stool to face her. His eyes held fire that burned within her, enticing her to kiss him after all. She cleared her throat, averted her gaze, and nodded towards the door.
"Come on." She didn't wait for him to get down off the stool. She started towards the door and Lukas was soon beside her. She snuck a glance at him. He always looked good in the black shirt and jeans he wore. They hugged his figure just the right amount, giving subtle clues about how sexy the body they hid was and luring her into picturing him naked. Even when she shouldn't be.
She closed the door behind him and locked up.
"You okay?" She pocketed her keys and started down the quiet road with him towards the car park at the back of the pub. It was nice to have company for once. The dark shop fronts and eerie silence cut only by the sound of distant cars on the main road often sent a chill through her and made her race for the safety of her car. With Lukas at her side, she didn't feel afraid. She felt safe.
"I have been better." He tilted his head back, stared up at the night sky, and sighed. There was such a look of melancholy in his eyes. What was he thinking?
"Where did you go, Lukas?" Annelie took her car keys out of her pocket, turned the corner into the car park, and pressed the button on the fob. The lights on her small car flashed. "I really was worried about you."
Lukas stopped and looked at her. She turned and met his gaze, letting him see that she wasn't just saying that. He had disappeared without a word and it had frightened her. She had missed him. He stepped up to her and touched her face again, his palm warm against her cheek. His eyes held hers and she swore she saw another flicker of affection in them.
"I had to go away. I should have told you, Annelie. I should not have worried you." There was black magic in his voice and the way he said her name, soft but with an underlying note of passion, and she was under his spell. He stroked her cheek, sending a shiver through her, and smiled into her eyes. "I did not think I would be gone so long. I promise I will not do it again."
Annelie told herself to break free but she couldn't. She didn't want to. She wanted to stand there in the warm night, feeling hot from head to toe because of Lukas's caress and the ardent look in his eyes. She wanted to believe that his words meant what she thought they did and that he liked her and things between them would be different now. She hadn't looked at another man since Lukas had walked into her life, had dreamed the impossible of him falling for her, and now it felt as though the impossible was possible after all.
Lukas wanted her as much as she wanted him.
She stepped into his embrace, her heart thundering against her chest, and stared up into his eyes. His fingers stroked her neck, his thumb brushing over her chin and then under her jaw. He tilted her head back, his eyes fixed on hers, and lowered his mouth. She shivered when their lips met and then pressed her hands against his firm chest and melted into him as he kissed her. It started out slow, a bare meeting of lips, but before she could draw another breath, his mouth covered hers and he stole it away.
She craned her neck, slid her arms around his shoulders, and kissed him, their lips meeting and parting, tongues tracing each other in a sensual dance that stirred fire in her belly and her blood. He groaned and it was music to her heart, driving her on. She licked his lower lip, tangled her tongue with his, and kissed him harder, her breathing coming faster now.
Sense reared its ugly head but she shoved it away, not interested in anything her mind had to say on the matter. The kiss was divine. Lukas was divine. It didn't matter that he was still a little tipsy and that they were kissing in the middle of an unpleasant car park. She knew in her heart that this wasn't the drink talking.
He pulled back, breathing hard, and his eyes searched hers. The fire in them matched the inferno burning within her. Did she look so hungry too? She wanted to devour him.
"Annelie..." He started and looked as though he was going to kiss her again, but then he stepped back. "I am sorry. If I have offended---"
"No."
His eyes darted to hers.
She fought to voice what was in her heart. She wanted him too. She had wanted that kiss more than anything. She was on the brink of saying it but other words came out instead.
"We should get you home."
He looked disappointed again and nodded. Annelie walked to her car, cursing herself, feeling Lukas trailing behind her. She was aching all over to feel his hands and lips on her again. Why couldn't she have just said what she had wanted to? Lukas, it was fine that you kissed me because I want to do that to you and a lot more besides. It was so easy to say it in her head.
She walked around the car and glanced at him. His eyes were on her again, drifting over her body, bringing the fire back in their wake. She burned for him. She burned so much that she felt as though she was going to die if he didn't touch her and kiss her again, if he didn't quench the flames as only he could.
If she had said what she had wanted to, would he be kissing her again now? Would that divine body be against hers and his hands be on her, skimming over her in the way she was craving, bringing her to life with passion and need?
Annelie yanked the car door open and got in. Lukas slid into the passenger seat beside her and she started the engine, put the car into gear and drove. He was quiet, only speaking to give her directions across London to where he lived. When they reached it, she pulled the car to a halt in a space outside and stared at the building. It was a beautiful pale four-storey Georgian townhouse.
"You live here?" She couldn't quite bring herself to believe it. She had never figured Lukas for a moneyed type. He had never once looked as though he had more than a few hundred pounds to his name.
Lukas nodded and got out of the car, not waiting for her. Had she put him in a bad mood? Her eyes followed him. He was walking in a straight line, not wavering at all, and seemed sober now. If he kissed her again, she wouldn't be able to resist him. She wouldn't have a reason to.
Annelie stepped out, locked her car, and hurried across the quiet road to him. He waited on the golden-lit porch of the building, in front of the black door, his gaze on her again. She stopped at the bottom of the steps, waiting for him to say something. All he had to do was invite her in. If he invited her in, she would take it as a sign that she hadn't messed anything up and that he still wanted her.
His eyes held hers for what felt like hours and then he spoke.
"I just want to be clear about one thing. I did not kiss you because of the drink." He glanced away and then met her gaze again. "There is a reason I like to sit at the bar and talk to you, Annelie. There is a reason I kissed you."
He looked as though he had wanted to say more but she didn't give him a chance. She ran up the steps, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again. He stumbled backwards into the door and wrapped his arms around her waist, his tongue delving into her mouth and duelling with hers. This was Heaven. She couldn't hold in her moan.
Lukas fumbled with the door behind him and they fell into the bright entrance hall, still locked in each other's arms, their mouths fused in a kiss that drove Annelie crazy with hunger. She moaned again and kissed him harder, pouring out her passion and need into it until it became choppy and rough, a clashing of lips and teeth. Lukas's groan sent a wave of heat scorching through her and she gasped into his mouth when he grabbed her backside. She hopped up and wrapped her legs around his waist and he hit the wall with her, pinning her there, his body hard against hers and making her tremble with the images of them that flashed through her mind. She wanted all of them to happen right now, this instant, wanted to live out every hot dream she'd had about Lukas.
"Which floor?" She managed between kisses, too hungry for him to break contact for more than a second.
"Third." There was a laugh to his voice that brought out her smile. He kissed her again and turned with her, heading for the stairs. Was he serious? He couldn't carry her all the way to the third floor while kissing her.
Lukas seemed intent on proving her wrong. He held on to her, his hands grasping her backside, his body shifting between her hips in the most delicious way, and kissed along her jaw as he took the steps two at a time.
Annelie didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to her surroundings. All she could think about was what would happen when they reached his apartment and how good it felt to be in his arms. She kissed his throat, earning quiet moans from him whenever she nipped it with her teeth or sucked. The rougher she was, the louder he groaned, and it drove her on, making her want to bite him harder.
She wriggled against him, hot all over, and moaned when he nibbled her neck, kissing and licking it, sending shivers dancing over her skin and stoking the fire of her hunger for him. She leaned her head back and he held her closer, devouring her throat, taking her higher and higher, and not only towards his apartment.
"Almost there," he whispered into her mouth and her temperature soared with anticipation.
He kissed her throat, her cheeks, and then her lips. He paused there and said the one thing that shattered her reservation, the one thing she had wanted to hear above all else. He breathed it against her lips in a husky voice, turning three simple words into the most erotic thing she had ever heard.
"I want you."
Annelie trembled in his strong arms, swept away by her need and his passion, and she kissed him.
She wanted him too.
And she was damn well going to have him.
Annelie squeaked when she hit the deep blue covers of the double bed, bouncing on the mattress, and then moaned when Lukas covered her, his body pressing delightfully into hers. She wrapped her arms back around his neck and kissed him, her eyes closing and her heart crying out for more. His tongue tangled with hers, his hands burrowing into her flame-red hair, and he shifted his hips against hers. Another moan left her when she felt his hard cock and she wished they were naked, flesh-to-flesh.
Lukas groaned into her mouth and then kissed down her jaw to her neck, burying his face there and devouring her with hungry open-mouthed kisses. She dug her fingers through his sandy hair, clinging to him, and lifted her knee so it grazed his hip. She wanted more. She wanted all of him.
She sighed when he lowered his hands, caught the hem of her black baby-doll tee and shoved it up over her breasts. His actions were rough, frantic, as he pulled the t-shirt off over her head and she matched him, grabbing his black shirt and pulling on it. He knelt between her legs and pulled his shirt off, tossing it aside.
Annelie paused.
In front of her knelt a god. She ran her gaze over his taut torso, absorbing every nuance of his muscles as they shifted with his breathing, on the verge of purring over the sight of him alone. She could feel his eyes on her, running over her chest and her stomach, taking her in as she took him in.
They were both still a moment and then Lukas was on her again, his bare chest against hers, the skin-on-skin contact thrilling her. His lips caught hers and she lost herself in the kiss and the feel of him. She ran her fingers over his side, across his back, exploring the strong muscles and warm skin that was hers to play with now. She had ached for this for so long.
She kissed him, her tongue caressing his, trying to slow the pace of his passion even when it felt impossible, as though she was trying to tell the tides to stop surging. She hooked her legs over his backside and he thrust against her. She groaned at the too-light contact between them, her jeans and his making it less than it should have been.
It seemed he didn't approve either because he was suddenly kissing down over her chest. She raised her body into his when he slid his hands beneath her and she closed her eyes again when he unhooked her black bra and removed it. The air was cool against her breasts and then his hand covered one while his mouth warmed the other. He thumbed one nipple and swirled his tongue around the other before sucking it. She sighed, arched her back, and held his head against her breasts. This was what she had been dying to feel.
"Lukas." The word left her lips before she could stop it and her cheeks blazed over the heated way it had come out.
He moaned and held her closer, sliding his hand from her breast and down her side to her bottom. He grasped her hip and thrust, rubbing his caged erection against her most sensitive spot and driving her wild. She needed him naked.
Her hands drifted over his back, their rushed pace slowing when he moved, his muscles shifting beneath his soft skin. He felt so good. She wanted to spend hours just stroking him but the fierce need inside her was only getting worse and she couldn't wait anymore. She skimmed her hands over the small of his back, and the twin dimples there, and then his bottom, stretching to reach it.
Lukas foiled her plans. He moved downwards, kissing over her stomach, distracting her from whining when he moved out of reach. She sighed again when his hands settled on the belt of her jeans and lay with her arms out at her sides, letting him have his way with her. He made fast work of her belt, removed her trainers, and then tugged her jeans down and off.
She heard him move and opened her eyes. His met hers and he smiled as he removed his jeans. Her gaze dropped at the same time as his jeans and she wriggled when it stopped on his hard cock. She wanted that. Now.
Lukas kicked off his jeans and she reached a hand out to him, smiling shyly, wanting him to come to her.
In her.
She wanted to feel him inside her, to live out her dreams with the object of them. He knelt on the bed and took hold of her hips. She gasped when he pushed her up the bed, until her head hit the pillows. His green gaze fell to her thighs and he frowned, looked as though he was starving, and then hooked his fingers into the hem of her knickers and pulled them off.
Annelie didn't want to close her eyes, she wanted to keep them open and see this was more than a dream, but she couldn't help shutting them when Lukas parted her thighs and ran a lone finger up the length of her pussy. She moaned, writhed, and sighed, aching for more. He didn't disappoint. He touched her again, caressing her with two fingers now, teasing her pert clitoris and slick opening, forcing the anticipation within her to rise beyond her control. She tilted her head back and clutched the blue bedcovers, bunching them into her fists.
"Lukas."
"I do love the way you say my name."
A blush blazed through her from her toes right up to her head, but she didn't care. She couldn't stop herself from moaning his name whenever he stroked her pussy, teasing her and making hunger coil in her stomach. Her whole body felt tight and she was close to pleading him by the time she felt the bed depress. She gasped at the first flick of his tongue over her swollen arousal and clutched the bedclothes tighter, desperate not to orgasm instantly. She was too hungry for him. He moaned and she followed suit, the sound of his pleasure bringing out her own. She let go of her inhibitions and embraced her passion when he flicked her clit with his tongue again and then suckled.
"Lukas." Annelie screwed her eyes shut. Each sweep of his tongue sent sparks skittering along her nerves, racing outwards from her hips, stoking the fire inside her. She could barely stop herself from bucking her hips against his face and riding his tongue. She wanted more. Needed more.
"Say it again." He swirled his tongue around her and she could only oblige.
"Lukas!"
He groaned and her eyes shot open when he slid a finger into her warm core, thrusting it deep. She was in Heaven. He pumped her with it, slow and steady, maddening her with the teasing pace and the sweep of his tongue over her clitoris. She wriggled now, unable to stop herself from thrusting with him, riding his finger. He moaned again when her muscles clenched him and then slid a second finger into her, stretching her.
She wanted his cock in her. She wanted to feel that stretching her. Just the memory of how hard and good it looked had her ready to come undone.
Her hands found her breasts and she teased her nipples, pushing herself towards an orgasm that she desperately wanted. Lukas thrust his fingers harder into her, suckled her clit, and then went completely still. Annelie groaned her disapproval when he removed his fingers from her.
She opened her eyes. Lukas crawled up the length of her and she couldn't help glancing down at his cock. The exposed crown was wet with his arousal and her body pulsed at the sight of it. She wanted that. She was going to have it.
He settled his hips against hers, thrusting the length of his cock against her pussy, rubbing her clit with it and threatening to push her over the edge. She didn't want that now. She wanted him to make her come when he was inside her.
She looped her arms around his neck and looked up into his eyes. He had the strangest expression on his gorgeous face and she again had the impression that he wanted to say something, and then he kissed her and chased her thoughts away.
"Annelie," he whispered against her lips, the sound of it teasing her as much as his hard length. She moaned her response, too lost in the feel of him against her, kissing her, to say anything. "I want you."
The force of those words stole her breath again. If he wanted her, he could have her. She wasn't going anywhere. She was gasping to have him inside her, for him to quell the raging inferno that he had ignited within her and had let burn without end these past three years. She raised her hips to his, encouraging him to do as he pleased.
He shifted his hips back and the tip of his erection nudged against her. She groaned and raised her hips, making it easier for him to enter her. He eased in, every delicious inch of him, stretching her body to accommodate his hard length. Her eyes closed and then she opened them again when he was deep in her and met his gaze.
Lukas remained there a moment, their bodies intimately locked and his face level with hers. He brushed the hair from her face, his fingers lightly stroking her brow and her cheek, and his eyes fixed on hers. Annelie mirrored his actions, sweeping the messy strands of his fair hair from his forehead, enjoying the quiet moment of intimacy. Now that he was inside her, she felt calm and oddly at peace. Looking into his eyes made her feel that way sometimes, especially when she was picking out every golden fleck as she was now.
"Lukas." She ran her finger across his lower lip and he smiled.
"Annelie." He lowered his head and kissed her.
The fire returned when he pulled his cock out of her and thrust back in. She wrapped her arms around his neck, twisted his hair around her fingers, and kissed him as he pumped her with his hard length, moving deep with long strokes that tore breathy moans from her. He hooked his hands over her shoulders and plunged harder into her body, stoking the fire until it threatened to consume her. She uttered his name into his mouth, clutching him, her whole body tightening from the feel of him thrusting into her, fusing their bodies as one and stealing her breath away.
"Annelie." He kissed her neck and she trembled at the sound of his husky voice. His hot breath washed over her throat between kisses, her name falling from his lips in time with each plunge of his body into hers.
He grunted and thrust faster, his hips pumping hard, the pace quickening until it became frantic again. Annelie raised her hips, holding Lukas to her throat, loving the way he groaned into it and covered it with hot passionate kisses. His fingers dug into her shoulders and she ran her hands down his back, to his bottom, encouraging him to go faster and take her. She wanted it rougher, quicker, a violent coupling that matched the need and desire burning through her veins like molten lava.
Lukas lowered one hand to her hips, holding them off the bed, and gave her what she needed. He filled her hard and fast, deep jerking movements that smashed his pelvic bone against her clit. She screwed her eyes shut and moaned, clutching his backside, reaching for her orgasm. Her abdomen tightened, her body clenching his each time his cock filled her, and she could almost reach it.
Her heart thundered, blood rushing through her, and she tilted her head back, her mouth wide open. Lukas moaned into her ear, his breathing as hard and rough as his thrusts.
"More." She screwed her face up. "More."
She tensed her muscles around his hard length and her eyes shot open when he thrust deep into her and a wave of pleasure rippled through her. Hot sparks skittered over her quivering thighs as she came. Lukas groaned deeper. She dug her fingertips into his backside, urging him towards his own release. He grunted with each hard thrust of his cock, his grip on her painful, and his hips jerking frantically.
Lukas rammed into her warm trembling core and stilled. He moaned and his cock pulsed, spilling his seed, filling her with it. He stayed there a moment, tense and motionless, and then collapsed on top of her with a sigh.
Annelie wrapped her arms around him, her fast breathing matching his, and tried to gather herself. He was heavy against her but she didn't mind. His cock continued to pulse and twitch with his orgasm. She liked the feel of it, the feel of him. Opening her eyes, she stroked his back, slowly piecing herself back together.
She frowned when the world came back into focus and she noticed a dark pink line on his shoulder. At first, she thought that she had scratched him, but when she looked closer, she realised that it was a scar, and it was recent. She stroked the line of it where it started on his back and ran over the curve of his shoulder. He murmured something against her neck and sighed. His racing heart pounded against her chest, gradually slowing as she caressed him.
Annelie craned her neck and looked down his back. Her frown returned. There were other scars on it---all of them long deep pink lines. She stroked a few of them and then her wandering fingers found ones that made her pause. There were two thick scars, both the length of her hand, one on each shoulder blade.
What had happened to him?
She nudged Lukas, wanting to ask, and he groaned. The weight of him against her and his slow breathing told her that she wasn't going to get an answer tonight. He had fallen asleep.
Annelie rolled him off her. He frowned in his sleep and sprawled out on the bed, stark naked, as though he didn't have a care in the world and didn't mind if people saw him nude. She wished she could be like that. She looked around the low-lit blue bedroom and spotted a white panelled door. It had to be the bathroom. She slipped from the bed, hurried over to it, and opened it. A white tiled bathroom was on the other side. She turned on the light and closed the door. Her reflection looked pale from the bright light but her cheeks were still crimson.
She grabbed some tissues and cleaned herself up. Perhaps she should have asked him whether he had a condom. She didn't really know that much about him and it wasn't like her to have unprotected sex, even when she was on the pill. But it was Lukas. How many times had he been in her dreams, in her fantasies? Now they were all reality.
A smile curved her lips and she finished up and then went back into the bedroom. Lukas lay on his side now, snoring quietly. He had said that it was more than alcohol, that she was beautiful and he wanted her. She believed him. She just wasn't sure where this was going to lead. What if he changed his mind in the morning and was a different person?
She pushed her fears away, crept onto the bed behind him, and stroked the scars on his back.
In the morning, she would ask him what was going to happen now.
Her fingers caressed the darkest thickest scars over his shoulder blades.
And she would ask him what had happened to him.
It was morning.
Lukas could feel the sun outside, calling him with false promises of vaulted blue heavens in which he could fly. He couldn't do that anymore. They had even taken that from him. His heart cried in anguish at the thought of never flying again but he buried his pain deep. It wasn't difficult when his head was pounding and sore.
Something touched his back, stroking it lightly and with care. He could feel love in that caress and concern. He tried to gather his scattered thoughts and senses so he could focus on the person behind him. It was impossible. Her fingers felt good against him, soothing his raging head and bringing back memories of last night and being with her. Bliss. Being with her had been nothing short of bliss.
She touched his shoulder blades and his skin shifted and itched.
No.
Lukas focused harder but it was too late. The urge drove through him, brought out by her teasing fingers and tender touch, and he couldn't contain it. He gritted his teeth, tried with all of his might, but she swept her hands over his shoulder blades again.
"Don't." He started to move away from her but wasn't quick enough.
His wings erupted from his back so fast that it hurt and they knocked her off the bed. She hit the floor with a thud.
No.
Lukas scrambled to his knees, naked on the bed, his white wings unfurled and stretching across the room. He grimaced when they caught the lamp on the bedside table and it toppled off and smashed.
Annelie sat nude on the wooden floor, staring up at him with wide eyes, her face ashen.
He made a low noise of frustration and her gaze leapt from his wings to his eyes. She shook her head, scrambled to her feet and bolted for the bedroom door. Lukas reached it first, his head spinning and thumping, and blocked the way, jamming his hands against the doorframe. She tried to pass him, pushing his chest, and he grabbed her wrists to stop her from hitting him.
"Let me go." She snatched her hands back and tried to pass him again. He caught her around the waist from behind and pulled her against him as she struggled. His body got the wrong idea when her soft warm backside brushed his groin. Getting an erection was not going to help matters.
He turned with her so she was back in the bedroom.
She scratched his arm, elbowed him in the ribs, and ran forwards when he released her.
"Annelie." Lukas furled his white wings against his back.
She ignored him, grabbing her clothes and throwing them on. Her black t-shirt was backwards but he didn't think she would appreciate him mentioning it when she was panicking. She clawed her long red hair back into a rough ponytail, eyed him warily and then dashed forwards, ducking under his arm. He grabbed her again, not wanting to frighten her or hurt her, but unwilling to let her go. He couldn't let her walk out of the door. If she did that now, he would never see her again.
"I can explain." Lukas wasn't quite sure what he intended to tell her but it sounded like the right thing to say in a situation that was rapidly going downhill.
"Explain what... that I'm going crazy or that I just slept with an angel?" Annelie gave up trying to get past him and backed away, her legs hitting the end of his bed. She plonked down onto it and stared at him. Her feelings were all over the place. Angels had acute senses but he couldn't tell whether she was angry or petrified. She leaned forwards, rested her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands. "I'm going to Hell."
"No, you won't... Annelie... look at me."
"I'd rather not." She pulled the blue duvet over her head until he couldn't see her.
Lukas sighed and rubbed his face, desperately trying to think of something to say that wouldn't inflame things and would go some way towards repairing the damage the sudden appearance of his wings had done.
"I'm sorry." It was the only thing that came to him. She emerged from the blanket and shook her head, the disbelief still written across her face.
She looked down at her arm and pinched it.
"What are you doing?" He frowned.
"Trying to wake up. This has to be a dream." She pinched herself again and dismay crossed her face when she looked at him. She paled. "God, this is real... the wings are real... you're an angel... and I just blasphemed... and I slept with you!"
His shoulders sagged and he focused through the riot it in his head. It was difficult to concentrate but he managed it and his wings slowly shrank and disappeared into his back. Annelie looked as horrified on seeing them disappear as she had on seeing them appear. Her heart raced in his mind and no matter what angle he looked at it from, the situation showed no sign of improving.
"It is not a dream, and it is not a sin." It was the bane of all his kind that mortals thought they were off limits, saints who couldn't enjoy life in the way a human could. That belief couldn't be further from the truth. They had rules, laws that they had to obey, but all angels were fun and frivolous creatures when they weren't on duty, and many of them had fallen in love with mortals.
Just as he was in love with her.
He hadn't realised it until he had gone away. Before then, he had merely thought that she was pretty, easy to talk to, interesting and someone who eased his loneliness. A friend. Going away had made him realise that he had been falling for her since first setting eyes on her. If he told her that now, would it fix anything? Would she still hate him?
"Annelie?"
She didn't seem to be listening. She was staring at his shoulders, as though waiting for his wings to appear again, her eyes large and mouth open. It was a struggle to keep them away but he had to do it, no matter how much they wanted to come out again and how much his head hurt.
Drinking had been a bad idea.
But then, it had been the only way of erasing his pain, and humans had always seemed to use drink to cope with things. The position he was in right now, another black mark against him probably wouldn't mean much. It would only damage his pride.
He laughed bitterly. "I am not even an angel at the moment... I haven't been since the night we met."
Her dark eyes met his. Confusion shone in them now.
It hurt him to think about the past three years. Annelie had been the one thing that had helped him through his most troubled times and eased his suffering. She had given him friendship and support, and had made his pain bearable, but now he feared that she would leave and he would never see her again, and he needed her more than ever.
Things had never been this bad for him.
She couldn't leave. She was the only good thing left in his life.
"Funny... you have wings like an angel." Annelie stood and stepped closer to him. Her heart still raced, rushing in his head, speaking of her fear. She took another tentative step forwards and cast her gaze over him, from head to toe and back again.
"Wings I cannot use." Saying that made it hit home and his heart hurt, his chest burning with the pain of being denied the one thing that had given him comfort and hope all this time. They hadn't taken his wings from him.
Only now they had.
"I am... fallen... I think you mortals call it." Lukas leaned against the doorframe. He closed his eyes, clenched his jaw and steeled himself against the pain caused by talking about his situation. It ebbed and flowed through him, strong waves that filled him with despair and sorrow, and anger too. "I was banished here three years ago... and three weeks ago I went to appeal against my sentence and make them see the truth."
"The truth?"
He opened his eyes and looked at her, resting his head against the wooden frame.
"I did not commit the crime that I am being punished for." He searched her eyes, wishing that she would show a sign of compassion, or affection, something other than anger and hurt. He needed to see something warm in her, something to give him a thread of hope to hold on to. "I wanted to tell you so many times."
"That you were falsely accused?"
He smiled at her confusion but it lasted only a second. "That I am an angel."
"Why?" Her gaze darted between his eyes and her heart began to calm at last, her fear beginning to fade. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to caress her cheek and know that he hadn't messed everything up between them, but he didn't dare.
"Because... I hate lying to you. I hate hiding things from you." Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He drew a long breath and sighed, trying to push away his pain and focus on the moment and making things right with Annelie. If that was possible. It had to be. "Because I want you to know me."
"Why?"
Was that the only question she had for him? He deserved her anger, and her disbelief, and he was prepared for it. He had always known it would be impossible to tell her that he was an angel without going through this. Even if he had found a way to break it to her gently, she still would have thought she was going insane and would have struggled to believe what she was seeing.
Lukas opened his eyes and stared at her feet. She had moved closer. Her small bare feet made him smile. They were so delicate. Everything about her was delicate and soft. He loved her for that. He loved her for her smile and how open she was with him, and how she always found time to speak to him.
"I meant what I said last night, Annelie." His gaze met hers again and he stepped away from the door, towards her, closing the gap between them. His head ached but the pain in his heart eclipsed it. He didn't want her to leave, and if baring his soul was the only way of making her stay, then he was willing to go through that. He was willing to risk her breaking his heart. It would be the last straw for him, and he would no longer have a reason not to fall into darkness and live up to the name of a fallen angel, but it was a chance that he had to take. "There is a reason that I come to the pub and sit on that stool and talk to you... and I think you know what that reason is."
Her eyes widened, her cheeks coloured and she dropped her gaze. Lukas hesitated a moment and then gently placed his fingers under her jaw. They shook so much that he was sure that she would notice. So much rested on this touch. If she accepted it, he would take it as a sign that there was hope for him, and for them. If she pushed him away, he wasn't sure what he would do.
She remained still, her gaze downcast, and didn't shirk his touch.
Lukas drew a deep trembling breath and raised her eyes back to his. The look in hers said that she knew all too well what he was talking about and that he hadn't misjudged her feelings. He wasn't the only one who had fallen in love over the past three years. She had never once spoken to him about men, had never been out on dates, had always smiled at him in a way she never did with other men, always laughed and found a way to touch his hands. She was in love with him too.
But there was a barrier between them, one that he couldn't push her to break through. It was her decision. It had to be. He wasn't mortal and she had to accept that. She had to come to understand his kind and his world, and see whether she could still love him or whether she had to move on. All he could do was try to convince her that it would be worth it if she stayed with him, and that he wanted her more than anything.
More than flying?
He wasn't sure of that yet. He had a decision to make too, one that depended on hers.
His wings pushed to break free again but he held them at bay, wrestling for control. It was difficult enough under normal circumstances to hide them. The headache from the drink was making it almost impossible.
Lukas took his hand back and rubbed his eyes.
"I guess now I know why you're such a good listener."
He shook his head. "I am only a good listener for you. I am a lousy listener for others. It wasn't my specialty."
"Angels have specialties? Actually, I don't think I want to know. I still feel as though I'm dreaming all of this."
"What can I do to make you see that this is real, Annelie, and that I mean you no harm?"
A smile touched her lips---shy and sweet. "I don't think you'll hurt me."
"I already did." Lukas's heart beat harder when she met his gaze, holding it, and there was a hint of warmth in her dark eyes and no fear. She wasn't lying. She really did believe that he wouldn't harm her.
"I was just shocked." She lowered her gaze and frowned, raised her hand and turned the neck of her black baby-doll t-shirt inside out, looking at the label there. She smiled at it. "Can I see them again? It might help me believe that I'm not going crazy."
Her eyes crept to his shoulders and she let go of her t-shirt.
His wings?
They were aching to be free.
But he wasn't sure it was a good idea.
She had been gradually calming down since he had put his wings away. If he unfurled them, he could panic her again and undo any progress he had made with her. The soft look in her eyes pleaded him and he relented. He would do anything she asked of him. If she believed that seeing his wings would help her come to terms with what he was, then he would let them out.
He nodded and she stepped back, as though afraid that he would knock her flying with them again. He wouldn't let that happen. This time he was ready and in control. He wouldn't hurt her.
Lukas moved away from her, finding space near the built-in wardrobes and the door to the bathroom. There was nothing there that he could knock over and Annelie was at a safe enough distance.
His shoulder blades itched, the skin shifting as his wings pushed for freedom. He clenched his fists and let his white wings out as slowly as possible, so they didn't frighten Annelie. Her gaze fixed on them as they appeared. They grew larger until they were fully out and furled against his back. The long feathers tickled his bare legs. He stood before her, naked, unashamed of both it and his wings. This was who he was, and if she couldn't accept it, then perhaps it was for the best, even if it was breaking his heart.
"I wish I could have been honest with you," he whispered and her dark brown eyes moved from his wings to his eyes. "Everything has gone horribly wrong and I feel like crap. My head is killing me."
"Are you allowed to swear?" Her eyebrows rose.
He nodded. "I can do most things a human can without any repercussion."
She surprised him by stepping forwards and pressing her palm against his forehead. Her hand was cool, refreshing, and his eyes slipped shut. It felt so good to have her touch him, as though they had taken the first step towards moving past the fact that he was an angel.
"You'll feel better soon. You didn't look so good last night." Her voice was honey and sweetness to him, low spoken and filling him with soothing warmth. Her hand lingered against his brow. "I shouldn't have let you drink so much."
"I have never tasted alcohol before."
"Really? I shouldn't have let you drink at all then. Will you get into trouble?"
He shrugged, opened his eyes and looked into hers. "I would not consider it a perk of being banished. It is not as nice as mortals make it out to be."
"I could have told you that."
The intensity of her smile stole his breath along with the fact that her hand still rested against his forehead. Was this progress? She wasn't trying to run. He had moved away from the door, giving her a clear path, and she had remained with him. She had chosen to touch him and be near him. Was it possible that she could accept what he was and still love him?
She was so beautiful. He could look at her until the end of time and never tire. He had watched her age these past three years and she had only grown more beautiful to him. Her soft features, large dark eyes and rosy sensual lips made her more stunning than any female he had ever seen.
Annelie moved around him and he rolled his eyes closed when she ran a hand down his left wing. He held his groan inside, not wanting to scare her away. The feel of her fingers stroking his feathers was divine.
"They're really real," she whispered and stopped behind him. She ran her hands down both of his wings, teasing his feathers and his senses.
Images from last night danced through his mind. It had been everything that he had thought it would be and so much more. He had wanted to feel her hands on him, to kiss her and touch her, for so long now without truly realising it. He had thought it nothing more than lust, hunger brought about by years of celibacy, but it was more than that. It was love. The alcohol had done one good thing. It had cast his inhibitions aside and given him the courage to make a move on her. He could bear the pain in his head as payment for his glorious night with her.
He shivered when she caressed his lower back with long strokes of her fingers. Her touch was light, tickling, and he could sense concern in her again. What was she looking at that had her so worried?
"What happened?" Her fingertips traced another line across his back and then she stroked his shoulders.
The scars.
He hadn't realised that they were still there. Was that what she had been touching this morning too? The thought that she would still lay her hands on him, would still feel such concern for him, added another slender thread to his hope.
"I was punished." He couldn't bring himself to say any more. They had lashed him to remind him of his duty and the sin he had committed. Sin. He would have laughed at that if it hadn't hurt so much.
"But you said you didn't do it." She came around to stand in front of him, her dark brown eyes wide with confusion.
"I did not do it, but I cannot prove that. There is no evidence to the contrary. I have searched for it, returned to the scene of the crime every other night for the past three years trying to find a clue that would free me of my sin." His heart sunk when he recalled how his hope had faded with each visit to the ruins of the building that remained in the closed lot. He shut his eyes as images of that night flashed across his mind and he could almost feel the heat of the blast, the sting of the cuts as he tumbled along the ground, and the smell of the fire. "I did not do it."
"Lukas?" Annelie's hand was soft against his cheek and, without thinking, he leaned into it, seeking the comfort she offered and taking it. The memory faded again but it would return soon. It haunted him each night, filling his dreams with burning bodies and Heaven's Court and the look of shame on his fellow warriors' faces when the jury had passed judgement on him. "What happened?"
Did she really want to know? He needed to see. He looked deep into her eyes and used her hand against his face to strengthen the connection to her that had always been there. He didn't usually feel humans' emotions so easily. Annelie's were always there for him to read, held barely beneath the surface. She was so open with him.
"There was going to be an event at a factory. My team received an order to go there. I was the first to arrive. When I did, the building exploded, incinerating everything. It transpired that no one knew of the event. It had not been foreseen."
"What does that mean?" Her hand remained against his face, making him strong and able to tell her everything. She had to know. He hadn't spoken about this to anyone but he needed to share it with her.
"Only a supernatural creature can create an event that the Higher Order of Watchers wouldn't see. An angel did it. They planted bombs and destroyed the building, with all of the humans still inside."
Her eyes widened. "Why?"
"I do not know." He stepped back, clenched his fists and jaw and stared hard at the wooden floor of his bedroom. "All I know is that I was there and no-one believes me when I say that I had been assigned to that area. The rest of my team did not receive the order, and there is no record of it. The records state that I was assigned somewhere else."
"Surely there has to be something you can do?"
Lukas laughed bitterly. "There was. I could appeal three years after being sentenced. I did and I failed... I accused my commander of falsifying the records to protect the perpetrator. Not my finest hour. The result is that I am stripped of my wings and most of my powers."
"Can't you appeal again?" Annelie sat on the end of the bed. She seemed comfortable with his wings now, distracted by his plight, but he knew that it wasn't over. She still wasn't his. Would she ever be? He wasn't sure if she would be able to accept him as an angel. Could she accept him as a mortal? Was he brave enough to risk everything for her and her love?
He was the one unsure now. Heaven had turned its back on him but he wasn't brave enough to do the same to it. He still longed to clear his name and return to duty.
"No." He concentrated so his wings disappeared. He could still use a glamour but he preferred not to deceive Annelie by falsifying his appearance. When they were gone, he gathered his clothes and tugged on his boxer shorts and black jeans. "Well... I can when I have waited three hundred years."
She gasped. "What will you do?"
"Wait."
"You can't do that." She frowned at him. "There has to be some way of proving you're innocent."
The force behind those words convinced him that she believed he was as innocent as she said and that she wasn't going to walk out on him. She wanted to help him. It was written in every beautiful line of her face and the tone of her voice.
"Someone must have seen something."
"They did, but Heaven's records don't show the angel involved. No one saw me or the real perpetrator. My kind are not recorded in Heaven's history of Earth. They only saw the explosion happen and then I returned and reported it, incriminating myself." Lukas paused and frowned. Why hadn't he thought of it earlier? "Heaven's records may not record angels but Hell's might."
"Hell?" Annelie looked even more uncertain now. "What are you going to do, walk in there and ask the Devil if he'll take a look for you? I went to Sunday School and I know that he probably won't help an angel, even a fellow fallen one."
She bit her lip when his gaze snapped to her and dropped her chin, her cheeks colouring deeply. He might have fallen but he wasn't Lucifer. She peered up at him through the messy strands of red hair that had escaped her ponytail, her apology in her eyes, and Lukas sighed. He knew she hadn't meant it like that, but being compared to Lucifer had struck a chord deep within him, one that made his hope fade fast. He would never survive three hundred years on Earth waiting for his appeal. He wasn't strong enough to endure such endless pain, not without succumbing to temptation as the Devil had. He had to do something about it, just as Annelie had said.
"I do not need to ask the Devil." Lukas sat beside her on the bed. "There is an angel who will likely help me. Annelie?"
She turned to face him, her eyes meeting his and her expression soft and inviting.
He hesitated. Was he strong enough to say what was on the tip of his tongue? Would she agree or would she leave him? He was moving too fast but he couldn't go without her. He had to take the risk and believe that she wanted to give him a chance, and that she would say yes.
"Will you come to Paris with me?" Those words were some of the most difficult he had ever said. He waited with bated breath, desperate to hear her answer. She said nothing, just stared at him. "Please? Give me time to prove to you that it doesn't matter that I am an angel... that I am still the man you have known these past three years."
She still hesitated.
Lukas swallowed and took hold of her hand, holding it in both of his, caressing the back with his thumbs. She had to agree. She had to come with him and give him a second chance. He couldn't do this without her and he couldn't leave her here. If he did that, he was sure he would never see her again.
"Annelie?"
She finally nodded.
Lukas smiled. "We shall get you some things from your home and then fly straight there."
"I thought you couldn't fly?"
His face fell. This punishment was going to take some getting used to. Even a mention of the fact that he was unable to fly made him ache inside.
"By plane then," he whispered and thought about how difficult it was going to be to travel via human methods. "Do you have an old passport?"
She stared at him, her expression distant, as though she wasn't quite keeping up with him and everything was sweeping her along. He waited for her to catch up. Rushing her would only make her change her mind.
She glanced at his shoulders and then finally nodded again. "What use is that though?"
"I can alter it but we will have to get tickets at the airport so I can be near the terminal to change it there too. I still have that power." Lukas stared at his feet. He would have to get used to seeing floors and pavements. He didn't think he could bring himself to see the day sky until all this was over and he had proven his innocence. He would do it somehow. He would end his punishment and free himself, and make them see that they had accused the wrong angel. He had always put humans before him. He had never harmed them.
He closed his eyes.
Flying was going to be torture. Even if he didn't look, he would know that he was high in the sky, where he longed to be. He would endure it though.
Annelie's hand came to rest against his shoulder. "Why don't we take the train? I've never been through the tunnel before. It'll be much more fun than flying and will give us time to talk."
Lukas smiled and placed his hand over hers. It was kind of her to pretend that she hadn't noticed his pain. It was kind of her to see the suffering his loss of flying caused him and to understand it.
Perhaps there was hope for him. For them.
He would do everything in his power to make things right.
He would prove his innocence.
He would prove his love for her.
Annelie still couldn't quite believe it.
Lukas was an angel.
It seemed so impossible, even when she had seen his wings. She had touched them and they had been soft, tickling her fingertips, and it still felt unreal. Her gaze kept gravitating towards him, even when she knew that she should be making the most of her surroundings. She had never been to Paris, had always wanted to see it, but now that she was here she couldn't take her eyes off Lukas.
He was gorgeous, dressed in a white linen shirt and blue jeans now, the finger-length strands of his fair hair tousled. Her mind flashed back to how he had looked sleeping next to her, sated from their lovemaking and lost in deep dreams. His hair had been messy and wild then, and every time she looked at him, she remembered how incredible it had felt to be with him. He was right about her. The revelation that he was an angel hadn't changed her feelings for him but it had changed something. It stood before her, undeniable, a hurdle that she felt she would never get over. She wasn't sure if she would ever be able to accept it.
How was she supposed to love an angel? It felt so impossible.
Lukas's green gaze shifted to her, captivating her and making her heart beat faster. She still loved him though and there was so much hurt in his eyes, and he had endured so much suffering, that he at least deserved her to try.
And she would.
"Do you know where we're going?" She smiled and there was relief in his eyes again. It bloomed there whenever she dared to smile or let her guard down and showed him a hint of affection. It warmed her whenever she saw it and knew that she had caused it. She had eased his pain a little.
She couldn't comprehend how painful it must have been for him to be accused of something as terrible as the deaths of one hundred people, but she could see it in him. He bore it well, and abided the rules of his punishment. He could have flown them here but he hadn't. If he had committed the crime, he wouldn't have cared about breaking the rules. He would have flown. Her heart said that he was innocent and she believed it, and in him. She didn't know what help she could be, but she wanted to be with him and give him all the support he needed. She wanted to help in some small way.
"Not really." A brief smile tugged at his lips and he stopped in the street, took hold of her arm, and led her over to the buildings, away from the crowd walking along the Champs Elysees. The golden stone buildings shadowed them, keeping the hot summer sun at bay and giving her a little relief from the heat. She shouldn't have chosen to wear her usual black jeans and t-shirt. She thought about the clothes she had packed in her small backpack and sighed. They were all jeans and t-shirts or shirts. She should have packed at least one dress. They had been in such a hurry that she hadn't thought about the weather.
After calling Andy and telling him to take care of the pub for a few days, she had rushed to the Eurostar terminal with Lukas. They had managed to get tickets on the next train. Lukas had changed her old passport somehow and the computer system too, just as he had said he would. She still wasn't sure how he had done it but she had decided it was some sort of magic.
They had arrived early in the afternoon and had been walking around Paris ever since. Annelie had caught glimpses of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the river Seine, but most of the time she had been watching Lukas. He hadn't once looked at the sky. It was a beautiful blue canvas above them, cloudless and endless. Would it pain him to see it?
Annelie had seen his hurt back in his bedroom when he had mentioned flying. She hadn't lied. She had always wanted to come to Paris through the Channel Tunnel, but in part her decision had been because of the pain she had seen in him. She didn't want him to suffer because of someone else. Whoever had done this, committed the crime in the first place and set Lukas up to take the fall for them, was going to pay and she wasn't going to let it hurt him anymore.
"Can you find them?" Annelie studied his handsome face, taking in how good he looked in daylight. She had never seen him outside the bar or his apartment before, and in natural light. Even in the shadows, he looked different. It wasn't just the change in clothes. There was a light in his green eyes, warmth that stole her breath whenever he looked at her and made her believe that he was telling the truth about his feelings too.
He nodded and swept the strands of hair from his face, looked around them at the stream of people flowing along the busy shopping street, and then back at her.
She frowned when he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was very still and quiet for long minutes, and her eyes took to wandering over him. He looked so human. With his wings away, it was easy to fool herself into forgetting what he really was and believing he was just another gorgeous man.
He wasn't though, and whenever she thought she was making progress with comprehending that and finding some balance in the midst of her turbulent feelings, it came back and smacked her straight between the eyes.
Angels existed.
And Lukas was one of them.
With or without the wings on show, he was an angel, straight out of Heaven. It was no use denying it.
Whenever she remembered it, whenever it hit her again and she looked at him with clear eyes, she found herself faltering. She didn't know what she felt for him in those moments, or whether she should feel anything at all. He was something else, something supernatural, and she was mortal. They didn't belong together. She idly touched the point over her heart. No matter how much she felt they did.
He finally opened his eyes and looked back into hers.
"This way." He took hold of her hand and she stared down at his as they walked along the street, weaving through the people.
His grip on her was tight, strong, and she remembered how wonderful his hands had felt on her body. The memory chased away her confusion, clearing her head of her muddle emotions, and warmed her from the inside outwards. She burned to have his hands on her again, moulding and caressing her, teasing her body to the point of torture. It had been incredible, exciting, and she didn't regret what she had done with him.
Nothing was going to change that, and nothing would change her attraction to him, but the knowledge that Lukas was an angel still hung between them and what little bravery she'd had around him had disappeared because of it.
She wished she were strong enough to throw aside her fears, and embrace Lukas and her feelings for him, uncaring of the fact he was an angel, but she wasn't. It was a leap that she had tried to take several times in their journey to Paris, and she had always frozen and found a reason not to go through with it.
What was she afraid of? That Heaven would somehow punish her? It hadn't punished her for sleeping with Lukas before she had known he was an angel, so why would it do so if she slept with him again? Why would it punish her if she dragged her courage up from her toes and told him that she still had feelings for him? It hadn't reprimanded Lukas either, and he had spoken about the rules of his kind in a way that made her feel as though they still applied to him, even though he was fallen.
Was it really alright for them to love each other?
Annelie's gaze drifted up to the sky. She wished she could ask someone up there. Maybe if she could speak to someone other than Lukas about this, she would be able to get her head on straight.
Would the angel that Lukas was going to meet answer her questions for her and help her gain some perspective? She hoped they would.
Lukas looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes dark and pupils wide. She shivered when he raked his gaze down her, hungry and full of desire, sparking her own lustful thoughts about him. She shouldn't be thinking such things. He was an angel. No matter what he said, she was sure it was a sin. No matter how much she craved him, she had to resist.
His deep green eyes promised her all the sin she wanted and all the passion she craved.
She looked away and then in front of her when Lukas led her around a corner at the end of the Champs Elysees near the Arc de Triomphe. It towered before her, a beautiful golden stone arch that lived up to its name. It was triumphant, powerful, and bigger than she had expected.
"There." Lukas pointed to the top and tugged on her hand. They hurried across the busy road that circled the arch and went in, climbing the stairs to the top.
The person he knew lived here?
They reached the top and Annelie stopped. It was incredible. The whole of Paris stretched before her and she could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It shimmered in the heat haze, beautiful and like something out of a dream. She walked forwards, bringing Lukas with her now, and found a space between some people at the wall. She stopped there and stared, trying to take it all in. She had never seen anything so beautiful and fascinating. She could see right down the length of the Champs Elysees to the square and Egyptian column at the other end.
Lukas stepped up beside her, close enough that his body brushed hers, and placed his hand beside her free one on the cream stone wall in front of her. Annelie shifted her hand, her heart trembling in her throat, until her little finger touched his thumb. His chest pressed against her arm and side and the world went out of focus, drifting away at the feel of him near to her. She wasn't afraid and she wasn't going to move away. She liked the feel of him against her. She felt safe and warm, loved and protected. She had been dying for him to touch her all day, to brave something that she couldn't, and he had finally taken the leap, and she couldn't deny him his reward.
She frowned when he stepped away from her. When she turned, wind gusted against her, causing her red hair to stream out behind her and tangle. She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and the wind, and squinted. Dust blew at her and Lukas held her hand more tightly.
Her eyes widened and she swallowed when she saw what was causing the sudden breeze.
A black-winged angel was descending towards them. She glanced around at the tourists. None of them seemed to notice him. Her heart thundered and she stepped closer to Lukas, afraid of the newcomer.
If Lukas was here to meet this man, then she could easily believe that he could take Lukas into Hell. He looked like the Devil. He wore his long black hair in a ponytail and his black armour spoke of darkness and death. His huge dark wings beat the hot air at her.
Perhaps she wouldn't ask him about angels and relationships after all. He didn't look like the sort of man she could speak about such things to.
Lukas placed his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer, and she was thankful for it. Would he protect her from this man? She felt as though she needed him to.
The angel landed, folded his wings back, and changed appearance as he walked towards them. His black wings disappeared, and a sharp black suit replaced his armour. He smiled wickedly when he stopped close to them, his blue eyes sparkling with it.
"She is not gifted, and I was invisible to mortal eyes, and yet she saw me, which means that you let her see." The man's deep voice spoke of amusement.
"She knows of us. I thought it was best she see you for what you are." Lukas released her shoulders and took hold of her hand again. "It has been a long time, Apollyon."
"It has, Lukas. I was surprised to hear your call. What brings you to Paris? Romance?" Apollyon's blue gaze slid to her and he grinned. Annelie swallowed and her heartbeat quickened. Romance? The way he'd said it hadn't sounded teasing. Perhaps he was being serious and such a thing was possible between angels and mortals. "And does she have a name?"
"Annelie." Lukas got in before her and she smiled shakily. "And I am here to ask a favour of you."
"Then we should go somewhere more private." Apollyon looked skyward. "We will fly to my place here."
"No." Annelie jerked forwards and the dark angel's eyes dropped to her. He raised a single black eyebrow. Her voice trembled. "I don't think we should fly. It's such a nice day and I've never been to Paris. Couldn't we walk?"
Lukas looked at her as though she was the angel for making such a suggestion. She did want to walk but she had mostly done it to protect him and save him from having to explain the terrible situation he was in to his friend. She was sure that Apollyon knew of Lukas's plight, but something told her that Lukas had kept his recent failed appeal to himself. He had hesitated in telling her and his friend wouldn't have mentioned flying if he knew.
"As the lady wishes." Apollyon nodded and then held his hand out, motioning to the way down from the roof of the arch.
Did they have to go now? She wanted to stay a little longer and take in her surroundings. She glanced around at the panorama of rooftops and the Eiffel Tower and then conceded. They weren't here as tourists. Lukas needed help and she had to place him and his feelings first. He had asked her to come with him so she had time to overcome her confusion about him and so he could somehow find a way to prove his innocence, not so he could romance her in the beautiful city.
Lukas squeezed her hand. She nodded and followed Apollyon towards the exit. When they reached the stairs, Lukas released her hand and went before her. Annelie's gaze settled on his backpack and then dropped to his hand. It had felt nice to have him holding hers. Everything had been starting to feel normal until Apollyon had flown in. Even then, the sight of him hadn't shocked her as she had expected it to. Seeing him flying towards them had seemed perfectly natural, as though she had known all her life that angels existed rather than just the past day.
If she saw Lukas's wings again, would she feel different now? The first time had frightened her, and the second time had still been strange. If she saw them again, would she just see them as normal? Was it really so easy to accept the presence of angels in the world and grow used to them?
Neither of the men in front of her scared her. Not even the thought that they had confirmed the existence of God and the Devil was shocking anymore. It all seemed so normal, and she felt as though she had been spending the past few hours trying to convince herself that it wasn't. Maybe it was time she gave up the fight and went with the flow, and saw where it took her.
Lukas looked back at her, his green eyes meeting hers, a question shining in them. She smiled, showing him that she was alright.
She really was alright.
It was incredible to think that she had adjusted so quickly to what he was. The revelation caused some of her fear and confusion to fade, leaving a feeling close to peace inside her that opened up her mind to all the questions that had been lurking at the back of it.
Apollyon had changed his appearance and had mentioned being invisible when flying. Did Lukas have such powers? He had changed the passport. Could he be invisible and change his appearance too? Not even that would shock her now.
Was it this magic that made his wings disappear? Apollyon's had disappeared in a flash but Lukas's shrank into his back. Did Apollyon use a different method to hide them?
She wanted to ask but didn't want to disturb them. They were talking as they walked, speaking low enough that she couldn't quite make out what they were saying, and she felt left out, stuck at the back, playing the fifth wheel.
When they stepped out onto the street, Lukas dropped back to be beside her again and Apollyon walked on the other side of him. They continued to talk but Lukas glanced at her every so often, as though he was trying to include her. Her questions burned on the tip of her tongue and she was sure that Lukas would answer them for her and that this was the reason he had brought her along, so she could learn more about him and accept him for what he was.
Annelie cleared her throat and touched his hand. Lukas looked over at her and slowed down, earning glares from the people walking the Champs Elysees for getting in their way. Apollyon frowned at her too. Her question fled under his scrutiny.
"Are you alright?" Lukas took hold of her hand, his fingers light against hers, and brushed his thumb across the backs of them.
"What powers do you have? I mean... his wings just disappeared but yours..." Her nerve failed and she looked away so she couldn't see Apollyon staring at her.
Lukas moved to stand in front of her, blocking her view of the other angel, and smiled. "He is using a sort of spell to make him appear as though he is wearing a suit and has no wings. If he lifted the glamour, you would see wings again and what he is really wearing."
"Armour." She peered past Lukas to Apollyon. She preferred him in a suit. The black breastplate, arm and shin guards had been too dark and menacing, and definitely too revealing. Other than those three items of armour, he had only been wearing a black loincloth and boots. Did Lukas own such armour? She pictured him in it and almost smiled to herself. Lukas would look gorgeous in such a thing, even more tempting than he looked now. She shook the image away and met his gaze. "And when your wings disappear?"
"Lukas is being kind to you." Apollyon stepped up beside him, slightly taller and almost as handsome. He had an air of death and sin about him though, and she didn't like it. She preferred the way Lukas looked. Kind and warm but definitely sensual and passionate, with a mouth made for kissing. "For some reason, Lukas isn't fooling your eyes. He has made his wings disappear. It is difficult, painful and requires great concentration. His appearance to you is real."
She hadn't realised that it hurt Lukas to hide his wings. Why didn't he use magic as Apollyon did? She looked into his eyes and saw the answer there. It was more than kindness to her. He had said that he hated lying to her. Did he see changing his appearance with a spell as that? She supposed it was in a way. He had hidden his wings and dressed in mortal clothes every time he had come out to see her at the pub. He had put himself through pain in order not to lie to her. He could have taken the easy route but he had done what he believed was the right thing, regardless of whether it hurt.
Because he loved her.
It warmed her and she smiled into his eyes, silently thanking him for being so honest with her and going to such great lengths.
"I don't mind if you use a spell instead."
He met her offer with a shake of his head. "I prefer it this way."
"You are lucky you have a choice," Apollyon said with a tight-lipped smile. "I have no choice but to hide them physically when Serenity desires them gone. The downside to loving a witch."
Annelie's eyes widened. Witch? That did shock her. Witches existed. What else was out there that had previously been nothing but fantasy to her? Demons? Vampires? Werewolves?
"How is Serenity?" Lukas slipped his fingers between Annelie's and chased away her thoughts of horror film monsters.
Apollyon sighed and smiled, and although he was clearly trying to sound put out, there was so much affection in his blue eyes that they looked brighter, almost matching the sky stretching above them.
"Eager to meet you since I mentioned your call. Of course, she will be even happier when she sees that you have female company." Apollyon's gaze lit on Annelie for a moment and then he started walking.
Annelie walked with them, lost in her thoughts, listening to Lukas and Apollyon's conversation about Serenity, living in Paris, and the things they had been up to since last seeing each other.
Apollyon was in love with a witch. Her gaze traced Lukas's profile. If Apollyon and Serenity lived together, which she suspected they did, then Lukas had been telling her the truth. It wasn't a sin for him to love a mortal or for her to love him. She could be with him if she wanted it.
But she still wasn't sure.
She was sure of something though. She was going to ask Serenity all about her relationship with Apollyon. It had to be part of the reason that Lukas had made her come with him. It wasn't just about spending time with him, and asking him questions. He had brought her here to meet Serenity and to see that it was possible for a mortal to love an angel and be with them.
Apollyon warmed to her throughout the long walk, beginning to include her in the conversation and even going as far as teasing Lukas about things. Lukas didn't rise to the bait and quickly ended the conversation whenever Apollyon mentioned their relationship. After the third mention, Lukas said that it was complicated and a knowing look graced Apollyon's handsome face.
Annelie's feet were tired by the time they reached the residential area and the apartment. It didn't surprise her when Apollyon said that it was on the top floor. It made sense that an angel would want to live high up in the sky. The beautiful white townhouse stood on a leafy avenue that made her a little jealous. Her place in the suburbs of London looked shabby and dark in comparison. She remembered Lukas's beautiful apartment. Were all angels loaded?
Did they even get paid?
It seemed a bit wrong that they might be, but if they were living on Earth they would need some means by which to pay for things and a place to stay.
Annelie puffed her way up the stairs to the top floor of the building, trailing behind Lukas and Apollyon. She remained a step behind them while Apollyon opened the black door to his apartment. The moment it opened, a petite fair-haired woman in tight blue jeans and a white camisole top was in his arms. He smiled, wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her hair.
He said something in French and Serenity came out of his arms and looked at Lukas with wide hazel eyes. She spoke in French to him, rapidly enough that Annelie didn't catch a word of it, and Lukas replied.
Fluently.
Dismay crashed over Annelie.
She had failed French in school. Her ability with it went as far as the obligatory please, thank you, getting the bill and ordering coffee. For a moment, she wished that she hadn't come, but then Lukas's green eyes captured hers and her fear melted away.
"This is Annelie." He held his hand out to her and she shakily placed hers into it, hiding none of her nerves from him. He drew her close to him and calm washed through her.
Annelie was about to say that she didn't speak French when Serenity's eyes lit up and she was being hugged tightly.
"He did not say... company was coming... no... that..." Serenity released her and frowned. Annelie felt terrible to see her struggling with English when she hadn't even attempted to speak French. "Lukas had a friend."
Serenity's smile was dazzling. Apollyon grinned, threw his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her against him. Her smile widened when she looked up at Apollyon.
"You speak terrible English." His smile turned playful.
"I am warming up." Serenity frowned and slapped his chest.
"It's better than my French." Annelie shrank against Lukas when they all looked at her. "Unless our conversation is going to be strictly ordering coffee or pleasantries."
Lukas laughed and it warmed her to hear it. "Coffee is not such a good thing for us."
Apollyon grinned. Serenity blushed. Annelie felt as though she was missing something.
Serenity took her arm, stealing her away from Lukas, and led her into the bright spacious apartment.
"It is like... Viagra," Serenity whispered when they were distant from Lukas and Apollyon.
"Oh." Annelie blushed at the thought and took her backpack off. Lukas definitely didn't need that, and something about Serenity's smile said that Apollyon didn't either.
"How long?" Serenity released her arm and went into a large beech wood kitchen. She looked back at Annelie and then frowned in concentration. "I mean... you have been together how long?"
"We're not exactly together." Annelie placed her backpack down on the tiled floor, leaned against the counter and looked over her shoulder, afraid that Lukas and Apollyon were going to follow them.
What were they talking about in the living room? She could see them through the door and they looked deep in conversation, both sitting on the beige couches that formed an L in the bright white room and both frowning. Was Lukas telling him about his appeal and what had happened? She felt as though she should be with him, giving him support, not idly talking in the kitchen.
Lukas removed his backpack, glanced over at her and smiled. She motioned towards herself and then him and he shook his head and waved a hand at her. She took that to mean for her to talk to Serenity. Perhaps it was best to give him time to talk business with Apollyon, and there was a lot she wanted to ask Serenity. Annelie felt as though she was her best chance for getting answers. Far better than asking Apollyon.
"I only just found out that he's an angel." Annelie tore her eyes away from him. "How was it for you when you realised?"
"They're angels?" Serenity gasped and then smiled, her English improving every second and making Annelie feel terrible for not being able to speak French. "I have known all my life they exist."
Annelie snuck a glance at Lukas. He was watching her and she smiled at the same time as he did. His head tilted and his gaze slowly dropped to her body. He definitely didn't need coffee to get him going, and at this point, she didn't either. She kept telling herself to keep her distance until she had figured out what she was going to do but her heart wasn't listening, and neither was her body. She still wanted him.
"Would you like a drink? I have English tea."
"That would be lovely." Annelie dragged her attention back to Serenity. She caught snippets of Lukas's conversation while Serenity made a pot of tea. He was telling Apollyon about what had happened to him.
Apollyon had seen angels in some pool in Hell. Lukas looked pleased to hear that and she smiled at how happy he seemed. There was hope in his expression again and she was glad to see it. The conversation shifted course and Apollyon mentioned her name. She wanted to keep listening to hear what Lukas would say about her, but Serenity stole her attention.
"Would you like tea outside?" Serenity placed the pot and cups onto a tray with some small pastries, and as much as Annelie wanted to ask her to wait so she could hear what the men were saying about her, she smiled and nodded.
It was rude to eavesdrop anyway.
Annelie followed Serenity out onto a large rooftop balcony overlooking a wide quiet car-lined road and a leafy park beyond.
"You have a beautiful home." She stared out at the view, feeling even more as though she lived in a hovel.
Serenity smiled and set the tray down on an elegant green cast iron table. "It was not always this way. I had a very petite place once. Apollyon has big tastes."
Annelie nodded. Having seen Lukas's apartment, she could easily believe it was Apollyon's decision to live in such a place. She sat down opposite Serenity and thought everything over as Serenity tied her long blonde hair up and then poured the tea.
"I wore that look once." Serenity offered her the cup of tea. Annelie took it.
"What look?"
"The one that says you do not believe an angel can love." Serenity placed a pastry on a small plate and set it down in front of Annelie. She smiled knowingly. "He will make you see otherwise."
"Did Apollyon change your mind?"
"My dark angel?" Serenity's smile widened. "He is... how do you say... very persuasive. I was unsure, like you... but many angels love mortals. It is their choice."
Annelie was starting to believe that. If she wanted it, she could be with Lukas. She did want it, but she was still scared of reaching out and taking it. She sipped her tea and then sighed.
"He is sweet on you, non?" Serenity stirred her tea and looked past Annelie to the open glass doors behind her. "He is nice. He has a good aura."
"Apollyon said you were a witch." Annelie took another sip of her tea. "Can you feel things about Lukas?"
"He will not hurt you... if that is your fear." Serenity leaned back into her chair and smiled, the beautiful green park as her backdrop. "I thought it too, that I would have my heart broken, but a year has gone and I am still crazy for him, and I think he is crazy for me."
Annelie could believe that too. The way Apollyon had held Serenity, had carefully kissed her, and the love that had been in his eyes, all of it spoke to Annelie and was another step towards convincing her to give things with Lukas a chance.
"Do you love Lukas?"
Annelie frowned at her tea and studied her feelings. They clouded, mixing together until she was no longer certain. Doubts about Lukas still lingered, along with thoughts about him being an angel and a slither of belief that he couldn't love her, a mortal. She sighed and focused on her feelings, piecing together the positive ones and discarding her fears until her head was clear again.
"I don't know. I think I do." Annelie paused. What was she saying? She had been sure of her feelings before Lukas had revealed that he was an angel, and even after that she had known several times that her feelings for him were unchanged. She still loved him. "I do."
"That is all you need then. Love. Look past the wings to the man and his heart. Lukas must love you. He worries. I feel it. He worries you will leave and has brought you here so you will not. They are not as strong as they appear... men in love."
Annelie felt the truth in those words. Lukas did love her and a part of her was scared too, afraid that he would leave her or that things wouldn't work. Serenity had been scared too but she had taken the leap and she looked so happy. Annelie wanted that too. She wanted to love Lukas and see past the wings to the man beneath. She wanted to be with him. She wanted what Serenity and Apollyon had.
"What are you two conspiring about?" The deep voice made Annelie jump and spill her tea on her jeans.
Serenity said something in rapid French that earned Annelie an apologetic look from Apollyon. He shrugged and pulled a cloth out of thin air, offering it to her. Annelie went to take it but Lukas beat her to it. He crouched beside her and dabbed her legs.
"Does it hurt?" The look in his green eyes was beautiful, exactly what she had needed to reassure her that she was making the right decision. There was such warmth and love in them, concern that touched her heart. She shook her head and placed her hand over his. His gaze dropped there and he stared at their joined hands for a moment and then into her eyes. She smiled.
He smiled too.
"Tell me we do not look so sappy." Apollyon caught Serenity around the waist and she shrieked when he swept her up into his arms, turning with her.
"Not at all. You look particularly manly like that." Lukas stood and the cloth disappeared from his hand.
Apollyon scowled and set Serenity down.
"What were you two conspiring about?" Annelie turned Apollyon's question against him and Lukas.
"Hell." Lukas's look darkened. "We will go tomorrow. Apollyon believes we may find what I am looking for in the history recorded there."
Serenity's face blanched and her gaze darted to Apollyon. Annelie suddenly wished she knew French because that look unnerved her and she didn't understand a word Serenity said. Apollyon spoke back to her, their conversation turning heated, and Serenity shook her head and threw Apollyon's hand aside when he tried to touch her. She pointed at Lukas and Annelie looked at him, wondering what the problem was. Apollyon held his hands out, his tone turning soothing, and smiled. Serenity still frowned.
Apollyon caught Serenity's hand and didn't let go this time when she slapped it. He tugged her to him, wrapping his arms around her, and whispered something against her fair hair. It seemed to calm Serenity but did nothing to settle Annelie's nerves. What was going on? She looked at Lukas for an explanation.
"It is dangerous to enter Hell." It was all the reason he needed to give her. A chill tumbled down her spine and she suddenly understood why Serenity wasn't happy.
She didn't want Lukas to get hurt. He needed to do this to prove his innocence but she didn't want to lose him. She hadn't realised that it would be so hazardous.
"It is dangerous for you." Serenity broke free of Apollyon's grasp and stepped up to Lukas. "You are not strong enough. I have heard the stories from Apollyon. You are weak now. The Devil's voice is strong... he will speak to you. He will tempt you."
"I will not falter."
Annelie wished she could believe those words and the resolve that Lukas had said them with. Even Apollyon didn't look as though he fully believed that Lukas could resist any temptation that the Devil placed in his path. She wanted to tell him not to go, to remain with her instead, but this was important to him. She had come here to support him, and she would do just that.
She would give him a reason to return to her, and the strength to face Hell and the Devil.
"I will make up a room. You can freshen up and perhaps we can go out together this evening and forget this dreary business." Apollyon looked at her. "We only have the one spare room. Will that prove a problem?"
Annelie felt Lukas's gaze on her too and met his eyes. If he was brave enough to go into Hell and risk himself to achieve his heart's desire, then she was brave enough to take the leap to have hers. She smiled at Lukas.
"No problem at all."
Lukas opened the bedroom door for Annelie. She smiled as she passed him and then stopped in the middle of the cream room, near the foot of the double bed. It had been a nice evening, peaceful, and he felt as though he had made progress with Annelie. She had asked a lot of questions. Some of them he had answered, and others either Serenity or Apollyon had. It had gone well and Annelie seemed more comfortable around him now.
He wished he felt so relaxed.
He closed the door, swallowed his nerves, and turned to face her. She sat on the end of the bed, her hands pale against the dark brown covers.
"I can sleep on the floor." Lukas looked there, avoiding her gaze.
"Apollyon and Serenity seem happy." Annelie smiled when his eyes met hers.
He nodded. "They are. I can feel it."
"You can?" Her eyebrows rose and she stood and then sat again.
"Is something wrong?" He sat beside her and she shuffled to face him, sitting at an angle with one leg on the bed.
"I don't know." She toyed with the hem of her dark t-shirt and shrugged. "I just feel a bit nervous."
Lukas smiled. "You are not the only one."
A brief smile tugged at her lips.
He hesitated and then took hold of her hands. "How can I convince you? I will do anything, Annelie."
Her smile returned and she twisted her fingers around his, gently tangling them together. His heart beat hard against his chest and he waited for her answer, balanced on the edge of falling and desperate to hear if there was anything that he could do to make her see that he loved her and that things between them could be heaven if she gave him a chance.
"You don't need to convince me. I'm not nervous about that." She stroked his hands and looked up into his eyes. Her dark brown ones were full of honesty. She had looked at him so openly several times tonight and each had taken his breath away. Sometimes he had even fooled himself that he saw love in her eyes and that she was going to say that she wanted to be with him, and now it felt as though he was on the precipice of that happening. "I'm nervous about tomorrow."
"You will be safe here with Serenity."
She smiled. "No... not for me... for you, Lukas."
The sound of his name on her lips stirred his heart and he wrapped his fingers around hers, holding them tightly.
"I will be fine. I am stronger than Serenity thinks. It is true that I am vulnerable to temptation but I will not surrender to it. Nothing can take me away from you, Annelie. I will come back."
He wasn't sure what to do when she released his hands and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face against it. He flexed his fingers and then wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. She sighed into his throat, her warm breath teasing him, and he closed his eyes. It felt more than good to have her back in his arms. It was bliss. It was the first clear sign of her intent to give him the chance he so desperately wanted with her.
Lukas held her close and rubbed her back, hoping to soothe her. He risked it and turned his head towards her and pressed a kiss to her hair. She didn't push him away. He kissed her again and she murmured his name against his throat.
"It has been a long day. You should get some sleep. I will take the floor." He stilled, waiting to hear what she would say. She had to answer this time. He had to know where this was heading and whether she really was going to choose to be with him. It had been torture to be so close to her all day and not be able to act on his feelings for fear of scaring her away with them. He had wanted to hold her close so many times, to kiss her breathless and make sweet love to her. He had wanted everything they'd had in their night together.
Annelie emerged from his arms, her brown eyes dark with her wide pupils, and stroked her fingers down his chest.
"I don't want you to sleep on the floor." Her fingers brushed across his white shirt and down his arms, curling around his biceps.
"What do you want?" He held her gaze, needing to see it in her eyes when she said it so he would believe her and believe that this was happening.
Her shy smile stole his heart.
"I want you."
Lukas couldn't resist her then. He caught her around the waist, pulled her against him, and kissed her. She rewarded him sweetly for his courage, her lips dancing over his, stirring the passion that had lingered inside him since he had made love to her. He wanted to do that again, this time knowing that she was aware of what he was and everything was out in the open.
Her tongue swept over his lower lip and he touched it with his, encouraging her to let go of the restraint he could feel in her and embrace her passion as she had done before. She moaned and stroked her tongue along the length of his, teasing him and luring him into deepening the kiss. She surprised him by pushing against his shoulders. He fell back onto the bed, her body on his, and her breasts squashed against his arm and chest. Their kiss turned heated and she giggled when her teeth knocked his and then sat back.
Lukas stared at the ceiling, breathing hard and silently begging her to come back to him. He wanted to kiss her again, needed to feel her body on his, and hungered to be inside her.
He groaned when she stripped her t-shirt off, revealing her bra-clad breasts, and tried to grab her. She evaded him, hopped from the bed, and tortured him by shimmying out of her jeans. Too much. He reached for her again but she smiled and shook her head. His anger over her teasing disappeared the moment the stood over him at the foot of the bed, between his legs. She smiled wickedly.
Whatever Serenity had said to Annelie, it had worked and he would have to thank her for bringing his angel back to him.
Any sensible thought fled when Annelie fingered his belt and undid it. He lay there, staring up at her face, watching the hunger growing in her eyes, completely at her mercy. She tugged on his belt to loosen it and made deft work of the buttons on his jeans. His cock throbbed when she brushed it through the thick material and he rolled his eyes, silently pleading her to touch him again.
She did.
She stroked her fingers over the hard outline of his erection and then pushed her hands up, caressing his stomach. He closed his eyes when she straddled his hips and unbuttoned his shirt. She moaned when she parted it and grazed her fingertips over his muscles. He couldn't resist the temptation to watch her, wanting to see the passion in her eyes as she explored his body. They were dark, filled with desire that echoed in him, and she slowly traced the line of each muscle on his abdomen and then swept her hands over his chest. They settled there, her palms warm against him, and his heart beat harder.
He bucked his hips against hers and she bit her lip and groaned. He did it again, eliciting another moan from her, and she dug her fingertips into his chest. Her eyelids slipped to half-mast when he ran his hands up her thighs. They were soft beneath his touch, warm and supple, the feel of them heightening his arousal and making his cock ache to be sheathed in her hot depths again. He pushed his hands up, snagging the hem of her knickers, and then continued, over the delicious curves of her waist and up to her breasts. Her lips parted when he cupped them, thumbing her nipples through the thin material of her bra, and she sighed.
"Lukas."
It was Heaven to hear her say his name with so much hunger and need. He ground his cock against her, rubbing her warmth with it, and palmed her breasts. She leaned her head back and moaned, the breathy sound of it stirring him until he couldn't stop himself. He pulled her down to him and rolled her onto her back, nestling between her thighs.
Annelie kissed him, her mouth hot and hungry against his, devouring him and tempting him to unleash his own passion on her. He ground against her again, thrusting and kissing her, teasing her with his tongue, and then broke away. He made swift work of her bra and then knelt on the bed and removed her knickers, slowing as he drew them down over her legs. She raised her feet and pressed them against his bare chest. His gaze lingered on the dark triangle of hair at the apex of her thighs. She had tasted so sweet. He wanted to taste her again.
Lukas pulled her knickers off over her feet, dropped them, and grasped her ankles. She smiled lazily up at him when he parted her legs and kissed her calf. He placed wet kisses along the length of her right leg, his eyes on his target, his hunger rising with each one.
When he reached her pussy, she spread her legs, an invitation that he wasn't going to turn down. He knelt on the edge of the bed, leaned over her and ran his tongue up the length of her. She moaned and arched, the sound music to his ears, and he licked her again, flicking her clit this time. He rewarded each gasping moan with another swirl of his tongue around her clit and his cock ached when he slid his fingers down to her moist core. She shivered when he eased two fingers into her, burying them deep, and she clenched her muscles around him. Temptress.
He wanted to be inside her, thrusting deep and slow, drawing out their coupling this time and making her see just how good they could be together. He lapped at her, flicking his tongue over her sensitive nub, and pumped her with his fingers, rubbing the soft spot inside her until she moaned his name and begged for more. She tasted as divine as he remembered, sweet on his tongue and teasing his senses. He licked her harder, thrusting deeper with his fingers, picturing himself in her. His cock throbbed at the images, pulsing against his undone jeans. It ached for relief, to feel her hands on it and her mouth.
Lukas groaned. Maybe next time. Right now, he wanted to be buried deep in her.
Annelie mewled when he drew his fingers out of her and stood. She frowned at him, her gaze dark with need, and then smiled when he pushed his jeans and boxer shorts down. She swayed her knees, enticing him, and he hurried, kicking his shoes off and stepping out of the rest of his clothes.
The moment he knelt on the bed, she parted her legs again, placing them either side of his. She reached up to him and he obeyed, covering her body with the length of his. The feel of her beneath him, her naked body against his, drove him close to the edge. He ground against her pussy, a groan rumbling in his throat at how wet with arousal she was, and he kissed her. Her tongue tackled his, plundering his mouth and driving him closer to the edge when she rubbed herself against his hard length. He thrust again, eager to be inside her, and then lowered his mouth to her breasts. She gasped and threaded her fingers into his hair, tangling it around them, holding him against her. He laved her nipple, circled it with the tip of his tongue, and then sucked it. She arched into him, pressing her breast into his mouth, and rocked her hips against his.
"Lukas."
He couldn't take any more. He couldn't resist her any longer.
Drawing back, he reached down to take hold of his cock. She was there before him, her warm hand wrapping around his hard length, and he stilled. Her eyes held his as she stroked him, running her thumb over the sensitive head of his cock, teasing him. He moaned and closed his eyes, savouring the feeling of her hands on him, gentle but firm, satiating his hunger for her.
Her other hand pressed against his chest and she pushed him up, coming with him. He knelt on the bed between her legs, his cock level with her face. She ran her fingers down the length of him and teased his balls, rolling them with her fingers, and sending a shiver through him. He grunted when she wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and sucked it, stroking it with her tongue and holding his shaft with her other hand.
Lukas grasped her shoulders, squeezing them as she sucked him, taking more of him into her mouth and moving her hand in time with it. He thrust through the ring of her fingers and into her sweet mouth, groaning each time she swallowed him and with each roll of his balls. He wanted more. She moaned when he pumped into her. The sound of her pleasure thrilled him. He struggled to keep his thrusts slow and shallow but it was difficult when it felt so good. She tightened her grip on him and he bit his lip to stop himself from coming. He didn't want it to be over yet.
Annelie flicked her tongue over his cock and pumped him with her hand, pushing him to the very edge. Her breathy moans and the sounds of her sucking him were too much. He closed his eyes and thrust desperately into her mouth, breathing hard and moaning, clutching her shoulders. Her hand moved faster on him, mercifully swift and hard as she swallowed his cock in time with its movements. He screwed his face up and tried to hold off but he couldn't. His eyes snapped open and he moaned her name as he came, filling her mouth with his seed. She moaned and continued to pump his cock, drawing out his orgasm and making him tremble as she swallowed and then lapped at the head of his length with her tongue.
Lukas remained kneeling on the bed between her legs when she released him and crashed back onto the bed. Her rough breathing joined his, filling the room, and he stared at the far wall above the head of the bed, struggling to steady his heart, his legs trembling and weak.
He wanted her more than ever now but there was no chance of that happening yet.
He looked down at his softening cock and then at her. She blushed a deep shade of crimson and smiled shyly.
With a long sigh, he collapsed onto the bed beside her, still trying to catch his breath. Annelie rolled onto her front and traced patterns on his bare chest, resting her chin on his shoulder. It tickled but he didn't stop her. He stared at her face, studying her beauty as her dark gaze followed her fingers across his body. Her cheeks were still red, matching the colour of her kiss-swollen lips and her hair. He lazily reached over and stroked it, drained from his orgasm and ready to fall asleep now. He couldn't though, not until he had made love to her.
Leaving her hair, he skimmed his hand over her shoulder and down her side. Her exploration of his body slowed when he neared her hips. She shifted back and he raised her leg, running his hand down the inside of her thigh towards her pussy. Her eyes closed the moment he touched it, slipping his fingers back into her warm folds. She sighed when he circled her clit, teasing the aroused nub, and then slid them downwards and into her core. The feel of her made his cock twitch and reignited his desire.
He pumped her slowly with his fingers, not wanting to make her climax, buying himself time to become aroused again.
Annelie rolled onto her back, her red hair fanned out across the bed, beautifully wanton and sensual. He gazed at her, thrusting his fingers into her warm depths, teasing her clit with his thumb whenever he had a chance. She raised her hips into his hand and moaned, tilting her head back at the same time. She was stunning and he was beginning to feel that she was his. He cast his gaze over her body, taking in the subtle curves and the delicious swell of her breasts.
She moaned again when he leaned over and sucked her right nipple into his mouth. His fingers delved deeper into her and his cock stirred, growing hard at the slippery feel of her and the sound of her sweet quiet groans.
"Lukas," she whispered and he released her breast and looked at her. She stared deep into his eyes, hers full of fire and passion, hunger that he wanted to satisfy. Her eyes slipped shut for a moment and then she opened them again, meeting his once more, looking so deep into them that he felt as though she was looking straight down into his heart.
What was she trying to see?
Did she want to see if he loved her?
He did. He ran a hand over her hair and stroked her cheek, holding her gaze. He loved her and needed her more than anything. She gasped when he plunged his fingers into her again and smiled at him, the passion in her eyes turning to warmth. Had she seen the answer she wanted? He would say the words if she needed to hear them and he was sure that they wouldn't make her run away.
She gestured with her head for him to come to her and he did. He pressed his body against her side and kissed her, pouring his love for her into it so she would feel what this meant to him, and what she meant to him. She moaned and he felt her smile against his mouth when he thrust his hard cock against her hip.
"Make love to me," she whispered into his mouth.
He could show her without words what he felt for her. When she was ready to hear them, he would put his feelings into three words that he meant with all of his heart.
Lukas moved between her hips, took hold of his cock, and guided himself into her. She sighed when he eased into her, fusing their bodies as one, and he groaned with her when he was buried to the hilt. He stayed there a moment, absorbing the feel of her. He never wanted to leave.
Leaning down on his elbows, he kissed her as he thrust slowly into her, long strokes of his cock that had her moaning each time he withdrew. He kept the pace unhurried, kissing her and running his hands through her hair, wanting this to be about more than just sex. This was how it should have been the other night. It should have been more than it had been. It should have been about passion and their feelings, a slow coupling, a moment of bliss for both of them. It should have been making love.
Annelie buried her fingers into his hair and then caressed his shoulders, her lips playing softly with his as he moved against her. She ran her feet over his legs and then raised her body into his, allowing him deeper into her. He breathed slowly, his heart beating fast in time with hers, lost in the feel of her. Sheer bliss. She moaned against his lips and deepened the kiss. He held her hip and drove into her, gently quickening the pace of his thrusts until he felt her tense around him, felt how close she was. He kept going, swallowing her moans, hungrily devouring each one that he elicited.
"More," she whispered against his lips and he obliged, tensing and pumping her faster, keeping his strokes long. He wanted more too. He wanted it harder and rougher, but this wasn't about that sort of lovemaking. This was more than that. This was about feelings, and being one, and her acceptance of him.
Her kisses turned hot and fierce and her body clenched his again. He could feel her tightening, reaching for her orgasm, but kept his pace steady, drawing it out so it would be Heaven for her too when she climaxed. She moaned and held him to her, tilting her head away from his. He buried his face in her throat and concentrated on how it felt to be with her and her feelings. They were warm, suffusing every inch of his body along with his own emotions. They were as he had suspected and he smiled at the feel of them, knowing that she loved him too and that was why she had given him a second chance. She moaned each time their bodies met, soft and gasping, and he kissed her throat.
"Lukas," she whispered and he murmured against her neck when he felt fear surfacing in her feelings. He was there with her. She didn't need to be afraid. They were both falling.
No.
They had both fallen.
And she had been the one to catch him and give him a reason to go on.
And he loved her so much for that.
Annelie gasped, tensed and then moaned when she climaxed, her body pulsing around his. Lukas thrust deeper, harder, seeking his own orgasm, driven by the feel of hers. She kissed him again and clenched her trembling body around his. It didn't take long. He closed his eyes, tried to focus on kissing her, but it was too much. He jerked to a halt inside her and came, his cock throbbing in her warm core and heat chasing through him. He breathed hard as he kissed her, slowly coming down from his climax, and rolled so she was on top of him.
She sighed, rested her elbows above his shoulders on the bed, and wrapped her hands over the top of his head as she kissed him.
She didn't have to worry about him going to Hell. He was stronger than she thought, and he had her to thank for that. She gave him the strength to go with Apollyon and face temptation in order to find a way of clearing his name. It wasn't just that she had told him not to give up, or that she had come with him to Paris. It was because she loved him that he could do it.
Lukas stroked her sides and she giggled, wriggling on him. He smiled at the sound of it and how relaxed things were between them again.
It was because he loved her that he could do it.
Annelie drew back and looked down at him, her smile beautiful and her eyes full of the love she wouldn't admit.
He wasn't just doing this to clear his name. He was doing it so he could be the man he used to be again, and not the one he had become because of his punishment. He wanted to be strong again so she would love him even more and would never leave him. He wanted to be with her always. This was more than a desire to return to his old life. It was a desire to make a new one with her, and he would do whatever he had to in order to make that happen.
Stroking the rogue strands of her red hair from her face, he stared deep into her eyes.
She had made her decision.
She had chosen to be with him.
Now he had a decision of his own to make. She wouldn't understand it at first, but in part it was a decision that she had to make too. He still wasn't sure what he was going to do, but his heart said to be with her whichever way she wanted. He tucked her hair behind her ear and grazed his thumb across her cheek. He would let her decide. When he had found a way to free himself of his punishment and had restored his name, he would ask her what she wanted and he would abide by her decision.
Even if it meant he never flew again.
Annelie dried herself off, warm from her shower and relaxed even when she knew what lay ahead of her. Lukas was in the bedroom, lounging in his boxer shorts on the double bed, temptation personified. He couldn't have looked more relaxed. She glanced through the open bathroom door at him, her movements slowing until they stopped. His green gaze came to rest on her and she smiled. If he kept looking at her like that, with so much passion in his eyes, she was going to demand an encore to last night.
Dropping the towel, her smile turned mischievous when his eyes instantly fell to her body and his lips parted. He sat up on the end of the bed. She took a deep breath to find her courage and walked into the room, swaying her hips just enough that his attention snapped there. The hunger that filled his eyes now gave her the strength she was looking for. Last night had been wonderful, long lazy spells of making love and connecting to each other in the most intimate way. She wanted to feel that again.
His eyes roamed over her body, gradually working their way up, and were on her face when she stopped in front of him. Annelie stepped between his knees at the foot of the bed and swept her fingers through the messy tangle of his fair hair, holding his gaze the whole time. His pupils widened and she stroked the strong line of his jaw, the stubble there scratching her fingertips. She tilted his head back and kissed him, long and slow, her tongue playing with his.
A glance down at his crotch when she pulled back made it clear that her kiss had had the desired effect. His cock was hard, tenting black material of his boxer shorts. He groaned when she ran her fingers over the outline of his erection and closed his eyes. Feeling empowered by his reaction, Annelie pushed his shoulder so he lay back on the bed, and climbed astride him. His hands settled on her knees and she licked her lips when he ran them up her thighs, his touch so light that it tickled and a shiver danced through her.
She ground against his erection as she explored his body with her fingers, trying to decide what to do with him. The look in his eyes, on his face, said that he was at her mercy. He would do whatever she wanted. Perhaps it was time they turned up the heat a little and she lived out another of the dreams she'd had of them together.
He moaned when she dismounted and then rolled his eyes closed when she stripped off his underwear. The sight of him gloriously naked before her sent a pulse through her and she clenched her muscles to make the most of the feeling, aroused by the thought of what she was going to do.
Kneeling on the bed beside him, she waited for him to open his eyes and then moved so she was astride his face, looking down at his hard length. She had never done this before but she had dreamed about it several times, and each time it had been delicious. Lukas groaned, grabbed her hips, and guided her pussy down to his mouth. He licked her and she shivered again, moaning quietly. Her gaze fell on his erection and she ran her hand down it, exposing the sensitive crown. Lukas moaned with her when she took him into her mouth, sucking him and swirling her tongue around his cock as he licked and flicked her clit. It was as good as she'd dreamed it would be and she couldn't get enough of worshipping his body as he pleasured hers.
Lukas's grip on her tightened and she moaned against his cock each time he licked her from her clit to her warm core. She gasped and sucked him harder, wrapping her fingers around the length of his shaft, when he plunged a finger into her and pumped slowly. She wanted more, but she didn't want to climax yet. She wanted to push Lukas to the edge and keep him there, until he felt as hungry as she was.
She slowed her sucking and released him, teasing his long length with her tongue instead. He groaned into her pussy, suckling her clit, and thrust through the ring of her fingers. His groan became a moan of frustration when she pulled away from him. It was too much. She wanted him inside her, not his finger.
Annelie rolled off him and he pulled her to him and covered her with his body, kissing her and stealing her breath away. She wrapped her arms around him, matching his passion and hunger, rubbing herself against his hard length. She wanted that inside her now, satisfying her need, scratching her itch. She needed to be one with him, lost in him for a moment, so she didn't think about what was going to happen tonight and so she was sure he would come back to her. She needed him to come back to her.
She loved him too much to lose him.
Lukas grabbed her hip and thrust the length of his cock against her, teasing her clit and bringing her close to the edge again. She kissed him harder, driving him on, tackling his tongue with hers and wishing he was inside her.
Pushing him onto his back again, she moaned and rocked her body against his, riding his erection, grinding her pussy against it.
"Lukas." The breathy sound of her voice startled her and she pushed herself into saying what she wanted. "Take me."
He sat up, kissing her and palming her breasts with one hand, the other settling in the arch of her back. He slid it down to cup her backside and then kneaded it.
"Take me," she whispered against his lips and he lifted her and placed her down on the bed.
Lukas covered her, spreading her legs, and took hold of his hard cock. She moaned when he eased the full length of it into her. He pressed his hands against the bed at her sides and she took hold of his upper arms. Her eyes met his. Their green depths were dark with desire. His muscles tensed, taut beneath her fingers, speaking of his strength. It thrilled her and part of her wanted him to use that strength on her. He leaned down, settling on his elbows, and wrapped his hands over her shoulders, gripping them tightly. The delicious feel of him withdrawing almost all of the way before slamming back into her ripped a moan from her throat.
Annelie closed her eyes and focused on where their bodies met. Lukas thrust hard and deep into her, his cock stroking her core. She screwed her eyes shut, her breasts wobbling from the force of his pumping. His grip was tight on her shoulders, fingertips digging in, and he moaned into her ear with each deep plunge of his cock. She lifted her hips off the bed and groaned with him, encouraging him to let go and take her. It was bliss to feel him so rough and commanding, pleasuring her with his passion and hunger. She breathed fast, her mouth open and their combined moans filling the room.
"More."
He grunted, kissed and nipped at her throat and slammed harder into her, faster and faster, until she couldn't take any more. She tensed around him, her clit thrilling each time his pelvis struck it. Lukas groaned low in his throat and she reached above her for the pillows and clenched them tight in her fingers, tensing as she reached for her climax. He thrust his cock hard into her and trembled as he came, his legs shaking against hers. Annelie moaned at the feel of him throbbing inside her and milked him with her body, desperate to come too. He slid a hand down between her legs and rubbed her clit, his fingers swirling around it, and she jerked against him as she came, hazy warmth spreading through her and her breath catching in her throat.
Lukas leaned on her, one hand holding her hip, as though he didn't want to leave her body yet. She lay beneath him, feeling his heart hammering against her chest, out of time with her own, and his warm breath skittering over her skin.
"Annelie," he whispered and she murmured, not quite able to speak yet. "I... I will come back."
Annelie knew he had wanted to say something else, something they were both afraid of voicing. She closed her eyes when he pulled out of her and sighed when he collapsed onto the bed beside her and tugged her over to lie against him. His body moulded against hers, his front to her back, and he kissed her shoulder, pressing his lips there.
She felt uneasy, afraid again, and not just of saying what she felt in her heart. She was afraid that he wasn't strong enough, even when she knew deep inside that he was, and that he wouldn't come back to her. She couldn't lose him.
Annelie rolled to face him, needing to look into his eyes and know his feelings for her, and needing him to see hers. He smiled and there was an edge of fear to it. It wasn't fear of the Devil. It was fear of what was happening between them and something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
She stroked his cheek, holding his green gaze, and smiled at him. His breathing settled, slowing along with hers, and he held her close, his hand warm against her back.
She swallowed her heart and swept the hair from his forehead. He was so handsome, a man beyond her dreams. Her fallen angel. She looked deep into his eyes, seeing all his feelings there. There was such affection and tenderness. So much love. It was strange to have a man who had always looked so strong before look so vulnerable. It made her realise the power she had over him and how much she meant to him. She smiled to reassure him and cupped his cheek.
"Lukas," she said and his look brightened. Did he know what she wanted to say? Was it the same as what he'd wanted to say but then failed to voice? Her thumb swept across his cheek. One of them had to take the leap, and it had to be her. He would say it if she gave him time, but he needed to hear it more than she did. He needed it in order to give him the strength to go to Hell and come back again. "I love you."
He smiled, grinned, and then swept her into his arms and kissed her. Annelie smiled against his mouth, glad that she had found her voice and had told him before he had gone to Hell.
"I love you too," Lukas said between kisses, soft and tender, his tone full of the feelings behind those words, and she knew he meant them from the bottom of his heart.
Now she wasn't afraid.
Now she knew he would return to her.
Lukas was grinning when Apollyon started their descent into Hell. It wasn't just the fact that he was flying by proxy. It was the fact that Annelie loved him and had managed to say the words. He had wanted to thank her for finding the courage to tell him, to give him this added strength and resolve to return to her and resist the temptation the Devil would offer.
"You are heavier than you look," Apollyon muttered darkly from behind him, holding him under his arms. "But I commend you on your desire to abide by the rules of your punishment."
"Do not think me a saint." Lukas lifted his feet to avoid a rock that jutted out and stared at the glowing orange line beneath him. Black jagged walls blurred past them and Apollyon beat his wings to slow their descent. "I have broken rules of our kind."
"Really?" Apollyon sounded curious now. "Do tell."
The fiery line grew brighter and thicker.
"I have tasted alcohol."
Apollyon stopped in mid-air. Lukas could sense his desire to turn him and look into his eyes. Instead of doing so, Apollyon swooped down so fast that Lukas's stomach turned, and landed them hard on the black broken floor of Hell. Apollyon released him. Lukas stumbled towards the edge of the cragged plateau they were on and barely stopped himself from falling over it. Flames licked up the sides of a crevasse in front of Lukas and he didn't dare look down. The bottomless pit was not something an angel should look into. Hearing the demons and feeling them was bad enough. He didn't need to see them, not when he was so susceptible to their whispers.
"You have tasted alcohol?" The surprise in Apollyon's voice matched that on his face when Lukas turned to face him, his back to the bottomless pit.
Lukas changed his appearance, removing his usual attire and replacing it with his white armour. It had been too long since he had looked his normal self and not like a mortal. The gold detailing on his greaves, breastplate and the vambraces that protected his forearms shone in the bright light from the pit. It was far cooler without such restrictive human clothing on.
His white wings unfurled and he spread them, extending them to their full span, and sighed at the feel of having them free again at last.
"I do not recommend it." Lukas rolled his shoulders and flapped his wings, not enough to lift him off the ground, but enough to bring his ruffled feathers into place and give him a glimpse of how exhilarating it would be to fly again. He had missed it these past few days. Never before had he realised just how much flying meant to him.
Could he really sacrifice such a thing if Annelie asked it of him?
"What happened?" Apollyon held his hand out, pointing towards an area away from the fiery furnace of the pit. There was nothing around them but rough black shards of rock and blistering flames.
"I got drunk." Lukas followed him across the uneven charred ground, coughing as he tried to breathe normally. The air choked his lungs, rich with sulphur and acrid. "I got drunk, I made love with Annelie and then I had a terrible headache and a dry mouth when I awoke the next day."
"You made love when drunk?" Apollyon stopped and frowned at him.
Lukas smiled sheepishly. "It seems alcohol works on us as it does on humans. I had no inhibitions. All of my reserve disappeared and I surrendered to temptation and did as I pleased. I kissed her and then things just happened. I felt brave and invincible."
"And then you had a headache."
"For a day... it was not pleasant."
"But you were not punished. Even though you are banished, they would have still punished you if you had broken a rule." Apollyon walked again. His dark eyebrows knit pensively. "So we can drink alcohol without castigation."
"It would appear so."
His friend smiled. "Interesting."
Lukas smiled too. He didn't need to ask to know what Apollyon was thinking. His fellow angel would shortly be experimenting with alcohol. No angel could resist trying something new, especially when it had previously been forbidden.
They moved further from the pit and the heat abated, but the sharp acid tang still filled the air and stole his breath. Lukas no longer envied Apollyon for his position as the guardian of this place. Heaven had always spoken of it as a high position, one that all angels should hope to achieve, one sacred and richly rewarding. Apollyon's sour expression as he cast his blue gaze over their grim surroundings made Lukas think it was quite the opposite. Apollyon looked positively displeased at having to return and kept casting his gaze upwards, towards the dark ceiling above them. It had closed the moment they were through, sealing them in Hell. Lukas missed the sight of the sky already. Had Apollyon felt that way too for all the years he had guarded the pit?
A young male angel dressed in black armour similar to Apollyon's stood and walked towards them. His face lit up when he saw Apollyon and Lukas hid his smile when Apollyon sighed. Clearly, he didn't enjoy the adoration that his title of 'Defeater of the Devil' garnered him either.
Apollyon waved the dark haired angel away before he could speak. He nodded and went elsewhere, leaving them alone.
"A temp. All they could offer was some halfwit youngling to replace me in a temporary fashion. I will still have to return in four hundred and thirty two years and seventy six days to send the Devil back to the bottomless pit at this rate." Apollyon scowled in the direction of the pit when a dark voice curled up from it and around them, words that conveyed both the challenge issued and the hatred borne by its owner.
The Devil.
Lukas shut the voice out, afraid that he would succumb to it and that the Devil would discover he was fallen.
It slithered around him, a treacherous snake that felt as though it was for his ears only. Lukas tried not to listen but it was impossible to resist the lure.
He could have vengeance.
No. Such an offer wouldn't tempt him. The Devil would make good on his word but it wouldn't satisfy Lukas. He wanted to prove his innocence, not seek out retribution.
He could have Annelie.
Forever.
Lukas stopped, closed his eyes and clenched his fists, battling the temptation those words represented. He wanted that more than anything. He wanted Annelie to be his and to be with him forever. No. He didn't need the Devil's help in order to have that. He could have it and he was willing to sacrifice something to achieve it. Annelie was up there waiting for him to return. He couldn't disappoint her by being so weak and listening to the Devil. He was strong because of her and he would no longer hear the Devil's seductive words.
He wouldn't surrender to temptation.
"Ignore him." Apollyon took hold of Lukas's arm and led him over to a wide shallow pool.
The light from it was bright, catching on the intricate gold metalwork on Apollyon's black armour and casting a golden glow over his exposed skin. Lukas stepped up beside him and looked down into the pool. He had never seen such a thing. Images flickered past him, so fast that he could barely keep up. They swirled and changed, and his head spun with them.
"It takes time to get used to." Apollyon crouched next to the pool and Lukas followed suit. "Touch it and you will see what your heart desires."
Lukas hesitated and then reached a hand out and gently dipped his finger into the pool. It was cold. The liquid on his finger when he withdrew it was black, not bright like the water in front of him. He shook it away, not liking the feel of it on his skin.
The pool shimmered and the image changed. He leaned forwards, eager to see what it could show him, and his eyebrows rose when the scene took shape and it was familiar.
Apollyon grinned.
In front of them, Annelie and Serenity were sitting on the balcony surrounded by candles, sharing a glass of wine under a dimly starlit night. Lukas's heart beat harder, pounding at the sight of Annelie wearing one of Serenity's small dresses. It was pale, flecked with shapes he couldn't make out, and fitted snugly to her frame, emphasising everything that made him ache for her.
"Is everything alright between you now?" Apollyon's voice cut into his thoughts of Annelie and Lukas looked across at him. He nodded. Apollyon's blue gaze returned to the pool and his eyebrows knitted tightly together. "What will you do? She's human... will you forsake your wings and choose a mortal life for her? It is not an easy path to take. They do not let you go so easily. I speak from experience. It took long months to argue my contract with Heaven and even now, I am not wholly free to do as I please. It is only my contract with Serenity which keeps me on Earth."
Lukas's gaze dropped to the pool and Annelie. Apollyon was lucky in that regard. He had spoken to him about it last night and it was Serenity's magic that had allowed her to call to him and contract with him. Annelie didn't have a voice to call him with.
"I am still not sure. It is a decision I wish to make with her, when I am certain that it will not be one I will regret."
"You fear she will leave you still?"
Lukas stared at her. Did he? Was that why he hesitated whenever he thought about sacrificing his immortality for her? It was a lot to give up and if she changed her mind about him, he wouldn't be able to take it back. It would be gone forever. He would be mortal and alone.
Annelie laughed about something and he wished that he could hear her and know what she and Serenity were talking about but they were speaking too quietly. They were both smiling and it felt wrong to spy on her, even when he was an angel and he was drawn to watching. She had said that she loved him, and he knew it was the truth. If he surrendered his wings, would she remain with him?
"There is another way."
Lukas's eyes darted to Apollyon.
"It is dangerous to ask her to go through such a thing, and it is still a decision that we will need to make in time rather than now." Lukas held Apollyon's gaze and he nodded, the look in his dark eyes saying that he was aware that asking a mortal to walk the path to immortality and face the trials was as bad as asking an angel to sacrifice his immortality and wings.
The Devil laughed. Black words rolled up from the pit in a belch of flames and filled the air around Lukas and Apollyon. This time it was a promise to both of them.
Immortality for their loves.
Apollyon cast a glare at the pit and spat out a curse so dark that the ground trembled. The Devil laughed again. Lukas shunned his voice and his promise. In time, he would speak to Annelie about such things, but not yet. It was too soon to be discussing whether to seek immortality for her or surrender his own.
One day.
He would wait until she mentioned it and then he would know she was serious about him.
"Focus." Apollyon waved his hand over the pool and a rush of images replaced that of Annelie and Serenity. "Women are a distraction."
Lukas couldn't agree more. He pushed Annelie from his mind, fixed his thoughts on the night he had witnessed the explosion, and touched the pool again. The images distorted and a new one surfaced. It was the old brick factory building. The dark area outside it was quiet, not a vehicle or person in sight. He leaned over, his gaze darting about to take everything in. Someone moved inside the building and then a black van pulled up outside. Two men came out and Apollyon snarled.
"Demons."
Lukas stared at the men, studying them. Apollyon was right. They were demons in the guise of young men. They walked around the back of the van and opened the doors. He frowned when they started taking black sacks out of the vehicle and carrying them into the building.
A second van pulled up and another man got out. Demon. Three demons and what looked like bodies.
"The people you apparently killed were already dead." Apollyon's voice was dark as midnight and Lukas could feel his unease. It rippled through him, echoing his own feelings.
"But why?" It didn't make sense that only demons were involved. They had to know someone on his side of the fight, someone who could have set him up and who could have stopped Heaven from seeing them. They hadn't been there in any of the records he had seen. There had been no one in them. Not even the vehicles. Only an angel's power could have shielded them from Heaven's watchers.
And Lukas had a feeling he knew who it was. There was only one person in this whole affair who Lukas had ever thought capable of being involved, and it was the person he had accused at his appeal.
The door of the factory opened and that person walked out, their white wings furled tightly against their back and their white armour matching Lukas's.
His commander.
The older man motioned to the three demons and they hurried forwards, shipping the bodies into the building and returning with empty black sacks. Lukas watched them, incredulous and trying to figure out what had happened that night and why his commander had been involved.
It dawned on him.
"A month before this night, I saw my commander with a group of men. They were different to these men but some demons can shift skin. I was curious as to why my commander was meeting mortals without changing his appearance and hiding his wings but did not hear what was being said." Lukas cursed himself for his own stupidity. "I later asked my commander what he had been doing."
"Was anyone else present at the time?"
Lukas shook his head. "He denied meeting anyone and said that I had been overworked recently and perhaps needed time to rest. I refused his offer and said I had not imagined seeing him. He had not been in mortal guise. He insisted that it was not him, and then parted ways with me. Things went back to normal after that and I thought nothing more of it."
"He had hoped to silence you, and he had done a good job of it until now. Whatever he was doing, it involved the death of those mortals." Apollyon frowned. "They were covering their trail for some reason."
"We need to find out what it was." Lukas stood when an image of him appeared in the pool, landing gracefully in the empty parking lot of the building. A second later, the factory exploded, hurling him through the air.
Apollyon caught his wrist and Lukas looked at him.
"It is not our area." Apollyon stood and cast his hand over the pool. The image rewound to the point where his commander had been visible with the demons. "I will take the evidence to the authorities and you will wait with the women for my return. Heaven's Court will assign a specialist to assess the evidence and to deal with your commander and discover what these demons were doing."
"I will go too."
"No." Apollyon looked thoughtfully at the pool and then into his eyes. "You have been through enough and it will be better if they heard this from me... take care of Annelie and Serenity. I do not want them to be alone."
Lukas frowned. Was Apollyon insinuating that his commander might dare attack the women when Apollyon announced his evidence to the court? It would be easy for his commander to discover what had happened, especially if he wasn't working alone and other angels were involved. Angels watched everything. Lukas was sure that his commander knew of Annelie and Serenity and knew where to find them. His fists clenched.
He would protect them and keep them safe from harm.
He would not fail in this mission.
Lukas landed hard on the balcony of the apartment in Paris, causing Serenity and Annelie to shriek. Apollyon's wings beat heavily against the air and he shot away, up into the dark sky, leaving Serenity staring after him.
"What's going on?" Annelie was on her feet and next to him.
"My commander is the man responsible for the crime. Apollyon has gone to give evidence to Heaven's Court and to seek the aid of a hunter." Lukas ushered the two women into the apartment and cast a glance around at the darkness before following them in. "We must remain indoors and stay alert."
"You mean he could come here?" Annelie's dark eyes widened.
"It is a possibility."
There was no sign of trouble so far but he wasn't going to let his guard down until Apollyon returned. He hoped it was soon. His commander was stronger than he was, older and more powerful, and he feared that he wouldn't be able to stand against him if he came.
Annelie hung back, close to him. Serenity paced the kitchen, glancing at the window every few seconds. Both of them were afraid. He placed his hand on Annelie's shoulder and then pulled her into his arms, holding her against him.
"I will not let him near you."
She pressed her hands against his white breastplate and leaned into him. Lukas smoothed her hair and then stroked her arm, trying to soothe her. He looked across the kitchen island at Serenity. She had stopped pacing and was muttering something. Power rose in her, ebbing outwards through the room and him, tangling with his own. She was casting some sort of spell and, by the feel of it, it was strong on the protection and defence side of things.
Serenity glanced at him. He thanked her with a smile for being so considerate and keeping them safe in her own way. He wasn't sure how well a spell would hold out against an angel's power, but right now, he would try anything.
Almost an hour passed and nothing happened. Serenity's spell was holding and all three of them were still on edge. Outside, the world was peaceful. Perhaps Apollyon was wrong about his commander and he wasn't coming for them. Apollyon must have spoken to Heaven's Court by now.
The sense of Serenity's power in the room lessened and a different feeling replaced it, a darker sensation that crawled over Lukas's skin and made him tense.
They weren't alone.
"Serenity," he said and handed Annelie over to her.
Serenity wrapped her arms around Annelie and crouched in the corner of the kitchen with her. Both women covered their heads with their hands and Serenity spoke strange words. The barrier shimmered like a rainbow. She was reinforcing it. Lukas held his palm out towards the barrier and focused his own power there, trying to assist her. Magic had a tendency to draw on the strength of all nearby. He was sure that it would sense him and steal from his power to boost itself and Serenity.
He felt the moment they connected, her power entwining with his, draining his strength, and held his focus. They had to withstand whatever dark force was coming. The air of malevolence in the night thickened until it pressed down on Lukas. It was closer. Was it his commander?
The glass in the doors and windows imploded and he raised his arm to protect his face as shards blasted into him. The women screamed and Lukas reacted on instinct. He barrelled through the door and into the person outside, not giving them a chance to attack. They tipped over the balcony railing, hit the small slope the other side and then plummeted towards the ground.
Lukas twisted and turned with his attacker, gaining enough space to see who it was.
His commander. Amaer.
The older greying man glared at him, spread his large white wings and gained the upper hand. Amaer grabbed Lukas's white breastplate and beat his wings, driving them faster downward. Lukas struggled, clutching his commander's white armguards and then the straps of his body armour. He tried to turn with him again, so he was on top, but Amaer had the advantage of being able to use his wings. Lukas wasn't acquitted of his crime yet. Until he was, he couldn't fly.
The ground came at him fast.
Lukas grunted when he hit it back first, fracturing the pavement, his commander on top of him. The man hit him hard in the gut with his feet, knocking the remaining air from him, and Lukas grimaced and fought to remain conscious. His vision wavered but he retained enough sense to see Commander Amaer's white and gold boot coming at his face. He frowned, grabbed Amaer's leg, and launched him to his right, into a parked car. The alarm screeched and Lukas was on his feet, attacking again.
Amaer beat his broad white wings and shot upwards. Lukas leapt, caught his ankle, and dragged him back down again, ignoring the pain that tore through him as he moved. He wasn't going to let the man go after Annelie and Serenity. If it came down to it, he would break the rules and fly. He would do anything to protect them.
Lukas caught Amaer's other leg, swung and smashed him into the bonnet of the car. The alarm died and Lukas spun and slammed Amaer into the building, splintering the bricks. There was a brief pause and then Amaer broke free, kicked him square in the jaw and was on him before Lukas could stop him. One swift punch followed another, sending Lukas's senses reeling, and he struggled to keep going. He stumbled backwards into the road, towards the cars lining it near the park, trying to block the attacks and find an opening. He wouldn't give up. He managed to defend against the next punch and grasped his commander's fist. Amaer howled in pain when Lukas twisted his hand, causing his arm to bend with it, and Lukas clenched his teeth and kept turning.
He fell backwards when his commander's wings struck him, hitting him hard and knocking him away. Amaer slipped from Lukas's grasp and he tried to catch hold of him again but couldn't make it past the wings. It was a dirty tactic to use but right now he didn't care. Lukas grabbed the long feathers of Amaer's wings and gave them a sharp tug. Amaer's cry split the night and Lukas pulled harder, until the metre-long feathers came away. He tossed them aside and tackled Amaer the moment his feet touched the ground, landing hard with him on the road.
Lukas punched him, knocking his head back and forth, fuelled by the suffering he had endured the past three years. Amaer had to pay. Vengeance against their own kind went against everything that angels stood for but right now Lukas wasn't one of them. He was an outcast, a sinner, and it was all because of this man.
Blood ran down Amaer's cheeks, his lip split and pouring. Lukas clenched his jaw and kept going, determined to defeat his commander. He didn't see the fist that hit him or the car he smashed into. It rattled his senses and he pushed away from the impact crater he had made in the metal. Amaer snarled and attacked him, grasping him by the throat and pummelling him with his fist. Dark eyes full of fury held Lukas's gaze. Lukas grunted with each strike, each one that bruised and bloodied his face. He clawed at Amaer and managed to knee him in the stomach.
Amaer tripped backwards and glared at him. He moved to attack Lukas again and then paused. When he slowly turned his head to one side, Lukas realised that they weren't alone.
Annelie stood in the middle of the road, the hem of her pale dress fluttering in the night breeze. She stared at them both, her eyes full of horror and fear. Why had she come down? Lukas cursed her and then took it back. If she had come down because she had seen him fall, because she had been worried about him, then he couldn't curse her. He could only thank her for showing such love and concern towards him, and do his best to protect her during the fight she had walked into. He wouldn't let Amaer near her. He wouldn't allow another innocent human to die, especially one he loved with all of his heart.
Before he could reach for Annelie, Amaer shot in her direction. She didn't have the chance to get out of the way. She covered her face with her hands and screamed when Amaer hurled her through the air, throwing her against the wall of the apartment building. She landed in a heap on the pavement. Fury bolted through Lukas and he attacked Amaer, his focus split between his commander and his lover.
Annelie's heart was pounding fast and he could feel her pain, but she was conscious. Lukas moved around to block Amaer's path to her, giving her a chance to recover and get away. He punched Amaer and then struggled to keep his footing when Amaer struck him hard in the gut, winding him. He sucked in a breath and threw himself at Amaer.
As he hit the ground with him, Lukas sensed Annelie move. He kept his commander pinned beneath him, hitting him hard across the face to knock him senseless, and hoped that she would make it to safety before Amaer managed to throw him.
It happened sooner than Lukas expected. Amaer pressed his hands to Lukas's white breastplate and blasted him with enough power to send him flying upwards. Lukas spun in the air and didn't have a chance to right himself before the ground was rushing towards him. He didn't hit it. The moment he was within striking distance, Amaer's foot connected with his chest and sent him tumbling through the air, speeding towards a car. His breath left him when he hit it, crumpling the metal and making the glass explode out into the road.
Amaer stumbled away a few steps and spread his wings. Lukas blearily looked up at the roof of the building and then at the spot where Annelie had been. She had escaped the scene of the fight but Amaer was going after her. Lukas's heart pounded, sending pain pulsing through every limb. He ran at his commander but he wasn't fast enough. Amaer grinned, his face a mess of cuts, and flew out of reach.
Lukas had no choice. He unfurled his white wings and beat them, ready to fly.
A bright light spiralled downwards and around his commander, freezing him in mid-air with his wings outstretched.
What was happening?
Lukas stepped forwards, his hand shielding his eyes from the piercing light, careful to avoid touching it. His gaze followed it upwards. It speared the night sky, reaching Heaven itself.
A bolt of bright blue light shot down the column holding Amaer and his commander howled. Lukas grimaced when Amaer's wings shattered, raining blood and feathers down onto the cars below. The light flickered and died, and Amaer dropped to the ground. He lay face first in the mess of blood and broken feathers, groaning and barely moving.
Lukas breathed hard, fighting the pain filling him, and stared at Amaer. Heaven had banished him. It had judged Amaer and taken his wings completely. The first step in making an angel mortal. It would take his powers next.
Amaer pushed himself onto his knees and glared at Lukas with dark malevolence. He held his hand out and cold fear flashed through Lukas when a spear appeared in his grasp. No.
Amaer got to his feet and ran towards the entrance to the building. Lukas went to chase him, intent on protecting Annelie and Serenity, but a wave of power surged through him, freezing him to the spot. Pain chased the power, stealing his senses and sending his mind reeling for a second. He had never realised just how strong he was. With his powers returned to him by Heaven's Court, a sign of their forgiveness, and the thought of Annelie in danger, he felt invincible. Nothing was going to stand between him and stopping Amaer.
Lukas beat his wings and flew at him. He held both of his hands out in front of him, his index fingers and thumbs against each other. A white spear accented with gold detailing materialised as he drew his hands apart and he grabbed it when it was fully realised. Lukas focused on his target and felt the silent command issued to him.
He would obey, but not because Heaven had ordered him to. He would do it because he couldn't allow Amaer to harm Annelie and Serenity. He would do it to protect them.
"Amaer!" Lukas held the spear out at his side, the pointed golden head of it directed at his commander's back.
Amaer stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face him, bringing his own spear around to defend himself. His dark eyes widened when Lukas drove his white spear through his gut and thrust it forwards, sending him into the wall of the building. It shuddered and a shockwave rushed outwards as the spear penetrated the bricks, knocking Lukas back into the road.
He stumbled and fell to his knees, struggling for breath. Amaer dropped his spear. It clattered to the ground at his feet where they dangled a foot off the pavement. He grabbed Lukas's spear where it punctured his body and cried out as he tried to remove it.
Bright white light descended again, engulfing Amaer. Lukas flinched away, aware of what was coming. Life as a mortal was too good for one who had help take so many human lives. Amaer screamed and disintegrated, leaving Lukas's bloodied spear jutting out of the wall.
There was a gust of wind and Lukas squinted against the dust blown at him. He shielded himself with his wings and then came out from behind them when the breeze settled and he sensed the presence of two more angels.
"You did well." Apollyon walked towards him, his long black hair tousled from flying.
A tawny winged angel stood behind him, broad built and glowering. Darkness itself seemed to cling to him, shadowing his features.
Apollyon pulled Lukas onto his feet and nodded skyward. "Heaven's Court offers you an apology and they have rescinded their punishment, cleared your name, and reinstated you to your old position."
The spiral of light began to fade and rise upwards. Lukas's gaze followed it again. He was forgiven. Free. It was what he had always wanted but he didn't feel at all as he had expected. He looked at the balcony of the apartment high above him. Annelie and Serenity stood there, leaning over and looking down at him. He couldn't go back to his old life because these past three years had changed him.
He had fallen in love.
Lukas met Apollyon's gaze.
"It is possible to balance life and work... although women will do their best to make it impossible." Apollyon grinned and stared up at the balcony. "You will reach a decision in time. Do not be hasty to cast aside all that you have worked for. They will only spend months convincing you to stay, making you jump through hoops and wade through red tape, and then they will replace you with a temp and you will end up with twice the workload."
Lukas smiled at the grim look on Apollyon's face. His friend was right. He couldn't be hasty about leaving his duty behind, not when he had thought of nothing but returning and clearing his name.
The second angel stepped forwards, cast his dark gaze around the area, and then fixed it on Lukas. Lukas didn't recognise him but his armour was as tawny as his short ponytail and wings, flecked with paler hues of brown and grey. A hunter.
"Heaven's Court assigned you the best. Einar is their foremost hunter," Apollyon said and Lukas could see it in the sharp way that Einar's eyes took in everything.
Einar raised his hand. Light emanated from his palm in bright shafts. Lukas could only stare as the cracks in the pavement and walls repaired themselves and the damage to the cars reversed until they were pristine again.
Lukas's knees weakened when the light touched him and he stared at his arms as the cuts and scratches shrank and disappeared, until not even a trace of blood remained.
This angel was powerful.
"Let us discuss things in more comfortable surroundings." Einar's deep voice echoed in the night and he glanced around the street. "Somewhere less exposed."
Lukas nodded, stretched his wings and smiled. He took a long breath and beat his wings, slowly at first, building up the courage to fly again. How would Annelie react now that he could do such things? Would she fear him again?
There was only one way of finding out.
He flapped his white wings harder and carefully ascended the height of the building, making sure that he didn't clip the walls. Annelie was waiting for him at the top, holding her left arm, and a smile blossomed on her face when her eyes fell on him. He rose higher, enjoying the feel of the warm air in his feathers, and then descended towards her.
"I was so worried about you. I shouldn't have come down... but I couldn't let you fight alone." She held her arms out to him, a flicker of fear and guilt in her eyes, and relief swept through him when he realised that she wasn't going to run away now that he was a true angel again.
Lukas landed close to her and gathered her into his arms, wrapping her in his wings to fully protect her and satisfy his desire to know that she was safe. "Are you hurt?"
He pulled back to look at her. She shook her head. Tears shone in her eyes. He cleared a smudge of dirt from her damp cheek and sighed.
"I can feel your pain." Lukas looked her over and frowned when he noticed that her left arm was bleeding. He carefully took hold of it, cradling it in his hands. Her elbow was cut and already bruising. A cursory glance at her shoulder revealed that it too was scraped and bloodied.
Lukas looked to Einar as he flew down towards them. The large tawny angel glanced at Annelie and then nodded.
Apollyon set down close beside Lukas and Serenity threw her arms around his neck, muttering things in French. Apollyon wrapped his arms around Serenity and pulled her close to him, lifting her and pressing a kiss to her shoulder. Her feet barely reached Apollyon's shins. He set her down and placed his arm around her shoulders. Lukas released Annelie and stepped back to make room for Einar.
He landed silently on the black railing around the balcony.
Annelie gasped when Einar held his hand out and white light danced in a wave over her skin. Lukas remained close to her, silently there for her so she would feel safe. When the light faded, she looked herself over with wide incredulous eyes, and then met his gaze. She smiled and turned to Einar.
"Thank you," Annelie said.
Both women stared at him.
Apollyon covered Serenity's eyes and she giggled, the sound light in the darkness.
"Jealous," she whispered and looped her arm around Apollyon's.
He released her eyes and smiled into hers. Lukas had expected him to deny the emotion she had pinpointed, but he gave her a guilty-as-charged look.
Annelie remained tucked close to Lukas and he was glad of it. He wasn't the type for jealous fits but he was likely to join Apollyon if she even looked at Einar in the wrong way. The man was strong, undeniably handsome, and the quicker he was gone the happier Lukas would be.
Perhaps he was already jealous.
"The evidence given to court is troubling. I have alerted the Watchers and a team has been sent to the bottomless pit to evaluate the history recorded there. We will discover the conspiracy and the whereabouts of the demons and I will handle them." Einar remained on the balcony railing, his wings tightly furled against his back. "Should I require assistance, I will call on you. You have both proven yourselves strong and worthy."
Einar nodded, released his wings and was gone in a gust of wind. Annelie burrowed into Lukas's side as it blew against them and Lukas watched Einar speeding into the distant night.
"Not a very talkative fellow." Apollyon sounded amused.
Lukas glanced at him.
He looked it too.
"And who is he to say I have proven myself strong? I thought that was an undeniable fact. I was casting the Devil into the pit before he was a fledgling."
Lukas smiled. If there was one sure way to irritate Apollyon, it was to undermine his strength and power. Apollyon was likely to release the Devil early and fight him again just to prove how powerful he was. He huffed and Serenity pulled a face of mock-pity.
"I still think you are strong, mon ange." Serenity stroked his arm.
"I could still prove it." Apollyon swept her up and kissed her.
Lukas looked away to find Annelie smiling at them. He pulled her back to him, so her body was flush against his, and stroked the long strands of red hair from her face. She did look stunning in the small pale dress. Good enough to eat.
"I am sorry that I worried you." He brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek and quietly thanked Apollyon when he sensed him lead Serenity into the apartment, leaving them alone.
"I didn't like seeing you fighting that man." Annelie pressed her hands against the breastplate of his white armour and he wished that her hands were on his skin, warm and soft, slowly traversing his bare body. "Is it over now, like that other angel said?"
Lukas nodded. "Einar will hunt the demons involved. We have uncovered some sort of plot. The people in the factory that blew up were already dead. Einar must discover what happened and why. I desired to assist him but it is not my place to investigate such matters. I am more of a mediator and intervention specialist."
"It sounds far less dangerous." There was a smile in her brown eyes and she felt as glad as she looked. "I don't like the thought of you being in danger again..."
She hesitated and looked away from him, her feelings shifting course to ones he couldn't understand. She stared into the distance, in the direction Einar had flown, and tears lined her lashes. What had caused the sudden change in her emotions? What was she thinking to make her look so sad?
Lukas stepped around her, into the path of her gaze, and cupped her cheek. She sniffed and blinked, sending a tear down her cheek. He ached to see it and wiped it away with his thumb.
"Does it still hurt?" He cast a glance at her elbow and shoulder.
"It's not that." She rubbed her eyes and sniffed again. Her gaze darted to his and then back to his chest. Her fingers traced the gold edging of his breastplate. She took a deep breath and looked up into his eyes. "Are you going back to Heaven?"
A smile burst onto his lips and he dragged her close, wrapping his arms tightly around her. He pressed his lips to her forehead and closed his eyes. Foolish woman. As though he was going to leave her now that he had her. She was still the only good thing in his world and he couldn't return to one where she didn't exist.
He kissed her forehead and sighed against it. "I have not yet decided whether to give up my position and live as Apollyon does, but either way I am not going to leave you. I have something in this world my heart desires to protect and that is my mission now. You are more important to me than my duty. I love you, Annelie."
Annelie pulled back, her eyes wide and no longer filled with tears, and then kissed him. Her lips danced slowly over his, gradually turning more passionate, and then she tilted her head and fused their mouths together. He lifted her and closed his eyes, wishing they were somewhere more private so he could prove to her that he wasn't going anywhere and that he loved her more than anything.
He was free now, his innocence proven, and he wasn't about to rush back into his old life. Apollyon was right. Lukas was going to give his new one his all and see where it took him. Whatever decision he and Annelie made, they would make it together, and he was sure that it would be the right one.
Whether they lived a mortal life or lived forever, he would never stop loving Annelie.
She broke away, her smile wide and beautiful. Her brown eyes met his and a small frown creased her brow.
"Can we see Paris now?" There was mischief in her eyes that said he wasn't the only one thinking of proving their love to the other and wishing they were somewhere a little more private.
"As my love wishes." Lukas swept her up into his arms, holding her close to his chest, and beat his wings, lifting off from the balcony.
Annelie squeaked, wrapped her arms tight around his neck and curled up. "I wasn't quite thinking this way."
Lukas laughed and flew with her, keeping his grip on her tight. "You are safe, Annelie. I will never let you go now that I have you... and this is the best way to see a city."
Paris spread out before them, lights twinkling in the darkness, but it was incomparable to Annelie's beauty. She came out from her hiding place against his chest, her eyes wide and lips parted as she took everything in. She was breathtaking when she was happy, her love flowing through him, merging with his own feelings, bringing out his smile again.
"Incredible." Her gaze roamed to him and he swooped down, heading for the Arc de Triomphe.
When they had been there to meet Apollyon, he had sensed her desire to remain and take in the view of the city. At the time, he hadn't been able to give her what she wished for but he could now that he was free. He would pander to her every whim, indulge her desires, and never tire of loving her.
He landed quietly on the thick wall of the empty roof of the arch and held Annelie close to him.
"Can we stay here a while?" she whispered, her eyes on the city.
Lukas curled his wings around her and nodded. "For as long as you like."
She sighed and settled her head against his chest. He turned sideways, so she could still see the city, but she moved back and placed her arms around his neck. He looked down into her eyes and blinked slowly.
"If it will not cause a problem with the pub, we can stay in Paris for a while and be together." He pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose and she smiled.
"I want to be together for longer than a while." Annelie stroked his cheek, threaded her fingers into his hair, and teased his earlobe with her thumb. Her dark gaze held his. She hesitated and he knew there was something that she wanted to say, something that she feared to a degree. He held her closer, wanting to comfort her and give her the strength to speak what was on her mind. "Serenity told me all sorts of things."
"She did?" he said to encourage her.
"She said there was a trial that she was going to undertake to become immortal like Apollyon."
Lukas's heart beat faster, hard against his chest. The warm affectionate look in Annelie's eyes said everything that she couldn't. She was considering taking the trial too. He had spent hours trying to think of how to broach the subject of their future and she had done it instead. It relieved him, giving him hope that she wanted to be with him forever and that he might not have to surrender his immortality.
Annelie stroked his wings, tickling his white feathers, and he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers.
"It is dangerous." He savoured the feel of her in his arms and her hands on him, not wanting to think about what lie ahead and focusing on the present instead.
"I don't want you to give up what you've worked so hard for. You fought to make them see your innocence and to win back your wings, and Serenity said that even when Apollyon says that he would sacrifice them for her, she can tell that he would miss them. Angels love to fly apparently."
"We do." Lukas drew back and looked deep into her eyes. "But not as much as I love you. I would give them up if you asked me to."
"I'm not going to ask you to do such a thing. I love you and I want to be with you as you are, as the man I fell for... the angel I fell for." Her fingers caressed his brow and then his cheek, trailing down to his jaw and resting there. Her eyes searched his. "When Serenity told me that you might give up your wings, I made my decision. I'm going to do it someday. I'm going to do it so we can be together."
Lukas kissed her, touched by her sincerity and the depth of her desire to be with him. She would go through Hell in order to achieve immortality, but there was so much resolve in her eyes and in her words that he knew she wouldn't falter. She would do that for him and he loved her all the more for it, for showing him how strong her feelings for him were and the lengths she was willing to go to in order for them to be together.
When the time came, he would help her through the trials. He would do all he could to support her. He would love her forever, with all of his heart, because she was the only woman in the world for him, the one who had given him strength when he had been weak, had given him love when all others had forsaken him, and who had believed in him.
For now, he was happy with her like this, in his arms where she belonged.
But one day they would take the next step.
And they would have their ever after.
The End
Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.
Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She's just honoured to write down their adventures.
To see her other novels, visit: www.felicityheaton.co.uk
If you have enjoyed this story, please take a moment to contact the author at author@felicityheaton.co.uk or to post a review of the book online
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Stories in the Her Angel series:
An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn't called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it's to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.
Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He's no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can't resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?
Their charade as lovers quickly becomes reality when one dance leads to another and Apollyon proves that he's as sinful as he looks. His sensual and hungry touch brings Serenity back to life, freeing her from the hurt of being betrayed and reigniting her passion, but she can't ignore her growing fear. Lost in their moment together, Apollyon realises that there is a reason he heard her call---he's in love with her.
But will Serenity see past the wings and believe that Apollyon returns her feelings and won't hurt her? When her ex-boyfriend asks her to forgive him and be with him again, will she take the easy route or will she find the courage to fly away with her dark angel?
Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.
Annelie fell for Lukas the moment he walked into her pub three years ago. He's stunning, his vivid green eyes lending to his otherworldly beauty, but he's seriously out of her league. When he tells her that she's beautiful and confesses that he wants her, she can't resist him and his passionate kiss. She unleashes her desire and seizes the moment and Lukas with both hands. But Lukas has a secret, one that will test Annelie's love for him and threaten to tear them apart.
He's an angel.
Annelie can't believe it when Lukas says that their feelings for each other aren't a sin, but she can believe his pain when he tells her the reason he's on Earth. He is fallen, cast out of Heaven as punishment for a crime he didn't commit. Lukas isn't about to give up and accept his fate though. He's determined to prove both his innocence and his love for Annelie, and to show her that the intense passion they share is real.
When Lukas and Apollyon discover who framed him, will he be able to stop them from going after Serenity and Annelie? Will he be able to protect the woman he loves and fly away with her into their forever after?
Einar is one of Heaven's best hunters and he's on a mission to uncover why an angel was working with demons. When he finds the first demon fighting a beautiful woman named Taylor, he intervenes and saves her life. Taylor has spent her whole life protecting London from the lowest demons and she's not about to let an angel waltz into her city and take over her job, and she's certainly not about to fall in love with him, even if he is gorgeous. The reason why she can't is simple---she's half demon.
There is no love in this world more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon.
Sense tells Taylor to get out before she gets her heart broken, but she winds up convincing Einar to partner with her instead. Einar is certain that working with Taylor is a bad idea, and not only because he can't focus when he's around her, but he can't let her go. The mission leads them deep into the city's underworld, where old flames burn Taylor while new flames of passion and fear of the consequences consume them, and the threat of Einar's demons hangs over them both.
Can a love so forbidden ever have a happy ending or are they destined to break each other's hearts?
Visit www.alinarpublishing.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.

