I thanked her again. Even though she was optimistic, I felt hopeless. There was nothing about surpassing blocks that meant I could be with Michael. I would love him forever; being with him meant everything to me. But if one thing came out of this reading, it was that I couldn’t tempt him again. I wouldn’t be responsible for his fall. Not this time.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I was cleaning up the dinner dishes when Michael arrived on my doorstep. Underneath his gray button-down shirt, which transformed his eyes into jewels, was the signature white tank top he wore for flying. With his hair still damp, drying in curls around his face, he looked more angelic than ever.

My hands soapy, I waved him in through the window and he joined me in the kitchen.

“I’m just finishing up,” I said. “It’ll only take a minute.”

“I’ll dry,” he offered and held out his hand for the towel. There was a gash on his arm; it had to be fresh.

“You’re hurt.” I grabbed his hand to examine it, but he pulled it away.

“It’s not that bad.”

Instantly everything that had happened in my day vanished. I was lost in concern for him. “What happened?”

He leaned on the kitchen counter across from me. “We were trying to prevent a rape,” he explained. “Arielle was working with the girl, trying to guide her to what she would need to do to get away or at least survive. She brought me in to work with her attacker because…well…I know the voices that he has to fight inside himself.”

He paced from the kitchen into the living room. I followed him, drying my hands. “How did it go?”

“We were swarmed. They were lesser demons, but all working together, like Azazel. There were hundreds this time. Arielle and I tried to call to the others for help but they landed so fast… At first we tried to stay focused on the assignment. The girl…she was…”

He rubbed his eyes. Was he tired, or trying to wipe away what he’d seen? I couldn’t tell. I wanted to hold him, give him some comfort, but his body was so wiry and tense I wasn’t sure if he’d let me in.

“You did all you could.”

“By the time we were done…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but the look of devastation on his face said it all.

“You did your best,” I said soothingly.

“Arielle said the same thing.” He sighed heavily. “The girl was attacked, but she lived. When we’d dispatched the demons, it was easy enough to pry the beast off of her. Not so easy to let him live.” His anger filled the room as he strained to pull himself together, his expression both haunted and sad. “It could have been you.”

I took a step closer, touching his face, and he leaned his cheek into my hand. “I’m right here,” I said reassuringly.

“What if it happens again?”

“You’ll be more prepared,” I said. “You’re one of the smartest people I know. If anyone can learn from this, it’s you.”

He sighed, accepting that. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he opened his arms so I could lean into him. As he rested the side of his face gently on the top of my head, I listened to the steady beat of his heart, knowing I needed to mention the note from Damiel but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not yet—not when he’d had such a rough night.

Within a few moments, he tensed and backed away. Bright light flared around him. Squinting, he shifted his focus as though he was listening to something far away. A look of resignation crossed his face.

“What is it?”

“I’m still on duty tonight.” He ran a hand through his wavy bangs, pushing them out of his face. “I’m being called,” he said flatly. “To Portland. Another major attack.”

“Portland?” I asked, shocked. “Portland’s a three-hour drive away.”

“It’s way faster by air,” he said, and it took me a moment to realize he planned to fly.

I knew that he would at some point have an assignment and be called elsewhere; he had a larger purpose. But knowing that didn’t make it any easier. He’d already been on one call that night and it seemed to have deeply affected him. Clearly, he needed time to process.

His expression hardened with determination. “I’m not going.”

“Wha—?”

“I’m not going. They can send someone else.”

“People’s lives depend on you.” I thought of the attack he’d just prevented. However badly it went, his being there had made a difference. “That girl probably wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you.”

He took my hands in his. “Your life depends on me, too. Your life is the one that matters to me. Don’t you get that? I’ve waited thousands of years to see you again—”

“Michael, you can’t disobey.”

“What if all of this is a ruse? It all picked up since Damiel left. What if it’s a trick to keep me busy and away from you?” He linked my fingers through his and pulled me closer. This didn’t sound anything like him. The Michael I knew was bound to his sense of duty, obedient to God, and determined to ascend. Something was wrong.

“Michael, you sound paranoid,” I said, trying to keep myself calm. Seeing him this worried made me think things were a lot worse than he was letting on.

“Or maybe I’m the only one who sees this clearly.” He bent his forehead to mine, almost touching. I wanted to lean in, to soothe him, but I had to talk some sense into him.

Unlinking my hands from his, I held the sides of his face. “You have to go. You can’t—”

The rest of what I was going to say was cut off by his lips pressing against mine. His kisses were intense, angry, restless, as he leaned into me, filling a need within him and awakening a need inside me, too. I was swept away by it. I knew it was wrong, that we should stop, but I didn’t care. In no time at all I had reclined on the couch, his body pressed into mine, and I didn’t want him going anywhere.

Still on top of me, he pulled back and placed one of my hands on his chest. His heart hammered against it—as fast as my own. The look he gave me was fierce and yet gentle too, as if he saw so much more of me than I even knew existed. He stayed that way for a long time and said nothing. He didn’t have to; his look said so much. I met his stare, matching his quickened breathing, my heart pacing with his.

When he finally spoke, his voice was deep, husky. “Mia, I—”

“Can’t. I know. It’s okay.” I touched his arm lightly with my other hand. I wasn’t going to stop touching his chest. His heartbeat was steady but fast. “We should stop.”

“I love you,” he confessed. His eyes captured mine with a dazzling blue light. “I always have.”

I’d suspected he felt something for me, but hearing him say it meant more than I’d ever imagined. “I love you, too,” I whispered.

He nodded. “I can feel it.”

“You can?”

“Yes. It makes it so much harder to stop when I know your feelings, not just my own.” I couldn’t keep the look of amazement off my face. He brushed a stray hair out of my eyes and continued, “All the angels can feel, but for so long I couldn’t. I forgot how amazing it was… It’s why enthrallment is so dangerous; it reverberates. So if I make you feel something, I feel it too.”

“Michael, you haven’t made me feel anything.”

He kissed me again with a dizzying intensity and swept me up into his arms until I was on top of him, kissing his face, his neck, as he let out the softest of sighs. His hands, warm and strong, gently caressed my sides, the skin just under my shirt, and the next thing I knew my shirt was off. My soft blue lace bra was pretty, and if I didn’t know it looked good on me I would have from the look on his face: he regarded me as though I was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Saying my name softly under his breath, he kissed me again and again and again. It was what I’d always wanted, but something was wrong. There was something else he was supposed to be doing—not this. He turned us again until he was on top, and removed his shirt and then the white singlet. His skin was beautiful, glowing a soft gold in the incandescent lighting of my living room like he was bathed in candlelight. His chest warm and smooth, I had to touch it, feel it against my own skin.