Chapter 48
I woke to Angel pacing. The beep of machines surrounded me, a fluid bag on a pole to my right and an open door separating us from others in what I recognized as an emergency room.
“Hey,” Angel said, leaning over me.
“Do I want to know how bad the damage is?” I asked him, feeling lightheaded but pain free. They must have had me on some really good drugs to feel so good.
“There is none,” Angel said. His gaze flicked to the open doorway. “It’s healed.”
“Uh… I saw bone,” I said.
“Yeah.” He stared at me, gaze assessing and worried. “Part of it is our bond. The rest… you mentioned you saved something in the other place? A fairy or something?”
I blinked, brain slowly churning through the memory of the little creature stuck in the goo. “I don’t know what it was.”
He leaned in, lips brushing my cheek to whisper in my ear. “You have a tattoo on your back, of a dragon.”
Angel’s touch forced a shiver of desire to ripple through me, and I gasped, more focused on him than his words—at least, for a few seconds. “Tattoo?” I didn’t have any tattoos.
“I know.” His voice was barely above a whisper, but his gaze was sharp and worried.
I stared at him, trying to decipher a thousand things at once. Was the tattoo related to the creature?
“Say nothing about it. Pretend our bond is what healed you,” he said as he perched on the edge of my bed, gaze intense. He tilted his head back, glancing toward the door as if he heard something I didn’t.
The sound of voices in the hall grew, as well as movement. Footsteps. What was happening? Angel’s expression turned unreadable, his breathing going rough, gaze tense, like he’d made a decision he couldn’t take back.
“Sorry this has to be very public, but I need you to trust me,” he whispered, two seconds before he leaned in and kissed me.
I froze for half a heartbeat, completely caught off guard as his lips pressed to mine in a whisper of contact, and then he slipped his fingers around the back of my neck to hold me closer.
The noise from the hospital surrounded us, but I sank into his kiss, closing my eyes, letting my lips part as his tongue slid in, warm and confident as he tasted me.
Kissing Angel was unlike any other kiss I had experienced in my life, and I loved it.
Hopefully, he’d kiss me more often, since we had this mate bond between us.
His fingertips caressed my jaw. The hand on the back of my neck was firm and demanding, even as he sucked on my tongue.
My heart raced, echoing in my ears, drowning out everything but him.
The sounds and sensations of the hospital crept away, beeps and bright lights fading.
The warmth of his lips, the sweet but deep kiss—it all unraveled my many years of careful control in a handful of seconds.
Everything about the two of us together was right and perfect.
What the hell had I done to deserve this man?
I slipped my hand beneath his shirt, seeking his heat, and was rewarded with the cool rush of my power and his, swirling. We both gasped, the kiss broken for a half second before he pressed me back against the raised head of the bed as if seeking to devour me.
The lights and machines blurred to nothing, my world overtaken in that moment by Angel and his kiss.
His fingers massaged my neck, lips on mine.
His touch grounded me while setting me adrift on an ocean of swirling desire, like he reached into the core of my soul and touched something, awakening it to a sensation I’d long searched for.
Angel’s heat and strength gave me focus and tenderness.
I forgot to breathe, and all I knew was him: his scent, his touch, our desire. My mate. The tension slid away, barriers bursting as I melted under the heat of his touch. My heart hammered as he slipped his fingers over it as if to study the beat and claim it.
The sound of a throat clearing startled me out of the kiss. I gasped, eyes popping open as Angel pulled away, his gaze meeting mine, pleading forgiveness as the room came back into focus. Sergeant Hanna stood just inside the doorway with another man I didn’t know in a high-ranking uniform.
“What is this?” Hanna demanded.
I blinked at the pair, at a loss for words. Both from the kiss frying my brain and the panic of being caught kissing my partner by my boss and some military guy.
Angel slipped off the side of the bed, putting his back to me and standing between me and the pair, my hand grasped in his. “He’s my mate,” Angel said. “We’ve already bonded.”
Hanna blinked at him, gaze narrowing. “Explain.”
“I didn’t realize until he was hurt,” Angel said.
He let out a long breath as if this whole thing were too much for him.
“I mean, I felt something when we first met, but then, when he was injured, it was like the world was coming apart. We bonded a few days ago and were working on strengthening it when Ezra went missing and the Veil opened. He’s mine.
” The last comment blurted from him like he had to get it out or descend into panic.
But I had no intention of leaving him. What was I missing?
“I can take them both,” the man said.
Take us where? What the hell?
Hanna stiffened, her expression hardening. Angel’s grip on me tightened, but Hanna said, “Angel has served his time.”
The man crossed his arms over his chest, looking annoyed. “We can’t let this sort of power go to waste.”
“I apologize, Major General Phelps,” Hanna said.
“But I have to remind you that we have a contract with the military. We lead the SED and stay out of your affairs in the military as long as you abide by the contract. Mates are inseparable, and since Angel has served his time, you can’t take him or his mate.
” She met my eyes, her expression stoic, but knowing.
She didn’t miss a thing. Because she was fae? Or because she knew Angel?
Was this guy saying they were going to drag me off to the military?
The Major General looked pissed. “An SV and DV with healing abilities is unheard of. I’m certain we can work through an override…”
“He’s healing because he’s bonded to me.
And I’m not going back to the military,” Angel said.
“I did my time. Killed and watched others die in a war I never asked to join. Jude is my mate, and I won’t let you have him.
We are fulfilling our part of the contract by working in the SED.
That will have to be good enough.” His gaze met Hanna’s.
“Else, we would have to seek asylum across the Veil and you’d lose our service completely. ”
My heart hammered with apprehension. Angel was putting everything on the line to keep me from being dragged off to the military and likely disappearing for good. I prayed that whatever this contract was, his ploy would be enough to keep them from taking me.
The Major General scowled, but Hanna stood her ground. “We value mates above all else,” she said, “as they are rare. It’s why it’s in our contract. Would you threaten the peace treaty for one HV?”
“Would you?” he tossed back.
“For one mate, yes,” she agreed.
He let out a long sigh. “I have to present this to the Chief, regardless.”
“My answer will be the same,” Hanna said.
They glared at each other for a long moment before the man turned and left. Sergeant Hanna gave us her attention, her gaze annoyed. “Do you understand what you’re doing?” she asked.
I wondered if she wanted me to answer, but it was Angel who replied, “I do.”
She let out a long sigh. “This may not end the way you hope.”
“Then I’ll seek asylum at your court across the Veil. I have enough favors owed to me,” Angel said.
“I paired him with you to ground you, not realizing he was going to be a magnet for trouble.”
“Why do I feel like you knew he was my mate? Didn’t you say you’d been asking for him for a while? You couldn’t have known he was both SV and DV. None of us did until he was marked. The demon variance was dormant. SVs are never powerful enough for you to covet one. Yet you wanted him for me.”
She stared at him, expression blank. “And now every letter agency in the world will want a piece of him, and only you stand between them. Do you want that target on your back?”
Angel sighed. “Yes. He’s mine.”
She sighed. “Don’t let this bite us in the ass, Mao.”
He saluted her. “I’ll save all my biting for Jude.”
“If only,” she said, sounding annoyed before she stalked out of my room.
“Should I be worried?” I asked as she left.
The frown on his face made me worry, and think about his kiss, because damn that man had skill.
My face heated as his gaze met mine, and I thought he’d somehow been hearing what I thought and knew that I was obsessed with his kiss.
“I really don’t want to be dragged off to the military. ”
“Not going to happen.” He let out a long sigh. “They’ll keep an eye on us, checking in from time to time.” Angel stared at me, his shoulders tight and expression guarded.
I let that process a moment, taking in his body language and the tension radiating off of him. “Okay,” I agreed. “I already said yes to the mate bond. But you knew I came with baggage before you kissed me stupid.”
A smile tugged the edges of his lips. “I’m aware.” He appeared thoughtful for a minute. “Stupid, huh?”
“Every time you kiss me, I forget everything else.”
“Sounds like bad situational awareness.”
“Only around you.”
“Yeah, we’ll work on that. Your magic worries me. We need to get you real training.”
“I’m on board for that.”
“And maybe stop rescuing random fairy creatures?”
“It was stuck in goo and couldn’t breathe!
” I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation.
“What would you have done? Left it to suffocate in magical sludge?” I asked.
“I saved Ezra and the blue-haired dude, too. Oh, and Jonah. Speaking of, is he okay? Or did CPS toss him into the system with a ‘return to sender’ stamp since his parents liked the creepy version of him better?”
Angel sighed. “Jonah is fine. The changeling has been taken into custody and his parents are thrilled to have their real kid back.” His sarcasm could’ve cut glass.
“But that’s CPS’s issue now. They are under investigation, as we aren’t sure if they willingly had him exchanged or something else happened.
” He froze mid-sentence, his head snapping toward the door, his supernatural hearing catching something I couldn’t.
Ezra strode in, his piercing blue gaze locked onto Angel like a husky who’d just spotted a squirrel it really wanted to murder. “Hanna’s already put the word out,” he announced, voice sharp. “Declaring Holt as yours. Everyone at SED will know in less than an hour.”
Angel stiffened. “He’s not leaving our team. Don’t you dare suggest it.”
Ezra didn’t blink. “Hanna’s demanding we add Woodward. Says Holt needs the supervision.”
“Oh, fantastic,” I cut in. “Because what my life is missing is a moody, blue-haired wizard who treats my soul like a sippy cup. The expert in unlicensed magic extraction and boundary violations. Does his training include asking before he turns me into a human juice box again, or is that an advanced class? Maybe we can incorporate a Consent 101 class for all new hires?”
Angel’s jaw flexed as he ground his teeth, obviously not liking the idea of the practitioner joining our team. “I don’t want him near you.”
“Hanna won’t budge. Woodward’s on the team. I pointed out that SED has never had good luck with a practitioner. She doesn’t care. Jude needs the training and we need the people,” Ezra said.
“If he tries to drain me again, I’m biting him, then kicking him in the balls,” I said.
“Agreed,” Angel said firmly.
“Even if he did close the portal, he could have asked.” Or explained, or something.
I sighed, feeling like this whole mess was my fault.
I’d opened the barrier to rescue the kid.
How many others were still trapped? Were there more kids?
More people? Or were they all monsters? I tried not to think about it. “What the fuck was that place?”
“No idea.”
“I’d like to not be stuck there again,” Ezra growled.
Angel turned back to Ezra. “Woodward is trained, but not trained enough to not get pulled into some otherworldly prison.” His fists clenched at his sides, knuckles whitening. “If he touches Jude again, I’ll rip him to confetti with my claws and dance on his entrails.”
“Down, boy.” I tugged Angel back to my side. “Save the dismemberment for our anniversary. Right now, I'd settle for him just keeping his lips to himself.”
Angel exhaled sharply, but his rigid stance softened as he leaned his forehead against mine. “Stop nearly dying on me.”
“I promise, I’m not normally this much trouble.”
“I call bullshit,” he grumbled. “I’ve only known you a week.” His glare spoke volumes. “Hellhounds. We’re getting you hellhound protection. At least a dozen.”
“I’ll remind you that I’m more of a cat person.”
Ezra crossed his arms. “His brother and grandfather are in the waiting room. And why the hell is Xavier lurking outside like a villain? The kid seems in perfect control of his cat.”
“Huh?” I started to ask, but the door creaked open before I could finish.
Ivan peeked around the door, then looked relieved to find me sitting up and talking. “Oh, you look okay.”
“I’m fine,” I said, unwilling to worry him again. “Just drained by some blue-haired douchebag and hung up to dry. Nothing some cookies and K-pop won’t cure.”
His gaze shifted to Angel as if he didn’t believe me.
“He’s fine,” Angel said.
Ivan opened the door, holding it for Grandpa. I caught a glimpse of Xavier and the creepy twins in the hall outside the door, as if acting as guard. But I didn’t think they were guarding me. Maybe new shifters warranted that type of worry?
“Hey, Gramps,” I said, holding up my hands. “See, I’m fine. No worries.”
“Last time you said that, they marked you.” He glared at the glowing band on my arm.
Yeah, no going back on that. Maybe distraction would be a better option as his gaze narrowed on my hand clamped in Angel’s. “Let me introduce you to my partner and boyfriend, Angel Mao.”
Ivan grinned and Grandpa sputtered. “How exactly do you end up in the hospital again and find a boyfriend, all in less than two weeks?”
I sighed and tugged Angel to sit down beside me while I tried to think of a way to break this mate bond thing to my grandfather. “When fate has a plan, I guess we’re all praying for lube…”