Read Angel's Redemption (The Fallen Warriors Series Book 6) Online

Authors: Rosalie Lario

Tags: #Paranormal, #romance novel, #Genre Fiction, #Urban Life, #Romance, #fallen angel, #Urban, #erotic romance, #angel romance, #paranormal romance, #Literature & Fiction, #fantasy romance, #Fantasy, #sexy romance, #supernatural romance, #dystopian romance

Angel's Redemption (The Fallen Warriors Series Book 6) (3 page)

Thankfully, their kind didn’t feel cold and heat the way humans did, because Michael and Seth were bare-chested, and she wore nothing more over her upper body than a tank top with crisscrossing straps to accommodate her wings.

Following Michael’s lead, she flexed her back to spark the growth of her wings and shot up into the sky. The wind buffeted her face, which was pure and refreshing after days of being cooped up underground. Some of the weight in her chest eased as she fell into line beside Seth and Michael. As adept as her kind were at playing human, they would always remain creatures of the sky. This was where she belonged, with her wings beating against the powerful wind.

Wordlessly, Michael zoomed ahead of them, leading the way toward the secret location in Philadelphia. He was clearly giving them privacy, and part of her resented that, even as she understood it.

There was so much unfinished business between her and Seth, and always would be, she feared.

Tension filled the air as she and Seth flew side by side. It wasn’t a far flight to the location they’d been given, but with the heavy silence that rested between them, it would no doubt seem like an eternity.

Except this time, he didn’t remain quiet.

“Are you considering being with Adam?” he said, his voice grim but determined.

She missed a beat and dropped several feet in the air.

Beating twice as hard to regroup, she said, “Why would you ask that?”

“Because of what I saw.”

Shame filled her at the thought that he’d seen Adam’s hand on her cheek, her hand on his. It wasn’t her intention to make him jealous. She knew firsthand how horrible that felt, like a clawing, grappling hand squeezing your aching heart in its fist.

Despite everything, she still loved Seth. Always would.

Then came the ever-present anger. Why should she worry about his pain when he hadn’t been concerned for hers?

“I don’t know,” she snapped. “It’s none of your business.”

Seth flapped his wings hard, propelling around to snatch her into his arms.

Startled, she folded her wings into her back.

“That’s not true, and you know it,” he bit out, his eyes flashing with heat. “Whose business is it if not mine?”

Old, familiar resentment filled her chest. “Anything I do ceased to be your concern the moment you fell in love with a human.”

She shoved at him, and he released her. Ribbons of his emotions trailed over to her: shame and lust and sorrow and regret.

Well, he could keep them. She had enough of her own to worry about.

Stretching her wings out wide, Lily zoomed to catch up with Michael.

 

Chapter Three

 

 

T
he vice president and certain members of his administration had managed to escape to a hideout located on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Seth had to admit he was impressed. He didn’t think the humans had it in them to keep such a secret from the angels, but somehow, they’d managed to amass an entire room full of communication equipment without arousing the suspicion of the Tribunal.

“I want to record a message,” the vice president was in the process of telling Michael as they conversed in the basement of the house now serving as the presidential base. “Explain to them why you and your fellow angels were really condemned to death, and that you’re on our side. If they see that we have support from your kind, it may give them hope. A reason to fight back.”

It was certainly worth a try.

The vice president gave an empty laugh. “Maybe they’ll believe in Christmas miracles.”

Angels didn’t celebrate the human holiday, but Seth knew enough about it to know it was a very important day to many humans. The thought that they had to spend what should be a day of hope fearing for their very existence made him long for a curse upon the angels who’d once been his family.

“I can get a video to my contact at the news station,” he said to the two men.

So with that, Michael and the vice president fell into discussion on what they would say, and less than an hour later, they were being recorded as they made their speech.

Seth took his place by Lily as she watched the discourse from the sidelines, but he couldn’t bring himself to focus on what the two men were saying. It was Lily who invaded his mind. She was so close, close enough that her natural scent flooded his senses. Yet mentally she was so far away.

Anything I do ceased to be your concern the moment you fell in love with a human.

The words burned into him, assaulting him with their veracity. She was right, and it killed him. He’d never stopped loving Lily, but the day he’d met Isabelle, part of him had been lost to her. It had been so wholly unexpected, so shocking to feel those feelings for a human and someone he’d just met.

Someone who wasn’t Lily.

But something about Isabelle had been so sweet and innocent. She’d been vulnerable in a way Lily never had been, and it had called to him.

Though he’d never touched Isabelle, he hadn’t been able to stop himself from stealing away to spend stolen moments with her. He had betrayed Lily’s heart.

That was why he knew he deserved every bit of the torture he was enduring now. If Lily chose to take Adam as her mate, he’d have no reason to protest, and that knowledge burned deep within his soul.

It wasn’t until Michael stood before him that Seth realized he and the vice president had completed their video recording.

“The vice president’s man should be finished editing the video within the half hour. We want to get it out right away. Can you arrange a meeting with your contact in such a short period of time?”

“Yes,” Seth said. “I’ll call him now.”

Michael nodded. “Afterward, I’d like you to meet with Nate and Rick. They’ve finished making another batch of the flame torches. We’ll need to get those to the rebels so they can start distributing them amongst the population.”

The flame torches the Fallen had reverse engineered, after grabbing one during a fight with the white-wings, were far from ordinary. They burned with such intensity that an angel struck with the fire was incinerated almost instantly. It was an effective tool against his kind, the only weapon that worked on angels, and now that war had been declared, their fellow Fallen angel, Nate, along with one of Ruby’s rebels had been working almost nonstop to mass produce the weapons at an abandoned factory they’d discovered in western New Jersey.

“Done,” Seth said.

Michael’s gaze strayed to Lily. “You’ll need to go along to help carry the torches back.”

She stiffened, no doubt because the thought of spending even an hour alone with him made her skin crawl. But, ever the warrior, she only nodded.

“If we can gather even a small army of trained human fighters, we stand a chance,” Michael murmured.

It was all too true. Though angels were much stronger and nearly invincible, there were so few of them. Due to angel biology and the rarity of procreation, coupled with the fact that most of the older angels eventually chose to stop mating so they could grow old and die, there were only a few hundred angels in existence. If humans conquered their natural fear of the seemingly untouchable angels and fought back, if they had access to weapons that could actually
harm
them, then they could win.

“If anyone can convince the humans to stand and fight, it’s Ruby and her rebels,” Lily said.

Michael took a breath, then gave a decisive nod. “You’re right. So you two will go and get the weapons. Give them a reason to fight.”

*****

Less than an hour later, Lily stood outside the house, waiting for Seth while he confirmed the meeting location with his new station contact.

Michael strode outside to hand her the video. “Take care with it.”

Cocking a brow, she said, “You know I will.”

He nodded, then glanced inside to where Seth stood, talking on the phone. A hint of uneasiness drifted from him, but he steeled his shoulders and turned his gaze back to her. “I’ve been meaning to catch you alone.”

She eyed him warily. “Why?”

Embarrassment wafted off him and his cheeks grew a shade pinker. “War has come. I know your situation with Seth is complicated, but you’re both going to need all the strength you can get.”

His subtext was clear, and now it was her turned to be embarrassed. Humiliated, was more like it, and that pissed her off.

Drawing up to her full height, which still put her well below Michael’s own, she set her hands on her hips. “Are you telling me I need to mate with him?”

He shifted in his spot, breaking eye contact. She recognized it for the withdrawal it was, but he’d already roused her anger.

“Are you ordering me to, is that what this is?”

“No, I… of course not.” He sighed and raked a flustered hand through his hair.

“It’s none of your business, Michael.”

He set his jaw and dragged his gaze back to hers. “That is true, but you know the danger to you and Seth. You’re both growing weaker by the moment.”

Much as she hated to admit it, Michael was right. Several years had passed since the last time they had been intimate. Being with Seth roused too many emotions in her, and she’d found it best just to avoid that.

“Lily.” Michael’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I just lost Mara. You’ve become like a sister to me. I cannot lose you as well.”

His voice rang with sorrow and sincerity, and it melted away the last of her fury. He would never have brought this up if he wasn’t truly terrified of something happening to her.

“Oh, Michael.”

The grief that had choked her throughout the past week came raging to the surface, stealing her breath away.

Michael reached out and pulled her into his arms, giving her some of the comfort she so desperately needed. “It’s okay, Lily. I know how much you miss her too.”

She clutched Michael’s shoulders and let him hold her. Though she’d always prided herself on being strong, it was nice to have someone to lean on, even if just for a brief moment.

After several long seconds, Michael leaned down to whisper into her ear. “You know I love both you and Seth, but if you won’t accept him any longer, at the very least
you
should grow your strength, even through Adam if necessary. I couldn’t stand to lose you both.”

Leaving her reeling from that particular declaration, he turned and went inside just as Seth stepped through the threshold.

Seth took a look at her and paused. “Are you okay, Lily?”

She forced back the wellspring of confusion swirling within her. “Yes.”

But as she accompanied Seth on the flight to his contact, tense silence swelled between them, and she couldn’t help but think of what Michael had said.

You should grow your strength, even through Adam if necessary.

He was right. She had to make a decision, sooner rather than later. Even if she was willing to sacrifice her own safety, she couldn’t risk the others. They needed her to be strong. To stand and fight with them.

So only one question remained. Who would she choose: the nephilim who might very well be able to steal her heart, or the angel who’d once had it yet thoughtlessly crushed it?

 

Chapter Four

 

 

T
he next several days passed by in a blur of activity. After collecting the torches, Lily and Seth left Nate and Rick to create more of the weapons and flew their stash to the underground rebel base. There, the torches were distributed amongst the rebels. They’d then struck out in various directions to recruit more humans.

After much discussion, they’d decided the rebels would handle first contact with the human population. Some people were bound to be scared of the Fallen, and who could blame them? For over a dozen years it had been drilled into their heads that the Fallen were evil.

Since Michael was certain the Tribunal would seek to return to their main tower in Central Park, most of their recruiting efforts with the humans had been concentrated in the city. After all, over eight million people lived there. If even one hundredth of them decided to rise up against the angels, odds were in their favor. At least that was the case now, since the humans had access to weapons that could actually kill the angels.  

Lily and Ruby had just returned from training some of the humans they’d recruited when a commotion sounded throughout the rebel base.

Exchanging a wary glance with Ruby, Lily followed the noise to the recreation room. Aaron and Ethan were inside, and they were in heated discussion with Michael, Seth, Jason, and the whole gang of rebels.

“What’s happened?” Lily asked, raising her voice to be heard.

Jason stopped in mid-speech and turned to face her. “Our surveillance cameras caught Ezekiel returning to the Central Park angel towers.”

All the breath rushed out of her lungs. She caught Michael’s gaze. “You were right.”

“I know Ezekiel,” he said grimly.

Yes, she supposed he did. The two were of similar age and had been rivals since before they could fly.

Adam pushed his way to the forefront of the rebel group. “We should attack before he leaves. We don’t know when, or if, we’ll get the opportunity again.”

“We should wait for the other Tribunal members,” Ruby countered. “What good is it bringing down just one of them? We need to get all three.”

Everyone broke out into speech at once, creating a din that made it impossible to follow what was going on.

“Enough.” Michael raised his hands, and the voices died down. He took a breath and turned to his mate, Eva. “What think you, beloved?”

“It’s too soon to attack,” she said softly.

He turned to Seth with a lift of his brow.

“I agree,” Seth said. “Though I don’t think we should wait long. The sooner we act, the more off guard the Tribunal will be. I very much doubt, if we act soon, that they’ll be expecting the humans, or for them to be carrying flame torches.”

When Michael turned his questing gaze to her, Lily said, “I agree.”

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