Archangel's War (Guild Hunter #12) - Nalini Singh Page 0,144

awaited below—if he fell, it was over. Lijuan’s forces would take him. And she would feed on an archangel.

Sire. Jason dropped out of the sky, Jurgen with him. Falling on either side of Raphael, the two dark-winged angels literally dragged him into the air, while Andreja covered their retreat with a machine gun.

Run, Raphael commanded her and she followed them up, firing at the enemy the entire way.

The rest of Jason’s stealth squad appeared around them.

All of them made it to safety, with the majority of the squad splitting off to return to the front line. Leave me on the roof of the Legion building and go, Raphael ordered, even as blackness began to creep across his vision. This is when Xi will launch a secondary attack, while he believes we are at our weakest.

Sire, Jason argued, why the Legion building and not the infirmary?

Because Elena is waiting for me there. Alongside their Legion. Go.

Jason and Jurgen eased him to the rooftop, then took off. That they weren’t happy about it was obvious even through his increasingly narrow field of vision.

Eyes of liquid silver above him, the near-white of Elena’s hair windswept around her head—and her expression ferociously set. “Shit, Archangel, you look like crap.” Cutting away his leathers to expose his chest, she pressed both hands to his skin. “If this doesn’t work, I’m going to kill you.”

Nothing happened. The world hung in balance.

“Black stuff’s trying to crawl onto my skin.”

“Break contact.” He lifted his hand, caught her wrist.

“No, wait.” She dug her nails into his skin when he would’ve moved her. “Hah! Stupid stuff can’t get a grip.”

Before he could ask what she meant, the opalescent wildfire contained in Elena’s body jolted into his in a savage blast that had his back arching as he clenched his jaw and attempted not to scream. The wildfire was unrelenting torture through his veins, along his wings, on his eyes as it ate away at Lijuan’s poison.

Elena never broke contact with his skin. He could hear her voice in his head and though he couldn’t divine the words through the howl of the battle taking place in his body, it was a reminder that he was not just the Archangel of New York.

He was Elena’s lover . . . and her beloved.

It was only when his body slammed back down onto the hard surface of the roof that he realized he’d lifted partially off. Breath heaving as wildfire continued to shoot through his veins in sharp stabs, he opened his eyes. “How does it look?” His senses remained dazed from the dual punch he’d taken—first from Lijuan, then from Elena.

Such a vicious punch for so small an amount.

Yet Lijuan had survived blow after blow after blow with little effect.

“Eyes clear.” Breaking contact, she watched with intense care as he got to his feet.

Upright, he flexed his hands and saw that his veins were wildfire, a glowing network of midnight and dawn that flowed to living green. Shifting to go behind him, Elena ran her hands over his wings.

“Clean,” she pronounced, just as the lovely, strange wildfire under his skin faded and settled. “No sign of the poison.” Exhaling on a shudder, she pressed her head to his back. “Fuck. I can’t believe that worked. Not after what you told me about Antonicus.”

“Neither can I.” It had been a desperate gamble put in play when it became clear Lijuan was planning to strike.

“Could be you have a level of immunity because of the dregs of wildfire always inside your cells.”

“Perhaps.” He looked out at where battle had broken out once more, the dazzling light of Aodhan’s power coming up against the obsidian of one of Lijuan’s generals. “I’ve bought us a little time before Lijuan rises again. It may be enough for my wildfire to fully regenerate.”

Dmitri, report.

Lijuan’s soldiers are building another mound of bodies for her to feed from, but other than that they look to be hunkering down in a defensive formation. Aodhan and Jason are dealing with a small air attack, and Venom’s cleaning up one on the ground. No loss of territory.

The Legion, who had stood watch around the rooftop during the transfer, began to whisper in his mind. Raphael. Aeclari. We give.

Raphael found the Primary, shook his head. “Not yet. I can recover without it this time.” He didn’t know if his body had developed enough to hold both the Cascade power and the Legion energies. “Give me the power only when there is no other choice,