Wings of the Wicked - By Courtney Allison Moulton Page 0,20
Marcus’s chest, hard enough to force him back a step. “This is Marcus. Ignore him. He’s a bad seed.”
As she checked him out, that growing smile of hers told me she was up to no good. She held out a hand for him to take. “Hi. I’m Kate. I’m a bad seed, too.”
Instead of shaking her hand, he swept it up and bowed his head to press his lips against the back of her hand. “A pleasure.”
If I were Kate, I would have swooned. But I wasn’t Kate and she wasn’t me. Instead of doing something apocalyptically uncool, she let two simple words roll off her tongue as if we were all in some classic Hollywood movie: “All mine.”
Marcus let go of her hand and she turned to me. “Where did you find this one?”
I thought quickly. “He’s a friend of Will’s … from … school.”
She glowered at me. “Why do you always get the hot college guys, and why didn’t you tell me you were bringing an extra?”
“Oh, I’m even more shocked than you are,” I said through my teeth as I smiled bitterly at Marcus. His eyes were glued on Kate. She had that effect.
“So, Marcus,” Kate said. “You go to college with Will?”
His smile widened almost imperceptibly. “Foreign exchange.”
“Interesting. Where are you from?”
“Spain,” he answered smoothly, voice like cream. “While I’m here, I hope to explore every last inch of America.”
Her brow arched suggestively. “Oh?”
I looked up at Will pleadingly. Strangely, he didn’t feel bothered at all by Marcus’s interest in a normal human girl. Was it common for reapers to date humans, or did they just sleep with them? If Will seemed to think it was okay for Marcus to do so, then was he guilty of it himself? The thought of Will with another girl was sickening, but I had to accept the fact that he was a guy, even if he was a reaper. Mortal girls practically threw themselves at him. Not to mention there was Ava and whatever history I suspected they had together.
“Would you like a drink, Marcus?” Kate offered.
“I’d love a drink,” Marcus replied.
“Okay then.” She beckoned for him to follow her into the kitchen.
I looked at Will. “Stay right here.”
He frowned. “I’m not a dog, Ellie.”
“Fine,” I chirped. “Then no biscuit for you.”
When I smiled at him, he grinned and rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to throw him out. Just leave him be.”
“I’m only going to talk to him,” I assured Will, and jogged to catch up with Marcus. I put a firm hand on his arm, stopping him before he went into the kitchen.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded.
“As I please.” He gazed down at me, his eyes challenging. He had no fear.
“Why would you come here, when I asked you not to, and then shamelessly flirt with my best friend? Who is human, no less.”
His expression darkened, and he leaned over me so close that I felt his breath on my cheek and no one else could overhear us. “Need I remind you, Preliator, that I am not your Guardian? You cannot control me.”
The way he said that reminded me of how very dangerous he was, no matter how well I had known him in past lives or the fact that he was an angelic reaper. But I wasn’t about to let him walk all over me. “But you serve the angels. I am the archangel Gabriel.”
He took a deep breath through his nose, brushing the tip of it across my cheek, very much like an animal. “You smell human to me.”
Reapers were very weird. At least Will didn’t sniff me like I was dinner. When I tried to speak, I realized I’d been holding my breath. “What are your intentions with her?”
He drew away, and that devil-may-care attitude returned in a heartbeat. “They’re entirely chaste, I assure you.”
“If you hurt her, reaper, I will take both of your balls.”
He stared at me for a moment before he huffed and smirked. “You’d try.” That momentary hesitation told me he knew I sure as hell would try. I’d probably succeed, too.
Marcus knew me just as well as I knew him from decades ago, and he knew what I was capable of. I didn’t quite remember his full strength, but his pause after my threat gave me hope that I could handle myself if things really went down.
Marcus walked past me into the kitchen without another word.
I closed my eyes, rubbed the bridge of my nose with