know if that was an accusation or an order. "No, I won't." Even as she spoke, she was vividly conscious that she'd have to use every ounce of her will to maintain her personality against the incredible strength of Raphael's.
He began tapping that envelope again, the action precise, deliberate. "As of today, you're on a deadline. You need to be on your feet and in the air in just over two months' time."
"Why?" she asked, even as delight bubbled through her bloodstream.
Prussian blue froze into black ice. "Lijuan is giving a ball in your honor."
"We're talking about Zhou Lijuan, the oldest of the archangels?" The bubbles went flat, lifeless. "She's . . . different."
"Yes. She has evolved." A hint of midnight whispered through his tone; shadows so thick they were almost corporeal. "She's no longer wholly of this world."
Her skin prickled, because for an immortal to say that . . . "Why would she hold a ball for me? She doesn't know me from Adam."
"On the contrary, Elena. The entire Cadre of Ten knows who you are - we hired you after all."
The idea of the most powerful body in the world being interested in her made her break out in a cold sweat. It didn't help that Raphael was one of them. She knew what he was capable of, the power he wielded, how easy it would be for him to cross the line into true evil. "Only nine now," she said.
"Uram's dead. Unless you found a replacement while I was in a coma?"
"No. Human time means little to us." The casual indifference of an immortal. "As for Lijuan, it's about power - she wants to see my little pet, see my weakness."
Chapter 2
His pet. His weakness.
"Her words or yours?"
"Does it matter?" A negligent shrug. "It's true."
She threw the knife with deadly accuracy. Raphael caught it in midair - by the blade. His blood flowed scarlet against the gold of his skin. "Was it not you who bled the last time?"
he asked conversationally as he dropped the knife to the formerly pristine white carpet and tightened his hand into a fist. The blood flow halted within a single second.
"You made me close my hand over a blade." Her heart was still racing from witnessing the sheer speed of him. Dear God. And she'd taken this man to her bed. Craved him even now.
"Hmm." He rose to his feet, walked to her.
At that moment, though he'd said he'd never hurt her, she wasn't so sure. Her fingers clenched on the sheets as he came to sit in front of her, one of his wings lying over her legs. It was a warm, surprisingly heavy weight. Angel wings weren't for show - as she was beginning to learn, they were pure muscle and tendon over bone, and like any other muscle, they had to be strengthened prior to use. Before, she'd only had to worry about tripping if she overtired herself. Now, she had to worry about falling out of the sky.
But that wasn't the danger that danced in front of her eyes right then.
No, all she saw was blue.
Never before Raphael had blue meant the color of sin, of seduction. Of pain.
He leaned in, brushed her hair from her neck with fingers that could bring pleasure so excruciating it hurt . . . and pressed a kiss to the ragged beat of her pulse. It made her shiver, and she found she'd tangled her hands in his hair. He kissed her again, causing the warmth in her stomach to uncoil with lazy grace through her body, demand in every slow pulse.
When something glittered at the edge of her vision, she realized he was covering her in angel dust, a decadent, delicious substance that mortals paid enormous amounts to possess. But Raphael had a special blend just for her. As she breathed in the motes, the seduction intensified, until all she could think of was sex, the ache in her wings, even her anger, forgotten.
"Yes," he whispered against her mouth. "I think you'll intrigue me through eternity."
It should've shattered the moment, but it didn't. Not when there was such erotic promise in his eyes, in the tone of his voice. She found herself trying to draw him closer, but his jaw tightened. "No, Elena. I'll break you." A blunt statement. A truth. "Read this."
Dropping the envelope onto the sheet, he rose, those magnificent wings of white - every filament tipped with luminous gold - flaring out to dust her in ecstasy.