He was standing in the backyard, overlooking the fence that provided a barrier to the beautiful rich forest of Colorado. All around him, melted snowdrops fell from nearby pines, the air crisp and cool.

I was sure he could hear me approaching as the snow crunched beneath my feet. It wasn’t until I was right behind him that he spoke to acknowledge me.

Micah looked exhausted, and his Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he swallowed. “He said you’d come.”

Every instinct I had told me to touch him—to somehow convince him that whatever dark thoughts he was having, it would be okay because we could face it together. The words felt like lies, however, because we both knew that it hadn’t mattered in the end. Someone had found them, and used Austin to try to hurt Holly.

“I’m still not sure how Maxwell left the store. As long as I’ve known him, he’s been like a permanent fixture. I just assumed he was destined to haunt the place forever.” My hand reached out, only to fall short. Micah didn’t move closer, either.

“I’m not going to lie. He scared the crap out of me when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but I guess he had a lot on his mind that needed to be spoken.”

He still hadn’t looked at me.

“You’ll get used to him. Maxwell can be rather long-winded when he chooses to.” I trailed over to a small path of thawed ground, smiling at the brave little flower trying its hardest to thrive in the frost. “It’s amazing how resilient we can be when we have to.” It was a random kind of thought that simply fell out. I crouched over and gingerly stroked the pretty purple petals.

“But it would be better to never be placed in that situation to begin with,” Micah countered. Even though I’d been musing about nature and the coming of each new season, he was referring to something much closer to home.

“Do you honestly believe that? That life should be as easy as possible with little opposition?”

When he turned to answer, the familiar Micah I’d first met stood looking down at me. Gone was the man I’d seen heal me—love in his eyes, wings unfurled at his back. There had been nothing separating us last night, and now he’d returned to being tight-lipped and shut off.

He shrugged. “I don’t know what I believe anymore.” Removing his hands from his heavy black coat, Micah helped me stand. “I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t expecting you. I just also know that they will never stop coming for her.”

By her, he meant Holly.

“You can’t keep running, though, Micah. I’m not saying you have to settle down and live the rest of your life out in Havenwood Falls, but sooner or later, you’re going to run out of places to hide. Wouldn’t it be better to make a stand where you will at least be surrounded by the support of friends?”

“Are you volunteering for that position, Sedona? Are you ready to die for me and Holly?” Pain filled his face, the first true emotion he’d let show. I wanted to comfort him, cradle his cheek with my hand while we tried to work things out. There were so many things I wanted to say and do, but I didn’t.

Damn if my fear wasn’t still there.

“I’d be a liar if I said last night wasn’t an eye opener. I’m not arguing that with you at all. You told me things could get dangerous, and they did. I just don’t think you necessarily have to do it alone. Aren’t you tired of always being strong?”

This time I did lightly rest my hand on his arm, and he didn’t shrug it off.

“I am old, Sedona. I have existed from almost the beginning of time, and I’ve experienced so much ugliness in this world. It doesn’t matter the time or people—humanity can be cruel with its thirst for power and greed. I never questioned my duty as an angel—a sentinel of mankind. I protect at all costs.” He tilted his head to the side, catching my gaze. “I also destroy at all costs. My life was never truly my own, because I was only ever viewed as a weapon.”

“But?” He hadn’t said it, but I knew one was coming. There was always a ‘but’ that marked those moments when everything changed, paths diverted, and lives altered.

“And then there was Holly.”

Micah shoved his hands back in his pockets, and with his gaze now held by some invisible thing in the distance, he lowered his voice to a hushed tone.

“She’s special. She has . . . gifts . . . abilities that could have a profound impact on the world as we know it. And just like me . . . in the wrong hands . . . she could be a weapon of mass destruction.”

My mind raced as it flickered through all the different powers and types of supernatural creatures that existed. None of them really screamed the sweet, naïve, fourteen-year-old girl I’d come to know.

“Holly?” I questioned, confused. I cast a backward glance to the house. “She seems so . . .”

Micah barked out a brusque laugh. “Normal?” I nodded quickly. I wanted to pry and ask what she was, but Micah beat me to it. “She’s a fledgling oracle who’s still trying to understand and learn to use her gifts. In time, she will have the ability to predict situations of great importance and shape them either to the benefit of all or to destruction, if the wrong people control her. With her approaching powers, she could level civilizations, undoing them with a few syllables. She’s a weapon that should only ever be wielded when all other hope is lost.”

“So you were assigned to protect her?” That made the most sense to me, because it was exactly what I’d been watching him do from the moment I’d met him. It was actually one of those endearing qualities I’d admired of his.

His next words chilled me to my core. “No, I was ordered to destroy her. She is such a wild card that the powers that be deemed it safer to have her killed than risk those with evil intentions using her.”

It was my turn to laugh, mine coming out more strangled than his. “And it’s not evil to kill a child?”

My voice rang out, and it startled some nesting birds in the trees. Their wings flapping through the air afforded us a temporary moment to pause and breathe. I was only beginning to catch a tiny glimpse into the secrets Micah held, and I already felt like I was drowning.

“It wasn’t my position to question my superiors. I was ordered to take her from her home and dispose of her like she—” His voice cracked under heavy emotion. It revealed that despite what he’d said, Micah had grown to love his young charge, and the thought of harming even a hair on her head was utterly abhorrent. “Like she was chattel.”

“But something changed,” I encouraged, hoping to keep him talking. I tightened the coat around me with the hope of staving off the cold air. There was no way I was moving until I’d heard everything he was willing to share.

Micah snapped out of whatever he was seeing in his mind’s eye and approached me once more. Tucking a stray hair back beneath the hem of the beanie, he studied my features until his gaze finally rested on mine. “I looked in her eyes, and I knew that not only would I give my life for her, but that I would spend the rest of my days roaming the earth in order to keep her hidden.”

“Micah?” I whispered, feeling completely mesmerized by his confession.

“Sedona,” he answered. “It’s the same way I feel as I look at you now.”

A loud breath escaped from my mouth as his new admission registered. “But you’ll still leave.”

A stray tear dropped down over his cheek—one single lonely tear that held all the emotions he kept bottled up.

“Because my duty to her trumps what I feel for you. If I stay, there is the very real risk I will lose you both.” Before I could say anything, he shook his head, and dug a small velvet pouch from his pocket. “So before we have to leave, there’s something I want you to have . . . need you to have. It’s the only way I can walk away knowing you’ll be okay.”

With nimble fingers, he undid the loose knot, and slowly withdrew a beautiful silver chain, but it wasn’t the idea of jewelry that made me gasp out loud or my hand instantly cover my mouth.

Hanging from the chain was a silver-filigreed vial that contained an ethereal, glowing substance that seemed to pulse with energy and life.

“Promise me you’ll wear this always, Sedona. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough of my grace to heal you should anyone come looking for us once we’re gone. I couldn’t bear leaving you defenseless.”

My fingers touched the vial, and the liquid responded to my touch. The emotions emanating from it were identical to the glorious feeling of peace and love from last night.

“Your grace.” I was completely in awe. “I can’t accept this.”

I held it back out to him—half hoping he wouldn’t take it, because if this was all I could have of him, I would cherish it until my last breath.

“I wish I were a different man. I wish we had met under different circumstances, but we are who we are.” He took a step back. He was already distancing himself from me.

Something Maxwell had said inserted itself into my thoughts.

He’d asked me whether Micah was worth fighting for, whether telling him how I felt was worth the risk of possible rejection.

That answer was now a resounding yes!

“We are who we are,” I finally said, dropping all of my own insecurities and boundaries. This could possibly be the most vulnerable we might ever be, and it was time to lay it all bare. “I can’t predict the future like Holly, and I’m sure as heck no divine creature. My name is Sedona Mathews, and I’m an empath who still has so much to learn. I’m going to make mistakes. I don’t have any special survival skills to offer. All I have is me and my capacity to love with everything I have.”

And that’s when I realized it was bigger than that—larger than just him and me.

“And this is Havenwood Falls. We may have our secrets and flaws, but we are also fiercely protective of our own. Hurt one of us, and you hurt us all. Stay with me. Stay here with us all. Let the town help you protect Holly. No one wants to hurt a child. You might be surprised to find yourself surrounded by others who are equally ready to face the future and the unseen.”

Another thought surfaced. “And Micah? Holly isn’t the only one here in town with these kinds of powers, so knowing that, don’t you think we’re better equipped to help?”

“There’s more to who Holly is . . . more to who her father is that makes her a target to anyone privy to that knowledge.”

I opened my mouth to question him about it, but Micah immediately gestured that he wasn’t ready to divulge that particular secret. “It’s a secret that I will guard to the death, and even then, there is no force under Heaven that would make me utter those truths.”

I knew better than to press the issue. I was simply grateful he’d opened up enough to let me catch a glimpse of what he was dealing with. It was an incredible burden, and one I would figure out how I could best help him carry.

“I’m not suggesting you talk with my aunt again.” That little admission caused a smile to curl the edges of his mouth, a soft chuckle rumbling within him. “But there are other coven members who you can talk to. Members of the Court. Someone . . . anyone. All you need to do is ask. We can face this together. You will have the support you need.”

“I can’t ask that of you or of strangers.” He kept shaking his head, but I didn’t let that deter me from speaking my truth.

“You don’t have to ask, Micah. Don’t you see that? I’ve grown to love Holly, and given a chance, the town will too. You just need to let us in.” My hands now lay on his chest, my fingers over his heart. “You just have to give us a chance.”

We stood there quietly as the sky began to darken. Neither of us spoke, and it was difficult not holding my breath because my insides were churning with nerves.

Micah’s slow grin was like an elixir on my soul. “Did you know that someone sold the air guitar they played at a Bon Jovi concert for five dollars and fifty cents on eBay?”

“Is that so?” I smiled, cocking my eyebrows.

Shivers shot through me as Micah trailed his finger over my cheek. “I figured if I’m going to stick around, I’d better come up with my own source of knowledge. Can’t let you have all the fun.” His soft chuckle warmed my insides.

“I can’t promise what tomorrow holds,” I said, and I tightened my grip on the front of his coat. “But we’ll face it together.”

“Is that so?” Micah brushed his lips over mine, and I felt my body relax.

“That’s a fact.” Then without waiting, I pulled him in and claimed his mouth, kissing him with everything I had.

Life might not get any easier, and dark days may be headed directly toward us, but in that moment the only truth that mattered was this . . .

Strange things happen in Havenwood Falls, but this is our life.

Oh, and angels are amazing kissers.

* * *

We hope you enjoyed this story in the Havenwood Falls series featuring a variety of supernatural creatures. The series is a collaborative effort by multiple authors.

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