Chapter Fifty-Eight
It was a good long while before Angel moved from where she was safely encased in the warmth and strength of Jake’s embrace. It was just too nice where she was. He smelled good. And clean. And his skin was soft over the hard ridges of his muscle, like silk over metal.
But she knew Gabe could return any minute, and this wasn’t how she wanted him to find things. “I need to clean up the mess,” she said softly against his chest.
But Jake laughed, the deep sound vibrating in his lungs beneath her cheek. It was such a wonderful sensation, so deep and beautiful. She gently pulled out of his arms and looked up at him. He was grinning broadly. “There isn’t anything to clean, Angel.”
Angel backed up a little more and gave him a confused look. She blinked when he only continued to grin. Then she moved to the side and peeked around his perfect body to where the files had all been thrown earlier.
Everything was in perfect order. Not a single piece of paper or file folder was out of place. Even the pencil holder and pencils, the sharpener, and the bin where he’d kept things like paper clips and staplers were back on the desk. Just as they had been when she’d walked in.
Angel slowly stood up, and Jake got to his feet after her. She moved to the desk, picked up the red folder, and opened it. Michael Clemens’ papers were intact again. Good as new. There was no evidence that they had at one point been crumpled, much less ripped into tiny shreds.
Angel put the folder back and looked over at Jake. “You know… it’s actually kind of scary that you can do this,” she said softly. The truth was, she was stunned. Jake was far more powerful than she’d thought. She couldn’t help but wonder how much more powerful. It was surprising. And it was thrilling. And if she was being completely honest, it was also a little frightening.
But that only thrilled her even more.
Jake cocked his head to one side and contemplated her with a mischievous look. “Would you like me to put it all back?”
Angel’s eyes widened. She held up her hands quickly, “No! No. That won’t be necessary.”
He laughed. He liked laughing, she noticed. Which was good, since he was so damn hot when he did it.
“Then you’re happy with it?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m happy with it.”
Jake grinned a beautiful, wicked grin. “Then get your cute little ass in that kitchen and make me a nice cup of coffee.”
Angel’s eyes widened. But she couldn’t keep from returning his smile. “And if I refuse?” she asked, because she felt like playing.
Jake lowered his head, and his green eyes lit with fire. He said, “I was hoping you would ask me that.”
Angel squealed, bolting for the door. She managed to make it back down the hall and through the door of the storm shelter guest room before a strong arm was sliding around her waist, a hard body was shoving her further inside, and the door slammed shut, locking behind them.
Thirty minutes later, Angel took her deliciously sore body down the hall once more and made her way toward the kitchen for the second time that night. She’d taken the time to get dressed enough that she was decent since this was the warden clan house and she would hate to run into anyone wearing next to nothing. But it felt awkward to be wearing shoes right now when Jake was still naked in bed.
The thought of him there made her slow down in the hall, and she bit her lip. Ugh, just keep moving soldier! she told herself. She still wanted her White Russian coffee, damn it, and she was determined to actually make one this time.
But when she entered the kitchen, she had an immediate view through it into the dining room on the other side. There was a table in the dining room where Vega members often sat to discuss cases. Right now, on the wall above the table hung a map covered in small red marker circles and one big red circle. It was a map of the Apex killings.
Angel stared at it a moment, holding very still as reality came crashing right back in on her. And she’d only just managed to push it away, too.
The fact was, Dmitri was still out there, and he still wanted her. And just like that, Angel realized that if she wanted to meet with him, she was going to have to find a way to slip past her would-be bodyguards. Jake and Gabe were probably not going to give her a single moment when she wasn’t with at least one of them. Angel knew that was why Gabe hadn’t blown a gasket when Jake offered to stay at the Vega safe house with her tonight.
She had a crazed psychopathic Apex on her tail, and Malek had given them the heads-up that there might be a second danger milling about out there too. So she was stuck with two well-trained, highly skilled guardians. They won’t let me leave the clan house. And if she managed to somehow convince them otherwise, they absolutely would not allow her more than fifty feet away from them.
So… when exactly had she been planning on meeting Dmitri to accept his offer?
I have to do it right now.
The thought was a horrible one to have just at that moment. It was like taking a bite out of the most delicious Honeycrisp apple ever grown and swallowing it down, only to look down and find half a worm in the impression. She’d just experienced bliss at Jake’s hands. Again. And now for dessert, she was going to give herself to another man.
Nausea hit her hard and fast, and Angel was doubling over. She grasped her knees and tried to breathe through it, careful not to make even the slightest sound. She didn’t want Jake coming to check on her again. But her mind spun. I can’t do this, she thought. Gods help me, I just can’t.
It was just too much. After everything, this was the shit icing on the cake.
But you have to do it.
Her inner voice was as merciless as ever. She supposed it had to be. It had been that way since she was seventeen. If she wasn’t strict with herself, she wouldn’t be strong. And she wanted to be strong. Right now, she absolutely needed to be strong.
Maybe it was good that you had to get dressed after all, she thought whimsically. But that whimsical thought sounded a little hysterical. She had to admit she was hedging closer to crazy town these days.
Angel slowly straightened. She ran a hand through her hair and turned a circle in the kitchen, making sure she was alone and didn’t hear anyone moving around. She’d left Jake lounging in the bed and had given him strict orders not to get out of it. Hopefully he would do as he’d been told.
She reached out with her mind to see if she had any magic at her disposal. Miraculously, there was quite a bit there. She was sure she’d spent all but the tiniest amount of it in her flight from Jake and David, burning through almost all of her grimoire, so to speak. But several pages had been replaced somehow.
Not only were her wards still up, the single-word recall for a transportation portal was still in effect. That didn’t surprise her too much, since she’d developed the spell to last a day or so, just like the mental wards. But what did surprise her was all the extra magic she seemed to have at her disposal. It was almost the way it had been when Cain had healed her. Had… Malek done something to her too? The bite mark on her neck was gone, so maybe he’d healed other aspects of her with whatever he’d done?
She didn’t have time to wonder about it too much. And really, it wasn’t important. What was important was that the magic was there and ready to be used.
Stay focused, Angel.
Angel moved to the coffee pot, loaded it, and switched it on. Jake would probably hear that, and at the very least he would smell it. Then she moved to the drawer that contained the kitchen towels, and she took one out. She folded it several times and placed it over her mouth to muffle her words as much as possible.
Then she spoke the words of an outward silence spell. The magic behaved like noise-canceling headphones to anyone listening, effectively “silencing” a certain area around the spell caster to anyone outside that area. She would still hear herself, but no one else would. More importantly, it would mask the noise the portal would make as it arrived.
After that, she lowered the towel and tossed it back on the counter. Then she spoke the single word necessary to recall her transport spell. It reacted immediately, and as soon as the portal swirled open in front of her, Angel leapt in.
She used more magic to force it shut as rapidly as possible. For a destination, she focused on a location she knew Dmitri would be familiar with. She conjured an image of a certain New York property from her past. Again, knowing Dmitri would find her anywhere she went, she sent her instructions into the portal: Take me to the Harlem Bridge.
The portal whisked her away.