Chapter Eighteen
Mel
Trigger straightened, standing to his full height. He began to pace around the opposite edge of the glade with his lethal glare trained on Gabriel.
The angel looked like death incarnate with his bare chest heaving, his skin slick with rain and sweat, and his blond curls plastered to his brow, framing his murderous eyes.
I hardly recognized him.
Before me wasn’t just one animal, but two, both radiating violence and anger that weighed heavy on the air.
“Fuck off, Wings. She’s on pack territory now. Your piece of sunshine belongs to us.”
Gabriel’s lips curled into a menacing sneer. “Stupid little dog. I’m a celestial warrior. She belongs to me. And I have it on God’s authority to rip you apart piece by piece.”
Trigger took a step back as if he knew he was facing off against a stronger predator. But his pride wouldn’t let him back down. “You know what pisses me off the most about you celestial fucks? The fact that your kind thinks you’re better than us. You look down on us. When really, you’re shifters too. That’s all you are. Animals!”
“No, wolf. You’re the only animal here. I’m something far more dangerous. I’m a divine monster.” Gabe canted his head, his cool authority sending shivers down my back. “And I’ve got God’s blessing to destroy you in whatever fashion I see fit as punishment for laying a hand on a piece of Paradise. Hope you made it last. Because it’s as close to Heaven as you’ll ever come.”
I scrambled back in the grass, knowing full well that any second they were going to go at each other’s throats, and I did not want to be caught up in the middle of that.
The shifter was larger than Gabriel, with thick slabs of muscles. In his wolf form, he was even more gargantuan.
Gabriel had a far more lithe, athletic frame compared to the bulky tank of a shifter, but he was still built better than any human man I’d ever seen. And the shifter didn’t have Gabe beat for size in all departments. The angel seemed to be thinking the same thing, for his eyes dropped to the digit between Trigger’s thighs, and his grin turned shit-eating.
If Gabe was trying to coerce the beta to shift, it worked.
In a blink, a huge brown wolf stood before Gabriel, yellow teeth as sharp as razors bared and glinting in the angel’s glow.
The corner of my angel’s mouth pulled high like he was giddy to beat the shit out of my kidnapper. He stood with an air of authority that radiated off him like heat from an oven, appearing not the least bit intimidated.
Both beasts glowered daggers at each other across the glade, the intensity of their hatred enough to make the rain boil.
The tension was so thick, I could barely breathe. I couldn’t take my eyes off Gabriel, who was regarding the wolf like he was nothing more than a cockroach to be squashed. He was so confident, not a twitch of a muscle or a glint in his eyes betrayed that he already knew the outcome of this fight.
Gabe ripped his icy glare from the wolf, bearing all the chill of winter, and locked eyes with mine.
Just like magic, all the fear and exhaustion that had been raging inside me like a storm instantly dissolved.It’s alright, I’m here now,his gaze said, instilling within me a comforting warmth that chased away the bite of rain.
It was just a second that Gabe’s attention was turned to me, just a second that everything else melted away, and all we saw was each other. And Trigger did not hesitate to use that sliver of a moment to his advantage.
The great wolf lunged toward the angel, snarling and snapping, a blur of brown fur and deadly sharp teeth.
The wolf moved so fast my throat tightened with fear, strangling a cry to warn Gabe. But he didn’t need it. He moved with such grace and speed; it was like he was operating on a whole different plane of existence. And the beta of the Tacoma Pack had no hope of competing.
Gabe twisted to meet the animal, swinging his fist up so that knuckles slammed into the descending wolf, straight into the soft undersize of its muzzle with an unforgiving force of a heavy-weight boxer on steroids.
Trigger let out a whimper of pain as he went sailing through the air and skidding through the mud toward the outer edge of the glade.
All air left my lungs as I marveled at the display of impossible strength.
The shifter struggled to get on his paws, jarred by the sheer power of the man before him. I gapped at Gabriel with wide eyes. This was someone who I had known most of my life, yet, I hardly recognized him. The guy who I’d fallen in love with was supposed to be…normal. Up until that point, our lives together had been normal, filled with mundane,humanthings. We smoked weed and drank on weekends, and we’d come home on weeknights and bitch about work before sitting to the couch to watchSupernaturalorLuciferwith pancake dinners from IHOP.
But this was Gabriel, alright. The boy I’d fallen in love with the moment he pulled me from that river. Standing before me was a different version of that person. It was strange and beautiful, yet confusing, and though I knew I wouldn’t ever completely understand exactly what he was or how he’d come to be, it didn’t matter.
I was falling in love with him all over again.
His golden hair was plastered to his rain-streaked face. He ran the back of his arm over his brow to clear his vision, the three eyes on the inner forearm flashing for a moment. He was right. He was a monster, an imposing creature of immeasurable strength, and I couldn’t seem to peel my eyes away from him.
