“I don’t know the details of her condition, sir, but the doctor on duty—”
“Thanks.”
The elevator would be too slow, and I bounded for the stairs, taking them three at a time and putting on a burst of supernatural speed whenever the halls were clear of witnesses. Stopping outside Nikki’s door only to make a vague attempt at composing myself, I paced back and forth, shaking the tension from my hands.
The move was useless.
Pushing the door open and wincing at the squeak, a growl rumbled through my throat.
There was a man standing next to her bed.
No, not a man.
An angel.
A literal angel.
While he wasn’t the first I had come across on Earth, I’d never had a proper conversation with one or anything more than a nod of recognition from me and a frown of suspicion from them.
“Who are you?” I demanded.Why would an angel be here?
He turned, all chiseled features and eyes bluer than blue. I ignored the look of sympathy on his face, his brows pulledtogether, and when he didn’t answer me fast enough, a chill ran through my body, ice pulsing through my veins and freezing me to the spot.
No.
“Are you here to take her away?” My voice was gravelly with emotion I hated to admit to, and my fingers twitched with the urge to attack him, the knowledge that would be a foolish move was irrelevant when faced with the idea he was here to take Nikki away from me.
Nikki.
“I’m not here to take her away,” the angel said, his voice as fucking soothing as his eyes. Shoving him to the side, I laid my eyes upon my human, my mate, my Nikki. There were no words, only a raw, guttural moan escaped my lips as I forced myself to cross the room to her. She looked so small against the hospital bed, her hair cascading around the pillow and her shoulders. She was surrounded and hooked up to tubes, IV lines, and several machines which beeped, hissed, and breathed for her.
My hands hovered above her body. I wanted to hold her hand and caress her hair, but she looked so fragile I thought I might break her if I were to touch her.
My angel.
The longer I watched, hovering helplessly over her body, the weaker I felt. My legs trembled under my own weight, and I gripped the bar on the side of her bed, the metal creaking and clanking under my weight.
It was her, she was making me weak. Shemademe weak. I thought only human blood controlled us—if a demon loves someone, because despite our reputation, we love deeply and completely, our loves become our weakness. You can create a trap using a demon’s lover’s blood, a circle on the ground can stop us from transforming. Here I stood next to Nikki, who had completely consumed me, who I could no longer deny myfeelings for, and her being hurt was physically weakening me.
I shuddered under the weight of the knowledge that I loved her.
Ilovedher, and I had driven her to this.
She was my weakness, my love, and if she died, I didn’t want to live.
“Oh, Nikki, I’m so sorry,” I whispered. When I pivoted and grabbed at the T-shirt of the angel by her bedside, he didn’t flinch, but his blue eyes clouded over with the natural white of angels before he controlled his anger. “What happened to her?”
“Zaqiel,” he muttered, bringing his hands to mine and removing my grip from his shirt.
“What happened to her,Zaqiel?”
“A car accide—”
“No fucking shit! I mean…is she going to be okay?”The anger exploded from me, and Zaqiel carefully arched a brow.
“If you’ll calm for a moment, I will explain.”
There was no calming, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off Nikki, strapped to the bed so she didn’t pull out her tubes and lines if she spasmed in her state. She was a prisoner of her body and this room, and I hated it.
