Maddox told his brother everything. The bargain he’d made with Azrael. How the curse had blinded him, sent him into the path of an oncoming car. Killian saving his life. How he was falling for the handsome, tortured witch. And how they’d scattered the celestial sand to the winds.
“I failed, Sin. I wanted to help you. To bring you back to the celestial realm. What good is an angel who can’t save his own brother?”
“Maddox, you are not to live your life for me. I know you wish to help me atone for my mistakes. But I was the one who fell prey to La Fiura. I let her control me, use me in the most vile of ways, and kill…so many people.” Sin’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Atoning for my crimes…that is something only I can do, brother.”
“But Sin, I don’t want to return to the celestial realm without you.” Maddox thunked his head against the wall and stared up at the ceiling.
Over the line, a sigh carried. “Brother, I don’t think you want to return to the celestial realm at all.”
Maddox closed his eyes. “There’s nothing there for me. Without you, without…”
Killian.
“Mad, no one can live their life for another. That isn’t truly living. You’re half human. You were born of two worlds. As was I. And at some point, you must make a choice. The human world, or the celestial one.” Someone knocked at Sinclair’s door, and he cursed under his breath. “I have to go, Mad. But please…whatever you do…do it for yourself.”
When he returned to the room, Killian was still asleep, and seeing the man’s face relaxed did something to Mad’s insides he liked very much. Stripping off his robe, he climbed into bed and draped his arm over Killian’s waist. Sleep wouldn’t come, though. He could only think back over his very long celestial life. If he stayed on earth, would he retain his immortality? He could definitely be hurt. His various injuries were mostly healed, but when he moved, he still felt the dull ache in his arm and wing.
Bruises decorated his torso, fading now into yellow and deep purple. His fingers ghosted over the bandage on Killian’s side, and he wished he had Raphael’s unique gift of healing.
“Do that again,” Killian murmured, his voice thick with sleep.
“This?” Mad skimmed a light touch over Killian’s ribs. “Why?”
With a quiet grunt, Killian rolled over, and his erection tented the sheets. “You have to ask?”
“Killian, you need to rest.” Cupping Killian’s cheek, Maddox brushed his lips to his, and suddenly, neither one of them were tired. Killian’s fingers threaded through Maddox’s hair, pulling him closer and kissing him so thoroughly, Maddox found himself panting when the witch finally pulled away.
“I need you. Need...this.” Killian linked his fingers with Maddox’s. “I don’t know why.”
“I do.” Maddox leaned in, tracing Killian’s new brand with his lips and tongue. The witch shuddered under him, thrusting his hips against Mad. “We were meant to find one another.”
“This curse...” Killian’s voice shook, and he nudged Maddox’s chin to get him to look up. “I killed a man. One I cared for. Deeply.”
The shimmer in Killian’s blue-gray eyes nearly broke him, and Maddox pulled him into his arms. “Tell me. All of it.”
They huddled under the blankets, Killian’s head on his shoulder. “Oliver was Jezebel’s brother. He was turned into a vampire when we were twenty. But he vowed he would not let that come between us.”
“You were intimate?” A wave of jealousy rolled along Maddox’s spine, and he forced it away. This Oliver was dead and gone, and Killian needed his support now.
“No. We were going on holiday. I think...we’d talked about making it our first time.” Swiping at his eyes, Killian turned over, his back to Maddox’s chest. “Oliver’s sire was reckless. He failed to teach him how to feed without killing. Ollie learned, but not until he’d killed three men by accident. One...he was a werewolf. Another member of the pack came after him.”
Killian took a deep breath, and his words started to come faster and faster. “I heard him scream. My home was only two kilometers away, but by the time I arrived, the werewolf had bitten off Oliver’s hand and cracked his skull. He was about to charge him with a silver dagger. My spell...I used my magic to shove Oliver out of his path, but I had no control. He landed on a fence post.” A single sob escaped Killian’s lips, and Maddox tightened his hold on his witch. “I tried to heal him, but I failed. He died in my arms.”
“It was an accident. A mistake.”
“How can you say that? You’re an angel.” Killian pushed out of his arms and got to his feet, pacing the room. “How can you be okay with my taking a life? Two, technically, since the werewolf died as well.”
“My brother is the best man I have ever known,” Maddox said as he twisted the blanket between his fingers. “But he fell under the thrall of one of the worst demons to ever walk the earthen realm or any other. He had no choice in what he did. Yet, he carries the guilt like a mountain on his shoulders. He’s why I came to retrieve the sand in the first place. His crimes...they are so legion, he may never earn his way back to the celestial realm. I tried to bargain with the Angel of Death for his soul.”
“Bargains have a way of cocking up everything,” Killian murmured.
Maddox threw back the blankets and caught Killian’s hand to stop his restless movements. “No one is without fault, Killian. Not even angels.”
Acutely aware the two of them were only inches apart and completely naked, Maddox appreciated Killian’s lithe, toned body. His abs flexed as he tried to take a step back, but Maddox wouldn’t let him.
“I want you. I want to taste you. To feel you inside me. Because you’re fit,” Maddox said, using Killian’s word. “But also because you have a good heart, a quick mind. You saved my life, knowing nothing about what I’d done, and you did not betray me even when you were being tortured. That is a good man.”
Silence stretched between them, and Maddox reached out with his gifts to sense Killian’s emotions.
