“No!” she cried out as the long weapon sank into Lore.
He stumbled free of the blade. It didn’t stop him. He ducked a blow coming at him from the front and rammed his huge sword behind him with such deadly precision that it plunged straight through the heart of the one who had wounded him.
The angel faltered, and his entire being shuddered. In a burst of light, he shot up into the sky.
Lore didn’t even glance back. He countered the dark-winged angel, his own fiery extremities spreading. With his widerwingspan and enormous sword braced, he appeared utterly perilous. Through the grimy window, she could see a wet gleam spreading over his chest. But he should have already healed, shouldn’t he?
They appeared to be talking.
Whatever words they shared, his stance revealed unyielding tension.
The dark-winged angel’s arm moved in a flash, his sword pressing into Lore’s throat.
“No, no, Lore. What are you doing?” Her breath misted against the glass. “Take him out?—”
With a powerful thrust of his free hand, Lore slammed the angel in his belly. He folded over and vanished.
Nia pivoted and sprinted for the door, but Lore was already there. His chest heaving, his gaze skimmed over her as if she were the one injured.
“What happened?” She clutched his shirt, her gaze fixed on the blood covering his chest. “You’re bleeding!”
“I’m okay.”
“I’mnot! I saw that sword go through you—” She darted around to his back and swallowed hard at the exit hole glistening with blood.
“Nia.” He faced her and gently stroked her cheek. “It’s nothing.”
It was alwaysnothingwith him.
Mouth tight, she yanked his shirt apart. Buttons snapped, hitting the floor. She blinked at the seeping wound. “Why aren’t you healing?”
He glanced at his chest, then shrugged. “It seems emotions have made me a little vulnerable.”
Her breath escaped in a rush. “What?”
“I’ll still heal faster than a human,” he pointed out.
“Will your full healing power return?”
“Yes, but only when I return to the Celestial Realm. There are certain steps I would need to take…”
When he said nothing more, she let out a sigh, grasped his hand, and tugged him down the gloomy passageway.
“Where are we going in such a hurry?” he drawled. “Bed?”
Like all males, his mind would go there.
“This corridor is fine, too,” he baited. “I like you trapped between the wall and me.”
She snorted as that infernal heat spiked again at his seductive promise. Even though she knew he was doing so to take her mind off his injury, she loved this emerging teasing side of him.
Nia opened the door to the room she occupied and pointed to the bed. “Sit. I’ll be back in a sec.”
She dashed to the small bathroom and found what she wanted in the cabinet beneath the sink. First aid kit in hand, she straightened and squeaked at the figure looming behind her in the cloudy mirror.
“Christ, Lore! You scared the heck out of me!” she grumbled, setting the kit next to the sink. “You can’t stay put, can you?”
“You weren’t there. I grew bored.”
