Keeper of Crows (Keeper of Crows #1)(43)

She turned to look at me, the light in her eyes clouded with tears. Blurry, but still visible.

“Please let her stay!” I begged. “Gabriel, please?”

Step by step, they ascended until they disappeared entirely.

“Mom!”

I collapsed onto the rocks, flinging an angry handful into the churning water. Why did she leave? Where did she have to go? Why didn’t we have more time?

Michael’s hand found my shoulder. He crouched behind me soundlessly and then sat down with me.

“I know it may not make sense to you right now, but she has been saved. I pleaded for her to be granted entrance into Heaven.”

My eyes widened. “You did?”

“Given the circumstances, with your father being who he is and with the knowledge of what he did to her, on Earth and in Purgatory, entrance was granted. Immediately.”

At the same time my heart broke, it was full. Mom was finally getting what she deserved: an eternity of happiness. She deserved it after dealing with my father, sipping his poison for so long.

“I watched a movie once that said suicides can’t get into heaven.”

“Sometimes they can’t, but the circumstances that led her to that decision were considered. Your father was sending her to a shrink who prescribed a drug to her that he knew had a high likelihood of causing suicidal thoughts and actions. Your father’s company was responsible for manufacturing it. He used favors to get it approved by the FDA, and your mother was in the first human trial. In effect, she was his first guinea pig. We believe you also took the drug while in rehab.”

“Doc?” That knocked the breath from me.

Michael nodded. “One of your father’s many friends,” he spat.

I could feel my body deflate. How far was my father’s reach?

“Far and wide, Carmen. He’s very powerful, more so in this era than any other, and in both realms as well.”

“That sucks.”

He stared at the water. “I know.”

I clutched the Angel stone. If it weren’t smooth, it would have sliced me open the same way my father did. He has to be stopped. I have to stop him. It has to be me, I thought to myself, knowing Michael couldn’t hear.

We sat near the water until the cleansing rain fell that afternoon. Michael stood up and walked toward the trees. I held tightly to the stone, hoping Gabriel hadn’t lied about its powers. Could angels lie?

If he could hear my thoughts while I clutched the rock, Michael never let on. Shivering in soaked clothing, he approached with dried branches from the forest floor, arranged a rock circle on the river bank, and stacked the wood. “The fire will warm you.”

“Don’t suppose you have a lighter?” I teased.

He smirked. “I don’t need one.”

He held his finger out and a flame appeared at the end. The fire slowly began to consume the dry bark, licking its way up the stack of wood.

“That was sexy,” I said, meaning every word.

Michael grinned, but didn’t reply. I pondered the contour of his mouth; soft, pillowy bottom lip, strong, stern top lip. Lips that knew how to move over those of a woman... instinctually.

His eyes flashed a deep crimson. “Stop.”

Clutching the Angel stone, I couldn’t help but laugh. His eyes were like a damn traffic light. “Sorry, I will. I’m... sorry.” I giggled.

“What is so funny?” he growled, stalking toward me.

I took a step back. The Keeper of Crows might just be Michael to me, but he was all archangel to everyone else, and at times when he was all worked up like this, if he had wings, I’d have fallen at his feet and begged him for mercy.

“Your thoughts are erratic. I can’t read you. Are you laughing at my lips, or at my ability to wield them, Carmen?” His face was an inch from mine. He’d moved so fast, my mind couldn’t process what I saw.

“Uh...neither?”

“Is that a question or an assertion?”

I didn’t know which it was, because my mind felt tingly when he was this close. I just wanted him to press those lips to mine and show me how skilled he was with them. Then, suddenly he did. And it was heavenly. His lips captured mine and his teeth scraped against my flesh as they nipped and pulled my bottom lip, taking it and making it their captive. My entire body was on fire. My eyes fluttered closed, but I was sure he’d used his fiery finger to ignite me. When his hands found my waist and reeled me in, my knees buckled. When his fingers urged my head forward, I wished I had hair for him to pull. When he finally broke away, panting just like I was, my heart shattered.

He pointed a finger at me accusingly. “You...”

“Me?”

“You tempt me!” he yelled.

“Well you tempt me, too! You’re like sex on a stick dipped in butter!”

His brows furrowed. “Sex on a stick dipped in...?”

“BUTTER!” I yelled, turning my back to him. I crossed my arms over my thundering heart to keep it from leaping out of my chest and beating him to death. He was so frustrating!

Then he laughed. His deep, rumbling laughter filled the space between us and I wanted him to stop. I picked up a handful of pebbles and launched them at him. He stopped chuckling immediately, his eyes turning a playful shade of pink. I knew I was in trouble. Turning as fast as I could, I took off running from him, but he caught me in only a few feet.