The Forsaken(57)

He cupped her chin. “I thought you knew. She catches glimpses of the future. I read her mind when I first arrived and caught that. I had assumed she had told you.”

“No, she had not,” said Izzy, clenching her teeth.

“I am sure she has her reasons,” said Nat, moving to once again play with her hair. “After all, I’m fairly certain you have not shared all your secrets with her.”

Izzy titled her head so she could look Nat in the eyes. “Did you read my mind?” Izzy would kill him if he said yes.

His lips skimmed hers, a tease of a kiss when she wanted more. “Sadly, no. I tried but when it comes to you, Izzy, I get nothing. I think I know why.”

“And that would be?” she urged, lightly nipping at his lips.

“Because you can’t read the person you love with your mind; it has to come from the heart and soul.”

Izzy thought his poetic prose the most angelic thing he’d ever spoken. The last thing she wanted her Nathanael to know was all the tricks she had up her sleeve. Some Cherub secrets needed to remain.





Epilogue


Ash sat in the corner of the common room, safely disguised as the human Gareth. He’d been invited in because Gareth had military training and Isabella and her devoted Seraphim warrior Nathanael wanted to use his skills to help train the Earth-born angels. A shiver passed through Ash, which surprised him. He hadn’t known there were such things—Earth-born angels who were anything but angelic. The men were pencil pushers, more at ease in their business suits and iPhones, and sadly the women weren’t much better. Ash concentrated. Paying attention to what Isabella and Nathanael wanted to do was a momentous task, but a necessity. However, these Earth-born angels seemed powerless.

A movement at the door caught his attention. Turning, he watched two late twenty-something men saunter in. Unlike their brethren, they’d casually copped a seat but what made Ash smile was the fact they looked nothing like their brethren. They wore casual jeans and their six foot-four athletic physiques made him smile. Two young women, both looking pissed to their core, strode in behind them. These two women, Ash suspected were probably not quite twenty years of age, and what set them apart was neither had the wheat-blonde hair of their fellow model-looking Earth-born angels. In fact, one had a nose ring. Ash made a move to offer his seat to the one with the stud in her nose but Izzy urged him to stay where he was. Since she controlled this meeting of angels and since he was quite literally dying to hear how she was going to marshal this ragtag group of misfits into warriors, he swallowed his protest. But the minute the meeting was over he had to leave. Staying full-time in the body of Gareth was absorbing too much of his power and Ash needed that power if he was going to play a pivotal role in the upcoming battle. A battle his father planned to win at all costs.

An hour later, the first meeting was over and much still had to be worked out. Michael, the manager of the recreational center, had offered use of his place to hold weekly meetings but honestly, he thanked the pits of Hell when Izzy stressed weapons training was more important. The only Earth-born angels who confessed to wielding weapons turned out to be the four latecomers. Four more, three men and one woman, from the group of sixteen who’d come to the meeting said they’d be willing to learn but Ash suspected it would take more time to train them than they had.

Nathanael spoke up when the meeting was almost over. “What we need is a gym for training.”

“Give me a day and I’ll make a few calls. I know a few guys who own some places and they might be able to help.”

“Yes, but can they help with discretion? We won’t be training like ordinary humans.”

“A day. Give me that,” said Michael, causing both Nathanael and Izzy to nod.

Only once the meeting was over and everyone had left the room did Ash stand to move to the window.

“Did you enjoy yourself?”

He waited a heartbeat for the Mistress to answer. She’d been in the room the entire time and while others might not be able to sense her, the same could never be said for Ash.

She materialized next to him and as always, Ash hated how awed—and how unangelic—he felt in her presence.

“Why did you not come to me to relay your message?”

Ah, the true meaning of why she haunted him she sought. What could he say? The only out for him from his father’s ever watchful realm was by means she would not adhere to. Would that suffice? Probably not. Not bothering to look at her, for that always hurt, he answered tactfully, aware at all times her power was as unlimited as his dear old Dad’s.

“You don’t always heed my messages and I felt time was of the essence. I merely did what was necessary to justify the means.”

“Is that what you tell yourself, son of Lucifer? It is a falsehood as well you know but thee have not offended. Thy guise you keep to is unnecessary. Your skills would be better applied to the task at hand as thyself.”

God, he hated angel speak. The sound always grated his ears. “They are not ready for me. They think I’ve taken one of their own against her terms.”

“Shea.”

He nodded. The longing to say her name a tease he fought to ignore.

“She should set them straight.”

That made Ash turn to face the Mistress. He wondered if she knew all the angst his beloved held tight to her heart and soul. The thought she might and had done nothing was more like it. Heaven it appeared was not all perfect. That he knew first hand from his father’s warnings. “Leave Shea to me.”