AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I looked up at him. My brows furrowed when I found him grinning down at me. I wasn’t sure what the fuck was going through his mind, but it felt like I was the only one really worried about the fact that there were wolves after us.
I opened my mouth to answer him, but was interrupted by his sudden movement.
One second, we were huddled on the ground, and the next, we were standing. Sariel began to glow—it was a subtle golden sheen that spread from his crown, illuminating his curls, and then down his face, until it got to the middle of his chest and dispersed in every direction, almost like it was filling him.
Asnapechoed in the room. My head jerked up to find that Sariel had grownwings.
It was one thing to hear about them, and another thing entirely to see giant feathered wings protruding from his back. They barely fit in the small shack, one remaining partially folded in as he shuddered.
The left wing was a pure white that almost glittered beneath the moonlight spilling in from the roof. There were one or two feathers that looked like they’d begun to change color. I could make out the faint markings of the scar he’d described; it ran from the top, close to his shoulder blade, and came downwards in a jagged line.
The other wing was the opposite. It was such a dark black, he might’ve been able to hide it in the little shack, were it not for the partially white feathers scattered on it.
“Breathe,” he instructed me.
I hadn’t even noticed that I’d stopped breathing.
My eyes widened as I took in his features. They’d sharpened, with his cheekbones having become even more defined. A spattering of glowing freckles had sprouted across his cheeks, and they had my fingers itching to touch them. His hair was longer, reaching the tops of his shoulders and the bottom of his chin.
And hiseyes…
Golden rings had formed around those hazel irises, highlighting the specks of green and yellow within. He was breathtaking.
“Wings,” I said stupidly. “You have—”
The door of the shack caved in under the boot of who I saw was the pretty fallen-blood from earlier. Sariel moved before I could get my bearings, shifting me so that my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms hugged him around the neck.
He said to me, “Don’t let go and don’t look down, no matter what.”
His wings tucked into his body, and then he jumped, launching us into the sky.
His wings extended when we cleared the roof. I imagined what we must have looked like from down on the forest floor and framed by the moonlight; me, clinging to Sariel with my barebutt hanging out from the bottom of his shirt, and him, glowing and ethereal and totally otherworldly.
The sound of a gun firing went off. Sariel’s wings flapped once, twice, taking us higher. His arms wrapped around me.
“Take shallow breaths,” he instructed, his lips brushing against my ear as he spoke over the wind so I could hear him. “The air gets thinner the higher we go, and we need to get high so they can’t see us.”
I nodded weakly. I didn’t have the presence of mind to be embarrassed when his arm slid beneath my butt, too distracted by the proximity of the clouds, by the stars twinkling above us as Sariel’s height evened out.
I was flying.
“Yes, you are,” he chuckled and the sound worked its way through me in a scalding wave, from the tips of my ears to my toes. “Not the best circumstances to catch some air time, but the sky is pretty no matter what.”
I’d spoken out loud. I couldn’t decide if it was shock that had me tightening my hold on him or just another round of adrenaline, but I clutched onto him for dear life.
“I’ve got you,” he assured me. “I won’t let you fall.”
As I stared up at the stars, cheek pressed into the side of his and with his arms wrapped tightly around me, I couldn’t help but worry that there was nothing he could do to stop me from falling.
Because I already had.
11
WITCHES AND BLOOD
Aria
The witch, Dessi, lived in San Antonio.
