Hope in Love by J. Hali Steele Read Free Book Online

power and wouldn’t ever be held in
higher esteem. An archangel and an exulted couldn’t be together. It just didn’t
happen.
    Michael and the Father would never allow it.
    She grew angrier with every step and didn’t understand why.
She knew her place and the reason for being with him. Yet she seethed with
jealousy. It had latched onto her, shook her heart like a dog with a bone. She
wished she’d been the one the flowers were given to.
    After Ram, no one would dare touch her. She’d always carry
his mark, belong to him. She didn’t want anyone else anyway. On occasion she’d
been a little lonely for the company of a man, but she had not really wanted
anyone until now. Her attachment to the archangel was unhealthy. And unsafe.
How could she survive so many months in his company and be unscathed?
    Her mind was a confused muddle. The sun sank slowly below
the horizon. In his domain she could at least enjoy the day and night she so
sorely missed. Most angels lived in daylight. She thought about the cooler
evenings of long ago on Earth. Up here the temperature never changed. It was
always perfect—not cold, not hot.
    Her thoughts, helter-skelter, darted in every direction. She
didn’t want to deal with the problem at hand. He had said to her “I don’t want
anyone else right now,” before he took her by the lake. He meant later he would
return to his carnal ways with other women.
    She supposed he would come to her tonight. Maybe she would
not allow him to touch her. But that would only prolong her time here. The
correct thing to do would be to get this over with. Why didn’t he fill her with
his seed? It seemed as though… No, she couldn’t allow herself to think that.
    He had taken someone else flowers.
    She resolved to make sure she conceived her child. Hers. He
could then return to his base ways.
    Her heart grew heavier at that idea.
    As she headed back to the house, a glint of gold in the sand
caught her eye. She bent to pick up the object. Two strands of thread twined
together. One blue, the other gold. The colors together were beautiful. Like
the time she’d spent with him on this very same spot a day ago. She decided to
take her found treasure to use as a marker in the Ayn Rand novel she’d found in
Ram’s library.
    She held it tight in her hand and continued her journey
home.
    * * * * *
    “Why come to me? I shouldn’t speak to your sorry ass.”
    Ram watched with disinterest as Raphael feigned choking, his
hands wrapped tightly around his own neck.
    “I have nowhere else to go and this is your fault.” Ram felt
at a loose end. “Shit, if I go to Gabe or Luke they’ll just tell you everything
anyway.”
    “How is it my fault?”
    “You frightened Yael. And why did you have to tell her about
the tree and the flowers? That was just wrong.”
    “Good Lord! You like her, don’t you?”
    “It’s hard to explain. She’s…different, Raph. I don’t
understand what’s happened to me. I do know I don’t want you near her and I
mean it.”
    “I never thought I’d see the day. The great whore falling
for someone. Anyway, trust me, she only has eyes for you. Why, she even
envisioned your scruffy wings wrapped around her nakedness.”
    Ram lunged at Raphael.
    In a blaze of red-hot heat, the Devil appeared. Just in the
nick of time. He would have torn Raph in two.
    “What’s up, guys?”
    “Ram’s falling for his exulted.”
    “Shut the fuck up or I’ll choke you to death the next time.
You are never to enter her mind again or I will kill your ass. Do you
understand me? And stop calling me a whore.”
    “No shit?” Luke’s face stretched into a broad smile. “Bitten
by Cupid, huh? And I would have said whoremonger myself but, Ram, you are a whore.”
    “I’m serious.” Ram didn’t like being forced to take a look
at himself, what he was. Especially by these two.
    “So am I.” Luke eyes swirled red as he picked at his
immaculate fingernails.
    “The way I see it, there will be more for