Archangel of Mercy by Christina Ashcroft Read Free Book Online

prostrate herself before him came entirely from her own warped, frustrated psyche.
    She squeezed her eyes shut and attempted to harness her scattered thoughts.
    “Do you remember
any
thing?”
Apart from how to use his cock.
She had no doubt he could remember how to use
that
. A hot flush crawled over her breasts and onto her face and a silent sigh echoed through her mind. It didn’t matter whether she looked at him or not. She only had to think of him to think of sex.
    “What’s your obsession with remembering? Why does it matter?”
    Her eyelids sprung open. He was still sprawled on the chair and he still looked like sin incarnate. And he didn’t look even the least bit concerned by the previous events.
    A shiver skittered over her arms as a chilling possibility surfaced.
    “Has this happened to you before?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. But it made a kind of scary sense. She had assumed, when he told her about the club, that he’d been, well, clubbing. But maybe he’d consciously entered the astral planes in Manhattan with the express goal of physically ending up somewhere else?
    Not Ireland, obviously. But although he’d been clearly shaken by that bit of news he wasn’t that freaked out about it all. Was it possible he used a technique similar to the one she had intended to use to travel to her mother’s homeland?
    “Not that I remember.” And then he grinned, as if he thought he’d just cracked the world’s greatest joke.
    She needed space. Away from him so she could think rationally without every single thought becoming drenched with sexual implications.
    “Right.” She swung on her heel and battled the urge to bury her face in her hands. “I’ll get us something to drink. Won’t be long.”
    Gabe watched her all but run from the kitchen, as if she feared he might try and stop her. His grin faded into a frown. She might be only an indigenous female of Earth but she was turning out to be one of the most puzzling women he’d ever met.
    Desire heated her voice, lust darkened her eyes. Her body language told him she found him irresistible. And yet she resisted him.
    It had been a while since a woman had offered him a challenge when it came to sex. He had to admit that this strange encounter, while frustrating, was also extraordinarily arousing.
    He stood and strolled to the workbench where she’d left her silver frame. He picked it up and frowned at the pressed flower beneath the glass. Inexplicably a shudder inched along his spine. The flower was fragile and faded and something—something wasn’t right about it.
    Before he could scrutinize it further the dogs, both of which had followed him across the kitchen to lay at his feet, stiffened, their attention locked on the open kitchen door. And then, simultaneously, they leaped up, hackles raised, barking with such ferocity he reeled against the workbench and watched them hurtle into the hall.
    Gabe dropped the frame onto the workbench and was at their heels as they skidded into a living room. Then he collided into their bodies as they came to a dead standstill.
    Ancient horror hammered through his heart and spilled into his bloodstream. A jagged, violet fracture, like static lightning, split the room from ceiling to floor.
    The Guardians were coming for Aurora.
And she was standing in front of the violet fracture as if mesmerized.
    “Aurora.” His voice was harsh. “Get away from there.” Even as he spoke the imperative to leave thundered through his brain. What was happening here had nothing to do with him. It was none of his concern.
    It didn’t matter if Aurora ran. The Guardians had singled her out. She would be captured. She would be taken.
    He couldn’t interfere. It was against ancient protocols. But still he couldn’t leave.
    She looked at him, and he saw raw terror clouding her eyes. “Keep back.” Her voice cracked with fear and her arm swung out, hitting his chest, an unmistakable gesture of protection.
    For a second his