Page 33 of Providence

I reared back. Shit.

I didn’t realize that Raphael was the reason Serendipity still lived, despite the fact the Gusion had spent thousands of years thinking she was dead. Somehow, all the angst made more sense now. I cleared my throat, trying to decide what you said to that? “I didn’t know. But thank you. I might be biased, but I think you did the right thing.”

He looked up at me then, his eyes heartbreakingly sad. “As do I, and therein lies the problem, no? The actions of the Fallen make more sense to me than that of my brethren. Uriel was the final nail. An Archangel aiding human suffering. Is that what we are really about? What do we really stand for?”

I didn’t know what to tell him. He was really asking the wrong person. For decades I had stood for chaos. For anarchy. Even before I had joined the MC, I had a problem with following rules. I just shrugged. “Sometimes, you just have to go with your gut.”

He shook his head sadly. “That is not how we are programmed, Horseman. If we question, we Fall.”

I couldn’t help but look at the pink tips of his wings. Fuck, where was Cain? This sensitive shit was more up his alley. I led people into sin, not rescued them from themselves.

A soft noise from the doorway had me looking over my shoulder. “It is a different era now, Raphael,” Dippy said softly. She walked over toward me, her cheeks still pink from her shower. “Humankind is different. Sin is different. Why should Angelkind not evolve too? Michael himself gave me a pardon. Were his actions any different to yours, albeit a few millennia too late.”

Raphael was silent, slightly rocking the baby as Cain appeared behind Dippy. He pressed his face into the crook of her neck, kissing her softly as she tilted her head to the side. God, she was beautiful. I wanted to stand up and hug the Angel in front of me, because if he’d made any other decision, I wouldn’t have known this feeling again. This all consuming love.

Serendipity sat down on my lap, and I banded my arms around her waist, pulling her flush against me.

She gave me a sweet smile over her shoulder, before turning back to Raphael. “Tell me what happened? Before my father and Lucifer Fell.”

Raphael handed the baby back to Cain, his eyes sad again. “Word had gotten to the Father that Gusion, Angel of the Past, Present and Future, had lain with and begotten a child of Man. Michael gathered a small Cadre of Angels, including Uriel and I, and we were to wipe the memory of his indiscretion from the histories of Man. I was tasked with eradicating you, this child of Angelic bloodlines. They gave me the job in case you had inherited the gifts of your sire, and Azriel was needed elsewhere. They gathered your village together in the dead of night, and the village leaders prayed at their feet.” He shook his head.

“I could tell it did not sit well with many of us, but we had our orders. Michael appeared in the center of town and they prostrated themselves to his glory. Your mother had gone to beg for leniency. She loved Gusion so much, but she loved you more. She tried to argue that you had died at birth. That she would never lie with a man ever again, least of all Gusion. But Michael is near omnipotent. He knew the baby still lived. He waved a hand, and your entire village just fell asleep and never woke. It was humane, the village people knew no fear. Then he set the town on fire.” Raphael’s face twisted at the memory.

“You were in a hut, a woman standing guard over you. You mother’s sister I think. She begged and cried, but not you. Despite her wails, you looked up at me with your violet eyes, so innocent of the wrongs of your parents. And I just couldn’t do it,” he said, the air whooshing out of him. He’d been sitting on this secret for thousands of years, and that would eat a man. “I gathered up you and your aunt, transported you into what would eventually become Rome, filled with heathen hordes already. I fear the transportation did your aunt no favors, but I thought as soon as she was out of my presence, that she would settle. That she would care for you like her own child.”

He reached across the space between them, and took her hand. I tensed, my arm banding tighter, but I didn’t move. “Lucifer informs me that she never regained her sanity. That you suffered for my indiscretions. You’ve suffered so much because I could not follow orders.”

She squeezed his hand. “If you had made a different choice, I wouldn’t be here. I know true love now, Raphael, and that in itself is glorious.”

He reared back as if she’d struck him, his face folded in a frown. “I must go. I thank you for your hospitality. Please inform Lucifer that your obligations to me are complete.”

Then he just fucking disappeared.

Dippy looked over her shoulder at me. “What the hell was that about?”

I shrugged, and Cain looked just as perplexed. “No fucking idea.” He stared at the spot where Raphael had just sat, then shook his head. “Dinner is in the fridge. Come on, I’ll reheat it for you. Ever eaten chow mein off a pretty boy’s abs before?”

I laughed, but my dick got hard. “I volunteer as tribute!”

18

Cain

This was heaven. I sat in the Clubhouse garage, working on the antique Harley currently sitting on my operating table. Softer metal played over the speakers hidden around the room, and I sang the words softly as I worked. Six months ago, that would have been all I needed to find a moment of peace, if not real happiness.

No, what really made this heaven was the woman across from me, lip syncing the words of a song she didn’t really know, smiling softly in my direction like there wasn’t any other place in the world she’d rather be than here with me. Beside her, apparently enjoying the metal music too, was a sleeping Madoc, his hands curled under his chin. She rocked him in his baby carrier to the beat of the music.

Shit. My heart was going to explode. I wanted to leap across the bike, pull her down to the concrete, and let her ride me like I was one of these bikes. But I didn’t want to break the spell. This fragile bubble of happiness.

She stood, moving Madoc into my office and shutting the door, blocking out the music. Then she turned the music up, swaying her hips to a Halestorm song, its beat hitting me in the chest. My eyes followed her hips as she raised her hands, her body undulating. So fucking sexy. My dick hardened in my jeans.

Fuck this. She could definitely ride me. I threw down my spanner, my eyes predatory as I stalked toward her. I was going to taste every part of her body, then I was going to fuck her until she forgot her own damn name.

She opened her eyes, the grin on her face just as predatory. Fuck, which one of us was the prey now? I didn’t give a fuck as long as she was grinding down on my dick in the next five seconds. But when I circled around the bike, she moved too, keeping me on the other side of the bike. I narrowed my eyes.

“What are you doing, Angel?” I cooed, my voice feeling rough. My dick was beginning to fucking throb with the need to be inside her.

She was still swaying to the music. “What do you mean?” she said coyly, blinking long dark eyelashes.

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