Page 66 of Angel of Water & Shadow

“Most Nephilim have abilities,” he finally said. “But I haven’t met someone that could wield the elements at that kind of scale, like, ever.”

Lucky me. “So, what kind of abilities do you have that makes you so special, hunter?” It was meant to wipe the smugness off his face, but it only made it worse, and that was the kind of look that undid me.

In an instant, his breath was a warm caress against the sensitive space below my earlobe.

“Maybe it’s my impeccable sense of hearing.” There’s no way he heard my heartbeat, even if it raged against my ribs. “Or my supernatural reflexes.” Even if he caught that rogue piece of hair before it met my chin, there’s no way he sensed the pleasurable shiver when his calloused fingers brushed my skin. “Or my ability to detect the faintest flicker of pain, or fear or…” A huskiness entered his throat. “Excitement.”

That…Oh God. There’s no way. Even if it rippled off me like pheromonal perfume. I gulped. Evil therapist. Demon. Evil therapist. Demon.

He chuckled, and I knew right there and then my cheeks had turned beet red. I willed him to stop looking at me like that, like he had fire in his eyes and in his…Ugh, Ryder, just get back to the subject before we switch to one that involves a lot less talking.

“We’re not technically required to do anything with said abilities, or the title that comes with them.” He leaned back, giving me some breathing room, but remained closer than he had when we originally sat. “Although the Sainthood definitely encourages it…”

I didn’t miss the hint of venom that coated the Sainthood. “What’s the Sainthood?”

The lines in Ryder’s face hardened, causing him to look as chiseled as the stone angel before us. “A council that preserves the Order of the Nephilim and performs the duties…” He shook his head. “More like rituals, that enforce our Law and Judgement.”

I wanted to ask about these rituals, about the whole other world that seemingly existed before my very eyes and yet had somehow stayed hidden from me for eighteen years. “So, when is someone going to come and get the demon that just tried to kill me?” I had to hit the important stuff first. “There’s bound to be a repercussion for that…right?” When he clicked his tongue in answer, incredulity may have gotten the best of me. “What are they good for, then?”

“Depends on who’s funneling their cash,” he gritted out. “Mostly they walk around with a damn archangel complex, just because their power was decreed from Above.”

“From Above.” I glanced up into the sky, bright and burning. “As in the Supreme Being Upstairs?”

“The one and only.” He closed his eyes and dipped his head back for the briefest second, as if this topic frazzled him as much as it did me.

“Trippy…” I murmured. It was worth a pause, but not one that’d smother me in panic. I myself was part angel, after all. “So, you’re a hunter because the Sainthood told you to be?”

His shoulders rolled, flexing inwards. “I’m not a hunter to appease anyone but myself.”

“Why does it all matter, then?”

“Because these are instincts we’re talking about. What happens when you ignore those? When you ignore who you are, who you were meant to be?”

I got the feeling he was no longer speaking hypothetically. “Spontaneous combustion?” I offered with a grin.

His flicker of a smile disappeared way too soon. “Pretty much.”

We were already so far down the rabbit hole I didn’t stop myself when I asked, “So what the hell am I? What’s my title?”

“Besides a beautiful girl with the power to shoot laser beams out of her hands?” Well, they weren’t exactly laser beams, but he did make it sound pretty badass. “The one person on this earth that’s genuinely surprised me.”

A flash of heat warmed my cheeks as he blew out a laugh and tucked his bottom lip into his teeth. I pulled my hands out of his grasp, the air cool against my fingers.

“There’s something I haven’t told you.” I was surprising myself at this point. “The thing I did today, it happened last night when two werewolves cornered me at the bonfire.”

Ryder’s forehead crinkled in question. “You channeled lightning? Or a beam of light?”

“Water.” An unstoppable surge of energy washed over me as I recalled the wall of ocean that I’d somehow constructed and the force of it flooding the beach. I shuddered, suddenly as chilly and numb as I’d been standing on the bluffs before he’d found me—found me, in the dead of night on the side of the highway.

Frustration boiled inside me once again. “And now I’ll ask you, Ryder. For the final time, I hope. How did you not see this”—I waved in the direction of the other building—“coming?”

He sighed, lowering his lashes. “I was…distracted.”

“What, by the latest Hollywood boob job?” Chances were, he wasn’t reading the tabloids, but the snark would keep the panic from closing up my throat again.

“I’m sorry.” He ran his tattooed fingers through his hair just for the strands to fall right back to his temples. “Sometimes these things slip through the cracks.”

Sorry wasn’t going to cut it.

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