Touched by Death: (Sins of The Fallen book 3)
Touched by Death: Chapter 11

“Well, if this isn’t fucking cozy?” I growl, two seconds away from tearing my cousin to shreds. As soon as I heard that the angel had been hurt and witnesses had seen Dmitriy carry her out of the academy, I flew over here with the others hot on my heels. Clearly, gossip doesn’t reach my ears as soon as it should, if this view is anything to go by.

Slowly shifting the little witch’s unfolded wing out of the way of his bare chest, Dmitriy slides out from the bed and rises to his full height. The fucking smirk on his face makes me want to grab his head and bash his face against the nearest wall, but with one look at the angel sleeping soundly in his bed, I force down the urge. My heart hurts at seeing her in Dmitriy’s shirt. Ronan and Alaric growl behind me, like snarling dogs. Dari sidesteps me, but I grab her hair and pull her back behind me.

Dmitriy watches the exchange with amusement sparkling in the depths of his dark eyes. They flick over my wings as they unfold behind me in a threatening display. “What can I do for you, cousin?”

“What happened?”

His brows fly up at the same time Dari’s jaw hits the floor.

“What happened?” she all but shrieks, pointing to the bed. “Are you not going to fucking slaughter your cousin for touching her?”

I hold my hand up, silencing her tirade. “What. Happened?”

Crossing his arms, biceps bulging, he swipes his tongue across his bottom lip. “The stalker happened.”

Stiffening, I look past him at Aurelia before shouldering Dmitriy out of the way and sitting down beside her on the bed. As I stroke her hair away from her throat, she stirs, mumbling Dmitriy’s fucking name in her sleep. It takes everything in me not to cut off his balls and serve his head on a fucking platter, but the long cut on her olive skin has me pausing. I look behind me at Dmitriy. “He cut her?”

The smirk on his lips falls, and he scrubs at his jaw as he walks up to me. “Yeah…”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” I growl.

Clearing his throat, he looks at me. “Aurelia is dangerous, Daemon.”

Lost in my own thoughts, I ignore his statement. “Why not just kill her?”

“I think you need to hear me out. What I have to say is important.”

When he doesn’t immediately elaborate, I gesture wildly. “Go on then. I’m listening. You have two seconds.”

“I think she feeds on fear and chaos.”

Shoulders tense, Alaric walks up to us. “What do you mean?”

“Have you seen her drink any blood lately? How is she sustaining herself? You must have seen firsthand how she tortures her victims.”

“The body parts,” Alaric says under his breath, his eyes growing wide.

“Yes, and the other night, when this guy”—he gestures to Ronan—“escorted me home, she had just burned down a pub as part of the hunt.”

I slowly rise to my feet, hands fisting rhythmically at my sides, and look down at the angel and back. I’m too fucking restless to stand still, knowing someone tried to hurt her and I wasn’t there to protect her again. “What are you saying?”

“I think someone knows more about her darkness than we do.”

“Fuck off,” I snarl, pointing a finger to the bite marks. “What about them? Did you drink from her?”

“Me?” He laughs incredulously—a quick burst of chuckles that soon dies down when I roll my shoulders back. “No, that was the stalker.”

“Why is someone trying to hurt her?” Alaric asks, bringing us back on topic while Dari sits down on the edge of the bed.

“Fuck if I know. Look at her wings. She’s powerful. It doesn’t take a fucking genius to figure that out. Maybe someone doesn’t want her to be potentially more powerful than the heir himself? Ever thought of that? Maybe someone has developed a fascination with her, and maybe that’s why they tried to get a taste of her blood. You know that shit between angels is intimate.”

A growl reverberates in my chest, and he throws his hands out defeatedly while chuckling at my possessive nature. “For fuck’s sake, cousin. She’s safe, alright?”

Inspecting the items on the desk, Ronan snorts. “You fool no one with your good guy act, Dmitriy.”

“Fuck you.”

Peering over his shoulder with a wicked gleam in his eyes, Ronan simply shrugs. “Bend over the desk, and I’ll show you a good time.”

Dmitriy hisses a snarl but then snaps his attention to the bed when the angel begins to stir again. She blinks her eyes open before shooting up in bed with a gasp. Looking at us all in turn, she carefully asks, “What are you doing here?”

Pushing past Dari, who groans loudly, I fist the little witch’s hair and pull sharply to bare her neck. “Gossip spreads fast. What were you thinking chasing after the stalker?”

She bats me off, but I grip her chin hard enough to cause a weak, cock-stirring whimper to slip from her trembling lips. “I had to find out who it was.”

“And did you?” I all but snarl, digging my fingers into her skin.

“No,” she reluctantly admits, avoiding my gaze as I lean in close to her face. Breathing her in, I swallow down the flood of relief I feel when I fail to find any hints of sex in her scent. Dmitriy is trying to get a rise out of me. He hasn’t actually fucked her tonight.

I shouldn’t feel so fucking pleased by that thought. Not when my father helped me see how wrong I am for a girl like her. But fuck if I’ll sit by and let another man have her either.

When I look over my shoulder, Dmitriy chuckles under his breath and winks.

“I’ll deal with you later,” I growl, then turn back to the girl, who has my heart gripped in the palm of her hand. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Her eyes spit fire as she glowers at me. “Nothing happened.”

“Bullshit,” I sneer, jostling her. “What happened?”

“Fine.” Her pulse thunders in her neck. It’s so loud that I can fucking hear it sing to me like a siren at sea. “I followed him down an empty hallway. The torch went out, and he shoved me up against a wall and proceeded to press a knife to my throat and sink his teeth into my neck.”

“Then what?”

“I burned him with my flame.”

“Burned him with your flame?” I exchange a look with Alaric.

“Yes. Instinct took over. I didn’t think.”

Leaning in close, I trail my hand to the back of her neck and grip it tight while dragging my nose over her throat, lingering on the bite marks. “It’s familiar,” I whisper. “The scent is different… Foreign somehow, but still familiar.” My fangs throb, and as my raven wings erupt from my back, I sink my teeth deep into her neck, erasing the stalker’s fucking marks and replacing them with my own. She yelps beneath my grip but yields like a good girl.

A satisfied groan rumbles in my chest when her blood floods my mouth. She may be a fallen angel, but she’s the most addictive drug in all the ways that matter. Dari clears her throat behind us, interrupting my bliss. The snarl that accompanies the aggressive flaring of my wings has Dmitriy chuckling.

I break away and look over at Dari while wiping off the excess blood from my chin with the back of my hand. “What do you want?”

“We need to take her back to our place.”

“No,” Aurelia speaks up, and I frown as I turn back to her. “I’m not coming with you.”

“I told you she’s fucking stubborn,” Ronan mutters, shaking his head as he inspects a plant on the desk.

“She doesn’t get a say in the matter,” I state with an air of boredom.

Leaning in close, she sneers in my face. “You don’t get a choice in the matter, Daemon. It’s over between us.”

It’s for the best, right? I’m marrying Dari. Besides, why the hell would she want me when I can’t protect her from her stalker? My eyes flick down to the sore-looking cut on her throat, and I swallow down the ugly feeling that’s threatening to drown me in misery.

“Fine.” As I rise to my feet, Dari stares at me as though I’m an alien.

“That’s it?” she asks.

“That’s it,” I confirm, striding past her on my way out.

Alaric intercepts me before I get to the door, blocking my only way out. “You’re making a mistake.”

“A mistake?” I point at the little witch on the bed, ignoring the way my heart gallops in my chest with regret at the sight of her tears. “She wants nothing to do with me, and it’s for the fucking best. She knows the truth now.” I peer over my shoulder and sneer at her. “I’m marrying Dari.”

Gritting her jaw, she looks down at her lap. Her hair slides forward to protect her from the venom in my words. I walk out without another backward glance.

DARIANA

“Fucking asshole,” I mutter, sitting down beside her on the mattress. The other males in the room hover, unsure what to do. I shoot them all a glare. “Can you leave us alone for a moment?”

“She’s coming with us,” Alaric bites out. “I don’t care about Daemon’s opinion.”

As they sidle out, I reach for her, but she slides her hand out of reach. Her rejection stings, but I guess I deserve it after all the shit I’ve put her through.

With a sigh, I pinch the blanket instead, shaping it into a point before smoothing it out. “We never meant to hurt you. The betrothal… It’s complicated.”

She sniffs, and I hate that her hair hides her from me. I want to be able to look her in the eye and let her see the truth.

“Daemon is looking for a way to get out of it.”

Still no response.

“He’s in love with you. We all are.”

Her brown eyes, glassy with tears, peer out from between the strands of her hair, and she inhales a ragged breath. “I can’t come in the way of whatever agreement or arrangement you have. I refuse to get in the way of Lucifer’s plans.”

“Lucifer’s plans?” I blurt, blinking at her. “What about what Daemon wants? What I want?”

“You don’t want me.”

“How the hell do you know that?” I growl, shifting closer on the bed.

When she looks up at me, the fire in her eyes stokes my own. “You have done nothing but push me away. I’m done, Dari. I’m so fucking done.”

Grinding my teeth, I stare at her. “So that’s it? Daemon is right to just walk away?”

Pain flickers in her eyes as she looks away and swipes at the tears on her cheeks.

“Is that what you want? For me to walk out that door and never talk to you again?”

Her head shakes, and she whispers brokenly, “No, that’s not what I want.”

“Then what do you want?”

Swallowing thickly, she flicks her gaze to me, staring at me for such a long moment, I wonder if I’ll ever be allowed to inhale a full breath again. “I want to stop feeling…”

“I can help with that,” I whisper, reaching for her, but she scrambles back.

Jumping out of bed, she stays a safe distance away. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then what did you mean?” Rising to my feet, I close the distance between us and reach for her trembling hand, pleased when she doesn’t immediately pull away.

Her softly spoken words, delivered with the venom of a deadly snake, strike without mercy. “I want to forget you.”

Her fingers slide from mine as an ocean opens up between us. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do.”

“I’ve been a bitch. I know tha—”

“I want to forget you,” she says again in a much firmer voice. “I want to step back through the door, travel back in time, and never set foot outside of the gates.”

“That’s nice,” Daemon drawls from the doorway, causing us both to snap our eyes in his direction. “Fucking nice.” His cold eyes find mine, and he jerks his chin. “Let’s go.”

He walks away, revealing Ronan and Alaric behind him, who stare at the angel with equally empty eyes. Ronan is the first one to leave. Alaric lingers, pinning her to the spot with his heavy gaze before he, too, strides off.

Aurelia says nothing—an emotionless statue. I want to shake some fucking sense into her. Instead, I swallow down the hurt and sidle past her. But before I leave the room, I place my hand on the doorframe and peer at her over my shoulder. “I don’t know what Daemon’s father did to him while he was locked away in Lucifer’s cellar for defending you. But he’ll find a way to break through whatever horrors battle it out in his mind. He loves you. And if you go back to Eden, he’ll break down the gates to take you back.”

“You’re wrong,” she calls out when I turn to leave. “I did leave through the door, and he never came for me. No one did. If I left again, no one would come for me.”

“Well…” With a deep inhale, I look at her. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe Daemon will do the right thing for once and grant you your wish. You want to forget us? Then you need to be okay with us forgetting you, too.”

I walk away, blinking back tears. Why the hell did I let myself fall for her? Why the hell did I let my defenses down? This is what I get for swallowing down my pride.

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