“I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks.” I felt sort of let down after all those times when he wanted to talk to me, when he made me think I was more than just his partner and friend.
“And, Athena?” He leaned across his horse and braced his hands on either side of my hips. “I love you.” His lips crushed against mine, his hands threaded through my hair, and then he pulled back.
My eyes blazed purple. I could feel them changing from the power we’d just exchanged and the absolute desire I felt for him.
“Could you have at least waited until we were at our destination?” Atlas joked behind us.
I rolled my eyes, unable to wipe the smile from my face and looked ahead.
“Let’s go.” Adonis gripped his horse’s mane, and we all took off, following the angels into the night sky.
Chapter Twenty
What would have taken us hours on a plane or days in a car seemed like minutes when we were flying through the crisp night air.
Luckily, Seattle was filled with as many freaky people as Portland and other large cities, so when we landed under the bridge with our horses, the only thing the bums did was toss back more alcohol.
With a nod and a wave, the angels left along with the horses.
My body felt a little sore from the rough winds or whatever it was, considering it was impossible to feel turbulence on a horse. I stretched my neck a bit and walked toward the first bum, quickly knocking him out with my hand and moving on to the next one.
“Watching her work frightens me,” Seth said behind us.
I rolled my eyes, even though they couldn’t see me and repeated the same gesture until all five bums were officially snoring in la-la land.
I turned around. Adonis was grinning like a fool. Typical. Seth was shaking his head, and Atlas seemed just as amused. “What?” I wiped my hands on my shirt. “Do you really want them to know what we’re about to talk about? The park is only a mile away. With our luck they’d follow us and get themselves killed, and then I would have to save them.”
Atlas nodded. “True.”
“Shall we?” I started walking toward Gasworks Park. Adonis fell into step beside me, which is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. We were about to meet with the archangels with Atlas and Seth in tow. Two beings who technically weren’t supposed to even gaze upon an angelic face ever again. The last thing I needed was to be distracted by the fact that Adonis had said he loved me. Was the fact that he was a Zar make his love any less forbidden or frowned upon? I wasn’t sure, and I hated that I wanted to know the answer more than anything.
“So…” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You still mad?”
“Hmm…” I pretended to be thinking and promptly tripped over my feet. Adonis caught me and chuckled. I jerked away and bit my lip. “Depends.”
“On?”
“Do you still love me?”
“Yes,” he said quickly.
“Then I wouldn’t say I’m mad.”
“Irritated?”
“A little.” I shrugged. “I don’t know, Adonis. Mostly I’m just confused and a bit hurt. I mean, why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can’t tell me why you can’t tell me?”
He grimaced. “Sounds horrible when you put it that way.”
I shook my head. “Now I’m mad.”
“Great.” He ran a hand through his dark hair and kicked the ground. “Let me talk to Michael, and if he gives me the green light, I’ll tell you. Deal?”
Chances were next to none that Michael would let Adonis tell me anything, but I nodded my head in agreement.
We reached the park quickly and waited near the top of the larger of the hills. It was a common meeting place for all religions.
Seattle was known for having lots of witches and New Age worshippers. Before storms, a lot of them would congregate around the tallest hill and throw spells out into the air. I found it mildly amusing, especially considering the only thing they were actually accomplishing was looking like complete idiots and, of course, worshipping my father.
If they could see who he really was, they wouldn’t be speaking any sort of worship or spell. They’d be locking their doors as if their lives depended on it and hugging the closest Bible they could find.
The skies were overcast, but a few stars shone through the clouds. I shivered. I would never look at a star the same. Of course, I knew not all of them were Watchers, but still. It made everything I did seem more important, like I had been given this incredible task, and I was the only one to carry it out.