Enigma (Angel's Promise)

CHAPTER 19


When I woke up, I was in my bed and it was daylight outside. Sitting up, I felt my face, which still felt sore, but nothing was swollen. I tried to stand up, but that was not a good decision, as my legs went right out from under me like wet noodles. Responding to the loud thud, Avan entered the room, picking me up off the floor and placing me back into bed without saying a word.

“Okay, I know you’re mad and I’m not exactly your favorite person right now, but can you kind of give me a ballpark of how mad you are? Say, like, between one and ten?”

“Mattie, you did exactly what I told you not to do. They could have taken you and I never would have seen you again. Not to mention you never let me know you needed us like you promised to!”

“So that’s like a three right?” I asked, hoping he would crack a smile, but it did not happen.

“This is really serious, Mattie! I could have lost you!”

“I know, and I’m sorry. I knew better, I did, but I just wanted to believe Lena was not bad. I wanted to believe she actually cared and was not part of them. If you could have seen her when she apologized—”

“I would have if you hadn’t shut me out! I could have seen and prevented many things that happened! Mattie, you are extraordinary, but you were not raised as an angel. You are new at this, and I was created specifically to protect you and be by your side. I guess you really cannot comprehend what that means. That means you are my job!” Avan shouted, startling me as this was the first time I ever heard him raise his voice.

“Oh, so that’s what this is to you? A job? You conned me into an Angel’s Promise so your job would be easier?”

“That isn’t what I meant,” Avan added with a sigh.

“Sounds like that’s exactly what you meant to me! So what is this some Black Ops assignment and you did whatever you possibly could to make me think you actually loved me so that I would just stay right beside you and make your job a piece of cake?” I asked, trying to fight back the tears.

“No, Mattie, I am in love with you! You have to believe that! It isn’t just a job; I just can’t go through eternity without you! You cannot imagine what it felt like to know it could have ended that way. Then I saw you lying there covered in blood, beaten so badly that you were barely recognizable. I did not know if he had gotten what he wanted from you or not. I have never wanted to kill someone or something before, but I did, Mattie! I wanted to kill Ian! I did not know a heavenly angel could even have the desire to kill, but I did because I knew he had harmed you! I cannot handle the thought of anyone coming near you that could hurt you.

“Mattie, he hurt you bad! I have never seen anyone hurt that bad! I am so in love with you and when you hurt, I hurt. I’m sorry. I just feel like I failed because he was able to get to you. I should have followed you from the beginning, but I didn’t want to make you lose trust in me. Sometimes when you love someone you have to protect, your emotions get in the way of what you are supposed to be doing. You worry about the other person trusting you and being happy,” Avan explained.

“Really?” I questioned.

“Yes, really!” Avan assured me.

“So I’m not just a project that you are in charge of?”

“Absolutely not, and for what it’s worth, I wasn’t mad at you. I was worried about losing you,” Avan said as he kissed me on the forehead.



It took another week before I could get out of bed by myself, and even then, I was still sore. I felt as if I had dropped from the top of the Eiffel Tower and hit every piece of metal on the way down before splatting on the cement, becoming nothing more than a puddle of sticky stuff that passersby stepped in and had to wipe from the soles of their shoes. In addition, I still had black eyes that shadowed the tops of my cheekbones. Avan had been wonderful enough to have Lorenzo come by to cook every meal for me, so at least I got some tasty food out of the deal.

I asked Avan to make sure the rest of my heroes came by when they got done at Spirits this evening since I felt better physically. Mentally I was a mess; I felt like I owed everyone a personal apology for putting them in a bad situation. I knew all of this was my fault as usual, and they came through as they had promised they would from the day I met them. I could not help but feel that something was still missing, though. Then it dawned on me that I was rubbing my wrist. My bracelet was gone.

Thinking back over the course of the past week and a half, I realized I had not had it on when I woke up. My charm bracelet had not been on my wrist since the night at the hotel when Ian ripped it from my wrist and threw it. It must have been left it in the floor in room 1306 or in the pile of rubble that was left of it. I had passed out before I had known we left, and it was not exactly the first thought on my mind when I was bleeding profusely. Unfortunately, now my bracelet was gone forever. My ring was still on my finger, so I knew Avan had not taken my jewelry off while I slept. It saddened me to think I lost something that important, even though I knew it was not my fault. At that point I could do nothing. I was going to have to learn how to communicate more effectively in other ways.

It was nearly six when Bradley and Declan walked through my front door. I had a hard time even making eye contact with them, even though they both gave me a hug as soon as they came in. I felt such overwhelming guilt and embarrassment for the recent events that they had to save me. It was difficult to start a conversation with them. I knew I had to break the ice somehow; after all, these two had become more like brothers to me, so I had to think of something!

“So how was work?” I asked, trying to sound more cheerful than I felt.

“Same old stuff, different day. You know how it goes,” Bradley answered.

“No new interesting recipes yet?” I asked. Declan shook his head.

“Let’s just get this out on the table,” Bradley started. “You’re like our little sister because Avan is one of our brothers. We don’t want to lose you, and when you go against the better judgment in a situation, it is dangerous.”

“Not only that, Mattie, when you left you told us you would let us know if you felt the least bit threatened. We showed up after Avan’s ring started glowing. We followed the signal yours gave off like a magnetic force and found you taking the worst beating any of us had ever seen with our own eyes. That is a big deal considering we have dealt a few out ourselves to people who deserved it,” Declan said with a tone that made me feel like a little girl being scolded by her older brother for running out into the street when a car was coming.

“I know, and I can’t say I’m sorry enough. I know I screwed up, okay? Please forgive me. I just want things to be normal again,” I pleaded with my best puppy face.

“We forgive you, Mattie, but you need to realize what the repercussions of this could have been! What’s worse is that you know what they want and yet you walk around like you aren’t in danger,” Bradley said, looking at the fireplace as Alex and Trev came in the front door, joining our conversation.

“To put it bluntly, Mattie, they want you for breeding purposes only. They only want to keep you alive enough to give birth. All they see you as is a tool, the way a dog breeder looks at the female dogs that produce the litters that bring in money for them. All you are to them is an incubator!” Trev stated.

“The worst thing about being their incubator is that Ian and who knows who else would abuse you repeatedly forever to create their new league of dark angels, Mattie. I don’t know if you really see how long forever is. We use words like infinity, eternally, and all kinds of others, but until you have been around for a couple of hundred years and feel how slow time can be there is no way you can comprehend it. My point is, forever is a long time to be abused and bred over and over,” Alex added.

“You’re right. I don’t know what forever feels like, but what I do know firsthand is that after experiencing what I did and feeling the hurt it left me with because of what it did to all of you, that is something I never want to feel again. I cannot change what has already happened; all I can do is prevent it from ever happening again in the future, and I think I know how to do that now. I know it starts with listening to all of you instead of trusting my faulty human instincts that want to believe everyone is innately good. Being raised as a human and sheltered away from the fact that any of this even existed had a large effect on my reasoning. I don’t mean to mess things up; I just don’t know how to stop,” I told them softly.

“You just have to trust what we say. I know you feel like Allen’s disappearance was your fault, but it wasn’t. He played a part in all of this just as the rest of us do. Protecting you is an honor, not a job. Allen was handpicked by your dad to keep you safe and work undercover to stay informed of what the other side was doing. Without Allen, things would have gone downhill a long time ago. He has given everything he knows, to do what your dad asked him to, and he did it because he cares, not because he had to. You have to trust that we are going to find him as soon as we can. Time to you is different due to not knowing how long eternity really is. I know it seems like we have just put Allen on the back burner, but we have not. He will let us know where he is and what to do when the timing is right. This is not a detective show; you can’t just go chasing leads. As you saw, it only complicated things. Just trust us,” Bradley said as he hugged me.

Immersed in the conversation, I never noticed that Dorian had come in and leaned up against the wall. Looking up to see his face, I could see anger written across his face as the tears in his eyes threatened to escape if he blinked too many times. It was the same look Avan had on his face the first morning he saw me when I woke up after the ordeal as he had to come pick me up off the floor, finding that I had no muscle strength to hold me up yet. It looked like he was more upset with me than the other four, who had been proving their point repetitiously to engrain it in my mind that I could be gone forever if I gave Damron’s crew the chance to get me alone again.

“The bottom line is this, Matalyn: your parents may not be here anymore, but you still have a family that cares about you, and you couldn’t ignore the fact more if you tried. It is true what they have been trying to tell you—Avan’s our brother. Therefore, you have become family too. We take care of our family no matter what kind of situation they are in. The problem is that you don’t see it the same way, and it’s kind of insulting. You can’t realize that the people who love you are the ones you choose to hurt the worst with your thoughtless actions. If anyone in this room could die, they would do it for you without a second thought crossing their mind, but you want to run off and be a superhero, trying to take down the world when you, the super angel, is the one who is the most danger. Wake up, Matalyn. Stop thinking this is all going to go away, because it isn’t going to,” Dorian said hastily, wiping his eyes, which caused a tear to roll down my cheek.

“Dorian, that’s enough. She knows she should have listened to us. She also knows she is loved and has a family who would do anything for her. There’s no need to rub a mistake in her face.” Avan’s voice echoed from the back of the hallway as he entered the apartment.

“Good job, Avan. Make excuses so we can keep cleaning up messes! You aren’t the only one affected by all this, and you pretend everything is fine! I’m not just gonna do the group hug thing and get over it as if nothing happened! Everything as we know it could have been changed if we hadn’t gotten there right when we did! She could have been taken and tortured for all eternity! Am I the only one who sees this?” Dorian hissed at Avan as he stormed down the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

“Who peed in his Wheaties?” Trev asked lightly in attempts to add comic relief.

“You know Dorian, Mr. Drama King. It must be time for his period again!” Declan shot back with a laugh.

“Yeah, he does PMS really badly! Mattie, do have any Midol?” Alex joined in.

“We might need the entire bottle, and some tampons if you have any,” Trev taunted.

“Don’t forget sweet and salty foods. Dude! Maybe he’s pregnant. Most pregnant women get moody, right? Maybe we should put together a care basket with some chocolate, pretzels, Kotex, tampons, Midol, a box of tissues, a chick flick, and a pregnancy test and leave it in his car,” Bradley added as he fell over laughing on the couch.

“Okay, women are not that bad! Geez, you guys make it sound like we turn into grotesque, monstrous, bawl bags that sit around getting fat on junk food and crying to the movies on the Women’s Network all day for one week out of every month! And if you must know, I can’t be of any service. I don’t have to deal with any of that junk because I am an angel, remember?” I retorted.

“TMI, Mattie! Did you have to go there?” Alex pretended to gag.

“Hey, you guys started this conversation!” I said, hitting Alex with a pillow from the couch.

“All right, enough of that! Is everybody cool here?” asked Avan. Trev, Declan, Alex, and Bradley nodded their heads.

“But if you ever do anything like that again, I swear I will find a way to kill you!” Alex stated as he grabbed my ankle and pulled me in the floor.

“Yeah, immortality is a privilege, not a right. We’ve been at this game a lot longer than you, little sister!” Trev said, tackling me in the floor.

With that, the other four jumped on the dog pile in my living room floor. They proceeded to tickle me until I agreed to their terms when it came to alerting them the second I felt something could be wrong.

Peeling ourselves from the floor, we all decided sushi sounded great. Splitting up into two cars, we headed to a place downtown to stuff our faces. I could not resist some awesome California rolls and spicy tuna! We all ordered different things and ended up eating from each other’s plates the entire time, so it was almost like ordering one of everything on the menu. Dorian had not joined us, and in the back of my mind, I could not help but to worry about him. Alex and Bradley kept telling me this was normal behavior for Dorian to be all worked up about things, but I wasn’t sure.

The next day came and went with no sign of Dorian. Avan told me he had been at work but left as soon as his shift ended. I had never had anyone be this mad at me in my life! I could not be the reason that Dorian stopped being a part of our family. I had to make things right with him, but how could I do that when he would not even look at me? It was killing me inside. I missed him at dinner last night and I missed knowing that he was all right now. I missed knowing that he cared. What hurt the most was admitting that everything he had said yesterday was nothing but the truth.

Dorian had hit the nail on the head; I had always looked at them as best friends and Avan’s family, but never as my own. I had seen the world as a lonely place where I walked alone until I’d met Avan. Then I had seen it only as he and I, leaving everyone else in the shadows, even though they were as much a part of my life as Avan was. I had been walking around with my eyes closed, and as roughly and daggered as it had come out of Dorian’s mouth, it was exactly what I needed to hear.

The next morning I scribbled a note that requested he meet me at the bookstore across town at 3:00 p.m. I had no idea what I was going to do for the better half of the morning, but considering the bookstore was located along the strip mall, I figured I had plenty of boutiques, stores, and restaurants to choose from for entertainment and lunch. I also had an excess amount of money in my account, and I was itching to spend some.

I had lunch at a little café that served mostly soups, salads, and sandwiches. I sat next to the window, watching the rain for what felt like hours when the waiter finally got my attention.

“Would you like a refill on your tea, ma’am?” the handsome, young waiter asked with an endearing smile.

“No thank you, I’m good. I’m just gonna relax for a few minutes before braving the storm.”

“Any coffee or dessert for you today? We have turtle brownies, raspberry cheesecake, carrot cake, and red velvet cupcakes.”

“I’m stuffed! Thank you, though.”

“Can I get some of these dishes out of your way? I’m not rushing you. You can stay as long as you want.”

“Sure, I’m done.”

“I’m Nathan. Sorry to be so forward, but you are beautiful,” he said, blushing.

“Thank you, Nathan. You are sweet! This rain probably has me looking like a hot mess!”

“Nah, I don’t think you could look any better if you tried,” he said, smiling down at me then glancing at my hand.

“Well, thank you again.”

“Yeah, I guess a girl like you would already be taken, huh? Oh well, ya can’t blame a guy for trying! Have a great day!” Nathan said as he picked up my plate, nodding at my ring.

“You too.” I giggled.

Looking down at my cell phone, I noticed it was ten til’ three. The bookstore was just across the street, and I had no idea if Dorian would be there or not. I told Avan my plan this morning, and he thought it was a good idea for me to try to reach out to Dorian in order to get things back to normal. He seemed to think if I met him alone and let him vent that Dorian would get over everything and let it go. I just hoped he was right.

I almost dreaded this meeting even though I was the one who had requested it. In my heart I knew it needed to take place; Dorian’s problem was with me. I had caused this. I was the reckless, idiotic, selfish moron who came really close to ruining everything because I didn’t listen and didn’t take into account that these individuals cared for me and loved me, accepting me into their family. It was now that I realized a family was not something that you were required to share DNA with; you simply had to share love. I had never gotten that until now.

Stepping up onto the curb, I felt his presence, the unmistakable vibe that only Dorian sent out. I was not sure of his exact location, but I knew he was close, so close that I knew I would probably bump right into him if I did not watch where I was going. The rain had lightened up to a steady drizzle, and due to the clouds, it looked as though it should be about seven o’clock instead of three. This made the meeting feel more like a bad dream rather than a chance to make things right again. I hadn’t even noticed him standing under the awning and leaning next to the window when he said my name.

“Mattie,” Dorian called, catching my attention as I was about to enter the bookstore.

“There you are. I have to tell you, I really wasn’t sure you’d show.”

“I considered skipping out, but I couldn’t make myself.”

“Well, I’m glad you came. Do you want to talk inside?”

“Nah, too many people in there trying to avoid the rain. I kind of like it myself,” Dorian commented looking up at the clouds.

“Okay well, I know you’re mad at me, and I want to know what I need to do in order to fix this, Dorian. I hate you being upset with me. Last night we all went to eat, and it was like there was just this empty hole without you there. You’re part of us, and families don’t split like this.”

“That’s just it, Mattie, you still don’t get it, do you?” Dorian replied through his clenched teeth.

“I do get it, Dorian! I got it loud and clear! That’s why I wanted to talk to you alone! Everything you said night before last was true, okay? You are right about everything. I don’t think before I act. I am constantly putting people in dangerous situations. You do always have to follow behind me, cleaning up my messes. I didn’t realize I was part of this family that you guys had put together. I’m a selfish, stupid little angel that was raised as an overprotected human princess by my nemesis parents who happened to fall in love and created me by accident! I freaking get it, Dorian!” I screamed as tears fell from my eyes.

The rain began to fall harder, beating the ground in sheets as I could not control my tears. I did not know what to do, but I did not want to give up! Without thinking, I turned to run away across the street into the parking lot when I felt something hard fly into me, causing me to crash into the pavement.

Raindrops hit my face, letting me know I lay face upon the ground opening my eyes. Wiping my face, I looked around to see Dorian standing in front of me holding out his hand. His green eyes glowed as the rain ran from his chin. His wet auburn hair was a mess and he was drenched from head to toe.

“Do you want help up or not?” he asked, signaling me to take his hand.

“Thanks for saving me again. You could have just let them hit me. I can’t die ya know. Maybe it would have made you hate me a little less to see the spoiled little sister suffer a little.”

With that comment, he placed his hands on my cheeks and his eyes softened from the aggravated glare they had kept for the past few days.

“That’s the problem, Matalyn Holland. I don’t see you as my sister!” he said. My heart felt cold and empty at his words.

“But I thought that everyone said because Avan is your brother that I was like your—”

“Maybe to everyone else, but not to me, Mattie.”

“But why? What does this mean? So you can’t be a part of all of us anymore. Is that what you’re saying? I don’t get it! Dumb it down for me, Dorian. Tell me what I’ve done to cause this!” I shouted through the rain that was coming down so hard that I could barely see Dorian, who stood right in front of me. I only knew he was still there by the touch of his hands on my face. I continued to cry uncontrollably.

“You haven’t done anything Mattie. I’m still a part of this family and I will do my part, but you need to know that I will never look at you like a sister, okay? You and I will never have the same relationship that you have with Declan, Trev, Alex, or Bradley. I just can’t be what they can be for you,” Dorian explained.

“Just give me one good reason that you can’t accept me as a sister like they have.”

“One reason?”

“One reason, a valid reason is all I ask. If you can give me that, I will accept your moody personality and never pressure you about it again,” I pleaded.

“I will never be able to accept you as a sister because I am in love with you, Mattie!” Dorian shouted through the rain as I felt his lips meet mine.

The kiss lasted what felt like an eternity, and I could tell he truly was in love with me, but he knew it was wrong in every way. I knew it was wrong too, but for some reason I could not make myself pull away from him. I loved Avan more than anything, and I was bound to him through an Angel’s Promise that I could never break. Why did I feel so strongly for Dorian right now?

When he pulled away, both of us were speechless, trying to catch our breath. I could not fathom that I had just shared a very intimate and passionate kiss with anyone other than Avan, but as I stared at Dorian, I knew it was not a daydream. I had to make myself process this and try to figure out how to handle the situation without causing any more damage than already existed.

“So there you go. Now you know how I feel,” Dorian said as his voice cracked a little.

“Dorian, I—”

“I know, you and my brother are together and there’s not one thing I can do about it.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Your kiss said enough, Mattie. You love me, but you’re in love with him and an Angel’s Promise binds you. He was created for you, I get it, and it’s just really hard to watch. I never anticipated having feelings for you as I do. I feel for you the way you feel for Avan. The sad thing is that when you can’t be with the person you feel that way for and you see them in love with someone else every day, it makes you a little crazy. So forgive me for being moody, as you like to call it, but this is the way it is for me,” Dorian replied calmly as the rain softened to a sprinkle.

“I just wish there was a way I could make everyone happy.”

“That’s impossible, and you know it. I will continue to protect you just, as Avan will, Mattie. I will never stop loving you, even if I can never have you. I just want you to know that, but I have to keep more of a distance.”

“Dorian, there is someone out there. My mom always told me God makes someone for everyone; you just have to wait for them.”

“That’s a cute little saying for humans, Mattie, but it doesn’t exactly work that way with angels. Each one of us is wired for a specific purpose. Sometimes, after being around humans for so long, we tend to start acquiring some of the feelings and emotions they do, just as you did a couple of weeks ago when you fell for Lena’s little trick. You played into the emotional factor that she could be genuine and good. You were wrong, but you allowed yourself to let her appeal to your human responses. You are more of an angel than any of us, and it happened to you, so imagine what goes on with us.

“We gain humanistic desires too once we’ve been down here long enough, and the bosses upstairs know that and are fairly forgiving as long as we don’t screw up and be completely irresponsible by creating Nephilim children. That is when they step in and pull us out of here. Bottom line, you can’t change the way I feel. Avan knows all of this, and that’s why he didn’t try to stop me from leaving at your apartment.”

“How long have you felt this way?” I inquired.

“From the minute I laid eyes on you, but I already knew that you and Avan were destined for each other. I thought I’d get over it, then every time I was around you it got worse. I never let anyone know, which was incredibly hard to keep a secret with the whole shared thoughts thing. I had to occupy myself with other things to distract everyone from digging through them. Then your birthday rolled around, and I had to pretend to be to simply be doing favors all day when what I really wanted was to be the guy sending the gifts rather than the one delivering them. When we were singing to you last week, I could tell how in love you were with Avan and it took everything I had to keep my mind shut off from all of you!

“Everything was going according to plan with my secret safe until I saw you bleeding on the floor of the hotel room. I lost it and everybody found out. That is why Avan told us to get you out of there. He knew at that point how I felt and that I would do something so out of control that we wouldn’t be able to fix it. I wanted to kill Ian just as much as Avan did, even though I know there is no way to kill an angel.

“I wanted to throw him right back into pits of hell where he belonged, but that wasn’t my task; it was Avan’s. All I could do was sit there, holding towels to your wounds, watching you suffer. I couldn’t even kiss your forehead and tell you that I loved you. I couldn’t comfort you. I couldn’t do anything. My secret was out, everyone knew, and maybe my brothers don’t judge me, but I judge myself! How could I be weak enough to fall in love with the one person destined to be with my brother?” Dorian ranted.

“Dorian, I know I can’t be what you want me to be for you, but I think having you as a brother is better than not having you at all! Can you please try to accept that and embrace the relationship that we can have?” I asked in hopes that he would see that a familial relationship was so much better than having an empty space where each of us used to be, or pining for what could never come about.

“Mattie, I told you I’m not going anywhere, but I can’t just turn it off. Just let me be.”

“Okay, just know that in time things will get better, you’ll see.”

“You believe that. I’ve gotta go. My shift starts soon.”

“Are we cool?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, even though I knew we were far from being cool. If anything we were icy cold like a refrigerator on steroids due to the complicated circumstances of our love triangle that I had never known existed until about a half an hour ago.

“Things will be just like you have always known them to be, with the exception that now you know what is going through my mind. I will be as nice to you as I have always been. Mattie, I love you enough to let you go. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop loving you, only that I will put on my mask and love you from a distance. I’ll take my place in this family and tell everyone that I talked to you, making them believe I share their little-sister-Mattie point of view, but know that I will love you for all eternity in a way that only you will be aware of.”

“Dorian, thank you for trying to make this work. I can’t imagine things without you.”

Without another word, Dorian turned and walked away, leaving me alone in a crowded parking lot. I could not help but still be worried about him, but I was glad we hashed it out. Even if I did find out how he really felt about me, at least I knew why he was distant. I was not sure how I should handle the fact that he was going to be wearing a mask to hide his feelings for me, but surely the guys knew him well enough that they would figure it out on their own. I was going to work on pretending this had not taken place. If I acknowledged the issue, it would eat me alive to the point that I would not be able to function.

Looking down at the puddles on the cement, I could not help but wonder what Avan thought when he found out how Dorian felt about me. Did he get filled with jealousy and take it out on Ian? Even if he did, Ian deserved it. Did Avan feel betrayed? He was the one who suggested I meet with Dorian today; he had already known how Dorian felt, so why would he have wanted me to meet with him? I almost missed Avan’s response in my mind as I asked one question right after another while I walked to the other end of the strip mall, through the parking lot, trampling through the mud puddles like a five-year-old throwing a fit.

“I wanted you to talk to him alone because he needed to admit how he felt,” Avan’s voice sounded.

“He already admitted it to all of you. Why did he need to humiliate himself by telling me too? What good did it really do?”

“He needed to hear how you felt from you. He needed to confront how he felt rather than bury it and let it manifest into something ugly and dark,” Avan answered.

“I feel bad for him,” I admitted.

“Sometimes we are faced with complicated situations, Angel. This isn’t your fault. The best thing you can do for him is teach him through your actions how to still have a relationship, even though it isn’t the one he wants,” Avan explained.

“I’m afraid things will never be the same. Why didn’t you give me a heads up if you knew all this?” I asked, a little irritated that I had walked into the unpleasant conversation with Dorian blindly when Avan could have filled me in; I could have thought of better and more comforting things to say when I was on the spot.

“I just wanted to make sure your answers and feelings were genuine rather than practiced and rehearsed. He deserved true answers, and maybe part of me wanted to be sure that you really did feel that we were destined. Sometimes it feels good to know that you truly feel for me the way I feel about you,” Avan replied with such heartfelt emotion it made me wish I were right beside him to throw my arms around his neck.

“Do you think he will be okay?” I asked with doubt in my trembling voice.

“He’ll be okay. He was wrong about one thing, though. You were correct when you said that time heals all things. Right now, Dorian’s heart hurts. I know it is not the ideal situation to have to watch him mope around, but it takes a little more time for angels to get over things. Just be patient and you’ll see. Everything is going to be okay.”

“I sure hope you’re right.”

“I’m never wrong!” Avan added with a laugh.





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