She’d spent the remaining time doing flying dril s, al of them geared to build up her muscles, with an oddly subdued Il ium. Having discussed it with Keir, Raphael had told her that she wouldn’t be able to achieve a true vertical takeoff without wing strength of a kind she simply did not have. It was a physical impossibility.
“Your immortality,” he’d murmured as they stood on the balcony, “has not yet grown deep enough into your cel s. But,” he’d added, “given your hunter strength, you may wel be able to learn to do a bastardized version that relies not on the power of your wings, but on sheer muscle.”
It’d be a much harder road and each takeoff would hurt like a bitch even after she mastered it, but Elena wasn’t about to be a sitting duck, not if she could do something about it. Maybe she was an immortal new-Made, she thought now, trying to see through the straggling clouds, but she would not be easy prey.
There.
The magnificent breadth of Raphael’s wings came into view as he descended to join her on the clifftop, the tips flaming as they caught the last vestiges of a sun that had final y made an appearance late that afternoon. “You go to visit the Guild Director and her family?”
Pushing off strands of hair that had escaped her braid, she said, “Come with me.”
A slow blink. “They are your closest friends, Elena. They wish to have you to themselves for this night.”
“I’m becoming part of your world—come become part of mine.” She saw the surprise on his face, saw, too, that he’d very much not expected the invitation.
His body was a hard wal of muscle against her as he pul ed her close, until her breasts pressed against his chest. “What wil Sara and Deacon say to that?”
She ran her hands down the wings he spread for her, indulging in the ability to touch him as she pleased. “Not scared of a couple of hunters are you, Archangel?”
A flare of absolute blue as his lashes lifted. They may choose to sever their friendship with you rather than welcome me into their home. You cannot forget the actions I took in the Quiet.
“No.” But she also knew something else beyond any shadow of a doubt. “You have your Seven. I have my friends—they’d cut off their right arms before they’d shove me out into the cold.”
Such loyalty, Raphael thought. He wouldn’t have believed mortals capable of it except that he had known Dmitri when he was human ... and he had known Elena. “The invitation is very welcome,” he said. “I wil accept it another day. Tonight, I must remain here.”
Pale gray eyes sparked with intel igence. “What’s happening?”
“I have a meeting with Aodhan.”
“Here? In New York?”
“I, too, am surprised.” Aodhan preferred the seclusion of the Refuge. “We meet at the Tower.”
Tucking back another flyaway strand of hair, his consort looked him ful in the face. “I want to talk to you about something else, too.”
“What would you have of me, Guild Hunter?”
“I don’t need a bodyguard anymore—Il ium’s trick today with the helicopter seems to have gotten the message across to the media hounds.”
You are my heart, Elena. He would not al ow anything to happen to her.
She took a step back. “No chains, Raphael.”
He closed his hand around her nape, refusing to permit her to distance herself. “I have al owed you much freedom, but on this I wil not budge.”
Temper sparked off her. “It’s not up to you to al ow me anything. I’m your consort. Treat me as one!”
Yet she was so very mortal stil —even the Angel-born remained vulnerable for over a hundred years, and Elena had started out mortal. Immortality had barely kissed her blood, had had no real chance to intertwine with her cel s. You will not win this argument, Hunter.
“Fine, but it’s one we’l continue to have every single day til you start acting reasonable.”
Until her, no one had chal enged him on this level. Until her, no one had loved him with al the strength in this hunter’s soul. “According to Dmitri, the most sensible act would have been to kil you the instant we met.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Stop trying to distract me.” Breaking his hold with a move he hadn’t expected, she picked up the smal bag he’d noticed at her feet. “Raphael?”
Catching the suddenly somber note in her voice, he lifted his eyes to the changeable mists of her eyes. “Hunter.”
“Don’t clip my wings. It’l destroy both of us.”
With those disturbing words, she dove down across the Hudson. As he watched her disappear toward Manhattan, aware that Il ium would trail her to the Guild Director’s home—where another of his Seven had stood watch for hours to ensure no unwelcome surprises—he knew she was right. She would never be happy in a cage. But after the events that had almost stolen her from him not once, but twice, he wasn’t sure he had the ability to set her free.