Angel's Honor (4 page)

“Your brains are fundamentally
different than ours, is that what you’re saying?” a young man asked. He’d come
over as soon as Raphael had arrived, ditching his friends and their Frisbee. It
wasn’t the first time, either. The other afternoons Raphael had spent here in
the past few weeks this same young man had shown up. Raphael knew he was a
student, and he knew his name was Peter. He also knew that Peter was hitting on
him.

Not that it matters. He’s too young
for me,
he mused, thoughts going to the mate that destiny had supposedly arranged for
him.
Who is it, I wonder?
He couldn’t help obsessing over a man whose
face he didn’t know. In the back of his head, he hoped it was Gabriel. For some
reason, even though he’d never even had a conversation with the reclusive man,
he’d immediately felt an attraction from the moment he saw him. He knew Gabriel’s
sister, Ariel. He’d even had coffee with her a few times and managed to steer
the conversation towards her brother and Gabriel sounded as honorable inside as
he was gorgeous outside. From their conversations, he knew their father had
died tragically.
You have no idea if it’s him. Just because you thought he
was hot is no reason to suspect he could be your mate.

Peter flicked a clod of dirt at
him, startling Raphael out of his reverie. “Huh. I can see what you mean about
short attention spans,” he teased.

Raphael chuckled.
“Precisely.”
He sure as hell wasn’t going to tell the kid
that he was distracted by thoughts of his unknown mate. All the humans would
think he was crazy. They had no idea the People had such instincts, for good
reason. They hadn’t had a destined Alpha leader in over three centuries. An
Omega mate was a myth the People told little girls as a bedtime story. He could
hardly believe it himself, except every time he glanced at his skin the proof
was in the faint white tracery of his marks. He’d worn long sleeves today,
despite the warm weather, to cover them up. He hadn’t wanted to deal with any
of the People seeing what had happened. There would be questions and maybe even
recriminations. Doing anything to the marks was a sign of dishonor. If they
thought he’d changed them himself… Well. He didn’t want to contemplate the
consequences of that.

Peter smiled. Raphael smiled back,
relieved the discussion so far had been interesting, but safely set to topics
with which he felt comfortable. Then Peter shocked him by pointing to Raphael’s
arms. “I thought your marks were brown, like
all the
People’s? Why are the lines on your arms white, all of a sudden? Did you do
something to them?”

Raphael looked down, startled. He’d
inadvertently pushed up his sleeves in the afternoon heat, dammit. He shoved
them back down. “No. I didn’t do anything to my marks purposely. It’s against
our customs to change our genetic legacy,” he said slowly, angry with himself.
Why hadn’t he been more careful?

“I’ve never seen an angel with
white markings before. Does that mean your wings are white?” the girl sitting with
her grandmother asked.

Raphael glanced at his students, Loriel
and Jeremiel. They were staring at his arms as if they could see through the
cloth. They looked as disturbed as he felt. Most humans didn’t ask about their
wings. It was considered impolite.

“Only one angel’s wings
are white,” Loriel said, her voice hushed.
She stared at Raphael as if he
were a ghost.

“For real?
Does that mean he’s
special?” the girl asked, pointing at Raphael. She didn’t seem to sense the
undercurrents suddenly flowing beneath the conversation.

Raphael pursed his lips as he
considered how to answer, trepidation tightening his gut.

“Only an Omega angel has white
wings.
A healer.
The mate of our leader,” Jeremiel
said. “Except we already have a leader and he already has a mate.” He glanced
at the humans. “You would call her his wife. Sometimes we call our spouses our
mates.”

Raphael looked at Jeremiel. He saw
only worry in his face, not condemnation. He decided to explain the history. “The
Omega angel myth has been part of our earliest stories for centuries, but there
have been none in reality in hundreds of years, if ever. Most of our teachers believe
the Omega to be a mythic figure,” Raphael said.

“Clearly you’re not a myth,” Peter
said, voice sure. He reached out and touched Raphael on his knee. “You feel
real to me.
Very real.”

Raphael was about to slide his leg
away when a low male voice spoke from behind him. “Do not touch him uninvited.
Not ever.”

Peter sat up hurriedly, paling as
he stared past Raphael’s shoulder.

What the—
Raphael thought,
startled.
Is that Gabriel?
His heart knocked against his ribs and his
skin prickled as adrenaline shot through his system. He turned slowly, not sure
what to expect. When his eyes met Gabriel’s stormy gold gaze, he knew that God
had decided his fate.

****

Gabriel resisted glaring at the boy
who dared touch his mate, instead concentrating on meeting Raphael’s eyes
calmly. “Raphael,” he said, saying the name for the first time. When he’d met
him before, his sister had introduced them, but they hadn’t spoken.

“Gabriel,” Raphael replied,
standing gracefully. He attempted a smile. “What brings you to my afternoon
storytelling session? Did Ariel tell you I’d be here?”

“She did.” He paused. “And I think you
know why I’m here.” He didn’t look away, instead letting his eyes take their
fill of Raphael’s masculine beauty. His blue eyes were clear and intelligent
and his lean frame was muscular, but for some reason, when Gabriel took in the
entire package, he couldn’t think of a better word to describe his mate than
mine
. The possessiveness he felt
startled him. Raphael’s dark hair set off his eyes, like deepest night
showcased the brightest stars. When he flicked his gaze down to his mate’s
arms, he frowned slightly, disappointed to see the long sleeves covering up
what he’d hoped were changed markings. He couldn’t possibly be wrong about
this, could he? God help him if he was.

Raphael narrowed his eyes,
seemingly impatient with Gabriel’s indirect response. “I am not some damsel in
distress.”

Gabriel’s nostrils flared. “You
want me to say it?” he asked quietly, controlling the instinctive heat Raphael’s
intransigence raised. He wasn’t angry, not precisely, but he was agitated.
Restless.

Raphael nodded. “It won’t be real
unless you speak it aloud. Let the wind hear.”

Gabriel took a deep breath and
concentrated on the way the dirt shifted beneath his bare feet. He listened to
the air sighing over his shoulders. He glanced up at the infinite sky and let
his mind truly accept the knowledge of what he was about to do. When he looked
back down, Raphael had braced himself, putting a hand on the tree he’d been
sitting against.

“I claim you as my Omega.
My mate.
My succor and healer.
I
claim you for our People, for our honor.” Here he paused, trying to push words
past the thundering of his heart. “And I claim you for myself.” He spoke the
last in a whisper, hoping to God that Raphael could hear him. He sensed the
people around them watching, mixed human and angel, and he despaired at having
to do this in front of them. He’d have preferred privacy.
But perhaps the
legitimacy of my claim will not be questioned, because of the public nature of my
action,
he mused, trying to find the positive in the most vulnerable moment
of his life.
Claiming a mate of the same sex is truly unprecedented. There
will be repercussions.

Raphael’s eyes flared, black on
blue. “If your claim is valid, I will accept you as my Alpha.
My mate.
My leader and shield, for the
honor of our People.”
He stepped away from the tree and began to
unbutton his shirt. “And I would be honored to claim you for myself.” He said
that last quietly, so only Gabriel could hear, hands trembling as he peeled off
his shirt and flung it to the grass.

Reason lost the battle with
instinct. Gabriel’s
wings burst from his body like rain falls
from a thundercloud and he strode forward, not caring that humans had seen him
shift.
Let them look,
a voice in the back of his heat-clouded mind said.
Let them see the Alpha claim his Omega.
He reached out and grabbed
Raphael’s arms, fingers pressing into the silvery marks that traced up the
shorter man’s skin. Abruptly, Raphael’s wings sprang forth: blinding white,
tipped with gold. Gabriel’s mouth opened, but he couldn’t speak.
Couldn’t breathe.
They began to
rise
together, magic filling their bodies as the mating instinct began to take them
into the skies.

“Gabriel,” Raphael croaked, holding
onto Gabriel as tightly as Gabriel held onto him.

“Shh,” he said, bringing him
closer. Their legs tangled. They were so close he could feel Raphael’s erection
straining against his jeans. Gabriel moaned softly, hips jerking as a rising
thermal off the ridge suddenly lofted them thousands of feet into the air.

“My God.”
Raphael looked dazed.

Gabriel knew how he felt. He leaned
in and Raphael met him halfway, lips soft and warm and perfect. When Raphael
nibbled Gabriel’s mouth open, he groaned, unable to comprehend how such a
simple thing could make his entire body feel like it was on fire. He grabbed
his Omega, pulling him even closer. He couldn’t get close enough. The kiss
turned feral, with Raphael ravaging his mouth, tongue running over Gabriel’s
lips desperately, and then they were falling.

Gabriel growled and turned them,
wrapping his legs around Raphael’s thighs. He slid his hands up Raphael’s
shoulders, then down his wings, closing them. Raphael panicked, struggling, but
Gabriel held him fast. “No, don’t,” he said, but Raphael tore himself away,
wings snapping open. They flashed in the sun, taunting him. “Raphael!” Gabriel shouted,
diving into a trough of cool air. He picked up speed, whirling as he flew,
then
snapped his wings open at the last minute. He barreled
into Raphael and the two of them began to plummet to the ground.

Raphael arched his back, his cock
sliding against Gabriel’s again, and again, but the ground was rising too fast…
Gabriel let go, pushing Raphael up so the magic would loft him into the sky
above. Raphael looked down at him, blue eyes wide, and then Gabriel opened his
wings and caught another warm wave, slowing his spiral. When Raphael turned,
flying away, he followed, catching him again once, twice, and thrice again
until they were exhausted and drifting above the untouched forests near Seneca
Lake. Raphael squirmed, twisting and twisting again until he faced Gabriel.

Gabriel kissed him, desperate.
Everything he ever thought he knew about sex and love and desire paled in
comparison to this flight.
This claiming.
“Raphael,
you’re mine,” he murmured into the other man’s throat.
“My
Omega.”

Raphael sighed and finally
submitted. “My Alpha,” he whispered, hands in Gabriel’s hair.

Gabriel’s eyes pricked, from the
wind or dust or something else, he wasn’t sure. He kissed Raphael’s pulse point
delicately,
then
leaned back.

“Off,” Raphael said. “Get these
off.” Raphael was tugging at Gabriel’s jeans.

Gabriel gasped when his mate’s hand
brushed his cock. “Yeah,” he said, voice cracking. He leaned away a little more
and Raphael managed to undo both of their pants. Gabriel concentrated on
holding them
aloft,
riding the thermal the day’s
sunlight had gifted them, grateful for his new stamina. Raphael stripped them
quickly, tossing their pants away, and then he moved back against Gabriel’s
body, wrapping his legs around his hips. When their cocks touched, Gabriel
moaned, sparks of pleasure blinding him.

“Pay attention,” Raphael gasped
when they dropped a few hundred feet. “You’ve got to keep us up here.”

Gabriel caught the edge of the wind
and carried them up even higher than before. He had no idea where their clothes
had landed and didn’t care. Raphael had his hands in Gabriel’s wings, threading
carefully through his coverts even as he flew. It made him shiver. The touch
was so much more sensual than anything he’d ever felt before. He would never
give this man up.
Never.
Raphael was his now, forever.
He growled into his mate’s neck.

“Yeah, fuck, just like that,”
Raphael
muttered,
hips moving.

Gabriel tucked his hands around
Raphael’s ass, grinding them together. Raphael threw his head back, moaning,
then
suddenly, shockingly, shut his wings down tight against
his back.

“Jesus, Raphael, what are you
doing?”

“I can’t help it,” his mate panted.
“I can’t control it.” His cock throbbed against Gabriel’s.
“God.
This is insane.”

Gabriel shuddered. He was holding
them both in the sky and one wrong move would send them to their deaths. “Fuck,
Raphael. Fuck,” he said brokenly. He licked up Raphael’s neck,
then
sank his teeth into his shoulder.