Renegade (Heven and Hell #4)(67)
Author: Cambria Hebert

But she didn’t look my way. Her eyes didn’t even flicker in my direction.

She turned back toward the door and watched as someone came out behind her.

I stopped in my tracks and stared at the man.

An angel.

He was tall and muscular, his body looking like it was carved from granite. There wasn’t a mark or flaw anywhere on his skin, which was golden and glistening like he lived in the sun. He wore no shirt, only a pair of jeans. His hair was blond and long enough to be pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck. It wasn’t these things that told me he was an angel. What told me that were his wings.

They were enormous, white and pristine. They appeared softer than anything I’d ever seen before.

I hated him instantly, violently. My hands curled into fists at my sides and my nails dug into my flesh.

I watched in disgust as the angel stood in front of Ana, who had to crane her neck just to see the man’s face. He smiled down at her and reached out, grasping her hands. I wanted to pluck every single one of those snow-white feathers from his wings. His lips moved and he spoke softly, rapidly. I tried to hear what he said, but the wind carried his words in another direction. Ana nodded and then the angel walked forward and spread his massive white wings and flew off. He didn’t look back once.

Ana stood there and watched him fly away, never once looking away from the sky, even after the angel was gone. Was she sorry he was gone?

Anger, swift and hot, burned through my veins. All the ease I felt upon my arrival vanished. She’d lied to me. She said no one ever came here. She said she knew no one.

I covered what was left of the distance between us in seconds, coming to stand just behind her. Still, she didn’t turn. It was the first time she didn’t acknowledge my presence, for surely she knew I was right behind her. Was she now sickened at the presence of me—a hellhound—and hoping her angel wouldn’t see me?

“Ana,” I said, my voice hard and cold, my fingers flexed with the need to grab her and spin her to face me.

She stiffened, her shoulders going tense and her indrawn breath suspended in the air between us. Even with her surprise, which seemed suspicious, she didn’t turn to face me.

Pissed off, I gave in and grabbed her wrist, pulling her around. I was about to say something harsh when I caught a glimpse of her face. Her chin was wobbling and those crystal-clear green eyes were liquid with unshed tears.

I wasn’t prepared for tears.

For this.

Never once in all my time here had I ever seen even one hint of unhappiness, one hint of sorrow. To think of her this way shifted my anger away from her and refocused it, ten times stronger, onto whatever put that look in her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” I demanded. “Who was that?”

Anna looked up at me, blinking back the worst of her tears. “That was Lorn.”

I blew out a breath and my fingers dug into her arm. “Who?”

“He’s my match.”

Just then a large wave crashed against the shoreline bordering her house, a deafening sound that seemed to shove her words at me even more forcefully. I dropped her arm like I’d been burned. I didn’t know for sure what that meant, but I wasn’t stupid.

“Your match?” I yelled as another wave crashed. This time drops of sea water sprinkled my arms.

Ana looked out at the water, her wheat-colored hair whipping back from her pink cheeks. I followed her gaze to note the sea was more stirred up than usual and I wondered if what she felt caused the change.

Frustrated and angry, I grabbed her arm and towed her toward the house. She came, stumbling a bit, but I didn’t slow. When I slammed the glass door behind us, it rattled, but I didn’t care as I towed her into the great room.

The house looked as it always looked: welcoming and peaceful. Yet I didn’t feel welcomed. I felt pushed away. The scent of her mouthwatering cooking wafted from the kitchen and for once my stomach didn’t grumble. It revolted.

I released her and stalked over toward the fireplace, staring down at the logs stacked neatly in the hearth. I heard her draw in an uneven breath and glanced her way.

She was smoothing her windswept hair away from her face. She appeared composed, but I knew better. I could smell her unease. “I didn’t think you would be by today,” she said, lifting her eyes to me.

I turned away. “How upsetting to get caught in a lie.”

“I didn’t lie to you.” The way her voice stayed calm and level only fueled my anger.

“You told me you were pure, that you had to remain pure for the island, for the glamour and the magic to work.” Like a fool, I believed her. When, really, she lied because she couldn’t stand the thought of being near me.

“That is the truth.”

A low growl ripped through my throat. She would lie, even now, even after she’d been caught. My insides felt tight and all my muscles shook with my effort to control myself. She wasn’t what I thought. I’d been stupid. Without looking back I went for the door, bolting past the fireplace to reach out and grasp the handle, yanking the door open.

I would never come back here again.

“I only just met him today,” Ana said, her voice a little less calm than before.

I couldn’t help it. I turned. “You seemed familiar to me.”

She didn’t seem to hear my crude remark and she walked over to the overstuffed aqua couch and sank into the corner. “I’d been told this day would come. I was told it was something to rejoice.” She looked up at me, spearing me with those brilliant green eyes. “Why don’t I feel that way?”

My hand slid from the handle of the door and it swung shut. I stood there wondering what kind of game she was playing.

“I never lied to you, Riley.” Her voice always made my name sound like something it wasn’t. Like something someone actually liked. “I am pure. I am to remain pure until my match arrives…” Her voice fell away and so did her stare. She looked down at the colorful braided rug covering the wooden floors.

“What does he have to do with anything?”

“Before I was the keeper here, my mother was and her mother before that, and so on. I won’t live forever, Riley. My daughter will take over for me someday.”

“Your daughter,” I said, working the words around in my head. Without realizing it, I stepped into the room, closer to her and farther from the door. As I moved, my thoughts aligned and fierce realization dawned. “You… you’re supposed to have a daughter with him?”