The Second Sign (24 page)

“No!” the golem hissed. “You will never have her!
She is bound to another.” She looked from Gabby to Pat, who seemed
to stiffen at those words.

Dust sifted through his fingers, inching its way to
the floor but not quite settling on the surface. The magical powder
hung suspended in the air, shimmering in the waning light, creating
a barrier between them and the beast that had been Elle now
cornered against a wall.

“You forget that I was once an angel and know the
magic of faith,” Pat said, leading Gabby toward the exit.

Elle turned and clawed at the wall, leaving deep,
jagged marks in a frantic attempt at escape.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Pat warned.
“They will sense you without the human flesh bound to you.”

She stopped. “What do you want?” she growled.

“I want you dead!” he spat, taking a deep breath and
closing his eyes. Gabby could feel the anger and energy through
their clasped hands. “But I will show you mercy.” He stepped back
and looked at Gabby. “Call your brother.”

“I can’t,” Gabby responded, jolted by the very
question and feeling vulnerable. She’d left her phone in the car,
and she wanted Pat to give her answers.

“Very well,” he said, turning back to the creature.
“You will stay here until I fetch the angels.”

“You are going to pay for this!” she shrieked just
as Pat grabbed Gabby’s arm and tore her away from the scene.

They ran out of the shop and locked the door behind
them. Pat acted as if he were a manager just closing shop, while
she shook all over. “What was that?”

“A creature of the old world. You don’t want to mess
with them.”

“And she has a sister?”

Pat smirked. “They always do. But I haven’t a clue
where to find her.”

Gabby shook her head. “You bluffed with a monster? I
should be surprised.”

“Come on, we don’t have time.” He led her to Adler’s
car and they both jumped in. Pulling out his hand to her palm up,
he cocked his brow. The phone. Reluctantly she handed it to him and
watched as he dialed, waited, and then tossed the phone between
them. “No answer. We have to find him.”

“Will it keep her...it contained?”

“Yeah, it should.”

She shoved her trembling hands under her thighs to
keep them still as he drove off. “Are you going to tell me
anything?” She wanted to hit him.

“No. You need explanations from Max.”

She chuckled. “Right, like he’ll tell me
anything.”

Pat gave her a sideways glance, his eyes pained.
“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have seen that.”

“But I did. What did she mean about me being bound,”
she asked, but wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Pat exhaled and squeezed his eyes as if clearing his
thoughts. “I don’t think I’m the one to—”

“Tell me.”

“What do you remember about that night when you
thought I spiked your drink?”

Gabby turned her eyes out the window, feeling her
cheeks flush. She felt loose. Her limbs had felt heavy while a
liquid fire burned inside her veins. A fire only he could staunch.
She couldn’t tell him that. Ever. And then he stopped, left the
room, and when he returned she felt...scared. “Not much. Woozy and
tired.”

He shot her a look that told her he knew she was
lying. He bit his lip. “Mir asked me to consummate our union.”

She whirled to him, sure she had misunderstood.
“What?”

“We were betrothed, Gabby. Your father, Mir, asked
me to consummate our union before you became—”

“But Max protected me from you. He fought you
because you wouldn’t stop,” she retorted before he could finish.
Her head buzzed. No. It couldn’t be.

He gave her a pitiful look she wanted to slap away,
and shook his head. “No. Max stopped me from telling you. I didn’t
want to take you that way. I wanted you to want me and not regret
it later. I couldn’t do it, so Mir punished me for it.”

Gabby’s heart slammed against her chest. Bile rose
in her throat. The memories of that night floated to the surface.
She remembered Pat had stopped kissing her, giving her space. When
he returned he had been distant. She had thought he didn’t want her
after all. And although fear of losing herself with him rimmed
every good thought she had, she asked him not to stop. She had
wanted to be with him. Then he told her he had to tell her
something important, and that was when Max had burst through the
door. When she met Marty afterward, she’d felt worthless because
she’d thought Pat didn’t want her. She wasn’t good enough for him.
And after the fire, she held on to the idea that he had inebriated
her. It explained why she felt the way she did toward him, and why
she didn’t run after Kyle when the plant burst into flames. But she
had been wrong. Way wrong.

“What were they scared that I’d become?”

He pulled the car over. They were already in front
of her house. “Ask them.”

No. Pat lied. She couldn’t trust him. She tore her
gaze from his and sprinted inside only to feel her resolve slip
away with every new breath she took.

Max sat in the living room and quickly glanced up to
meet her eyes. A warning blasted through her, a connection with Max
she thought she’d lost. The warning made her pause for a moment
before his eyes led her to the man sitting across from him. A tall,
blonde man with piercing, blue eyes and a tattoo that swirled just
above the collar of his tee shirt. A man who had a striking
resemblance to her brother in every way, even in the pair of white,
feathery wings unfurling behind him.

When her eyes fell on this Max carbon copy, a sudden
burst of energy rolled off the man and seeped into her veins.

Max stood up, rubbing his hands and mauling his
cheek. “Gabby,” Max began barely audible through her ringing
ears.

The man cautiously stepped closer as if gauging an
opponent.

“This is Mir. Our father,” he finished.

Mir stepped closer, his white wings fluttering
behind him.

Gabby stepped back. Shock and disbelief permeated
through her.

“Gabby,” Mir said, his voice calm, tempered,
delicate. His deep blue eyes held a depth of coldness in them.

Gabby could not speak. Terror rolled through her,
spiced with deep laden pain. It trickled from her mark to her
spine. The man before her reeked of energy. Her senses heightened.
She could smell the peppermint breath of someone on her left, she
could hear Max’s knuckles as they rapped from clenching his hands,
and she could see Mir’s subtle movement as he motioned at someone
behind her. These newfound senses assaulted her already
nerve-racked mind. She closed her eyes to it and willed it to go
away. When she opened her eyes, Mir’s flesh looked drained of
color. His rosy pale cheeks turned ashen white, hollow blackness
rimmed his eyes. He looked over her shoulder and scowled.

“What is he doing here?” Max asked, and Gabby sensed
Pat behind her right before two other angels charged them.

The angel on her left disappeared in a blur. She
dropped down hard just as Pat whirled around and kicked him square
on the knees as he appeared in front of her. The angel grunted and
fell back, crashing against the table and sending a lamp and books
to the floor. Pat didn’t wait for him to get up before launching
himself at him.

The second, already on the move, forced her to lunge
into a side roll and slam into a wall. Pain flared for a moment,
replaced by a feral need to protect herself. She bounced up and
launched herself to her feet. The angel spun around to backtrack
toward her as she gunned toward him. Leaping on an overturned
chair, she lifted her body as wind swirled around them, leg
outstretched for a roundhouse kick to his chin. The force rippled
along her body, filling her with energy and pain. His wing clipped
her just below the hairline as she vaulted, losing her balance, and
skittering to the floor with a hard thump. He was already on top of
her when she fell, clipping her arms beside her in a bear hug. She
brought her head forward and hit him hard on the nose. He grunted
and turned her around, lifting her off her feet.

“Enough!” Mir demanded. He gave Gabby a hard look
before turning to Pat who had the first angel in a headlock. “You
don’t know your limitations,” Mir said to Gabby.

“No,
you
don’t know my limitations,” she
countered. Power swelled through her and she needed to release it.
A feeling she had never felt before. Sure, she’d fought often with
humans, but she had never laid hands on an angel.

Mir stepped close enough that she could see the
smoothness of his face. He couldn’t have been more than thirty as a
man. But he was immortal. He may as well been a million years old,
it wouldn’t matter to her.

“Pat has news you need to know,” Gabby said, leading
Mir’s gaze to Pat. Gabby felt the tension in the room and wondered
how easily the angels could disown a brother. Pat resembled them in
the grace of his movements, in the temper of his tone, in
everything...except wings.

Pat fell to one knee, his eyes at Mir’s feet. Gabby
wanted to yell at him to get up. He left himself vulnerable to
them.

“My lord. It has come to my attention that Elle is a
golem, a creature thought to have fallen into legend.” Pat stood
up, but the others had not moved.

“It's true. I’ve seen it,” Gabby confirmed.

Mir glanced at her, and then looked up at the angel
bested by Pat and nodded. The angel disappeared. “You are not
welcomed here,” Mir said to Pat.

A glimmer of sorrow fell in his eyes, and he quickly
lowered his gaze to the floor. Without looking at Gabby, he began
walking for the door.

“No, wait!” she called to him, but Pat did not turn.
She whirled around to face her father, struggling under the large
angel’s grasp. “Let me go!”

“Gabby, he’s here to help us,” Max chided.

“I don’t know him. I don’t trust him.” She didn’t
break from Mir’s fierce gaze.

Max let out a breath. “It doesn’t matter. If you
intend to be a part of this, you have to listen.”

She broke from Mir’s gaze to her brother. “Part of
what?”

“Exactly.” Max folded his arms across his chest.

“Fine.” She gritted her teeth and shrugged off of
the giant angel’s grasp. “I’ll listen.” The angel holding her
shoved her hard, and Mir instinctively held out his arms to catch
her. Their brief touch sent ripples of vibrations through her, as
if every cell of her body exploded with etheric energy. Her vision
changed spectrum and she felt as if she could soar. He, on the
other hand, looked like he was going to be sick and shot the giant
angel a look of clear warning.

“This is Zorn, the other one that went to check on
Pat's claim is Arden. They will be your best friends until all this
is over,” Mir said.

Zorn shrugged at Mir with a sheepish look of
apology. Apparently her dad didn’t want to touch her. Zorn’s upper
lip began to heal, and he wiped away the blood that settled there.
She scrunched her brow. “I didn’t know you guys bleed.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know,” Mir said.

She wiped her own gash where Zorn had clipped her
with his wing. Her hand came away with a streak of blood and she
winced. “Too bad I don’t have those powers, eh, brother.”

Max stiffened and stepped closer to her, reaching
for her hand. She pulled away. “That’s fine. I don’t need you to
heal me.” She wasn’t sure if he would heal her or kill her. He
dropped his hand back to his side.

“Come. Sit.” Mir motioned to the sofa.

She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and sat
down. Adler came in, his nose dug into an iPad he set down on the
table between them. Adler looked...wrong with an iPad. Gabby
pictured him a scrolls and tomes kind of guy.

“We have the perimeter of the town on lockdown,”
Adler began. “Myers and Miller agreed to share resources.” He
looked up and met Gabby’s gaze, his brow scrunched as if he wasn’t
sure why she’d joined them.

She wanted to ask why Jake’s dad was involved and
Miller the town cop, but decided it best she leave her questions
for the doozies. She knew there were going to be plenty. Adler
brought her a napkin. “You’re bleeding,” he said, handing it to
her.

“Thanks.” She dabbed the wound softly, but opted not
to touch it.

She couldn’t help but to keep stealing glances at
Mir, grateful that the man ignored her. He wore his blonde hair
tied back in a short ponytail. His silhouette perfect—full lips,
high forehead, intense, blue eyes. He looked like what she’d
picture someone of royalty to look like—refined, powerful,
beautiful. She always knew Max must have looked like him. Max had
all the good genes, but she never imagined the magnitude of their
resemblance.

This made her feel inadequate, as if she didn’t
belong in this family of fair-haired men with colored eyes. She
resembled her mother, with her long, thick, black hair and equally
dark eyes. But her mother was dead, died as a result of loving this
man. Only he wasn’t a man. He was an immortal, and what would the
love of one woman across one lifetime matter when he lived forever.
He probably didn’t even remember her mom’s touch, the scent of her
hair, or the feel of her kiss. It was probably a garbled mess in
his memory.

He gave her a sideways glance. If he knew what she
thought, his face revealed nothing and his eyes even less. She
didn’t care. She’d never known a mother or a father. Max was all
she had, and he too was slipping from her. She looked away from Mir
and turned her gaze to her hands. Naite’s warning settled in her
stomach. Max had betrayed her. Their bond broken. What she wouldn’t
give to have someone love her. Her soul?

“Gabby,” Mir spoke, breaking her thoughts. “Do you
care to let us in on what’s going on?”

“No. Not really,” she responded, ignoring Max’s look
of warning. “Why do you care, anyway? You haven’t been the model
father all these years. Hell, you probably have loads of bastards
running around. Why should you care what happens to me?” She bit
her lip. He didn’t care what happened to her. That was the problem.
But this wasn’t about her. It was about Jake. “I don’t trust you,”
she finally said, almost deflated but not quite.