Guild Hunter 03 - Archangel's Consort

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 will accept it another day. Tonight, I must remain here.”
    Pale gray eyes sparked with intelligence. “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 full 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—Illium’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 allow 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 allowed you much freedom, but on this I will not budge.”
    Temper sparked off her. “It’s not up to you to allow me anything. I’m your consort. Treat me as one!”
    Yet she was so very mortal still—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 cells. You will not win this argument, Hunter.
    “Fine, but it’s one we’ll continue to have every single day till you start acting reasonable.”
    Until her, no one had challenged him on this level. Until her, no one had loved him with all the strength in this hunter’s soul. “According to Dmitri, the most sensible act would have been to kill 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 small 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’ll destroy both of us.”
    With those disturbing words, she dove down across the Hudson. As he watched her disappear toward Manhattan, aware that Illium 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.
     
     
    Elena shoved the argument—and the reason behind it—to the back of her mind as she came to a smooth landing in front of the brownstone that was Sara and Deacon’s. Her best friend dragged her inside an instant later ... where Elena got a welcome surprise. “You bought the neighboring town house!” They’d taken out the facing walls of both homes, then closed the small gap between the two buildings by extending one of the houses.
    Since Elena hadn’t noticed anything from the outside, they had to have recycled the materials removed during the demolition of the walls to build a seamless exterior over the extension. Fantastic as that was, it didn’t compare to the inside—the entire first floor was a massive open-plan space that flowed into the kitchen.
    “Yep.” Sara beamed, her rich coffee-colored skin all but glowing. “With the way Deacon’s business is going, we could afford it so we decided why not.” A pause. “More important, I wanted my best friend to feel welcome in my home.”
    Swallowing the knot of emotion in her throat, Elena put down her bag to wander over the gleaming wooden floors covered with Navajo rugs that matched the warm, earth-toned color scheme of the house. “It’s gorgeous, Sara.”
    “Deacon did most of the renovation himself—Zoe and I just held boards, took him the occasional nail, and generally supervised.” A big grin.
    “I know you chose the colors.” Feeling totally at ease, she spread her wings. “It’s—”
    “Oh, God, Ellie,” Sara said on a gasp, clutching the back of the sofa. “Each