Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

sweetly whispered word. To be pressed into the sheets as Cole used to press Daniel, to know the pleasures Cole and Daniel had known together... Raziel flushed and looked away from Cole, stared out the highrise's tinted windows over the city. It was cold outside, and Raziel shivered. To love one's ward was encouraged. To be in love with one's ward was forbidden. But he couldn't help what his heart wanted. He closed his eyes against the misty, gray landscape outside the window and twittered softly to himself.
    A touch to his shoulder sent him spinning, his wings flaring out as he came face to face with Cole. The room was empty, the blinds between room and hall drawn. Where had everyone gone? Had he been so lost in his thoughts he'd missed the end of the meeting? God help him, he was becoming careless. "Cole."
    Cole's brow was furrowed slightly. "You seemed engrossed in the view."
    "Lost in thought," he whispered. "I apologize."
    "No news from on high, then? No orders or punishment or... anything?"
    Raziel fluttered his wings and shook his head. "No. It appears no one can see me except you, and whatever punishment is coming, it hasn't arrived yet."
    "This whole thing is fucked up," Cole muttered, leaning back against the edge of the conference table. "You deny me the escape from my pain, you are suddenly visible, and now I'm supposed to magically move on and find a new path?"
    It didn't sound positive at all when Cole said it in that tone, and Raziel felt his wings droop a little. He couldn't give up hope, though. He couldn't allow Cole's pain and pessimism to get in the way. Cole had to grieve, and maybe the anger was part of that. "At least now you don't have that pesky, gnawing need for those cigarettes," Raziel offered, trying to focus on the positive. The comment made Cole's eyebrow twitch, and the thought he glimpsed in Cole's mind made him laugh softly. "Smoking one just to spite me would only start blackening your lungs again. I prefer you clean and whole."
    Cole sighed and kicked aimlessly at the wheels of one of the rolling chairs tucked beneath the table. "You prefer me alive, too." Raziel whistled cheerfully at that, and the sound brought the smallest of smiles to Cole's face, which he decided was a very good reaction indeed. "Seems to me that your wants have a certain power. You wouldn't have been able to save me, otherwise. Just what else do you want?"
    "I only want you safe. Alive. Happy."
    "The first two you seem to have managed," Cole murmured, running his fingers through his hair. "Happy, though..."
    Raziel chirped softly. "Happy will come with time."
    "I was happy with Daniel."
    "No," Raziel murmured. "You weren't. For six months before he ended it, you suspected he was with someone else. You lied to yourself, just as he lied to you. You pretended to be happy in the hopes it would become the truth, but it didn't. It was a house of smoke and wishful thinking."
    Cole crossed his arms. "You really know how to make a man feel good about himself."
    Raziel tilted his head. "Is that what you wanted? More lies?"
    Slowly, Cole shook his head, his beautiful eyes focusing on Raziel. "I don't think you lie very well, anyway."
    "I don't see the purpose. It would only hurt you in the end. I... don't want to hurt you," Raziel said, his wings quivering a little. "I love you."
    "You keep saying that."
    Raziel smiled. "It's the truth."
    "You love me."
    "Yes. I love you enough to change the order of your life so you can live that life to its fullest," Raziel said, clasping his hands in front of him. Only when Cole was able to see him had he become more aware of his nakedness. "I didn't want to see all your potential lost because Daniel was selfish."
    Cole shoved off the conference table and came to stand just inches from Raziel. "Are angels selfish, too?"
    A flush stole across Raziel cheeks, and his eyes drifted down toward Cole's perfectly shaped mouth. He'd seen that mouth pressed to Daniel's lips countless times, caressing every part of the man's body. Raziel swallowed, eyes darting up to meet Cole's. "I was selfish to bring you back," he admitted. "I am not certain other angels share my flaw."
    "Flaw?"
    "Daniel's selfishness hurt you, as does mine. It's a flaw."
    A small smile tugged at Cole's mouth. "Maybe, in you, it isn't such a flaw."
    Raziel couldn't help it. The compliment brought a hesitant, sweet smile to his lips. "I love you," he said again. "It broke my heart to think of you dead and beyond my reach. Even