Dark Angel's Ward Read Free Page B

it away. The simple motion required so much force I'd have flown backward if not for his hold on me. Thankfully, though, with the contact broken, the pain cut off like a switch.
    I sagged against him, weak and gasping in the aftermath. "Any...better?"
    "I am well," he replied in an annoyingly steady voice. "And you?"
    "No worse than usual." I mentally scolded myself for every time I'd complained about the headaches of managing Dissonance, especially the ones that had included the words I hate my job. How quickly I'd let myself forget I'd had far worse gigs. "Sound and fury," I murmured aloud.
    "Pardon?"
    I didn't repeat it, and he probably wouldn't have understood even if I had. Ever since I'd read that phrase in Macbeth I'd always associated it with this feeling. It was one thing to be selectively psychic--at least the only thoughts I usually heard were Zeph's. But when he and I were truly joined, not just in body or mind but the very essence of our beings, I got a taste of what it was really like to be half angel. And I hated it. I couldn't fathom how to cope with hearing the thoughts and prayers of half the damn city. Except by dissociating large portions of my personality, like he had. Zeph's mind could be a scary place.
    "Jandra? Are you sure you're all right?"
    I forced my attention back to the matter at hand. "I told you, yes."
    That seemed to satisfy him. At least he didn't argue with me anymore. His fingertips brushed the side of my face. "Thank you."
    "Whatever." I raised bleary eyes just in time to see his mouth descending on mine.
    Our lips met before I could stop him, and once I felt his warmth, I couldn't quite bring myself to try. I ended up moaning into his mouth instead of pulling away. Encouraged, he brushed his tongue across my lower lip, his hands stroking upward over my belly.
    My body remembered this--his embrace, his touch. As I arched my back in unbidden reaction, he cupped my breasts, his long fingers splayed and caressing. I gasped, feeling his surge of fierce enjoyment as the pleasure he wrought in my body echoed through his own. Which was just the reminder I needed. I wrenched away from him, hissing, "You are not allowed to touch me that way!"
    "I can't help it." Zeph's eyes were violet fire. "When you feel me and I feel you...how am I to resist?"
    "Here's a suggestion. How about going away and leaving me alone for the rest of my life? Wasn't that the plan?"
    He sighed, his gaze going distant. "I released you because you begged it of me, Jandra, not because I desired it. Your pain was crushing us, and you couldn't seem to heal while you were with me. But now you're whole again, and strong."
    "So you've come to break me all over again?" I accused.
    "I've no intention of hurting you." He reached for me, but I evaded him. Instead, he pinned me with his gaze as he spoke his greatest lie. "I love you, Jandra."
    "No you don't!" I shrieked, balling up a fist and darting forward to punch him in the chest. "You don't love anyone or anything. You are not capable of it!"
    "Perhaps that's true." He enfolded my fist in one large hand. "Or perhaps your love has changed me."
    The tears came as hot and fast as the resonance of his soul had, and they burned just as deeply. "I never loved you."
    He said nothing, merely released me and retreated to the doorway while I wept. As my sobs faded into racking gasps, he cast me a baleful look. "Yet I am the one reviled as a thief of souls."

Three
     
    We emerged from the office some fifteen minutes later, once I'd regained my composure. Fifteen wasn't bad considering the wellspring of energy I'd drawn from Zeph. I'd managed to dispel a bit through my outburst, though I could still feel the raw power churning just beneath the surface of my skin. It made me edgy and moody--a familiar feeling, but not one I relished.
    In the heat of our encounter, I'd completely forgotten about the twins. I'd locked them in, of course, so they couldn't very well have left. So much for my plan