He bowed is head into my throat, groaning softly. “I loved you long before you loved me. It’s the only thing I have you beat at, and I’ll bring it up every chance I get.” His mouth pressed to my skin, took on a devilish curve. “Lets get out of here. I’m taking you back to my place, this time for good. We have unfinished business, and I think its time we do something about it.
Right then, I wanted to go back in time and relive every moment with him. One more secret smile, one more shared laugh. One more electric kiss. Finding him was like finding someone I didn’t know I was searching for. He’d come into my life too late, and now was leaving too soon. I remembered him telling me he’d give up everything for me. He already had.
No, hear me out. The long answer to that question is that everything about me has changed since meeting you. What I wanted five months ago is different from what I want today. Did I want a human body? Yes, very much. Is it my top priority now? No.” He looked at me with serious eyes.“I gave up something I wanted for something I need. And I need you, Angel. More than I think you’ll ever know.
Patch traced a finger along my collarbone, then headed south, stopping at my heart. I felt it pounding through my skin. “Because I feel it here, in my heart,” he said quietly. “I haven’t lost the ability to feel emotion.” He watched me closely. “Let me put it this way. Our emotional connection isn’t lacking.
You belong to the biblical race of Nephilim. Your real father was an angel who fell from heaven. You’re half mortal.” The boy’s dark eyes lifted, meeting Chauncey’s. “Half fallen angel.” Chauncey’s tutor’s voice drifted up from the recesses of his mind, reading passages from the Bible, telling of a deviant race created when angels cast from heaven mated with mortal women. A fearsome and powerful race. A chill that wasn’t entirely revulsion crept through Chauncey. “Who are you?
Heat flushed Chauncey’s neck; it took all his energy to curl his hands into two weak fists. He laughed at himself, but there was no humor. He had no idea how, but the boy was inflicting the nausea and weakness inside him. It would not lift until he took the oath. He would say what he had to, but he swore in his heart he would destroy the boy for this humiliation.
If you have a weakness, you have to work hard to defend it. You can’t be lazy about it.
Because those four days in the mountains, they changed us. I gave you a piece of me. And you must have given me a piece of yourself, too, because you wouldn’t have come here otherwise. You would have let go. I can’t let go of you, Britt. And I don’t want you to let go of me.
I like having you around, Britt. That’s the truth. I’m not leaving you. Even if you were a pain in the butt, I’d stay with you. It’s the right thing to do. But it turns out I find you likable and interesting, and while I’m not glad you have to go through this, I’m glad we have each other.
It’s a weakness to care. When you care, you have something to lose.
There was something about almost dying that made me desperate to feel alive – and Jude’s touch was the only thing that made me feel alive right now.
After school I drove to Patch’s. I did the safety conscious thing and circled the block a few times before parking in the freshly paved lot with extra wide parking spaces. I didn’t like feeling like I constantly had to watch my back, but I liked surprise visits from unfriendly Nephilim and devious archangels even less. And as far as the outside world knew, Patch and I were Splitsville. Using my key, I let myself inside.
How could I be hurting so badly when the connection between us was imaginary?
There’s nothing wrong with the fire... if you don’t get too close. – Patch.
Your mine, Angel.
Wondered why it was the people that I loved the most who could disappoint me the hardest.
It’s true what they say – you know keenly, cruelly, what you’re missing after it’s gone.
We spend our whole lives running from our past, never realizing it’s hitched to us – we can’t ever outrun it.
Forgiveness took time, I decided. It was a process. Better to start slowly than not at all.
Every family has troubles, but the way my parents handled ours...