Angel Wings

  Angel Wings (Trappers Inc #2)

  D.N. Hoxa

  Contents

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  Also by D.N. Hoxa

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Also by D.N. Hoxa

  Copyright © 2019 by D.N. Hoxa

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

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  Also by D.N. Hoxa

  WINTER WAYNE SERIES (COMPLETED)

  Bone Witch

  Bone Coven

  Bone Magic

  Bone Spell

  Bone Prison

  Bone Fairy

  SCARLET JONES SERIES (COMPLETED)

  Storm Witch

  Storm Power

  Storm Legacy

  Storm Secrets

  Storm Vengeance

  Storm Dragon

  VICTORIA BRIGHAM SERIES (COMPLETED)

  Wolf Witch

  Wolf Uncovered

  Wolf Unleashed

  Wolf’s Rise

  STARLIGHT SERIES (COMPLETED)

  Assassin

  Villain

  Sinner

  Savior

  MORTA FOX SERIES (COMPLETED)

  Heartbeat

  Reclaimed

  Unchanged

  Chapter One

  Adrian Ward

  Feeling your life slipping from your fingers isn’t as poetic as some make it sound. Basically, it feels pretty bad. My heart beat in my ears, too slow to pass for normal, and my body was no longer controlled by my mind. If it was, I’d have been on my feet by then, but no. I was dying and I knew it, yet that didn’t sound as important to me as Willow Robinson’s life.

  Her face was over mine, her blue eyes full of tears. I saw my reflection in them, and I read the words from her lips, but I refused to acknowledge them.

  Don’t come looking for me. Not ever.

  Which was why I was ninety-nine percent sure it was the work of my imagination. Willow wouldn’t ask that of me. She just wouldn’t—and not only because she could see that I was dying.

  Trying to breathe deeply was like swallowing a fistful of needles on top of the incredible pain in my chest, but I had to anyway. I had to tell Willow to go, start running, save herself. Whoever that man was who had tried to shoot her, he wasn’t going to stop. She needed to leave.

  But just as I filled my lungs with enough air, her face disappeared. The dark sky stretched wide. I had this insane feeling that it was going to fall on top of me any second, and that was okay. I couldn’t see Willow, which meant she’d already left. She’d saved herself.

  Except—the nagging voice in my head wouldn’t let me believe it. It’s not like her to just leave, it said. So fucking annoying. What did it know about Willow, anyway?

  The sound of screeching tires was like a cold slap to my face, one that brought everything into focus. The sky was not about to fall on me. Willow hadn’t stayed.

  I was still breathing.

  How? I’d been shot in the chest. You don’t need to be a doctor to know that shit like that kills you dead, no questions asked. Instead, every time I breathed, it became…easier. I guess it made sense in a way. Dying was easy. You’re just not there anymore.

  But I was. I could still hear—the car driving away, the dead silence of the night that lasted about an eternity. The footsteps.

  “Adrian Ward,” someone said. My whole body jumped as if I still had life left in me. I tried to turn my head left to where the footsteps were coming from, but I couldn’t. I didn’t need to. Soon enough, the face of a man appeared right over mine.

  He stood at my side, hands on his hips, and watched me like he was both excited and disappointed. His hair was as black as the sky over us, his skin pale enough to resemble a ghost. He smiled like it was the default setting on his face, and for a second, he looked unreal. I tried to blink the blur away as fast as I could, which was faster than I expected. And my view became clearer—or clear enough to barely make out two big shadows at the man’s back. I almost tried to warn him to watch out, but then I realized, the shadows moved only when he did. They were attached to him, and they were feathery.

  I could have laughed if I wasn’t so fucked up.

  The man squatted at my side, that smile of his still on. “You should have known better than to make a deal with the Devil, kid,” he said. “Tell me, what would you give me now if I set you free?”

  I closed my eyes and focused on my body. Whoever this man was, he knew about my deal, and the only way he’d know that was if he was working for the Devil. I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t dead yet, but I was going to be, very soon. I just had to be patient.

  “Hey, look at me!” He clapped his hands. The sound made me open my eyes involuntarily. “I said, what would you give me if I set you free right now?”

  Free? Was he out of his mind? Couldn’t he see that I was dying?

  More importantly, was I? Because I could breathe with much more ease than before. And the pain in my chest had lessened. No part of it made any sense.

  “Or, I could just leave you like this, and you can wait for him to come and collect.” The man suddenly stood up. “Suit yourself.”

  That bullet must have done something to my mind because the man said him, and all I could see in my mind was the Devil. The same one who’d come to me in my dream and offered me a deal for my father’s life.

  His footsteps echoed in my head, urging me to make up my mind as if I really had a choice here. I should have been dead by now. Instead, I was breathing and contemplating the words of a man who may or may not have had wings attached to his back—the feathery kind.

  “Wait!”

  By God, I thought the word, and my lips said it. Hadn’t I just tried to speak to Willow? I had, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t even make a sound, damn it! What changed now?

  The man stopped walking. He turned back like he had all the time in the world, and I saw his face only when it felt like an hour had passed.

  “Willow,” I whispered, shocking myself once again at how strong my voice sounded—much stronger than it should have. But if I was going to speak, I wanted to know about Willow. Dying or not, that was the only thing that mattered. Had she made it? Had that shooter caught up with her, too?

  And what about Cirko?

  “Yes, Willow,” the man said, as if he knew exactly who I was talking about. “She saved your ass. You’ll be physically all right in just a few more minutes.”

  No. Willow didn’t save me. She couldn’t have saved me.

  “The question is, do you want to save your soul, too?” the man continued, but I couldn’t answer him. How could I, when he was telling me that Willow had saved me?

  I didn’t want to believe him, but the truth was, the pain was half what it was just a few minutes ago, and I no longer had any trouble breathing. I could even move my body, and when I pulled my hand up to my chest, I expected to find it wide open.

  It wasn’t.

  My shirt was soaking wet, but my skin had no hole in it, just a tear—and it was quickly closing. I could feel the skin moving right under my fingertips like it was part of someone else’s body.

  My eyes squeezed shut as I battled against my own mind, making my headache even worse than it usually was. The only way Willow could have saved me from that bullet was if she made a deal, and I just couldn’t accept that.

  “You know, I really don’t have all night, Adrian,” the man said with a loud sigh.

  He was right. My eyes popped open. I didn’t have all night, either. I needed to find Willow, to make sure she was okay, and have her tell me that I was stupid for even considering that she’d made a deal with the Devil to save me.

  “Yes,” I said, without hesitation. Whatever it took to get me on my feet and free of the Devil so I could go after Willow, I’d do it.

  “Yes?” the man said, squatting by my side again.

  “Yes!” He’d heard me the first time.

  “Yes, as in I’ll-give-you-what-you-want yes?”

  I wasn’t a violent man by nature, but if I could have, I’d have kicked him in the face right that second.

  “Yes,” I said, for what I hoped was the last fucking time.

  “But I want everything, Adrian,” he said, smiling like this situation brought him the greatest pleasure in the world. “I want your life.”

  I’d given my life once before already. For my father.

  I never thought I’d do it again, not for any reason.

  And then I’d met Willow.

  “Yes.”

&nbsp
; His laughter made me cringe. It took over the night like it belonged to him alone, and regret slipped into my pores. I kept it back by reminding myself of the reason, but I didn’t have to for much longer.

  The man put his hand on my head, the heel of his hand pressed to my forehead.

  “Et dimittamte de custodiaautem Primus Angelus,” he whispered.

  Time stood still. My whole being focused on my forehead. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, but I could see the light that wasn’t there. It was blue and it was blinding, but my instincts were malfunctioning because I couldn’t bring myself to close my eyes. I could see the light, but I could also see the dark sky over me. The light took me over, enveloped me like I belonged to it, heart and soul.

  And just as fast as it had come, the blue light was gone.

  Air slipped into my lips, reviving me. I jumped up, my hands on my neck to put out the fire, but there was nothing on my skin. Breathing felt like drinking liquid flames for a long moment, but when they disappeared, they took it all away—the pain in my chest and the pain in my head.

  Ever since I’d made that deal with the Devil a year ago, I’d had headaches even when sleeping. They’d gotten a lot worse when I met Willow, and they’d become almost unbearable when I’d decided that I wasn’t going through with it. The Devil could go fuck himself. I wasn’t going to kill her.

  It had been a struggle just to keep my eyes open, but now, all that pain seemed like a distant memory. My head was mine again, and so was my chest.

  I was sitting up on the asphalt, and the view in front of me cleared with every painless breath I took. I saw my car turned over and the body of the shooter. His Jeep was gone. No Willow or Cirko, just the man leaning his back on the wheel of my car, watching me with a smile on his face.

  You know when I thought he had shadows attached to his back that looked like feathery wings?

  I was right—they were still there. They were bigger than his body and full of white and grey and black feathers. I didn’t know how to react to that, so I didn’t. I looked down at my chest instead. My shirt was torn, completely bloody, but my skin was fine, save for an angry red line a couple inches long. I’d healed. I’d really healed from a bullet to the chest.

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?” the man said, calling my eyes to him once more. I tried to focus on his face, but it was impossible when there were actual fucking wings sprouting from his back. “Yes, they’re rather impressive.” His smile was full of pride as he, too, admired his wings. “The name’s Eae—and yes, I know it sounds like A. If you can stand up, it’s time for us to go.”

  Maybe I’d already died and gone to heaven. I looked around again. If heaven looked like an empty, dark highway with a car turned over and a dead body three feet away from me, then sure.

  “You’re an angel,” I said, despite my better judgment. “I think I might be dreaming.” My hands were bloody, so I wiped them on my jeans as well as I could before I made an attempt to stand up. It was easier than I expected. Much easier.

  “Nope. Dreams are his thing, not mine,” Eae said.

  “His?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

  He grinned. “Lucifer’s.”

  Lucifer. The Devil.

  Goddamn it, Willow.

  I walked over to my car, even though I was still lightheaded. I needed to turn that thing over and go after Willow. If this angel was right and she’d made a deal with the Devil, she needed to break it, right now.

  “What are you doing?” Eae asked when I put my hands on the side of the car and pushed. God, I was weak. Where had all my strength gone?

  “Willow,” I whispered. “I need to find Willow. Help me out?” He was an angel, right? Angels did good things for people.

  But Eae only laughed. “So you can get yourself killed again? I don’t think so.”

  “Look, just help me turn the car over, okay? I’m not going to get myself killed. Again.” I’d be more careful this time.

  “She made her choice, kid. Let it go,” he said.

  I slammed my hands on the car.

  “She didn’t. She didn’t make that deal—she knows better.” She knew exactly what it meant to sell your soul. She’d known even before I told her.

  “Of course she does. Women have always been smarter than us. That’s why she saved you. The least you can do now is at least try to stay alive,” he said.

  My knees shook. The little energy I had left was leaving me, so I propped myself against the car.

  “I need to find her.” It didn’t get simpler than that. “I’m going to, even if I have to walk all the way back to the city.” It’s where she would be. With her mother.

  “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, kid,” Eae said, pursing his lips.

  “I’m not asking for your permission,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “Sure you are. You owe me your life. In a way, I own you.” He shrugged like this was no big deal at all.

  “Nobody owns me.” It was ridiculous that I was even standing there talking to him about this. Screw his wings. Time was wasting.

  “I kind of do.” He smiled like he felt sorry for me. “But even if I let you go, you’ll be dead before you can reach the next town, especially now that I’ve broken his hold over you. He’ll send his best men after you, and you won’t survive without my protection.” Eae looked up at the sky and squinted his eyes. “Three minutes is all we have.” He turned around and walked ahead. “I suggest we get going!”

  “I’m going after Willow,” I reminded him, but I had to follow him because that was the only way back to Manhattan.

  “You will when the time is right,” he said. “Come on, do you really think you can stand against anyone at all like this?”

  I wanted to tell him that I felt fine, but I knew he’d know that was a lie.

  “You need food, rest, not to mention a plan. Then we can go after her.”

  I stopped walking. “We?”

  “Yes, we.” He turned around to face me but continued to walk backward. “My car’s not far away.”

  I contemplated my options. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right—I could barely stand without wanting to fall over. If the Devil sent others after me, I was as good as dead.

  But if I were to ride in a car with an actual angel, maybe I’d still be alive by dawn. Maybe I could even find Willow before she got to her mother. Maybe I could free her, too.

  Well, not me, but the angel guy. He’d freed me. I could feel it in my bones—I was alone in my head, just like I was before the deal.

  And Eae could do the same for Willow.

  “There she is,” he said.

  When I looked up, I saw a pitch black Mustang Cobra I could have sworn wasn’t there before. I blamed it on the darkness. And the fact that I’d been shot in the chest and almost died.

  He opened the driver’s door to get in, but I stopped in front of the hood.

  “Are you really going to help me find Willow?” If I was going to make deals with other people, even angels, I was going to make sure I got all the details right first.

  “They’re coming, kid,” Eae said, but he didn’t look all that concerned.

  “Are you?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I am.”

  “Good.” That, at least, made me feel a little bit better. “If I’m going to come with you, I need your word that when we find her, you’ll release her from her deal, too.”

  He flinched and looked away from me. “We’re going to have to talk about that.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. You either give me your word, or you don’t.” And if he didn’t…fuck if I knew what I was going to do, but I’d figure it out.

  “It’s much more complicated than that,” he said, a bit angrier now.

  “Meaning?” It hadn’t seemed complicated at all to me. He’d put his hand on my head, said a bunch of weird words, and I was free.