My eyes widened as my thoughts shifted. “I’m you’re Taleh?”

“You are.” He sat up a bit tal er as his sad expression warmed at the thought.

“How do you know?”

“It’s a feeling we get. When you’re in pain, embarrassed, scared, sick, happy…aroused—,” he looked down for a moment, seeming embarrassed —“…we feel it to a lesser extent.”

“You can feel it when I feel those things?”

“It’s hard to explain. I guess I could liken it to a mosquito buzzing in your ear.”

“So, if I…bump my side on my father’s desk?”

“I can sense it,” he confirmed, amused that I had caught on.

“Was that you on the phone with my mother?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. I just wanted to make sure you were al right. You hit pretty hard. I’d be surprised if you didn’t bruise,” he said, lightly touching the exact spot where I had col ided with Jack’s desk.

“I did bruise. I thought you said my parents’ house has cameras. Couldn’t you see that I was okay?”

“Your father’s office is the only room in the house that isn’t wired. When you’re in there I have to rely on my senses. I’d prefer it if you wouldn’t spend so much time there in the future.”

I nodded, preoccupied with an errant thought that had popped into my head. “So…if I’m cramping….”

Jared closed his eyes and nodded. He clearly didn’t want to dwel on the subject.

I giggled in disbelief. “That hurts you?”

Jared chuckled and rol ed his eyes. “I don’t get cramps, Nina, no. I’m aware of it.”

His answer caused my giggles to erupt in laughter. I was definitely feeling the effects of fatigue.

I tried to remember where we left off before my short bout of hysteria. “When did you know I was yours?” I asked. Jared’s eyebrows lifted and I corrected myself. “When did you know that I was your Taleh?”

He nodded in understanding, but a grin lingered on his lips. “Archs are assigned to their humans, but Half-breeds—,”

“Hybrids,” I interrupted. I didn’t like him using a derogatory term to refer to himself.

He smiled. “Hybrids have to figure it out on their own. Another reason Archs resent us—it leaves our humans vulnerable for a time. They don’t agree with that.”

“Lots of cons,” I sighed.

“There are pros,” he assured me. “We have few advantages over the Archs, the most important being that because we’re half-human, we can kil other humans to protect our Talehs if necessary. We can see them, even if they remain hidden to humans. We also retain a fraction of their pronounced strength, focus, intel igence, and accelerated healing. Archs are indestructible and they don’t bleed; bul ets don’t bounce off of them, they simply pass through them.”

I glanced at his fading scar. “But you bleed.”

“Yes, but we heal quickly. Very quickly.”

“So, the wings thing….” I yawned as exhaustion set in.

“You don’t have to worry about me sprouting feathers, Nina,” he chuckled. “Archs don’t fly. They simply appear where they wish to go. I’ve always found the pictures a bit sil y, myself.”

“I like those pictures,” I argued.

“You’re disappointed, then?” The corner of his mouth pul ed up as he rested his hand on the back of my chair, leaning towards me.

“Not real y. I’d rather be sitting across from my angel without wings than looking at a picture of an angel with them.” I could feel his breath on my lips, and I leaned closer to him.

Jared fel against his chair. “I knew this conversation was going to be difficult, but it’s become difficult for a completely different reason,” he sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

“Why is that?” I asked, surprised at his sudden retreat.

He glanced up at me with a smirk. “I thought I’d have to stop you from running out into the street in a panic, instead I have to concentrate on finishing everything I want to say before you get me too flustered to speak at al .”

The blood pooled under my cheeks, and Jared touched my face lightly with his thumb, tracing to my lips.

“It’s a nice surprise,” he said, letting his thumb slide from my chin.

“I’l try to restrain myself,” I said flatly.

“Why don’t you leave that up to me?”

I raised a dubious eyebrow at him and he chuckled. His demeanor had improved one hundred percent since the beginning of our conversation, and I couldn’t help but grin.

He outlined my fingers with his and I yawned, relaxing with his warm touch.

He gave me a disapproving look. “Nina….”

“I stil have questions,” I said. “You said you don’t get sick. Ever?”

Jared shook his head with an amused smile, he was enjoying my interview.

“But the rest, about dying after your Taleh, do you…?”

“Yes.”

I gasped. “But that’s not fair!”

“Nina, don’t forget…I ful y intend on growing old with you.” He enveloped me in his arms then, pul ing me into his lap. “I literal y can’t live without you.

But I wouldn’t want to, even if I could.”

I struggled for words to reply with, but they never came. Jared’s expression tensed as though he might have said too much, and the need to relieve his quandary had me searching for new questions.

“That’s very convenient, isn’t it? That you and Gabe’s Taleh just happened to be father and daughter?” I asked, hoping to take the uncomfortable expression off his face.

“It’s great for carpooling.”

I tried not to smile. “Seriously.”

Jared leaned his forehead against my cheek, taking in the scent of my hair. “It’s quite common. Archs are family as wel as an army, existing in groups. Those groups are general y assigned humans that are related or connected in some way. It creates stronger bonds with humans.”

His candid desire to grow old with me made my heart race, and I was suddenly focused on his mouth. After al , he’d only qualified that we wait until he told me everything.

And we were so close… “How many like you exist?” I asked to distract myself. I didn’t want to give him another reason to point out my embarrassing lack of self-control.

“Not as many as you might think. Like I said, it’s taboo to get too involved with humans. It’s even worse to fal in love with one—to betray your seraphic family for one.”

“So how can they protect us if they despise us?” I asked, incensed.

“It’s not that, Nina. They have an almost maternal love for humans. They see you as innocent, naïve children. Fal ing in love with a human is frowned upon by Archs as humans would an elderly man fal ing in love with a five year old. It’s a social taboo, it’s inappropriate. It’s not because they are disgusted by humans, though there are those that feel that way. But those types of emotions lead to fal ing farther than earth.”

“Dem—,”

“Don’t say it. Don’t even think it. Especial y in my presence, they tend to hover.”

A shiver traveled down my spine, but when Jared pul ed me tighter to him, I instantly felt more at ease. As I relaxed my cheek against his neck, I yawned again.

“Al right, it’s morning. Time to take you home.” He stood up and in the same movement, lifted me effortlessly in his arms.

“I’m not leaving until you kick me out,” I said, feeling slightly intoxicated.

“Then you may never leave,” he said, kissing my lips.

He sat beside me on the couch and I leaned against his chest, sliding my arm across his middle and nestling my head under his chin. He didn’t speak; the only sound in the room was the buzzing from his ceiling fan and our quiet, rhythmic breaths.

Before I could focus the fuzziness in my brain to form another question, exhaustion engulfed me, and my eyes became too heavy to keep open. I relaxed further into Jared’s side, feeling my consciousness slip away. It wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling—I felt I was just where I belonged. My last coherent thought was the contentment I felt as Jared’s warm arms tightened around me.

Chapter Seven

Caught

The mangled, dark blue sheets underneath me were unfamiliar, but their wonderful scent was one I recognized right away. I lifted my head, peering around to study my surroundings. I was in a king-sized bed that sat against a grey, cinderblock wal . The alarm clock on the night table read nine o’clock in large, red numbers.

My eyes drifted to a metal frame beside the clock, and I blinked to bring it into focus. It was a black and white picture of me. It had been taken from an indefinite distance, zoomed in on my face. It was from a high angle, and it reminded me of the surveil ance photos I’d seen in the Port of Providence file.

Rol ing over, I hugged the pil ow next to me. It smel ed like Jared, and I took in a deep breath. His scent was incredible—like line-dried laundry, soap and something else…the way it smel s when it’s about to rain?—I couldn’t put my finger on it.

The only rooms upstairs were his bedroom and a closed door to what was likely the master bath. The far wal beyond the end of the bed wasn’t a wal at al , only a metal railing.

I heard Jared’s voice speaking to someone else in French downstairs. His company’s voice was distinctly female. They argued in hushed tones, and in my limited knowledge of French I thought I heard Jared reprimand the woman for waking me.

This piqued my interest, so I tiptoed to the railing to steal a glance at the woman below. When my fingers met the metal bar, I saw that Jared and Claire were both looking up at me. I waved sheepishly and bit my lip, feeling foolish for trying to sneak up on celestial beings.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Jared said, almost crooning.

Claire’s expression was the polar opposite of Jared’s. She glared up at me with ice blue eyes, as if she wanted to scale the wal with murder in mind. I recoiled, suddenly feeling out of place.

While avoiding her eyes, I noticed crisply folded bedding at the end of the couch. Jared had slept downstairs.

“If you’d like to shower, fresh clothes are on the dresser. You’l find everything you need,” Jared cal ed up to me.

On the dresser sat a neatly folded stack of clothes, and beside them a pair of boots. My eyes darted to the opposite side of the dresser where my toiletries sat. They were al from my dorm room.

“Where did you get these?”

“I had Claire bring them,” Jared explained, making his way up the stairs. When he reached the top, he pul ed me to him and kissed my neck.

I glanced down to Claire, who hadn’t ceased her death stare. It was clearly more than intimidation. If Jared hadn’t been near, I would have been afraid for my life.

“Don’t worry about her. She won’t bother you,” he assured me as he pul ed me away from the railing. “Did you sleep wel ?”

His face was positively lit up; I couldn’t recal seeing him quite so cheerful.

“I must have. I don’t remember anything after we sat on the couch.”

I ran my hands over his light blue t-shirt, letting my fingers glide over the perfect highs and lows of his chest and abdomen. He was incredible. I’d seen plenty of physiques like his on posters, commercials for exercise equipment and movies, but never in person; certainly never within my grasp.

Jared tightened his arms around me. “I was careful not to wake you. You’re so peaceful when you sleep.”

“You slept on the couch?” I said, letting my disappointment show through.

“I reconsidered…several times,” he said, his lips brushing my neck when he spoke.

“When did she bring my things?”

“Earlier. She’s been in and out a lot,” he frowned. “She’s not happy about our conversation last night. I assume it has something to do with that.”

Chuckling at my inevitably worried expression, he kissed my forehead. “Breakfast wil be ready soon. I’l wait for you downstairs.”

After my shower, I reluctantly crept down the stairs. Claire and Jared watched me approach the table with equal but conflicting focus.

“You’re beautiful,” Jared whispered before he kissed my cheek and pul ed out a chair.

Claire continued to glower as I sat across from her.

“Claire….” Jared warned. Her irritation turned to him, then. I felt a brief moment of relief.

“Thank you for bringing my clothes, Claire,” I whispered. As soon as the words left my mouth I thought better of it. Her icy blue eyes shot back at me and I sunk back into my chair.

Jared stared at her until she shifted uncomfortably. “You’re welcome,” she grumbled, looking down at her plate.

“Ham, mushroom, green pepper and cheese omelet…toast,” Jared pointed out each with his butter knife as he spoke, and then shoved a forkful into his mouth.

I stabbed the eggs and took a bite. He was an incredible cook.

Everything he had made for me was exactly the way I liked it.

“Mmmm…that’s good. I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” I hummed.

The fork clanged against my plate as I chewed the last bit of egg, and Jared rested his chin on his hand, amused at my shameless appetite.

Claire sighed in irritation. “You should be aware that Cynthia knows Nina spent the night here last night.”

With indifference Claire watched Jared’s face morph into anger.

“And how does she know that, Claire?” he seethed.

“I told her,” Claire admitted.

Jared slammed his fist on the table. I jumped, but Claire didn’t react. I watched them stare the other down, wondering if I should distance myself from the line of fire.