Free Of Alliance and Rebellion by Micah Persell

their names unless they were really here, right?
    “Oh, my God,” Luke breathed, stumbling forward and reaching for the angel’s arm until Max growled and stared him down. Luke’s outstretched fingers dropped to his side. “Eli and Jericho are alive?”
    Anahita smiled at Luke. “Very, yes.”
    “How?” Max gritted out between his teeth. She simply had to quit smiling at Luke. Or Max would—he closed his eyes. He’d do nothing. She could smile at whomever the hell she wanted.
    “I’m sorry,” Anahita said, turning her eyes on Max again. “How—?”
    “How will you
transport
us to them?”
    “I can disappear and reappear wherever I wish,” the angel said with a small lift of one of her shoulders. “I wrap my arms around you, and you come with me.”
    Max tamped down the part of himself that got excited at the idea of her wrapping her arms around him.
She’ll wrap her arms around Luke and Oliver, too, dumbass
. Rationally, Max decided that trying this was better than nothing. If she was a liar, and it didn’t work—or worse, was a trap—they would deal with it. Anything was preferable to a day’s more imprisonment in this hellhole.
    “Fine,” Max said. Anahita’s brows rose, but then she reached for him. Max took a quick step back. “My men first.”
    “Max—” Luke began.
    “No,” Max cut him off. “You first, then Oliver, so you can watch over him until I arrive.” Then, if it
was
a trap, at least Oliver wasn’t alone and helpless in his current state. Luke was more than capable of defending himself and Oliver, and then once Max arrived, hopefully two would be greater than whatever force awaited them.
    “Very well,” the angel said softly. With no more hesitation, she turned to face Luke fully. Max watched with a clenched jaw as she wrapped her arms around Luke’s broad shoulders. Before the rage that bubbled inside him at the sight could take hold, they both disappeared. That was the moment Max discovered he’d truly doubted she could do what she’d said she could do. With the realization that she could teleport and take people with her, intense worry rushed in. Luke had been gone for a handful of seconds, but a handful of seconds was all it took to carve someone up. Max rubbed a hand over his raised scar.
    His chest grew tight, and his fists longed to lash out at something—anything. Before he could do anything rash, she was back, sparkling in beauty amid the dank cell. Her arms were empty.
    “Tell me he’s okay.” The words left Max’s mouth before he knew he was going to say them, and he cringed at their desperate twinge.
    The angel’s face softened. “He is with his friends and in perfect health. You have my word, and angels cannot lie.”
    Max could only hope that was true.
    “Do you still wish me to take Oliver before you?” she asked softly.
    Max hesitated. His longing to see Luke well for himself warred with his desire to make sure Oliver was kept safe. Finally, Max nodded curtly.
    Anahita acknowledged his wishes with a quick dip of her chin, and then she spun around toward Oliver’s prone form. With more strength than Max had guessed she possessed, the angel scooped Oliver’s considerable bulk into her arms, cradling him against her body before they both disappeared as well.
    In her absence, Max closed his eyes and counted his heartbeats, trying—in vain—to time his erratic breathing to the increasing rhythm of his heart.
    This time—because she knew Max would be worried?—the angel returned more quickly. Max felt her arrive in the cell, and his eyes snapped open.
    He almost jumped out of his skin. She was a hair’s-breadth away from him, her nose nearly touching his, the warmth of her body flowing over his chest and stomach. He should move away. He
would
move away. Any time now.
    “Sorry,” Anahita mumbled, her eyes dipping to his lips. “I miscalculated.”
    And, yet, she did not step back. Max felt as though gravity had shifted, and he worried that he