Free Of Consuming Fire by Micah Persell

shocked, too. Angels were not regularly exposed to the Knowledge, but he could not imagine that they would be
either
good or evil. Angels just were.
    The blond one looked at Jayden with a curious mix of lessening anger and increasing intrigue, and then said, “Dahlia will take care of her, angel. Don’t you worry.”
    Jayden threw his shoulders back and glared. “I worry about nothing, human. You would do well to remember that.” Jayden stalked back down the hall and took up his station against the rubble again, studiously preventing himself from reaching out toward the minds in the room at the end of the hall to see if his Temptation’s hurt was abating at all.

Chapter Seven
    When Grace woke the next morning, still exhausted from a night of crying, her first coherent thought was of a pleasant warmth at her back.
    The
warmth
made her stiffen, but the
pleasant
delayed any immediate leap from bed. She felt her brow furrow as she tried to get her bearings, and then she realized that someone was in the bed with her.
    Before panic could set in, Grace remembered that it was Dahlia. The woman had come to her rescue the night before and then sat with her all through the night, simply making sure Grace was not alone while she cried. It was the first time in her life someone had done such a thing for Grace.
    Moving so slowly it could barely be called moving at all, Grace turned from her side to her back and looked at Dahlia. The woman was sitting on an impossibly small span of mattress. Her head was tossed far back, but Grace could still see her sleep-closed eyes and her slightly slack mouth. Dahlia’s back was propped against the headboard; her left hand rested on her slight baby bump, and her right hand rested on Grace’s shoulder.
    Grace sucked in a breath and braced for the pain human touch always brought.
    Nothing.
    It didn’t hurt. Grace stared at the slim, brown hand for what seemed like an eternity before she admitted that, not only didn’t the touch hurt, but Grace didn’t necessarily
mind
it.
    The revelation was earth shattering.
    Dahlia’s hand was warm, and comforting. Grace frowned, but still didn’t move away. Perhaps the fruit had healed more than just her physical wounds?
    The door to her room was wide open, so nothing impeded the cacophonous sound of a door flinging open down the hall. Dahlia jerked awake, and Grace sat up so quickly she felt dizzy.
    “Help,” a man’s distressed voice yelled out. “We need help!”
    Grace and Dahlia swung into the hall, one right after the other and saw a very panicked Eli Johnson standing in the hallway.“Eli?” Dahlia asked in a voice still smothered by sleep.
    Three doors down, another door opened as Jericho rushed into the hall. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “Abilene’s water broke.” Eli’s blue eyes rolled around in panic. “I think she’s in labor.”
    Grace felt her mouth drop open, and as one, all three of them ran down the hallway toward the rapidly unraveling Eli. Jericho and Dahlia asked questions simultaneously, ducking into the room and rushing to Abilene’s side.
    Grace stopped at the doorway.
    Abilene looked fine. More than fine, actually. She was propped up against the headboard quietly reading a book.
    Jericho and Dahlia immediately calmed as well. Dahlia walked to Abilene’s side and began a quiet conversation with her while Jericho diverted to Eli to try to calm him — he was the only one in distress in the room.
    Grace heard a noise to her left, and turned her head. The angel was at his usual post: leaning up against the rubble of the cave-in. He wasn’t looking at her, though something told Grace she had his full attention. It didn’t appear as though he had moved even one of his beautiful feathers since Eli’s announcement, but his body was thrumming with tension. His wings were cocked and ready for flight, and the feathers were shimmering.
    He must have felt her eyes on him, because he lifted his head and looked at her. His