Free Sexual Shift by Beverly Rae

motion, the wings disappeared.
    “Tanner…your wings. They’re incredible.” She’d gone still, unable to think of anything other than the magnificent wings.
    “Damn.” He scrunched his features in anguish. He took a breath, then released it in a long shudder. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
    She touched him, her palm against his cheek. “I want to know you. All of you. Don’t be afraid to show me.”
    “I don’t want to frighten you. Not after…”
    She shook her head, refusing to let the nightmare keep him from telling her what she needed to know. “I want to see. Show me.”
    “Are you sure?” The lines in his forehead deepened.
    “Yes.” She gripped his arms. “I have to know. I have to see.”
    He slid away from her, coming to stand beside the bed. “All right. But please remember. I would never hurt you.”
    She nodded and held her breath, struggling against the fear threatening to take over.
    A surge of power burst from him to pulse through the air and into her. His hair flew out around him, surrounding him with a black halo. His magnificent black wings spread out behind him. Claws sprang from his fingertips.
    Hilly gaped at the transformation and fought to stay calm. He was both terrifying and amazing. Tanner changed, yet the sparkle in his black eyes remained.
    “This is what I am.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “You knew I was more than human.” His expression cut her to the bone with its vulnerability.
    “Yes. But what are you?”
    He touched her cheek, reminding her of the man she’d made love to. “Do you remember when you asked me if I was a sorcerer or a warlock?”
    “Yes. Or something else.” Alarm tightened her neck and she slid out of bed, every instinct telling her to run. Did she really want to know? Or was ignorance really bliss? Yet she’d never been one to shy away from the difficult things in life. “Go on. Tell me. What are you?”
    He tied back his hair, then stepped away from her. “I’m not either of those things. But I am supernatural. I do have powers.”
    “Keep going.” Her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth so hard.
    “My father is an angel.” His eyes, now a dark gray, lightened with every second that passed.
    “An angel? Seriously?” Her heart leapt at the news. Surely having an angelic father couldn’t be bad. “So you’re an angel?” She gaped at him. “Oh, no. I’m going to hell, aren’t I? I am. I just had sex with an angel, and I’m going to hell.”
    “No, no. You’re not going to hell.” His smile helped ease her distress, but his expression still managed to stay ominous. “But now that you mentioned hell…”
    “What?” Her heart pounded. “Don’t leave me in the dark.”
    “Have you ever heard of angels and demons having children?”
    She inhaled and wished she’d heard him wrong. “Do you mean a Nephilim? But isn’t that the offspring of an angel and a human?”
    He shook his head. “I’m not a Nephilim. I’m different. Something no human has ever heard of because, as far as I know, I’m the only one of my kind.”
    She couldn’t stand the suspense much longer. “Please just get to it, okay?”
    “I’m the offspring of an angel—” he paused and took a breath, “—and a demon.”
    She swallowed as though trying to keep the words inside her. “No. You can’t be.”
    She hadn’t meant to step away and hated herself for doing so. The hurt she saw in his face had her moving toward him.
    “Tanner, I’m sorry. Please…”
    A bright light surrounded her, blinding her. She held up her hands and squeezed her eyes shut against the brilliance. When she opened them again, she was standing in the middle of her bedroom.

Chapter Six
     
    Hilly pushed the tray of freshly baked cinnamon rolls into the display case and tried to remember the many chores she had to do. Yet she couldn’t focus on anything other than Tanner. Her thoughts slid back to the memory of how he fondled her breasts and the way he