Free My Avenging Angel by Madelyn Ford Page B

Asmodeus?”
    “Don’t worry about him,” Michael stated, gently pushing at her shoulders, trying to get her to lie back and sleep. “You need your rest.”
    Knocking his hands away, Tory growled in frustration. “I will rest once I know what I should expect from the damn demon trying to kill me, Michael, and not a minute before.”
    He stilled, assessing her as if he were trying to determine her seriousness. With a sigh, Michael sank beside her on the bed. Clasping her hand tightly in his, he drew it into his lap, appearing to study their entwined fingers. Tory’s patience began to wane quickly.
    “I figure by now Asmodeus has realized you are not dead, which means he did not acquire whatever it is he is after. Now, if he is familiar at all with humans, he might expect you to linger a day or two. But after that he’s going to realize something is not right. And that is when we can expect him to return to finish the job. Only this time he will be met with the surprise of his eternally damned life. Me. Unless my warriors find him first, of course. Then the threat will be neutralized.”
    “And we can get on with our lives.” Tory smiled brightly, but the look in Michael’s eyes had it sliding away.
    “You do understand, Tory, he is only the first. You are going to be an amazingly powerful witch once you learn the extent of your true powers. Others will come unless…”
    She waited for him to continue, but Michael seemed reluctant so she prodded, “Unless what?” When it didn’t seem like he was going to answer, she added, “I swear, if this is our future, Michael, you hiding things from me, you can just keep it.” Tory rose to her feet and tugged her arm in an attempt to gain her freedom. But Michael yanked back and, losing her balance, she ended up in his lap.
    “I want you to return with me, to Heaven.”
    Now she stared at him flabbergasted. Was he serious? “How is that even possible?”
    “There is a portal, but its location has been lost over time. I have Zadkiel searching for it as we speak. It is how you shall gain access.”
    “And if I decide not to?”
    Michael rested his forehead against hers and sighed. “You really do not want me to answer that.”
    “So you are only pretending to give me a choice.”
    “You don’t understand what it did to me, to find Asmodeus standing over your bloody form. I cannot go through that again.”
    Michael’s response floored Tory. She was the one who had suffered the horror of being run through with a sword. Granted, she had probably blocked out a lot of the details and not everything was totally clear. And she was almost certain the recollection of pain had also dimmed. But still. He was making it all about him and it just pissed her off.
    “What about me? I was the one stabbed. I don’t really want to go through it again either.”
    “Then come with me,” Michael bellowed.
    “Fine,” Tory yelled back.
    For one stunned moment, Michael stared at her, his eyes wide. And then he laughed. “Love, you are going to be the death of me.”
    “As if,” she mumbled in reply because his lips had already taken control of hers.
    Winding her arms around Michael’s neck, Tory arched into him, her breasts flattening against his chest. Who would have ever thought little Victoria Bloom, the misfit, the freak, could ever find such bliss? Her soul mate. She was still coming to terms with what it all meant.
    She would never be alone again.
    Her sob was captured by Michael’s mouth as the overwhelming urge to worship every inch of him overtook her. Tearing her lips from his, she grasped the edge of his T-shirt. She was desperate to tug it up over his chest but her fingers kept getting tangled in the material. Chuckling, Michael knocked her ineffective hands away before pulling the shirt over his head. Once it was no longer in her way, Tory attacked, running her hands over taut muscles as her lips latched onto one tanned nipple. Michael groaned, his hand cupping the