Free SOUL MATES (Angels and Demons Book 3) by Brenda L. Harper

tough one. It’s going to take more than a little one-on-one counseling to get him to let go of his darkness.”
    “Until we can, this war will continue to wage,” Rachel said.
    It was an understatement. Figuring out how to stop Jack James was the key to everything. But Dylan was no closer to figuring it out now than she had been a year ago when she first confronted these demons with Stiles.
    There was high pitched, female laughter in the hallway. Rachel went to the door and peeked.
    “It’s Stiles. Do you want me to get him?”
    Dylan shook her head. He wasn’t hiding his thoughts from her. She knew he wasn’t alone and she knew he wasn’t planning on being alone for the rest of the night. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit that the idea of him taking a human lover didn’t hurt. But it didn’t surprise her. She’d made him wait much longer than she ever should have. Was it any surprise that he was ready to move on without her?
    “Let him have some fun for once.”
    Rachel looked at her, her emotions written all over her face. She thought it was a mistake. Raphael thought they should be focusing on the fact that Dylan was attacked so close to the place she called home for the moment.
    If he had succeeded…
    But he didn’t.
    Raphael inclined his head slightly. “You are not to be alone any longer,” he said. “I will have one of my soldiers posted outside this door immediately.”
    “That’s not necessary.”
    “It is,” Rachel said. “You are the future, Dylan. We would be lost if something happened to you.”
    Dylan, reluctantly, nodded.

Chapter 10
     
    “This is your room?”
    Caryn walked around a little, running her fingers over the spines of the few books he’d taken from Rachel’s library and had yet to return. Then she turned and looked at the bed, a soft, knowing smile raising the color in his cheeks.
    “Not very impressive, I suppose,” Stiles said.
    “No. It’s pretty cool.”
    “Yeah?” Stiles walked over to her, resting his hands on her shoulders. “I don’t have a lot, but I don’t really have anything like a permanent home right now, either.”
    “My mom always says a person doesn’t need much more than the clothes on their back and a soft place to lay their head at the end of the day.”
    “Your mom is pretty smart.”
    Caryn turned into Stiles, everything naive and innocent about her suddenly wiped from her pretty features. She studied his face, raising a hand to stroke the curve of his jaw.
    “I’d rather not talk about my mom right now,” she said softly.
    She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed the center of his jaw. Stiles didn’t need any further invitation. He stole her lips, making them his own with a determination that came from too many years of solitude. His human body had needs that his angel soul hadn’t allowed him to satisfy for much too long. She responded to him and he couldn’t help himself as his body also responded, his hands moving around her waist and drawing her even closer to him. Instinct…this was the basis of that human need to seek out a mate and keep the species going.
    This was a part of the process Stiles was familiar with. He’d lain with women before—a few more than Rebecca ever cared to talk about. And Rebecca…she’d been a satisfying lover for as long as her body could accommodate the process. But he hadn’t been with a woman since long before Rebecca’s death. It felt…different. Holding Caryn was nice. He liked the way she felt in his arms. He liked the softness of her feminine body, liked the way she smelled and he loved the way her hands seemed to know how much he liked to be touched along the small of his back.
    But.
    There was always a but. And this but was all about needing something more than a one-night stand. He was sure Caryn wouldn’t mind seeing him again after this, but he wasn’t sure that was something he wanted. She was nice and everything, but she wasn’t Rebecca. And she would never be Dylan.
    Stiles