Free Desiring A Demon (Archangels) by Missy Jane

confused everything else. But he did know one thing—once he had her back he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
    Mike walked into the room. “We’re splitting up again and venturing farther out. But you need to figure out what that asshole wants from you.”
    Rafe sighed and rubbed his hands down his face. “I still have no idea.”
    “Let’s go over what you know of him,” Sebastian said as he walked in. He sat on the sofa and kicked his feet onto the coffee table. “He seems to have the powers of a mid to high level demon, but he’s human, right?”
    “I think we would know by now if he wasn’t,” Mike said.
    “Would you?” Sebastian asked. “All you know of him is from rumors and hearsay. But you’re getting that information from humans. Most, if not all, who have no real experience with demons. What would they know?”
    “True,” Rafe said. “What if this asshole is a demon?”
    “Then what does a demon want from us?” Mike asked.
    “Maybe to be left alone , ” Sebastian said. “After all, you’ve been searching for him for how long?”
    “Too long.”
    Rafe nodded his agreement on that score. Forge had been an elusive pain in their asses for a couple of years.
    “But he said something about a trade,” Mike said.
    “No,” Rafe replied. “He said we had to negotiate. That doesn’t necessarily mean trade. But I don’t know how to even get in touch with him again in order to negotiate. And in the meantime he has Asta.” He dropped his head into his hands. “She’s probably terrified.”
    Mike snorted. “Asta? More likely she’s already tried to cut off Forge’s balls. We should probably just wait. Another day and he might be begging to give her back.”
    That almost made Rafe smile…almost.
    “Maybe calling in more angels is the wrong tactic,” he said. “Maybe that will only make Forge angrier and more willing to hurt her.”
    “Or maybe it will show him you can’t be threatened,” Sebastian said.
    “Too late now. They’re here and they’re helping,” Mike chimed in.
    Rafe nodded his reluctant agreement and stood. They would scour the city and surrounding areas again and pray she could be found.
    …
    Asta sat up slowly and looked around the empty room. She was in a seedy motel somewhere close enough to the beach to smell salt on the air. She looked down at the bed and jumped off in disgust once she noted the stained sheets.
    “What the fuck?”
    Stiffness in her joints led her to believe it had been more than a few hours since she’d lost consciousness. Her empty stomach told her it may have been more than a day. Weak daylight streamed in through the cracked blinds. She limped over to the window and looked out at an empty, weed-filled parking lot. The whole place looked abandoned. After patting down her pockets she realized her cell phone was missing. She also couldn’t find her backpack or her bat. There was no phone in the room and when she tried the door it wouldn’t budge. The deadbolt was rusted shut.
    “Shit.”
    She yanked the blinds all the way up , grabbed the lone chair in the room, and threw it with all her strength against the window. It bounced off, nearly hitting her as she jumped out of the way.
    “Shit, shit, shit.”
    The sky darkened and a distant rumble of thunder echoed through the air. Of course her escape couldn’t be easy.
    A quick check proved she was relatively unscathed, though she was sore from head to foot and there were bruises on both arms. She searched the room a second time, but the chair was the only piece of furniture not bolted to the floor. Using every ounce of strength she could summon, she slammed it against the window again, and it still did nothing but throw her off balance. She fell on her ass with the chair landing heavily on top of her.
    “Fuck.”
    The thunder sounded closer and a gust of wind kicked up, sending a chill down her spine as small pebbles and debris hit the stubborn window.
    Fat droplets hit the window ,