Free Repent in Love by J. Hali Steele Page B

and stay if he could find them a way around this? A fickle woman,
she wanted him one minute and pushed him away the next. But she held a place in
his heart now and he could no longer ignore the fact that without her, his life
was meaningless.
    “What the fuck?” He blurted out. Uri was tired of going over
and over everything plus he felt like crap.
    “You have lost your mind.” Lucifer grinned widely. “Morta is
the answer to that question. Now, you going with me or not?”
    “Son of a bitch.” He’d forgotten and spoken out loud in the
form of a question. “Luke, aww hell.” No point in arguing. He’d asked and been
answered.
    This was not his day.
    * * * * *
    Morta sat beside her sister and watched the care she used in
weaving the threads of life together. How did she keep them all separate? They
appeared to be a jumble of string. Yet Nona knew each one. Colors wound together
belonged to couples. Listening to the Fate’s wheel turn and swoosh, Morta
glanced through the mess. Sadness crept over her as she realized Uri’s and hers
would never be bound together.
    “Sister, what do you want?” Nona asked.
    “Nothing,” said Morta. Nona laughed. “Don’t laugh at me,
this is a mess.”
    “You are so transparent, Mort.”
    “I’ve got to do something about this situation.” Breath
huffed from her lungs. She was tired. If only everything wasn’t so damn
difficult. Her heart ached to feel Uri’s arms around her and she wanted nothing
more than to lie beside him, feel the warmth of his body. Be enfolded in his
black-tipped wings. Love him.
    Oh shit, the meshing!
    Though Ramiel had pulled it off by sharing his angelic
powers with Yael, two heavenly bodies meshed together exuded such power that it
wasn’t allowed. She’d finally thought the words. What now? Once the idea ran
loose in her head, there was no way to pull it back. Yet all he wanted was
today. What about tomorrow, and the day after? Her hands rubbed together,
clenched and opened. All in time to the beat of Nona’s wheel. Crap.
    “Ram and Osce have been here.” Careful to make it a
statement, she smelled their essence. They couldn’t have left too long ago, and
why were they here in the first place? Something was going on, and Mort needed
to know what.
    “They left with Dec.” That wasn’t much to go on. Ramiel she
understood. He had carte blanche to Michael and the Fates. He even had the
Father’s ear. O shouldn’t have been here.
    “Nona, are you going to make me drag it—” She stopped. No
questions yet.
    “What is it you’d like to know?”
    One question, the Fates lived by the rule themselves if it
involved their personal lives. Her mind whirred around and searched for the one
thing she really had to know. So many things were important, which more so? Osce
was often used as the angel’s hunter. Some trusted him with the welfare of
their exulted when they left their domains for extended periods. Damn.
    “Who are they looking for?” Mort prayed she’d asked the
right question.
    “Marmaroth.”
    “What?” She had heard the Fate wrong. Impossible. Wait, Uri
had Marcan. Oh hell. The shit was aimed at the fan.
    “You heard me.”
    “It can’t be. Why?” The glare she received reminded her that
was a question. Nona would give her no more because this involved her and Uri.
That meant the others were here to pay a visit to the Father. Uri had signed
his own death warrant if he planned what she thought.
    Her mind struggled with the information. Tales surfaced
often about the one angel allowed to live on Earth long before the present day
inhabitants. It was said Marmaroth had refrained from taking his one true love
in the greedy fashion of most angels, so he’d been granted permission to have
her because he asked.
    Surely Uri wouldn’t dare try to control the Fates? Hell, yes
he would. That’s just what he’d do. Mort’s throat worked to swallow the bile rising
in her mouth. Her teeth ground together in anger. He’d bring