Free Saving Her Angel (Archangels) by Missy Jane Page B

fully attached. They melted into his skin seamlessly so she couldn’t tell exactly where they began. The feathers seemed to move to an invisible breeze, and she longed to touch them, but maybe it wasn’t safe. Maybe he wasn’t as safe as she’d always thought.
    The image of another pair of wings from another time popped into her mind out of nowhere, and she gasped. She covered her eyes with one hand and rubbed the other over her chest to soothe her still-racing heart. He faced her again, concern on his face, but she ignored it.
    “What are you, Cam? Why do you have wings, and what else can you do besides fly? And pull swords and armor out of thin air?”
    He took a deep breath, and his wings disappeared. Then he dragged the coffee table closer to her and sat on it.
    She listened closely as he explained that he wasn’t actually human.
    No, of course not.
    The seven Maxwell brothers were actually Archangels. They had been living as humans in this realm for centuries and changed their personas every ten to twelve years to keep the humans around them from realizing they weren’t aging. That’s why he had “retired”—because it was time for him to make that change. That’s why he’d disrupted her happy life by laying her off. So he could become someone else.
    Anger filled her. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    He stopped his explanation and blinked. “Excuse me?”
    “You really mean to tell me you think your clients would notice you’re not aging? That’s why I’m unemployed?”
    He blinked again then choked out a laugh. “That’s what you got out of that whole explanation? That I let you go?”
    “Well, no, that’s not all, of course, but… I loved my job, Cam. It really hurt when you said you were retiring. None of your clients have even been around for ten years.”
    After staring at her a moment he started laughing. He wrapped his arms around his belly and let his head fall back as he laughed and laughed.
    “Oh, you…asshole.” She grabbed a pillow off his sofa and threw it at him hard enough that it knocked him backward off the coffee table. “Hah. Not so strong are you?”
    Still laughing, he climbed to his feet. “Yeah, actually I am. You just got in a lucky shot.”
    “Oh…whatever.”
    He chuckled a bit more before his amusement finally ebbed. “I’m really sorry, Eleanor. I didn’t mean to upset you so much by sending you away. I thought I was keeping you safe. My brother Rafe has had a terrible feeling the past month, and I was worried something bad was coming. And it looks like we were right. I do need to change personas but could’ve waited another year. I just wanted to get you away from me while it was still safe.”
    That deflated her a bit. “Oh.”
    He shook his head. “I guess I wasn’t quick enough. Despite everything, you’ve still become a target, and I don’t know why other than your association with me. I’m really sorry.”
    Guilt ate at her as she watched emotions cross his face. He thought it was all his fault just because he was an angel. But she had a past he knew nothing about.
    When it came to the war between good and evil, she had become a player at a very young age.
    Those memories were pushed deep down so they wouldn’t keep her up at night, but it wasn’t hard to set them free and drown in them. She had to be very careful not to let the bad stuff creep in and take her over completely. Maybe it was time for her own confession.
    “Anyway,” he said, “you now know my deep, dark secret. Mine and my brothers’, actually. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this has to remain a very well-kept secret, right?”
    She frowned and considered throwing another pillow at him. “Of course not. I’m not an idiot. No one would believe me anyway. I’m not sure I even believe, and I just saw you sprout wings…again.”
    But she couldn’t mention that this wasn’t the first time she’d seen something so unbelievable. If anything, his being an angel was a