He'd known, and yet he'd contrived a plan to seduce her, and look what had happened. He'd quite possibly caused her a great deal of harm, while he continued to live his everyday human life.
"Jamie? Did you hear me?" Shay dropped down onto the sofa right beside him. "You're zoned. What's wrong?" She studied him, seeming genuinely concerned. "And you look like you just saw a dark legion or something. You're actually pale. And your eyes are bloodshot."
He rubbed his temples; his head had been hurting ever since he'd looked at the glowing angel—he'd done that before Sunny had issued the warning. Now his head throbbed and his eyes burned.
"Jamie," Shay whispered again, glancing around at the others who talked and laughed, oblivious to his torment. Shay knew him far too well. Without waiting for him to reply, she took him by the hand. "Come with me."
He shook his head. "Can't talk about it," he mumbled, closing his eyes.
Shay leaned right up against him. "You're scaring me, so I'm not giving you a choice. You either come with me down to the cellar, or I turn off the television and alert Mason, Dillon, and everyone else to the fact that you've obviously been spooked."
"And Sunny," he suggested miserably. "Don't you want to alert her, too?"
Shay glanced around the room. "She didn't come back with you?" his sister asked in surprise. "I just assumed . . ."
He didn't say a word, just kept rubbing his burning eyes.
"Talk to me, Jamie," Shay insisted. "Let's get out of here so you can tell me what's going on."
He rose from the sofa with a weary sigh. "This life of ours . . . it really does suck sometimes."
Jamie pulled volume after volume off the shelves of the cellar library. This small downstairs room, adjacent to their wine cellar, housed all their family's lore on demon fighting, the occult, God, angels. . . you name it, and they had texts about it.
Shay sat at his desk in the antique swivel chair, watching his frantic movements. "What are you doing, James Dixon?"
"I'm not ready to talk about what happened."
"I didn't ask you to."
"You did earlier," he argued, retrieving a particularly weathered volume about angelic beings.
"It's why you followed me down here."
"Nooooo," Shay said. "I followed you down here because I'm worried."
"About Sunny." He carted another three volumes to the table and deposited them, then returned to searching the shelves.
Shay rocked back in the chair, watching him. "I have a distinct feeling Sunny is perfectly fine.
Whereas you're the one who's got that deer-in-the-headlights expression permanently frozen on your face."
He couldn't tell Shay about what he'd seen, what he knew. Sunny had begged him not to, and hadn't he caused her enough trouble already? How could he violate her last request of him?
Last request. The words caused a chill to chase down his spine. What if she never came back to the house? What if that huge angel had . . . What would the guy do? Whisk her back to heaven?
Destroy her? He couldn't even contemplate what would happen when an angel received a scolding.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. When Lucifer and his crew had rebelled, they were cast out of heaven . . . and they became demons.
The chill he'd experienced became full-on tremors as he prayed and begged God to give Sunny a break. This had been his doing entirely. She shouldn't have to suffer for his folly and sin.
Shay walked toward the table where he was massing the various volumes—books he hoped might explain why or how an angel would live as a human. He'd never even heard of such a thing, much less encountered it. Sure, he'd seen angelic entities on the battlefield from time to time; he knew Mason had as well, even while fighting over in Iraq. But angels in human form? Not charted territory for any of them.
Shay began thumbing through the stack, reading off titles. "Angelic Host: Configuring the Armies of Heaven? Understanding Heavenly Powers?" She laughed. "So, you took Sunny on a walk and accused her of being an angel or something? Jamie, she really, truly is human. You gotta get over this obsession."
He swallowed hard; he hated keeping secrets from Shay or Mason. It had never worked in the past, not for any of them. Like that corrosive pain Mace had lived with until he'd admitted to his family that he was g*y.
Surely Sunny wouldn't have begged him to keep her secret from Shay if she'd understood how intuitive his sister was, the way she'd needle and prod him until he admitted why he was so upset.
He paced the small, dusty room in agitation; upstairs several of their friends began shouting as the football game took some intense turn.
At last he faced his little sister. Pressing his back against the tallest shelf, he bolstered his courage with a quick prayer. "Sissy cat, she is an angel," he blurted.
She laughed. "Oh, shut up."
He, on the other hand, didn't laugh at all. "I am deadly, completely serious. But you can't tell Kate or Mason or anyone else. She begged me to keep the truth about her a secret."
"She is not an angel." Shay gave him an incredulous smile. "Geez, you're really wound up tighter than I thought. What happened?"
He sagged against the bookshelf. "Shay. She. Is. An. Angel. It's true. . . ." And then he admitted the worst part of all. "And I totally made out with her. And got her in trouble," he added in a rush.
"This scary, huge angel showed up to . . . chastise her, I guess. I dunno. But I kissed her, and now she's maybe going to be punished . . . and I'm probably going to burn in hell. And the worst part? I don't care. I just want . . . I want to hold her again. Kiss her again. And she's a flippin' angel!
What's happening to me, Shay? Huh? Am I losing it or what?"
Shay stared at him, light blue eyes wide and incredulous, but said nothing.
"Are you tracking with this shit, Sissy cat? I think I'm falling for an angel. Maybe I really will burn in hell now."
He stared at his sister, waiting for some kind of reply, but she wasn't the one who answered.
"I asked you not to tell."
Jamie whipped his gaze to the open doorway; Sunny stood there, her own eyes bright with unshed tears.
"I thought you'd keep my secret . . . after everything we shared," she murmured, and Jamie watched his sister's eyes grow even wider.
Chapter Five
"Shay, I need to be alone with Sunny." Jamie met Sunny's gaze with smoldering determination. His eyes were bloodshot, undoubtedly from the few moments he'd looked at Kiel. Sunny hoped his vision wasn't damaged, and had to fight the urge to rush to his side, to ensure that he was all right.