Page 34

Five Months Later

A nna fidgeted in her deceptively comfortable Adirondack chair, trying to reposition the pillow beneath her lower back. It was far too easy to fall asleep in those things and, apparently, her entire right side, and her daughter, knew it as well.

Olive’s little rosebud mouth stretched wide on a yawn, and Anna’s body tensed as if she were playing a giant game of freeze tag.

Please go back to sleep. Please go back to sleep.

As if already realizing the importance of listening to one’s mother at that early age, all the muscles in the baby’s tiny cherubic face scrunched up, then relaxed as her little body molded back into the crook of Anna’s arm.

Anna held her breath for a moment. Once it was clear the barely twenty-minute nap had been given approval by the CEO to continue, she breathed a sigh of relief and tried to resume her own rest, but the happy sight stretching out over the field before her was far more interesting than chasing the undisturbed sleep that would come later. (Iron always made sure of that last part.)

For the past month, she’d been content to take in the pleasure of her soul bond putting stakes in the ground and marking out where he and his brothers would install the utilities for their new homestead.

Damn, did her angel look good in a hard hat. Though, admittedly, not strictly necessary for an immortal with metallic armor at the ready, Iron indulged her regardless, despite making his disdain for the thing well known. Something he insisted harkened back to their first-ever text conversation.

Such a good man, that one.

Summoned by the pull of her thoughts, or so she liked to think, he handed a clipboard to Steel and made his way to where she and Olive were sitting beneath the shade of a pop-up tent. He swept a hand over his daughter’s little auburn-haired crown first, dropping a kiss there, then delivered the same to Anna.

Sigh . . .

There were some things Anna would never get tired of seeing, and the sight of Iron bestowing such tenderness on their sleeping daughter was one that still made her heart clench and flutter about her new little family like a lovesick mama bird.

“She sleeping okay?” Iron lifted the pitcher of half lemonade, half iced tea sitting on the small table next to them and topped off her glass.

“Yup. Had a bit of a scare for a second there that this nap would only last twenty minutes, but she settled back down, thankfully.”

Iron purloined a sip from her drink before handing it to her. “I’ll take her in a few minutes if you’d like.”

“I’m good for right now. The milk coma seems to be holding, and I’m enjoying how studious you and the others are out there. The whole lot of you with your little pencils behind your ears and all your hard hats tipping together whenever you need to argue about something . . . It’s my new favorite show.”

“Oh yeah? Want me to get you some popcorn?”

“Kettle corn. Or maybe the white cheddar kind.”

He chuckled softly. “I thought you weren’t pregnant anymore.”

“And your motherfucking point, my love?”

“No point to be made. Only that one, I love you; two, I’m team white cheddar all day, and three”—he leaned down low and kissed her, effectively stealing her fire with a sweep of his delicious tongue—“I fucking loved you pregnant, as much as love you now. As long as I get to feed you and Olive, I’m happy.”

“ I’m the one feeding Olive.”

“And I’m the one who gets to watch.” He waggled his eyebrows like the lech he most certainly wasn’t and offered up a choice grunt when she poked him in the shin with her sandaled foot. Then he caught the thing and gave it a tender squeeze before settling it back down.

“How are things coming along with the site?” Anna asked before taking a sip of her drink. Mmm, sugar.

His features lit up and drifted into a new sort of dreaminess, one only caused by the immense pride and rewarding struggle of throwing oneself into a project of the soul.

Their homestead.

After Olive was born, Anna’s tiny cabin became a flutter of activity, all meticulously planned and primped by the wonderful family she could no longer imagine her life without. Those first few days, Iron would hardly put Olive down, even going so far as to sleep in a recliner with her nestled snugly on his chest. It took far more convincing than Anna thought it would to have him hand the baby over so she could feed her, and even that was done under his watchful worried eye with a notepad in hand as he timed each feeding and got in super close to ensure she was latching on properly.

Eventually, after the first seventy-two hours of Olive using Iron’s beard as her new favorite bedtime stuffed animal and a pediatrician’s insistence that she was growing just fine, Iron eased up a touch and let the barrage of aunts and uncles flutter their favors onto the little darling.

The beard snuggling remained, though.

When the three of them had finally reemerged from their little cocoon with somewhat of a sleep schedule established, Iron got right to work on building the property of his dreams.

Which, in turn, would be the property of their dreams.

What had originally begun as a separate home for Neela had Rhode had morphed into a sanctuary for them all. Contrary to what Iron had originally thought, the lure of returning to the Empyrean had faded swiftly for each of the sentinels. Once the ability to travel between realms had been reestablished, more questions poured through the gate as well. Iron’s time away, for one. No one really had an explanation for how much time would pass in the mortal realm if the angels left, even for a short time. Then there was the question of Neela, who was as much demon-born as she was Empyrean-born. The celestial seraph’s power that had been infused into her inception was the main reason they suspected she’d lived through Cyro’s destruction unscathed, and Rhode wasn’t willing to chance whether the charmer part of her would be able to pass through the Empyrean’s gates on a hunch.

It wasn’t like Anna could blame him. They all loved Neela to pieces and couldn’t imagine taking the risk just to satisfy a curiosity.

The overall discussion about returning had been brief, with every angel voting whole-heartedly to remain in the mortal realm, with one stipulation: they’d no longer reside belowground. Doing so had been a necessity, a sign of their past and their celestial limitations. If they wanted to start a new life in this world, they needed to embrace the light and live among it.

It had been Iron’s secret dream, and watching it realized on his face every day filled Anna’s heart to bursting.

“Good,” Iron said, pointing to some stakes at the far west end of the property’s edge. “We finally worked out the nontech options for Bronze and Clara’s home, and the general utilities will be going in soon. Steel’s working on digging a new well, and Titan’s arranging for building materials to arrive tomorrow morning.” Iron mimicked clapping his hands together in eagerness but knew better than to actually clap and wake up Olive. Then he shrugged out of his flannel and tossed it on the chair next to Anna.

Her eyes grew wide at the sight of his new T-shirt, and she had to cover Olive’s exposed ear as she whisper-shouted, “No. You. Didn’t.”

Before he could answer, a caravan of SUVs pulled up at the site, and a whole host of fruit platters, sandwiches, salads, chips, cookies, and—dear god, was that guacamole?—was held high on the shoulders of literal giants as the rest of their family joined them under the tent.

“Molly made fresh tortilla chips!” Drea’s braid swung in a rhythm that matched her exuberance.

“Of course I did. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

“The point is to find the nearest suitable food object with the right weight resistance to support boatloads of guac.” Drea waved a chip in the air in demonstration and scooped a healthy portion into her mouth. The moan of delight that rumbled out of her could have saved Iron and the others some demolition work if it hadn’t been cut short by a swallow. “Oh my god. Amazing.”

Brass came over and kissed Molly’s cheek. “Yes she is.”

“I’ve got the schedule!” Neela wandered over and flashed a detailed piece of paper that said Olive Us Taking Turns scribbled at the top, encircled with cutesy hearts and smiley faces.

“What’s this?” Anna asked.

“Our schedule for who gets to hold Olive when. After she wakes up, of course. However, if she sleeps much longer, it’ll bleed into Tammy’s time, and she got upset before when Rose got to hold her for longer. Something about being the older twin. I don’t know.”

Titan grunted softly when Rose slammed a bag of groceries into his stomach. Then she stormed over. “Are we really going to play the birthright game? Because it doesn’t matter!”

Tammy took a box of cookies out of Tung’s hands. “Then why did you get so annoyed the last time I got to feed her before you?”

“Because you didn’t burp her right and she spit up all over me when it was my turn to take her right after you.”

“Guys, there’s no need to argue about this.” Bronze stepped forward, hands outstretched between the women as though he were about to referee a fight. “We all know who Olive’s favorite is, and it has everything to do with my awesome stroller sessions. Kid’s a speed demon. I can tell you that right now.”

The last of the car doors slammed, and Chrome sauntered over to the group, gripping several bags of diapers and wipes. Anna was about to wave when the bags hit the ground and a look of marked menace slashed across Chrome’s face. Then he lifted his sunglasses off and slowly handed them to Drea, who’d run over to help with the bags.

Silver flames danced through his irises.

Uh-oh.

He gestured with his chin toward Iron, who had cleared all the women out of the way and moved to the side of the tent. “That shit for real?”

Iron pulled the sides of his T-shirt wide, accentuating the hard pads of his chest. “Wouldn’t wear it if I didn’t mean it. You got something to say about it?”

“Oh, you bet I do.”

Bridget pulled up a chair next to Anna and leaned toward her. “What’s happening?”

Anna couldn’t say anything. Her throat was frozen in anticipation. So she just pointed to the front of Iron’s shirt.

There, in bold pink letters, his chest proudly proclaimed, New dad. Free hugs. Today only.

Chrome kicked out his heels like a bull, stirring up a cloud of dust to match the tension. “You ready for this, motherfucker?”

Iron rolled his shoulders back and threw his arms wide. “Bring it.”

Anna’s heart leaped into her throat as Chrome charged at her soul bond. The two met in a clash of back-slapping and bro squeezing that lasted the entire length of Drea devouring not one but two full-loaded tortilla chips.

A resounding peal of laughter rose up from their tiny tent. Anna couldn’t help herself. She barked out her joy until her chest hurt from the exertion. Olive startled awake and protested just long enough for Neela to sweep her into her arms to steal her time with the baby before Tammy had resumed her composure from her laughing fit.

One by one, each angel lined up and did their best to out-hug the brother before them. Some, like Bronze, went with running starts while others, like Titan and Tungsten, simply embraced Iron and cupped him behind the neck in a gesture of joyful tenderness.

It went on like that through the rest of the sunny afternoon, with hugs shifting into quiet conversations, a rather heated debate on stroller shock absorbency, and fun-filled games of Frisbee and capture the flag.

They were all there. Together, protected, safe, and happy.

It was truly the perfect family.

Anna couldn’t have dreamed of anything less.

Thank you so much for reading Angel’s Smoke! If you loved seeing Iron and Anna’s relationship grow, let your friends know. Help other readers fall in love with this couple, and all those hunky angels, by leaving a review.