FALLEN (Angels and Gargoyles Book 3) by Brenda L. Harper Page B

thought of the angels who wanted to turn the earth into a paradise. And the angels who wanted to give it back to the humans, but only the right two humans. Then she thought of Stiles’ solution, of his desire to force the angels back to Heaven and leave the humans and hybrids to battle it out over the earth.
    And then she thought of the three solutions the mysterious voice in her dream had offered.
    She had thought there was a solution that did not mean the total destruction of any one race of earth dwellers.
    Maybe she was wrong.
    A decision had to be made. Only one group could survive the end of this war.
    The humans were an obvious choice because they were the first to call this place home. But they were also the ones who nearly destroyed it.
    The angels seemed logical, too. They were among the first races, the first children of God, the ones this world was originally meant for. But they were children who did not know how to live a life filled with difficult choices. What guarantee was there that they would be able to be better caretakers than the humans had been?
    Then there were the hybrids. A combination of the first two. An untried race, a group newly developed that still did not understand their own gifts, let alone how those gifts might benefit this world. But for the hybrids to take over, the angels would have to be called back to Heaven, and the humans would have to be completely annihilated. That would mean more war, more destruction, more of everything they were trying to end.
    It was a choice Dylan didn’t want to make.
    But she was the only one who could make it.

Chapter 15
     
    The sun felt good on her face.
    Dylan tilted her head up, her eyes closed, and just let the sun play on her skin.
    “You don’t have to hide in the shadows,” she said without opening her eyes.
    “I didn’t want to bother you.”
    “It’s not a bother,” she said.
    Stiles’ heavy footsteps made the wooden steps creak as he joined her on the porch. She opened her eyes when he settled onto the swing beside her.
    “Thank you,” she said quietly as she laid a hand on his thigh.
    “I don’t know why you would thank me,” he said.
    “You brought us here. You’ve watched over me and Wyatt for days. You’ve been watching the activity at Genero—”
    “I let you down, Dylan.”
    She shook her head slowly. “Everyone thinks they know what the right thing to do is. You thought you were doing the right thing for me, for the humans, and for this place in general.”
    “I was conceited enough to think I was doing God’s bidding.”
    “You led them to us,” she said.
    Shame burned in the sudden color that came to his cheeks. “Davida promised they wouldn’t hurt you.”
    Dylan looked down over the green grass that was growing from the edge of the front porch to the dirt road that sprung up about a couple of hundred yards in front of them. She could hear the insects playing there, though she could not see them. She tried to imagine what it would be like to sit here without a care in the world, to simply commune with the many creatures that lived in this place. But she couldn’t.
    “How much did you tell her about our plan?”
    She felt him shrug beside her. “Not a lot. She knew you wanted to go to Genero.”
    “Then they know, too.”
    “Maybe,” he agreed.
    “And the rest?”
    “She didn’t see the point in discussing it. She thought you would be dead by the end of the day.”
    Dylan could see the logic in that. It didn’t stop the pain that sliced through her chest at the idea of Davida accepting so easily her death sentence, but it was a logical assumption.
    “If I ask you something, will you answer me honestly?”
    “Of course,” Stiles said immediately.
    Dylan stood and walked the few steps to the front door, looking through the open living room to where Wyatt was washing up the last of their breakfast dishes in the kitchen. He turned and looked, as though he could sense her watching him. She lifted a