InkintheBlood by Chandra Ryan

to make
room for those wings of yours—including your heart. So they not only saved him,
they saved you as well. I think that’ll be enough to ensure he loves your wings
as much as I do.” He sniffled and looked away from her but not before she saw
the gleam of tears in his eyes.
    She wanted to believe Bastion. She wanted to say she trusted
Jacob to do the right thing. So much so that she felt horrible when she
realized that she couldn’t. Bastion hadn’t been there when Jacob freaked out
about Mitch starting a tiny flame. Her shifting shapes wasn’t going to go
unnoticed. And it hadn’t been a small shift either. Nope. When she destroyed
relationships, she didn’t do it by half measures. To humans, to him, she’d
always be a freak—or worse, a monster.
    She gazed at Jacob for a moment longer, but, the pain too
great, she finally returned her attention to Bastion. “I don’t know. It’s a lot
for someone to accept. But that’s okay. I’ve accepted who and what I am and
that’s enough. Actually it’s probably for the best for it to end like this. The
races are too different and the differences too great to overcome.”
    “He knows what you are, child. And he knows the differences.
Yet he chose to sleep in that god-awful chair for three nights just to be by
your side when you woke.”
    “He’s seen what I can become, but he doesn’t know what he’d
have to sacrifice to be with me.” Her eyes slid away from Bastion’s as she said
the words. “I look like a human, but that doesn’t make me one. And he doesn’t
even have the luxury of the lie. Our people would never accept him. Then
there’s the issue of children.” He’d be a great father someday, but not to her
children. The knowledge tore at her soul. “Trapped between worlds is no way to
live a life.”
    “Maybe, but don’t you think that’s his decision to make? Be
honest in your dialogue. But then let him decide, Isabella.” He backed away
from her bed abruptly. “I have other patients to see, but I’ll be back soon.”
    After the door shut behind him, she turned to Jacob’s
still-reclined form. She noticed for the first time that his breathing was
shallower than it should be. “You aren’t asleep, are you?”
    “No. How’d you know?” He opened one eye a sliver but
otherwise didn’t move.
    “Your breathing, it’s deeper when you’re asleep.”
    “I see.”
    “So I guess I have a lot to explain.”
    “You could, but later. We’ve got plenty of time.” He stood
and made his way to her bed. Of course, he brought his intoxicating scent with
him. “You know, I never believed in any of this. Not in God, angels or
religion.”
    She shook her head at the misconception. “We aren’t
religious entities sent to Earth to protect humankind, Jacob. We don’t work
like that.”
    His shoulders shook softly with silent laughter as he looked
down at her. “Like hell you aren’t. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. I
know a lot was happening, but I saw the wings, Izzy.”
    “I’m not an angel. I’m a child of God, not his messenger.
Saving you was a choice I made. It wasn’t an order I was following.”
    “Maybe. But I don’t see why you’re making the distinction.”
    “Because some of us are good but some are apathetic and
others are evil. You need to know that it’s our choices that make the
difference, not our births.”
    “I don’t care what you are.” He ran his fingers over her
forehead and the touch made her heart race. “Angel or not, you’re alive. That’s
all that matters to me.”
    She studied him carefully and found his calm more than a
little surprising. “You’re taking this really well. I didn’t expect you to
stick around. Not after the way you reacted to our conversation about magic.”
    “I told you, I needed time to think—and I’ve had nothing but
time.”
    “Still, you don’t know everything.”
    “And I don’t need to. I know enough.”
    “You say that now, but—”
    “No!”