Due to the closure of Noble Romance Publishing, this title is currently not available
Cadmiel, the Angel of Destiny, knows better than anyone what a bitch fate can be. Five hundred years ago, the only woman he ever loved was killed, shredding his soul and leaving a void in place of his heart. Now Archangel Michael comes to him with a shocking and forbidden proposal. He wants Cadmiel to travel back in time and save Emilyn. Though Cadmiel wishes beyond all reasoning to do as the archangel asks, messing with time goes against his own beliefs and the very foundations of angel lore. But Michael doesn't give Cadmiel a choice and thrusts him through time and space, back to 2012.
The first time Emilyn saw the gorgeous man, she was affected on a level she couldn't comprehend. Cadmiel isn't like any other guy she's ever met, and he makes her wish love at first sight were true. But there are forces at work she never dreamed real. In the space of a day, she goes from normal, every-day college student, to a pawn in an apocalyptic war between angels and demons.
Emilyn's very life is in Cadmiel's hands. Will he risk the future of the entire universe to save her, or let her die and destroy himself in the process?
The first time Emilyn saw the gorgeous man, she was affected on a level she couldn't comprehend. Cadmiel isn't like any other guy she's ever met, and he makes her wish love at first sight were true. But there are forces at work she never dreamed real. In the space of a day, she goes from normal, every-day college student, to a pawn in an apocalyptic war between angels and demons.
Emilyn's very life is in Cadmiel's hands. Will he risk the future of the entire universe to save her, or let her die and destroy himself in the process?
Excerpt
Chapter Two
Phoenix , Arizona, 2012
Cadmiel groaned as he rolled onto his back. Every muscle in his body ached and his head pounded a relentless, throbbing rhythm. On the ceiling above him, a fan rotated in lazy silence, wafting the dry air around the room. He turned his head to the right and took in the furniture, identifying one of the many residences he'd kept over the centuries. The recognition of the place hit him like an asteroid. He had so many bittersweet memories attached to this dwelling. After Emilyn had died, he'd razed the place to the ground.
He forced himself up to sit, cursing Michael as his head swam. Cadmiel closed his eyes and tried to send himself to the future where he belonged, but nothing happened. He didn't get even a stutter of power.
Oh no. Hell no . Instead of doing something that would require a vast reserve of energy, he tried something simpler, like conjuring himself up a bottle of whiskey for him damn splitting skull. Nothing happened.
Fury pushed him to his feet, and he swayed, catching himself on the back of a recliner.
"What the hell, Michael!" He yelled into the empty room.
The archangel had not only sent him into the past against his will, but had also stripped his powers so he couldn't return right away. If he did embark on this damned torturous mission to try and save Emilyn, how the heck was he meant to do it without his abilities?
Cadmiel abandoned his crutch on the chair and limped over to the coffee table to a couple of remotes. Damned if he could remember which one worked the TV; it'd been five hundred years, after all. He went through two, tossing them in annoyance when they didn't work, before the third made the flatscreen flick to life.
He surfed a couple of channels before finding a twenty-four-hour news broadcast that had the date and time displayed in the corner.
7:48 a.m. , Tuesday, July 11, 2012--
—The day he'd finally worked up the balls to talk to Emilyn the first time.
He had a bit over a week until she died.
In around forty five minutes from now, she'd be stopping at that café on East Monroe Street for a coffee and a muffin before her classes started at Arizona State. He'd sat in that café every morning for a month, exchanging a smile or two with her before they'd finally chatted. She'd ditched her class, and they'd gone to the Zoo at Papago Park. They'd had lunch together, which had turned into dinner, which had turned into late night drinks--
His breath caught as he recalled where the rest of that night had led, how as crazy as it'd seemed, they hadn't spent a second apart all week until she'd gone home with a friend to Canyon City but never made it. A semi-trailer had mowed down their car on the highway. The truck driver had been high and claimed he didn't remember hitting anything.
Cadmiel ran a hand through his hair, feeling the pain burn fresher than it had for years.
Could he do this? Was he actually standing here, seriously considering breaking every lore he'd religiously followed? Michael had said Emilyn wasn't meant to die. But Cadmiel knew nothing ever happened by chance. Fate had plans for them all, so what had the archangel meant by his words?
The clock above the TV ticked the seconds away, and though Cadmiel still argued with himself, he knew the decision had been made the minute Michael had called him to Sanctuary. He might be about to break more cosmic and angelic rules than he could comprehend, but he would not stand by and let Emily die again, not when the chance to save her had been presented to him on a platter.
Cadmiel went to dematerialize—and swore when nothing happened. Right. No powers. Damn, that meant he was going to have to travel downtown like any other human would. With the morning traffic, he'd be pushing it to get there before Emilyn went off to class.
And he'd need money. He raided the house, found a couple hundred dollars and some change scattered about and then ducked out into the early morning heat to wave down a passing cab. As the driver took off from the curb, Cadmiel offered the guy extra to get him downtown a bit quicker.
He sat back in the seat as the taxi wound in and out of traffic. His heart skittered, and for the first time in five hundred years, he felt alive. He was actually looking forward to something, instead of going through his day to day motions.
The trip into the heart of the city took longer than he would have liked, but the cabbie still made it there in good time. He'd cut it fine though, a glance at the taxi's dashboard as he slid out of the car showed it getting close to nine. Emilyn might have already headed across to the University campus.
Cadmiel dodge a couple ofcars and a guy on a bike to get across the street. He didn't stop until he was entering the swinging café door and almost plowed into someone coming out.
"Damn, I'm sorry—" His voice cut out as he looked down.
Emilyn stood less than a step away, dark brown hair plaited and mocha skin gleaming in the sharp morning sunshine. Her chocolate eyes lit up when she saw him, and her plump, pink lips curved into a grin. His chest constricted, and for a second he couldn't breathe. Damn it all. He wanted to crush her in his arms and get a deep lungful of that raspberry scent of hers. Instead, he stood frozen in the doorway.
"That's okay. Having one of those mornings where you just keep being late not matter how fast you run?" She tilted her head a little, waiting for an answer.
Cadmiel cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. "I think I've been having one of those days for about the last five hundred years."
She laughed. "It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it?"
A lady asked to get by them, breaking him out of his brain-dead trance. He moved back, allowing both the lady and Emilyn to step out into the street.
"I've seen you here every morning for the past month, I think it's about time I introduced myself." She held out her hand, a slight rosy glow tinting her cheeks.
This wasn't how they'd met. He'd approached her after she'd turned from the counter and dropped her muffin. This slight alteration in their history gave him hope that changing everything else would be just as easy. Maybe this one moment had already set things in motion for that to happen.
"I'm Cadmiel." He shook her hand, holding onto her fingers a moment longer than needed. A surge of pleasure suffused him when she let him and seemed just as reluctant to let go.
"I'm on my way to class. Do you go to Arizona State?"
He shook his head. "I work nearby. But I'd really like to walk you to your class, if that wouldn't be too weird?"
Her answering smile was shy. "It probably would be, but I'd like you to."
His heart pounded, and he shoved his hands into his pockets to stop from reaching for her. Memories of being with her burned through his mind, weakening his control. But he held on to sanity for dear life, because if he came on too strong, she'd think him a complete whack job. She wouldn't want anything to do with him. And that unfortunate consequence would screw up his reasons for being sent back here.
He walked beside Emilyn, trying not to stare, but greedily drinking in every nuance about her until his heart swelled and ached. He had to send out a silent thanks to Michael, the crafty bastard.
This moment, this chance, was a gift beyond measure, something Cadmiel could never repay, even though his actions here may have condemned him in the future. Just as the archangel had predicted, now that he'd arrived and stood within touching distance of Emilyn, nothing else mattered any longer but saving her.
Emilyn sipped her coffee and shot him a sideways glance. Damn, but he'd almost forgotten that glint she got in her eye, the one that told him she was happy or silently laughing at something. Her confident, fun personality had the miraculous effect of charming everyone nearby, bringing out smiles from gloomy moods.
They stopped at a pedestrian crossing, waiting for the lights to change.
"I thought the purpose of walking me to class would be to chat, maybe get to know me better, ask me out on a date?" She hid her grin behind another mouthful of coffee.
"I'm working my way up to it, believe me. For now, I was enjoying the moment. I can't ever remember another quite like this one. There's something really special about this second in time."
Surprise and pleasure flitted across her features as she lowered the cup, her lips glistening from the beverage. Fire erupted from his soul, a blast of longing denied and ignored for half a century.
Damn .
He shouldn't have gone there. And if he'd told himself he had any kind of control over this situation, he'd been kidding himself. Cosmic forces couldn't have stopped him as he took a step forward and caught her wrist before she could back away.
Emilyn's eyes widened and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, but she didn't try to escape as he drew her closer. The feel of her against him was the sweetest and most bitter recollection. Hot, golden sensations rocketed into his chest until he had no room to breathe. His other arm slid around her back and pulled her hips against him. The traffic light changed and people brushed by them, walking on and off the crossing, but he couldn't move, couldn't let her go, didn't care they stood in the middle of the street with the sweltering sun blazing down on them.
Emilyn slid her hand up his arm, over his bicep to his shoulder. Her light fingers trailed to his neck and teased the sensitive hair at his nape. He shuddered while the last of his sanity snapped and spun away, out into the ether, where it couldn't control him any longer.
He felt her lean up against him and then their mouths came together. The touch was light but exploded all his senses. He groaned and tightened his hold on her, deepening the kiss, drinking in the dark, smoky taste of coffee and the underlying honey sweet essence of Emilyn.
Being with her, kissing her, holding her in his arms was everything he remembered, but so, so much more. Because now he had five hundred years' worth of pain behind the emotions, knew the utter desolation of losing her.
It would not happen again .
This time he would save her, even if he had to die trying.
Chapter Two
Phoenix , Arizona, 2012
Cadmiel groaned as he rolled onto his back. Every muscle in his body ached and his head pounded a relentless, throbbing rhythm. On the ceiling above him, a fan rotated in lazy silence, wafting the dry air around the room. He turned his head to the right and took in the furniture, identifying one of the many residences he'd kept over the centuries. The recognition of the place hit him like an asteroid. He had so many bittersweet memories attached to this dwelling. After Emilyn had died, he'd razed the place to the ground.
He forced himself up to sit, cursing Michael as his head swam. Cadmiel closed his eyes and tried to send himself to the future where he belonged, but nothing happened. He didn't get even a stutter of power.
Oh no. Hell no . Instead of doing something that would require a vast reserve of energy, he tried something simpler, like conjuring himself up a bottle of whiskey for him damn splitting skull. Nothing happened.
Fury pushed him to his feet, and he swayed, catching himself on the back of a recliner.
"What the hell, Michael!" He yelled into the empty room.
The archangel had not only sent him into the past against his will, but had also stripped his powers so he couldn't return right away. If he did embark on this damned torturous mission to try and save Emilyn, how the heck was he meant to do it without his abilities?
Cadmiel abandoned his crutch on the chair and limped over to the coffee table to a couple of remotes. Damned if he could remember which one worked the TV; it'd been five hundred years, after all. He went through two, tossing them in annoyance when they didn't work, before the third made the flatscreen flick to life.
He surfed a couple of channels before finding a twenty-four-hour news broadcast that had the date and time displayed in the corner.
7:48 a.m. , Tuesday, July 11, 2012--
—The day he'd finally worked up the balls to talk to Emilyn the first time.
He had a bit over a week until she died.
In around forty five minutes from now, she'd be stopping at that café on East Monroe Street for a coffee and a muffin before her classes started at Arizona State. He'd sat in that café every morning for a month, exchanging a smile or two with her before they'd finally chatted. She'd ditched her class, and they'd gone to the Zoo at Papago Park. They'd had lunch together, which had turned into dinner, which had turned into late night drinks--
His breath caught as he recalled where the rest of that night had led, how as crazy as it'd seemed, they hadn't spent a second apart all week until she'd gone home with a friend to Canyon City but never made it. A semi-trailer had mowed down their car on the highway. The truck driver had been high and claimed he didn't remember hitting anything.
Cadmiel ran a hand through his hair, feeling the pain burn fresher than it had for years.
Could he do this? Was he actually standing here, seriously considering breaking every lore he'd religiously followed? Michael had said Emilyn wasn't meant to die. But Cadmiel knew nothing ever happened by chance. Fate had plans for them all, so what had the archangel meant by his words?
The clock above the TV ticked the seconds away, and though Cadmiel still argued with himself, he knew the decision had been made the minute Michael had called him to Sanctuary. He might be about to break more cosmic and angelic rules than he could comprehend, but he would not stand by and let Emily die again, not when the chance to save her had been presented to him on a platter.
Cadmiel went to dematerialize—and swore when nothing happened. Right. No powers. Damn, that meant he was going to have to travel downtown like any other human would. With the morning traffic, he'd be pushing it to get there before Emilyn went off to class.
And he'd need money. He raided the house, found a couple hundred dollars and some change scattered about and then ducked out into the early morning heat to wave down a passing cab. As the driver took off from the curb, Cadmiel offered the guy extra to get him downtown a bit quicker.
He sat back in the seat as the taxi wound in and out of traffic. His heart skittered, and for the first time in five hundred years, he felt alive. He was actually looking forward to something, instead of going through his day to day motions.
The trip into the heart of the city took longer than he would have liked, but the cabbie still made it there in good time. He'd cut it fine though, a glance at the taxi's dashboard as he slid out of the car showed it getting close to nine. Emilyn might have already headed across to the University campus.
Cadmiel dodge a couple ofcars and a guy on a bike to get across the street. He didn't stop until he was entering the swinging café door and almost plowed into someone coming out.
"Damn, I'm sorry—" His voice cut out as he looked down.
Emilyn stood less than a step away, dark brown hair plaited and mocha skin gleaming in the sharp morning sunshine. Her chocolate eyes lit up when she saw him, and her plump, pink lips curved into a grin. His chest constricted, and for a second he couldn't breathe. Damn it all. He wanted to crush her in his arms and get a deep lungful of that raspberry scent of hers. Instead, he stood frozen in the doorway.
"That's okay. Having one of those mornings where you just keep being late not matter how fast you run?" She tilted her head a little, waiting for an answer.
Cadmiel cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. "I think I've been having one of those days for about the last five hundred years."
She laughed. "It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it?"
A lady asked to get by them, breaking him out of his brain-dead trance. He moved back, allowing both the lady and Emilyn to step out into the street.
"I've seen you here every morning for the past month, I think it's about time I introduced myself." She held out her hand, a slight rosy glow tinting her cheeks.
This wasn't how they'd met. He'd approached her after she'd turned from the counter and dropped her muffin. This slight alteration in their history gave him hope that changing everything else would be just as easy. Maybe this one moment had already set things in motion for that to happen.
"I'm Cadmiel." He shook her hand, holding onto her fingers a moment longer than needed. A surge of pleasure suffused him when she let him and seemed just as reluctant to let go.
"I'm on my way to class. Do you go to Arizona State?"
He shook his head. "I work nearby. But I'd really like to walk you to your class, if that wouldn't be too weird?"
Her answering smile was shy. "It probably would be, but I'd like you to."
His heart pounded, and he shoved his hands into his pockets to stop from reaching for her. Memories of being with her burned through his mind, weakening his control. But he held on to sanity for dear life, because if he came on too strong, she'd think him a complete whack job. She wouldn't want anything to do with him. And that unfortunate consequence would screw up his reasons for being sent back here.
He walked beside Emilyn, trying not to stare, but greedily drinking in every nuance about her until his heart swelled and ached. He had to send out a silent thanks to Michael, the crafty bastard.
This moment, this chance, was a gift beyond measure, something Cadmiel could never repay, even though his actions here may have condemned him in the future. Just as the archangel had predicted, now that he'd arrived and stood within touching distance of Emilyn, nothing else mattered any longer but saving her.
Emilyn sipped her coffee and shot him a sideways glance. Damn, but he'd almost forgotten that glint she got in her eye, the one that told him she was happy or silently laughing at something. Her confident, fun personality had the miraculous effect of charming everyone nearby, bringing out smiles from gloomy moods.
They stopped at a pedestrian crossing, waiting for the lights to change.
"I thought the purpose of walking me to class would be to chat, maybe get to know me better, ask me out on a date?" She hid her grin behind another mouthful of coffee.
"I'm working my way up to it, believe me. For now, I was enjoying the moment. I can't ever remember another quite like this one. There's something really special about this second in time."
Surprise and pleasure flitted across her features as she lowered the cup, her lips glistening from the beverage. Fire erupted from his soul, a blast of longing denied and ignored for half a century.
Damn .
He shouldn't have gone there. And if he'd told himself he had any kind of control over this situation, he'd been kidding himself. Cosmic forces couldn't have stopped him as he took a step forward and caught her wrist before she could back away.
Emilyn's eyes widened and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, but she didn't try to escape as he drew her closer. The feel of her against him was the sweetest and most bitter recollection. Hot, golden sensations rocketed into his chest until he had no room to breathe. His other arm slid around her back and pulled her hips against him. The traffic light changed and people brushed by them, walking on and off the crossing, but he couldn't move, couldn't let her go, didn't care they stood in the middle of the street with the sweltering sun blazing down on them.
Emilyn slid her hand up his arm, over his bicep to his shoulder. Her light fingers trailed to his neck and teased the sensitive hair at his nape. He shuddered while the last of his sanity snapped and spun away, out into the ether, where it couldn't control him any longer.
He felt her lean up against him and then their mouths came together. The touch was light but exploded all his senses. He groaned and tightened his hold on her, deepening the kiss, drinking in the dark, smoky taste of coffee and the underlying honey sweet essence of Emilyn.
Being with her, kissing her, holding her in his arms was everything he remembered, but so, so much more. Because now he had five hundred years' worth of pain behind the emotions, knew the utter desolation of losing her.
It would not happen again .
This time he would save her, even if he had to die trying.
