Forgiven (Book 3, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (5 page)

I looked down at the ground no longer able to meet Will’s eyes.  His earnest expression just wasn’t something I could handle in that moment.

“
Are
you
going to at
least come to the wedding?” I asked.

“I can’t make any promises.  I haven’t exactly decided if I’m going or not yet.”

“I want you there,” I said looking back up at him.  “You know how little family I have.”

“I know, Lilly.  All I can promise is that I’ll try, even though I think you’re making a mistake.”

As I watched Will and Malik pull away from
Tara
’s house in Will’s Honda Accord, I had to wonder if what he said was true. 
C
ould he and I be able to have children of our own?  I
was
Lillith’s only remaining descendant.  If she could bare the children of Will’s kind of fallen angel, then the chances I could
too
were very good.  At one time in my life
,
I would have wanted nothing less for myself, but since
I met
Brand
,
he was the only one I could see
building a
future
with
.

After
the boys left, the girls made me close my eyes as they brought me into
Tara
’s house.

“Surprise!” They yelled together.

“You can open your eyes now,”
Tara
tol
d
me
.

I took a deep breath before opening my eyes, fearing what I might see.
I was mildly surprised to find things looked like any normal party.
The room was decorated with colorful balloons
and streamers; a
chocolate
heart shaped cake
with
‘Lilly –n- Brand’
piped on it in red icing
w
as
laid out on the coffee table as well as a couple of presents.

“I don’t understand,” I said looking around at things
,
expecting something to jump out at me at any moment.  “What was Will apologizing for?”

“Uh, take a closer look at the balloons, love,” Abby suggested
coyly
.

I walked over to a cluster of them tied to the arm of a chair in the living room.  Almost every color in the rainbow seemed to be represented.  I thought the balloons seemed a bit more transparent than normal ones but was still clueless
as to
what I was supposed to be seeing.

“Ok, you g
irls
have completely lost me,” I confessed.

Tara
threw something small at me and I caught it.  When I looked down at what was wrapped in the clear cellophane
, I felt my cheeks grow warm.  It was a
red
condom.  I immediately let go of the bunch of balloons in my hand.

The girls began to giggle uncontrollably at my reaction.

“Just thought you might need a reminder,”
Tara
said with her arms crossed.  “I know what can happen if you guys have an accident
,
and I’m not about to lose you like that.”

“No, love,” Abby said, sobering up from her giggles.  “None of us wa
n
t to lose you like Angela and I lost our mothers.”

“You taking those birth control pills the doctor gave you?”
Tara
asked me like a mother hen.

“Yes, I’m taking them,” I told them all.  “And Brand will be careful.”

I didn’t think I should mention I had already made Brand promise we wouldn’t use a condom the first time we made love.  I knew it wasn’t something he wanted to do
,
but I also knew he would do anything to make my first time as memorable as possible.  I would be on birth control
,
and I felt sure that would be enough to protect us
once
.

After we ate a piece of the red velvet heart cake
Tara
had made, the girls gave me their gifts.

Angela and Abby gave me a large box of
rainbow colored
condoms which I thanked them for and tried not to blush too much as I set aside.

“This one is from me and your mom,”
Tara
said, handing me a
pink
wrapped package.

“You picked it out together?” I asked, sure I had misunderstood.

“Yep.  Your
m
om’s been a lot better lately. 
I guess a
ll this wedding business ha
s
made her easier to get along with.”

After pe
e
ling away the pink wrapping paper
from the white box my gift was in
, I found an ivory colored tulle and satin babydoll negligee inside. 
Only the underwire bra and little panties were silk, the rest was
made out of the transparent
tulle.

“Oh yeah, Dad
wi
ll like that,
love,
” Abby said with a knowing nod.

I quickly put the lingerie back in the box.  It felt odd to have Brand’s daughter so involved in my future sex life with her father.  Apparently
,
she sensed
my discomfort
.

“Don’t feel like you have to hide it Lilly,” Abby said.  “I know my Dad hasn’t been with anyone else since my
m
om.  If you ask me, it’s about damn time he was.  I’m just glad it’s with someone who makes him so happy.”

“I love your father with everything that I am,” I told her, suddenly finding the events of the day slip away from me.  All I wanted to do now was go home to Brand
and feel his warmth
.

After taking Abby back home, I phased Angela back to Brand’s ho
use
and was pleasantly surprised to find Allan still
present
watching a football game on the big
screen TV over the fireplace with Brand.

“Have you been here all day, Dad?” Angela asked
, not trying to hide the complete astonishment she felt from her voice
.

“Yes.  Brand was showing me American football,” Allan said, having a hard time taking his eyes off the game
to answer his daughter.  “I find it quite stimulating in its brutality
.”

Brand came to me and took my packages out of my arms.  As soon as he turned back around to me, I pulled him
closer
.

“I missed you today
.
” I
hugged him close reveling in the warmth of his body, not wanting to let him go.

“We should be getting back home, Dad,” Angela said discreetly.

I pulled away from Brand reluctantly to say goodbye to our guest, secretly wishing they would hurry up and go already.

Once Allan
and Angela
phased back home, I phased Brand and I to his bed.

“What’s gotten into you?” He asked, smiling at my aggressive behavior.

“Can’t a woman want some alone time with her fiancé?” I kissed his neck, running my hands down over his chest.

Brand rolled me over onto my back plundering my mouth with his tongue infusing my sense
s
with the scent of him. 

“I like this dress,” he murmured against my lips, sliding his hand up my thigh to just above the hem of the skirt
and just below where I really wanted his hand to be
.

I moaned in aggravation.   “Could we just pretend this is our wedding night?”

Brand laughed against my
throat as he nibbled his way across my bared shoulder. 

“We’re almost there,” he
reminde
d,
slowly
pulling his hand away from my thigh.  His movement did little to lessen the torturous pleasure of having him so close yet so far away.

If I’d had my way, we would have made love right then and there.  But I made a promise to Brand that we wouldn’t make love until after we were married.  It was important to him that we do things right and not tempt God to withdraw
H
is faith in us to
follow the right path
.  Mentally I understood his desire not to go against his father again, but physically all I wanted to do was show the man of my dreams just how much he meant to me in every way possible.

“Once we’re married,” I said.  “You’re going t
o
have a hard time getting out of this bed,” I warned him.

Brand pulled away from me with a pleased smile on his face.  “I think I’m ok with that.”

“You better be,” I said rolling Brand over onto his back and straddling his hips.  “I don’t plan to give you any other choice.”

After taking what had become a routine cold shower, I went downstairs to find Brand speaking with Malcolm in the living room.

Brand smiled at me with a hint of amusement on his face.  He thought my habit of taking a
cold
shower after
our intimate time
was cute.  I just found the
m an
irritating necess
ity
.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise to him to wait until after we were married.

“Malcolm has an idea I think we should follow up on,” Brand told me as I came to stand
by
the pair.

I kept my eyes averted from Malcolm
not wanting to face him just yet.  Our last meeting had left me shaken
in my resolve to keep him at arms length
. 
I wasn’t sure how
Malcolm
was feeling about
how we left things
,
but I could
sense
his eyes on me seeming to watch my every move even more closely than usual.

“What is it?” I asked Brand.

“I may have thought of a way for you to take control away from Lucifer, dearest
,
” Malcolm answered instead, forcing me to look his way since staring at Brand while he talked would look suspicious.

“How?” I asked him, grabbing hold of Brand’s hand beside me, needing to feel hi
s touch
.

“King Solom
o
n’s ring.”

“That was the king who said he would cut the baby in half when two women
claimed
they were its mother right?”

“Yes, that’s the one.  He was given a ring which
gave him the power to control
demons
, or the rebellion angels if you prefer,
and
the
jinn.  If we can find that ring, it may give you power over Lucifer.  Since we know he plans to use you in whatever scheme he has cooked up, you may be able to use the ring to
at least
make sure he can’t possess you.”

“Where is the ring?” I asked.

“That’s the problem,” Brand
answered
.  “We don’t know, but I might be able to find the person who does.”

“Samyaza?” Malcolm asked Brand.  “Do you think he will talk to you us?”

“I doubt he will talk to you, Malcolm.  But I might be able to g
ain an audience with
him.”

“Who is Samyaza?” I asked.

“He
wa
s
the
leader
of the W
atcher
angels
when we were first sent here to Earth
,” Brand said.  “If any of our kind
knows
where the ring is, he might.”

“If he was your leader, why wouldn’t he talk to you?”

“After our fall, he stayed distant from the rest of us.  I think he
still
feels like he led us all astray and that’s why we have the lives we do.  He was close to one
Watcher in
particular
though
, his second in command.  I know where he lives
and can ask him to help us
locate Samyaza
.
”

“You mean Isaiah?” Malcolm asked.  “I haven’t see
n
him in ages either.”

“He lives in
America
.  I saw him not so long ago.  I think he probably still lives in the same place. 
Would
you
mind
stay
ing
with Lilly for a
little
while
, Malcolm
?  I should probably go speak with Isaiah as soon as possible.  If he doesn’t know where Samyaza is
,
he might be able to track him down for us.”