Fractured Souls by Ava Marie Salinger

15

Cassius fluffedhis pillow for the tenth time, buried his head in it, and closed his eyes. A frustrated sigh left him a moment later.

He couldn’t sleep.

Morgan’s face rose before his mind’s eye. Cassius scowled.

Next time that bastard wants to kiss me, I’ll make him grovel on his hands and knees!

It dawned on Cassius that he was being somewhat presumptuous about Morgan’s interest in him. There was a good chance Morgan might not want to ruin their future working relationship by entering into a physical one, despite the clear attraction between them. Office romances rarely worked out for the best, especially where it concerned angels and demons. Being a quasi-immortal meant grudges and bad feelings stuck around for centuries rather than years.

Cassius’s stomach tightened as he thought back to Morgan’s kiss the day before. Despite his frustration at the Aerial, he could not deny that he most definitely wanted a repeat. Even if it were just to confirm that the kiss had been as wickedly good as he recalled.

He’d finally fallen into a light doze when he felt the mattress dip slightly next to him. Cassius blinked fuzzily at the dark room, his pupils adjusting to the lack of light.

“Loki?”

An irritated sound left the cat from its spot near Cassius’s feet.

Cassius stared. The one climbing into his bed was Morgan.

I must be dreaming.

Morgan noticed his shocked look.

“I can’t sleep,” he said by way of explanation.

Cassius gaped. Why, the nerve of this asshole!

He scowled, sat up, and switched the night lamp on. “What the hell does that have to do with you climbing into my bed in the middle of the night?!”

Morgan arched an eyebrow, unfazed by his outburst. “You’re the one who banned me from having sex every night, remember? The least you can do is be my bed partner.”

Cassius opened and closed his mouth, too speechless to speak for a moment.

He told his interested dick to calm the fuck down and glared at the Aerial. “Are you insane?!”

Loki hissed and jumped down from the bed. The demon cat slipped through a gap in the bedroom door and vanished into the darkness, displeasure reflected in every line of its body.

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning to have my wicked way with you,” Morgan drawled. “I just like having someone to hold.”

“Then get a goddamn pillow buddy!” Cassius snapped.

He gasped as Morgan looped a strong arm around his waist and pulled him down on the bed. The Aerial turned off the light and tucked Cassius against him, his chest flush against Cassius’s back and a powerful leg slipping between Cassius’s knees.

“Goodnight,” Morgan murmured.

Cassius’s heart slammed heavily against his ribs. “Like I’m gonna be able to sleep with you plastered up against me!”

“You’re grumpy when you’re tired.”

“Shut up!”

Morgan chuckled softly.

Cassius cursed under his breath, acutely conscious of every delicious inch of Morgan’s hard body where it touched his. Luckily, the Aerial was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. Cassius chewed his lip, not sure whether it was disappointment or chagrin he was currently experiencing. He hesitated before wriggling slightly. He sucked in air when he felt the thick shape of Morgan’s dick against his butt.

Morgan groaned, his breath tickling Cassius’s nape. He squeezed Cassius lightly, his arm hot against his midriff. “Please tell me you’re not doing that deliberately. I’m already finding it hard enough as it is not to rip your clothes off and ravish you right now.”

Cassius’s vision filled with a rush of torrid images. He registered the blatant sexual frustration in Morgan’s voice with an inane jolt of elation.

“I am not!” he protested weakly.

“You really are a bad liar,” Morgan said drowsily.

The way Morgan relaxed against him a moment later told Cassius the Aerial had drifted off. He ignored the foolish feeling of happiness still dancing through him and closed his eyes, Morgan’s alluring scent wrapping him in a warm cocoon that soon lulled him to sleep.

* * *

Light danced warmlyacross Morgan’s eyelids as he surfaced from a heavy slumber. He stirred, feeling more rested than he’d felt in years. Something weighed him down as he shifted against soft, cotton sheets. Morgan froze and carefully opened his eyes.

Cassius was lying with his head tucked against Morgan’s heart and an arm and leg thrown carelessly across Morgan’s body. The angel’s slow breaths skittered across Morgan’s T-shirt and arm, soft and warm. His long eyelashes were motionless where they rested against his cheeks and his beautiful face looked boyishly young in sleep.

Surprise jolted Morgan as he glanced at the daylight streaming into Cassius’s bedroom through the glass wall overlooking the terrace. Seagulls whirled in the clear blue sky beyond, white wings almost blinding under the sun.

He could tell it was past seven o’clock. Morgan frowned.

He couldn’t recall ever dozing off as quickly and as deeply as he’d done last night. He normally struggled for hours when he was on his own and usually needed the physical demand of sex to tire himself out enough to surrender to sleep. He stared at Cassius.

Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised.

Something stirred inside Morgan as he beheld the angel’s sleeping form. Something that had been gnawing at him since the day before.

An image of Cassius in his Empyreal form danced before Morgan’s eyes. With it came an all too familiar flood of emotions. The same emotions that had filled him to the brim yesterday at the park. The wretched feelings that woke him almost every night since he’d fallen to Earth, a silent scream on his lips and his heart thundering in his chest.

Fear. Pain. Rage. Longing.

Although no one who’d plummeted to Earth five hundred years ago retained any memories of their identities and past lives, Morgan’s fragmented dreams had been with him since the first year of the Fall. And in all the centuries that he had been plagued by nightmares he couldn’t make sense of, only one thing remained true. And that was the response they always engendered.

Unease swirled through Morgan as he gazed at Cassius.

He could not deny the connection that existed between them. Just as he knew it wasn’t only physical attraction that made him yearn to touch the man in his arms.

There was a resonance between them. A twisted bond that linked their soul cores. Which suggested that they had known each other before the Fall. Had possibly known each other for a long, long time.

Yet, despite the unsettling feeling knotting his stomach, Morgan couldn’t help but feel that the thing that connected him to the Empyreal was something sacred. Something divine. Something as beautiful as the being who’d haunted his dreams for as long as he could remember. The creature who made him feel things he’d never felt before. The fair angel with the shimmering, white wings and armor covered in blood and ash. The one with the blade bathed in light who’d plunged through the tear in the Nether alongside him five hundred years ago, their bodies broken and their consciousness fading as they drifted through clouds tainted with smoke and screams.

The one who bore a startling resemblance to Cassius in his Empyreal form.

Is he who I’ve been searching for all these years?

The question burned through Morgan as he listened to Cassius’s steady breathing. He was pondering whether Cassius would prove to be the key to unlocking the mystery behind his nightmares when the angel stirred.