Wrath of the Fallen by Eve Archer

Chapter Three

Ella

“I would say these Fallen really know how to throw a party, but I feel like we didn’t see much of it,” Sara said when we’d returned to my room. “Of course, it’s not every birthday party that gets crashed by actual archangels.” She flopped down on my bed. “I can’t believe your father is the angel Gabriel.”

“Me neither,” I muttered, sitting on the tufted bench at the end of the bed and slipping my feet from my high-heeled sandals. I hadn’t been thrilled that Dom had suggested Sara and I go back to our rooms early, but I was grateful to lose the uncomfortable shoes. Gadriel might be skilled at picking dresses, but the shoes he’d selected to go with my dress were murder to wear.

Sara kicked off her own shoes and sighed as she rubbed her feet across the rug. “I thought it was crazy that you’d hooked up with a fallen angel and that all his gorgeous friends were fallen angels, but this is next level.” She looked at me. “Who knew that a real-life demi-angel would need to use my Hulu password?”

I shot her a look but laughed anyway. “Very funny. I’m the same old Ella I’ve always been.”

“I know. That’s what’s so weird. Aside from you blasting that demon with your hands, you don’t seem any different to me.”

“I think the only ones who can sense this angel thing are either demons or angels themselves.”

Sara nodded. “That makes sense,” her face fell, “but that also means I’m not part angel. Well, that’s a kick in the nuts.”

“You really thought there was a chance you were an angel?” I lifted an eyebrow at her, my tone making it clear how outrageous I found the concept.

“Hey! I can be angelic if I want to.” She tilted her head as she considered this. “Okay, maybe you’re right. Angels probably don’t drop as many F-bombs as I do.”

I grinned at my best friend, grateful for her ability to make light of everything. “You can be an honorary angel.”

“Only if I can be a fallen one. Those archangels had major sticks up their asses. Wait, do angels have fully functional asses like we do?”

I shook my head at her, laughing and trying to keep from thinking about angel asses. “I don’t know about archangels, but fallen angels definitely do.”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “Good to know. Yep. Sign me up to be an honorary fallen angel.”

I walked around and flopped onto the bed next to Sara. My mind was a jumble as I tried to take in everything Gabriel had said. I knew there was a chance that everything he’d said was lies. After all, both my parents were dead, so there was no one to refute his claims.

But why make up something like that? If what Dominick had said was true, and Gabriel defied his orders when he fell in love with my mother and fathered me, then he’d want to keep it quiet, not announce it in front of a party filled with fallen angels. No, it must be true.

Aside from it being a crazy thing to lie about, everything Gabe said matched up to my memories. I never remembered seeing Gabe when my father was around. When he visited, it was only with my mother and me. And the more that I thought about it, I remembered my mother always dressing up for those meetings—brushing her hair for longer or putting on new lipstick—and dressing me up in my best dresses.

My stomach churned as I recalled the way she would look at him with a mixture of adoration and fear. But it hadn’t been fear of him. Now that I was older, I could recognize that look. It was the look of someone who was falling so far, she feared might never find herself again.

“Now I know why we moved when I was five,” I said, my eyes fixed on the stone ceiling.

“Do you remember much?” Sara asked, her tone almost gentle.

I shook my head. “Only that I was supposed to go by Ella instead of Gabriella, and the name sounded foreign every time my kindergarten teacher called on me.”

“It’s funny to think you were once called Gabriella. I’ve only known you as Ella, so to me, you’re an Ella, and could never by a Gabby.”

I wrinkled my nose. After so many years, I had become an Ella, and it was the old me that seemed foreign. “Never a Gabby.”

After a few seconds of Sara and I both staring up at the ceiling, she asked, “You never suspected your dad wasn’t your biological father?”

I opened my mouth to answer then stopped. I was going to say that of course I hadn’t, but then I thought about it. My dad had been tall and burly, with dark hair and brown eyes. I’d always assumed that I took after my mother with my lighter coloring and blue eyes, but since my hair was more auburn than strawberry blonde, it had made some sort of sense. “Not on any conscious level. Maybe if I’d kept seeing Gabe, I would have.”

“And your dad?”

A pang of sadness stabbed at me as I thought about my dad—always quick with a laugh and a bear hug. He’d called me his princess, and he’d treated me like one. He’d treated my mother the same way. If my father had suspected anything, he’d never let on. Or maybe he never allowed himself to wonder how he and my mother suddenly conceived after they’d been told they couldn’t.

I wracked my brain to search for memories of my parents fighting or mentioning my godfather, but there was nothing. And after we’d moved, my mother had never even mentioned Gabe around me. The few times I’d asked, she’d hushed me and told me that was a secret we never talked about, so I didn’t.

“I honestly don’t think he knew.” I blew out a breath. I hoped he hadn’t known.

“You doing okay with all of this?” Sara’s usual snark had been replaced with genuine concern, which made it hard for me to blink back tears.

“Considering I just learned that everything I thought I knew about myself was a lie, I’m okay.”

Sara rolled over toward me. “I know this is heavy stuff, but none of this changes who you are deep down or the fact that your parents loved you. It also doesn’t change who your dad was. Just because this badass angel who couldn’t seem to locate a shirt says he’s your father doesn’t change who raised you. Your dad was the one who taught you to ride a bike and drive and moved a ridiculous amount of stuffed animals into college for you. This archangel dude was nowhere when you were dealing with your parents’ death or juggling debt, so as far as I’m concerned, he can go blow himself.”

I glanced at her, grateful for her fierce loyalty. “That may be the first time anyone ever said the angel Gabriel can go blow himself.”

Sara rolled back onto her back. “I’m not so sure about that. He seems like a bit of a tool.”

“I think that’s one thing you and Dominick agree on.”

She gave me a side-eye glance.

I pantomimed locking my mouth. “But my lips are sealed.”

“I’ll give the guy credit for being right about Gabriel. You shouldn’t trust the archangel, and you shouldn’t believe anything he says or let him mess with your head.”

“My mind knows all that, but it still feels like I just had my life upended.” I huffed out a breath. “I can’t believe my mother lied to me and my dad for all those years. Even when I was grown up, she never told me. Was she ever planning to tell me, or was she waiting until I did a 23 and Me test and didn’t have any paternal matches?”

“What have I always said about those tests?” Sara mumbled more to herself than to me. “Disasters waiting to happen.”

I cut my eyes to her.

“Sorry.” She gave her head a shake. “I don’t know what your mom was thinking—probably not that DNA tests would become popular Christmas presents—but I do know that she loved you. I’m sure she thought she was protecting you. Maybe she was afraid that your real father would want to take you from her like he said he wanted to do now. She must have thought she was doing the best thing for you by giving you a normal life and a great dad.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Sara put a hand on my arm. “If she was in love with Gabriel as much as it sounds like he was in love with her, she actually sacrificed a lot for you. Maybe you should focus on that, instead of the massive lying part.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way. A lump formed in my throat as I thought about how I would feel if I had to give up Dominick. And I hadn’t even known him for as long as my mother knew Gabriel. I would be devastated and heartbroken. “She never saw him again because of me.”

“Don’t go blaming yourself. Your mom wanted you to have the best life possible.”

I nodded my throat too thick for me to speak.

“Which means that’s what you’re going to do.” Sara sat up, her voice regaining its sharpness.

“What am I going to do?”

She pulled me up by the arm so we both sat on the edge of the bed with our feet hanging over. “Live your best life, of course. Which means staying with your hot, fallen angel boyfriend and not being dragged off by your archangel father.”

I grinned at her. “I have a feeling Dominick would burst through the gates of heaven to get me out.”

“I think you’re right about that, so let’s not give tall, dark, and moody an excuse to bring about the end of days.”

Sara might have been joking, but a shiver slid down my spine. The angels wouldn’t go to war over me, would they?