Broken Angel

Chapter 4

Angelo:

There would have been a wake of unhinged doors and broken windows as he fled the suffocating confines of the house but his mind had drawn a blank, forcing him to escape from his unseen demons without allowing him to react. He paused in the middle of the lawn and leaned heavily against the stone fountain. The dribble of water seemed to penetrate his ears along with the one word that rang out over and over again.

Diego...

'Why did that name bother him so much?'

It used to be his name after all, but he could not dig further into the memory of it to find out why it hurt so much just hearing it. And coming from her lips, the feeling had intensified tenfold.

He'd never craved a quart of blood so much as he did right then, anything to ease the fire that was raging inside of him.

He'd just come out of the shower when Rayne's scent had reached him. Thinking that she may want to ask him a few questions, he'd braced himself for an uncomfortable conversation, but then he sensed the wolf. When she'd opened the door and he'd seen the paw, his inner beast had anticipated a fight. Her reaction, however, was one of confusion, and then recognition when she raised her eyes to his. She'd launched herself on him, and he wasn't sure if she was attacking or just happy to see him, so he'd tried to gently pry her off without resorting to violence. Even shifted, the creamy coloured wolf had fitted perfectly in his arms-and felt comfortable there. He'd been at a loss when she stepped back from him, missing the contact already. Confused, he'd cautiously tried to explain to her who he was, thinking that maybe she could have somehow forgotten that they were wed.

But her whimper...

He'd promised not to touch her, and his inner beast had tensed when he said it, and then she made that small sound of hurt.

Part of him wanted to run his fingers through the silky fur that covered her petite frame, to bury his nose against her and inhale her wonderful scent, to offer her comfort from any pain that would befall her, but the other part told him that he was the reason for that pain, and that he was too blind to see it. Torn, he'd sat across from her and watched her decide what to do next.

The look she was giving him spoke of love and betrayal. He'd felt it as surely as if they were his own, but that was all it was. A feeling. He did not have the memory to go with it nor did he recall ever being in her presence, even though this exact position they sat in felt like dejavu.

And then her grey eyes had dimmed. Like someone had extinguished the light, killed the little hope in them, and he felt like screaming for the anguish it brought him.

When she'd shifted back to human-Ah...

That beautiful body had curled enticingly within reach and his heart rabbited in his chest. He had never had that reaction before and it wasn't even lust that caused it. He could almost imagine his fingers tracing the delicate porcelain planes, running gently along each vertebra from her nape to her tailbone, causing ripples of delight, just the way she liked it. If he splayed his fingers apart just there, to fan along her hip, to trace his tongue along the contours, to dip into her belly button, to hear that sexy moan he...

He'd what?

Angelo had raced off to find her a robe. Find anything to cover up that tempting masterpiece. He hadn't stopped to think how he knew what she'd like. And then she said that name-

All he could think about was the torture it brought him after he turned. Turned from what, he had no idea, but turned into this, and he knew that name would never allow him to go back there. Back to being 'that' man again.