Lucius
“Relish this moment in My favor. It is your last.”
Six angels once sat at the right hand of The Almighty, but an ill-fated decision cast them out of Heaven. Now they serve Him on Earth, slaying demons for their redemption. They are…The Fallen.
Lucius, once revered at the side of God, fell to Earth with his brothers to pay penance and atone for his lapse in leadership. Wingless and forsaken, they have all paid a price for their complicity. Lucius’ hubris is now a curse, and he cannot rest until they carry out the last of The Almighty’s orders...and stop a war that has been millennia in the making.
Persephone Roberts is always in the right place at the right time, the serendipity allowing her to help people on her travels. When it leads her to cross paths with the band of hard-living fallen angels, she sets her sights on their leader, and is determined to restore Lucius’ faith in their quest. And in himself.
But the ancient evil the angels strive to fight has put Persephone in its crosshairs. It will be up to Lucius and his brothers to save her and destroy the minions of the dark. Can the amber-eyed beauty with her accepting heart heal wounds that cut soul deep, and force him to reclaim a glory he once tossed aside? Is he strong enough to realize the path back to Heaven begins with her, or will he be forever...fallen?
Jude
Six angels once sat at the right hand of The Almighty, but an ill-fated decision cast them out of Heaven. Now they serve Him on Earth, slaying demons for their redemption. They are…The Fallen. “Remember, angel, all ways in the end return to Me.”
Jude knows pain. He feels it with every inhale and exhale of breath. It is a constant on his mind and on his skin; a reminder of the depth of his disobedience. And his cruelty. With his fall from grace, he walks the Earth with his brothers, their steps set on a shadowed path to redemption, killing demons in His name. The angel of Vengeance may not have his wings, but he still burns.
Coriander Rhodes finds things. The intrepid little archaeologist sniffs out relics buried for eternity with the determination of a bloodhound and the arrogance of the devil. Her brash nature and bold tongue keep the big angel on his toes, inflaming and infuriating him at the same time.
When danger strikes at the heart of the angels’ inner circle, Jude discovers he is faced with a task far greater than he has ever known. The light must be protected at all costs, in all of its forms. The ultimate evil has a plan, and with the most innocent among them at stake, Jude knows he’ll finally have to face his sins and meet the pain in his soul dead on. Coriander’s touch is the only thing that soothes, but is it enough to make him whole? Can she help him work through the pain long enough to remember his faith, or will he be forever…fallen?
Coriander Rhodes, Salvage and Reclamation.
He held the card up for her to see. “I thought you were a doctor?”
She snorted as she unpacked the duffel. “I am. I’m a history professor. So’s Alex. That’s how we met, at the university in Athens.”
“What, like Indiana Jones?”
“Not quite,” she frowned. “He’s fictional. And I don’t carry a whip or wear a jaunty hat.”
He flipped the card over in his hands. “But this says-“
“Those aren’t my teaching credentials, Jude. It’s what I do. What we do when we’re not in the classroom. We find things. Ancient places, lost places, relics, religions, civilizations. Life,” she stressed. “People. It’s amazing work.”
He gazed at the card again and then turned cold eyes on her. “And then you sell it to the highest bidder.”
Her jaw clenched and her eyebrow went up. “No. I don’t deal on the black market. Alex may dabble, but that’s his gamble. The laws are very clear about that sort of thing, and the prison system over there isn’t the five-star affair like it is here in the States, nor is it worth the massive amount of cash I would have to throw away to steer clear of it. I like hanging onto my hands and my money.”
“But he takes risks,” Jude pressed.
“We both do to some extent. These things belong to the world. It’s a sacrilege to let them wither away and die under the sand, or in some Saudi prince’s private collection that he nicked without the proper paperwork. Those things, we find. We find, and we get them back. A lot of these antiquities are hidden away on yachts that keep to international waters. That’s Alex’s specialty.”
Jude’s eyes widened as he dropped the card onto the desk with a splutter. “Pirates. You're talking about pirates, aren't you? That's what Alex does in his spare time, right? He's a fucking pirate! That's why you let Ash stay with his parents? Because Long John Silver isn't home long enough to be a father to his little girl?”
She pretended to ignore him, continuing to rifle through her bag.
“Coriander?”
She flinched at his tone and whipped her head up. “Nobody said anything about,” her fingers shot up to make air quotes, “pirates.”
“Then how do you define men with large quantities of firearms on the open sea ambushing unsuspecting vessels?”
She wrinkled her nose. “It's all subjective. Those idiots off the coast of Africa, yeah, they're pirates. But what Alex does, it's...he's,” she paused, frustrated. “It's just different, okay. He knows what he's doing and makes sure no one gets hurt. Pirate is such an ugly word. Try 'nautical acquisition and redistribution specialist'.” She shook her head and went back to the bag, muttering, “I mean, really, it’s not nearly as nefarious as you make it sound.” She shoved at the bag and jerked her head up to face him, the scowl covering the whole of her face. “And why do you care in the first place?”
“Because it's wrong, Coriander. You can put a pig in a tutu and put it on stage, but it will never be a ballerina,” he frowned.
Her brow lifted in confusion. “What in the hell does that mean? Have you been watching Dr. Phil reruns again?”
He grabbed her arm and yanked her around the edge of the desk, hauling her against the wall of his chest. “It means, no matter how prettily you choose to define it, it is what it is.”
His mouth went dry as the pain in his soul receded, and something low stirred in his groin and began to burn beautifully as he felt her breath on her face.
“And what is it?” she asked, her lips parting.
His eyes darkened to slits as his mouth began to slowly descend. A second before they made contact, he whispered, “Wrong.”
Tara Wood divides her time between creating domestic bliss and creating hot paranormal romance with the occasional side of kink. When not playing June Cleaver for her hubby and daughter, she can be found at the local Starbucks slamming back Frappuccinos and plotting out her next idea. Or she’s watching the BBC. Tara resides with her wonderful and tolerant family in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. She is currently at work on several projects, one of them being the next book in her In Blood series.
