Angelic Ties [His Guardian Angels 2] by Jana Downs Page A

thought. He didn’t want to die like this.
    “It’s okay, bright eyes. It’s just us,” Bren said. Cold relief went through Madigan at the sound. Someone audibly swallowed and someone else hissed. “Cross.” The word Bren whispered held a wealth of sorrow.
    “Pulse?” Dex asked.
    “I’ll bring him back,” Bren said.
    “Back?” Madigan wondered numbly. “Back from where?”
    “Don’t worry about it, baby,” Michel murmured. He sounded as shaken as Madigan was. “Cross is just hurt.”
    “How you holding up, Yuri?” Dex asked.
    “Broken but I’ll live.” Madigan huddled closer to him.
    “I’ve got to pull this out to get you out of here. It’s going to hurt a lot, but I’ve got to get you and Madigan unpinned. Okay?” Dex’s voice again. Madigan hated not being able to see.
    “I’m taking Cross ahead,” Bren said from somewhere in the location of the front seat. “I need to get him into a place of Sanctuary for this.”
    “Go ahead,” Michel encouraged. “Take him on. Fly low and take the shortest path. We’ll meet you back at the house.” Madigan wagered that Michel was the one in charge when Cross was unavailable. He certainly sounded like the second-in-command.
    “All right, Yuri. Here we go,” Dex said, much closer this time.
    Yuri groaned as whatever it was that was pinning his wings to the car were cut and then pulled out of the joints. Blood gushed, soaking through Madigan’s shirt and splashing a warm spray against his face.

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    Madigan screamed in terror. “Stop! You’re hurting him!” Yuri’s eyes were squeezed shut and his jaw was set so hard that Madigan imagined that it would break under the pressure.
    “We don’t have a choice, baby. We have to get him out of here so that we can heal him,” Dex said. “Get ready, Michel.”
    Yuri slumped sideways as a pair of arms grabbed him and pulled him from the backseat, Madigan along with him. They hit the ground and another set of hands pulled Madigan off Yuri. A flash of light momentarily blinded Madigan as Dex unsheathed his angelic sword of fire. Madi whimpered as Michel pulled him away from Yuri. Was this going to be a mercy killing or something?
    “He’s got to cauterize the wounds, Madi,” Michel whispered in his ear, cradling him gently against his chest. “It’ll make the bleeding stop so he can heal.” Madigan didn’t know how much more he could take of all this. His head was spinning, and his stomach was churning.
    The sticky blood clung to him like a liquid from hell. He sobbed pitifully, wanting this to be over with, needing this to be over with.
    Yuri screamed as the flaming sword touched his bleeding wounds, and the smell of burning feathers and flesh finally got to Madigan. He turned his head and wretched, throwing up the day’s food in painful heaves of his gut. Michel petted his back and whispered in his ear, trying to comfort him.
    “There,” Dex said as he finished applying his sword to Yuri’s wounds. He picked up the other angel like he weighed nothing.
    Madigan dared open his eyes long enough to see the tangled, gnarled mass of what used to be Yuri’s wings. They were scorched in places and bent at so many different angles that it looked like an angry child had snapped toothpicks in various directions under Yuri’s skin. His stomach heaved again.
    “We need to get them home,” Michel said, scooping up Madigan like he weighed next to nothing as well.

    Angelic Ties
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    “I’m right behind you.” Dex nodded in his direction. Michel took a running step and launched himself up into the air, flapping his wings furiously to gain altitude.
    The winds were just as cold high up as they were below, but Madigan barely felt it. Everything had gone curiously numb, and the world didn’t seem to be moving very fast. It was like time suspended.
    The sky above was an ugly gray black, completely obscuring any starlight that might have provided him some kind of reference point in the world