Angel's Power by Erin M. Leaf Page A

unprotected when my power may tip the balance
between life and death.”
    His mother sighed and glanced
around the cave where he’d been staying for the past year. “Are you bringing
your books?”
    He paused, hand on the zipper of
the thick canvas. “No. I don’t really have any way to carry them.”
    “I can ship them to you,” she said,
running a hand along the top of his battered bookshelf.
    He finished zipping his pack and
straightened up. What could he say to her? That he wasn’t sure of his welcome
at the castle? “I’ll let you know when I get there,” he replied. He started
unbuttoning his shirt. It was cold out, but once he shifted into angel-form, he
wouldn’t notice the cold. He took it off and folded it, shoving it into the
outside pocket of his pack. He shivered, though he wasn’t sure if it was
because of the temperature or fear of the unknown. Going to Castle Archangel
was a risk. A huge one. He hoped he’d be welcome. His brother Raphael was
there, after all. And he had enough control over his power now so that he
wasn’t damaging furniture anymore just by walking past.
    “I’m worried about you,” his mother
said. She walked up to him and put her hand on his chest. Her fingers were
cold. “Your power isn’t stable.”
    He shrugged. He knew that. “What
can I do? There are demons among us. If I don’t go…” He trailed off, not
wanting to imagine what could happen if he didn’t lend his strength to the
fight. “It’s stable enough.”
    “I know,” his mother said, quietly.
“Even so, you’re my son. I want nothing more than for you to be safe. Having a
child and watching them go into danger is the worst thing for a parent. And Raphael
is already there.”
    He pulled her into a hug. “Having
me there will keep Raphael safer. Besides, nothing is certain anymore. If I go,
we have a chance.” It wasn’t arrogance that made him say that. He was a
sorcerer. He had power over the winds. He could manipulate energy. And
sometimes, if he tried really hard, glimpses of the future passed through his
mind like a kaleidoscope of images, sometimes blurry, sometimes horrifically
sharp and urgent. One of those visions had been why he’d sent his younger brother
to Castle Archangel. He’d seen Raphael healing the Alpha. He squeezed his
mother gently, not wanting to tell her that he saw more violence in the future.
He needed to go sooner rather than later.
    She hugged him back fiercely.
“Maybe you’ll find a mate there, someone to keep you sane. Someone to share
your burden.” She leaned back thumping a fist on his shoulder. “Promise me you
won’t say no if some girl asks you out.”
    Was she kidding? A look at the
expression on her face told him she wasn’t. He forced a smile. “Mom, I won’t
have time for dating. And I would never risk it, even if I did.” He pulled away
and walked to the mouth of the cave. Flurries swirled across the valley under
an overcast sky. He shivered harder. “You know my power can kill. I could never
expose a woman to the fury of the winds. It would be tantamount to murder.”
    His mother stepped up next to him,
putting a hand on his arm. “Not if you find the right woman.”
    He sighed as he looked down at her.
She wasn’t looking at him and he knew she was thinking about his father. He
could always tell. His father had died when his younger brother had been born.
The People said he’d taken his own life, flying too high into the atmosphere
until he ran out of air, but Suriel knew that wasn’t true. His father would
never do that. Even as a child of five, he’d known his father had more honor
than that. He suspected his father had run into a demon somewhere in the skies,
though no one believed him except for his mother and brother.
    I wonder if they’ll believe me now, he mused, thinking
about the fight at Castle Archangel. The new Alpha, his brother Raphael’s mate,
had defeated their old leader. As Samael lay dying, he’d changed into the