No Shadows Fall by L.J. LaBarthe Page A

was.”
    “I’m sorry.” Gabriel was contrite all over again. “I didn’t mean to make you jealous on top of worried. I didn’t mean to make you feel any of that.”
    “I know.” Michael turned his head to kiss Gabriel’s fingers. “I am aware. However, we have tarried here too long, and we must return to Iona.”
    “Okay.” Gabriel sighed.
    “There is a side of the island that is not inhabited…. We can go there later, if you wish?” Michael’s voice was shy.
    “Oh aye, I wish.” Gabriel grinned. “More sex with you? I’m all for it.”
    “I am glad.” Michael smiled.
    “So, now, just one question.”
    “What is that, da bao ?”
    Gabriel scratched the back of his neck. “Where are my pants?” he wondered, more a rhetorical question than anything else.
    Michael blinked several times and then he began to laugh. “I confess, I do not know. I threw them… somewhere. Where was not of concern at that moment, only that they were off and no longer impeding me.”
    Gabriel laughed. “Oh well. I guess I’ll go back pantless.”
    “You most certainly will not.” Michael got to his feet, tugging up his own trousers. He looked around and then made a soft noise. “There they are.” He walked several feet away from Gabriel and bent down, picking up Gabriel’s jeans from atop a heather bush. “Here.”
    “Thanks, solnyshko .” Gabriel walked over to Michael, grabbed his jeans, and tugged them on. “So, back to Iona, then?”
    “As you say.” Michael took Gabriel’s hand in his. “We will report in and then adjourn somewhere more private on the island.”
    “Perfect.” Gabriel twined their fingers and leaned over to kiss Michael’s cheek.
    Without another word, Michael moved them. They reemerged in the world in the living room of the simple cottage the Archangels, Ishtahar, Israfel, and Hiwa were staying in.
    “I’m surprised you’re not still fucking,” Uriel drawled.
    “I beg your pardon!” Michael looked aghast.
    “We heard you. Matter of fact, they probably heard you in Cornwall.” Uriel was grinning.
    Michael instantly turned red and buried his face in his hands. “Wonderful,” he muttered.
    Gabriel laughed. “Well, at least you all know I’m fine?”
    “Yes, but I didn’t doubt it to begin with.” Uriel lit a cigar. “Michael worries too much.”
    “I’m glad you’re okay,” Remiel said, more to head off a fight, Gabriel suspected, than anything else.
    “Aye, I’m fine.” Gabriel grinned. “Mike and me, we’re just going to grab a blanket and go to the other side of the island.”
    “For more fucking,” Uriel said with a nod as he exhaled a cloud of pungent cigar smoke. “Remember to shield the spot you end up. Some of us don’t want to hear your marathon sex sessions.”
    “Uriel,” Michael sighed, “be silent.”
    “Raz not back yet?” Gabriel asked.
    “No, he is not.” Samael shook his head, his smile fading as he answered Gabriel. “We have heard that he, Tzadkiel, Brieus, and Sophiel are still searching. Ahijah is proving to be difficult to track down.”
    “They’ll find him, though,” Uriel said.
    “I’m sure,” Gabriel agreed. “Right, well, Mike and me, we’ll be off. Don’t wait up.” He sauntered out of the living room, using his power to pull a pair of blankets to him. Michael was hot on his heels, his face colored crimson, and Gabriel slipped an arm around his lover’s shoulders.
    “I confess that I did not realize we were so loud,” Michael said in a soft voice.
    “Me either,” Gabriel agreed. Then he laughed. “I bet there’ll be some interesting news reports from human news agencies tomorrow.”
    “Oh dear,” Michael said, burying his face in his hands again.
    Gabriel chuckled and moved them to the far side of the island, to a wooded spot where the trees would shield them from the wind blowing in off the sea. He lay one blanket down and sat, tugging Michael with him, then he draped the second blanket around their