Welcome Hayden West back to Sunday Spotlight. Hayden is sharing a bit from the new release, Sagar (Ascension, Book 2)
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I’m one of the Angels. My duty is to be a messenger and to watch over the mortals. I protect them. Secretly I’ve wanted to be one of the warriors, but I tell no one my wish. I have a place in the hierarchy, and I won’t challenge it.
At least not until I meet the lifeguard Dorn, who is also tasked with protecting humans. I want to be intertwined with his future, but evil is approaching, and I’m not in a position to solely protect him. I have duties.
Doesn’t stop my desire for him.
I am…
Sagar
Chapter One
The stench of dead and decaying bodies permeated the air with a thickness not even an angel could ignore. His stomach seized, and Sagar struggled to keep his lunch down. Truthfully, most of his focus remained on keeping his pristine feathers out of the mix of entrails and blood as he moved across the carnage to where to Powers stood, talking to one another.
From all appearances the Powers weren’t fazed. Not even with the dark stains on their wings. Still, their wings didn’t hang in the muck and he didn’t want his in there either. Slanting a gaze to the angel who had been summoned with him, he sidestepped a pile of bloody mess and returned his gaze to the warriors there.
By all accounts—from what he’d heard—even the Archangels were amazed by the fighting skills of these Powers. More specifically, Danijel.
“You’re staring,” Jordan whispered.
“Hard not to. He’s a legend. They both are.”
Jordan shook his head, but there was the same look in his own eyes, which Sagar knew mirrored his. They slowed and waited for the duo to acknowledge them both. Golden eyes, the mark of a Power, looked at him. Correction, not just at him, but deep into him seeing all he was and more. It wasn’t Danijel but his fellow Power, Demuri. The one who had fallen in love with a human.
A human male.
Thoughts to focus on another time.
“Thank you for coming.” Demuri’s tone vibrated with his power, and it overflowed both of them from Jordan’s expression and his own feeling.
“How can we be of service to the Powers?”
While he posed the question to the two he found it nigh impossible to look away from Danijel. He was awe inspiring, and the legends surrounding him only added to the mystery and lore.
Danijel gave him the briefest of glances. “There were three angels here, one’s missing. There is talk you are friends.”
His stomach lurched and to him, Jordan’s expression turned a bit green to his mind. These were angels lying in nothing more than entrails and blood upon the ground? Unease skated up his spine. Why would anyone want to do this to them?
“What did this?”
Both the Powers stared at him once more. He refused to look away. Jordan had lost his food, and neither Power said anything, merely stared at Sagar. Assessing.
Correction, not merely. Nothing with these two was merely anything.
“Where would Renata be?”
He thought about it and struggled not to focus on the knowledge if they searched for Renata, lying there were her siblings that made up the triplets.
“She enjoys the beach and ocean. California’s beaches.”
“Go there.” A flicker to Jordan. “I will send another Power along. Jordan will remain here.” Demuri cracked his neck. “You come with me.” He walked away, and Sagar hastened after him, not wishing to make him tell him more than once.
They may not be in the same circles, but they all had the same boss. And Demuri was a Power. A warrior. Something Sagar had always wanted to be, in the deepest, darkest recess of his mind, that was his wish. He was always careful to keep that desire hidden from everyone. He never wanted anyone to think he wasn’t happy where he was, but in truth, he’d always wanted more. Not more power, but more. He wanted to be on the front lines.
The Power lifted from the slaughter with a powerful beat of his dark grey wings. Sagar took after him—a lot less impressive than Demuri for sure.
They flew for a while, and he had been pushed to his limit when they landed by a large home. Unsure of where they were, he gazed about as he struggled to keep his wings up as Demuri did. Sagar was strong but compared to the Power beside him, he was like a newborn baby. All he wanted to do was fall over with exhaustion.
The Power didn’t look winded, even in the slightest. If there was any strain to hold those wings up and out of the dirt, it wasn’t shown on his face.
“Wait here.”
It never occurred to him to disobey, so after the Power vanished into and subsequently returned from the structure, he never moved. Beyond Demuri, he spied a human male stepping out onto the porch.
His lover. Before that registered another angel flew into sight. Another Power, golden eyes, cold and unforgiving as he landed beside Sagar.
Again, he was woefully outmatched and he didn’t like this feeling in the slightest. He gave him a nod, a respectful one, but didn’t speak. One didn’t simply talk to the Powers.
“You are the one accompanying me to California?”
“I am.”
“Let’s go.”
No name was given, yet when the Power lifted up, Sagar remained on the ground.
“We need to go. Now.”
“I was told to wait here.” Sagar flicked a quick glance to the powerful beating wings of the Power near him. Then he moved his focus to the one kissing the human.
“You are ignoring my command?”
“No, Elexus. He was following my order.” Demuri’s strong voice entered. “Land. We are not ready to go yet.”
The one called Elexus obeyed, but Sagar couldn’t help but notice the slight flicker of discontent on his face as he did so. Averting his gaze, Sagar waited for his next instruction. He was far out of his league here, unsure how they went around and found those who preyed not just on humans but also angels.
Frustration burned his eyes as he thought about Renata and her twins, Rolto and Reni, having to face the horror and fear they had. He didn’t allow them to fall for he refused to cry.
“Come, Sagar.”
Lifting his wings slightly higher, he followed Demuri’s bidding and approached the two Powers. Again, he took in how their wings never dragged in the dry, dusty ground and how they didn’t appear to have to strain as he did to keep that from happening.
Demuri ran a critical gaze over him. “We will rest here for two hours then press on. I would suggest you rest. The flight is long. Tristan will show you to a bed.”
While he longed to argue that he could go now and didn’t need to be babied, he kept that to himself and followed the dark-haired human male inside.
“Here you go,” he said, opening the door to a nice-size room with a large bed.
Tristan stepped back, ensuring not to touch his wings before moving back down the hall.
Sagar’s dreams were full of blood and gore. When he woke, his uncertainty level had risen. After thanking Tristan for his hospitality, he rose into the air and followed Elexus and Demuri off to a part of the land he’d never been to before.