Adam’s Angel

Chapter One

Victoria "Tori" Dore set her black leather briefcase down on the marble floor and exhaled deeply. The courthouse's hallways seemed overcrowded even though the media had been forced off grounds while the jury deliberated. The trial against Zephaniah had ended and now judgment was in the hands of twelve men and women. The case had consumed the greater part of the last year of her life.

If it kept a criminal mastermind such as Zephaniah off the streets, it was worth every second of it. Maybe more. Zephaniah's reign of terror had lasted decades. He'd done his part in making humans fear anything different from them. Thankfully, many still held out hope that supernaturals weren't all evil.

A man she'd come to know fairly well approached, with coffee in hand. He smiled, his blue eyes twinkling with delight. She stared at Adam Shafer, who stood nearly six and half feet tall, with a head of shoulder-length chestnut brown hair and muscles that begged to be touched. She clenched her fingers, resisting the urge to do just that, as she'd wanted to do for the greater part of a year. "Mr. Shafer, please tell me one of those cups is for me."

Very few men could pull off suave the way he managed to. He had a certain swagger about him she couldn't quite put her finger on, but it was something indeed. "It is and I'd appreciate it if you called me Adam, Ms. Dore."

She took the cup from him and moved over on the bench in the courthouse hallway, making room for him. She wasn't sure he even wanted to spend additional time with her. Didn't hurt to see. "Have a seat."

He did, his body brushing hers in the process. "Do you think the jury will deliberate long?"

As a special case prosecutor for the city, Tori had never thought she'd have the pleasure of putting Zephaniah on trial, let alone get to the point she might really get a conviction. The man's connections ran as deep as his pockets. "I don't know."

"It's been almost three hours," Adam offered. "Is that good or bad?"

A nervous smile crept over her face. "Both. It means they didn't rush a verdict but it also means they're hung up on something."

"Fear," he said. The one word hung in the air between them.

Adam was right. Zephaniah wasn't someone anyone in their right mind would go up against. Thankfully, Tori wasn't known for taking the sane approach to life. Already she'd received numerous threats from Zephaniah's cult-like followers. That didn't bother her. She wasn't your everyday, garden-variety girl and could take care of herself. Her purpose was to uphold justice— no matter what. Even if crazed people wanted to threaten her as often as they could.

"Have you seen the headlines?" Adam fingered the rim of his coffee cup. "They're already speculating he'll be acquitted on all charges."

Tori shrugged, knowing how the majority felt on the situation. But her gut told her a guilty verdict would arise and Tori tended to follow her instincts. A shroud of silence fell over them and Tori sipped her coffee, her mind wandering to the past year's events. She'd lived and breathed the case. What would life be like after the trial? It would never be the same, that much was for sure. The tabloids had thrust her into the limelight. The last time a case received as much media attention, a Bronco and a low-speed chase were involved. While that too had occurred within her district, she didn't handle human trials. Only the supernatural for her.

Her gaze drifted lazily toward Adam. He sat, his posture relaxed, much like his attitude. Tori grinned. "Without you and your fellow League Members, this trial wouldn't have been possible."

Red crept over his cheeks. He didn't strike her as a modest man.

"Have I thanked you for capturing him?"

He shifted awkwardly, something she wasn't accustomed to seeing from Adam. "It's my job," he muttered.

"Still," she countered, "without the evidence you collected, none of this would have been possible. Not to mention, your team captured him. Thank you for that." It was something she should have told him when the trial first began.

For a year she'd kept Adam at arm's length because he was considered a vital key witness for the prosecution. It had been difficult to do. It was easy to get lost in his blue gaze or stare dreamily at the cleft in his chin. Men shouldn't come in such hunky, delicious packages. At least not men she was supposed to ignore and treat as nothing more than a witness.

Tori sipped her coffee and rolled her shoulders, hoping the kink in them would give soon. Adam touched her upper thigh and she jerked, nearly dumping coffee down herself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Tori bumped his muscular arm and smiled, feeling her cheeks flush. "It's fine. I'm sorry. It's not you. I wasn't paying attention. I was zoning. Again."

The edges of his mouth lifted just enough to hint at a smile. It was sexy regardless how barely there it was. Adam had a certain understated way about him. "Want to talk about it?"

"About what?" she asked, caught off-guard from being transfixed by his smile.

"About whatever it was your mind was on when I was asking you if you were hungry and if you'd be up for grabbing a bite to eat." He nudged her lightly. "Whatever you were zoning on."

Tori thought about his offer of food and was surprised to find herself nodding. "I could eat."

A coquettish smile slid over his face. "You could, huh?"

Was he flirting with her?

No.

A man like Adam wouldn't be interested in the likes of her.

Roxy, Tori's Assistant Special Prosecutor, walked around the corner and came to a dead stop when she spotted Adam sitting next to Tori. "I can come back."

Tori sat up straight but made no move to leave Adam's side. It was just too inviting. "What's up? Is the jury back yet?"

"Pfft, no." Roxy grinned, holding up a familiar-looking cell phone. "You dropped this, again. And your brother has called twice since I picked it up. Persistent guy."

"You have no idea," Tori said with a laugh before pointing to her cell phone. "There are days I think I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached."

"Because you have too much on your mind, Victoria." Roxy gave her a hard stare. "You're run-down and need to unwind. Let's go out and celebrate tonight. After we get our guilty verdict."

"Assuming we get a guilty verdict," Tori amended.

"We will," Roxy assured. "Get your dancing shoes picked out."

Tori laughed. "Me? Out on the town? Uh, I don't think so. It's not really my thing."

Roxy put a well-manicured hand on her hip. "If I didn't know you're only thirty, I'd have thought you were a thousand with a really good plastic surgeon. You need to live a little."

Tori averted her gaze, embarrassed. "I've never really been much of a social butterfly, Roxy."

"Seems like you're doing fine to me," her friend said, staring at Adam.

Tori's brow furrowed. "What? Oh, Adam? He's stuck here with me. I think he takes pity on me. He doesn't really scream wallflower. Neither does his file."

Tori stopped shy of commenting on the number of known females associated with the League member. He was certainly anything but a wallflower.

Roxy lifted a brow. "Uh-huh, I'll just bet he feels extremely put out by having to spend time with you."

"Are you mocking me?" Tori asked, laughing slightly. She patted Adam's leg and yawned, unable to help herself. Roxy was right. She was run-down. Sleep had evaded her as of late and when it came, it generally came bearing bad dreams.

Roxy took the coffee from Tori's hands. "No more of this for you. Caffeine is not your friend. Not today, anyways. Rest."

"In the hall of the courthouse?" she asked, shocked by the suggestion. "Anyone could walk past."

Roxy snorted. "This section is never used. It's why you pick it to relax in. You don't like being around too many people. It's also how I knew where to find you. Put your head back and relax, Tori." Her gaze slid to Adam. "I'm guessing your own private League bodyguard will watch over you."

"He's not my—" She stopped. "You're teasing me again, aren't you?"

"Did you have any friends growing up?" Roxy grinned.

"One," Tori said with all honesty. "But I didn't meet her until I was in boarding school."

"Are you serious?"

"I didn't grow up with any children in the area and I was home-schooled." The truth was she hadn't even grown up on this plane of existence. She thought about her boarding school roommate and instantly missed her.

Adam set his coffee cup down and put his arm out. "Here, you can lean against me and rest. Roxy is right. You've been putting in a lot of hours and you're run-down. I can sense it."

Sense it?

Tori gave him a questioning look. "You're not using those powers of seduction on me or any of other things you can do, are you?" She'd read his file multiple times and was well aware of what the man was capable of.

He mumbled something under his breath that sounded remarkably like, if only they worked on you before smiling. "Nope."

"Rest, Tori. I'll come and get you if we hear anything from the judge or jury," Roxy said before heading off in the other direction.

Tori stared at Adam's open arms and bit her lower lip. "I'm fine. I don't need—"

"You could surrender and admit you need a nap or I could use those powers you're so concerned about and force you to take one."

She drew in a sharp breath, not really worried he would but rather hoping he might. "You can do that?"

He nodded.

"Can you keep dreams away too?" It was bold of her to ask.

"Yes." Adam's blue gaze locked on her. "If you want, I can ensure your dreams are pleasant."

"For once," she moved into his arms, "I want to close my eyes and see nothing, Adam. It doesn't matter if they're happy or not. I just want to sleep. No dreams."

"Then so be it." His magik trickled over her and she drifted off to sleep in the comfort of his arms. It should have been an awkward moment. It was anything but.

Chapter Two

Adam Shafer held the blonde beauty in his arms as if she were a precious gem. In many ways, she was. She was the first woman not related to him who seemed immune to his powers of seduction. Gods knew he'd spent the greater part of a year trying to use them to get her to into bed. The woman never seemed to catch on that he wasn't taking pity on her, he was borderline obsessed with her. From the moment he'd walked in to find the new city paranormal prosecutor wearing a short skirt and a pair of three-inch, spiked black pumps, he'd been hooked.

Tori was breathtaking and Adam had been with too many women to count. Still, something about Tori demanded he be near her. He'd found himself cutting back on the number of women he dated each week, taking the number from ten to only four. By the sixth month of being around Tori almost daily, that number cut in half again. Within three months of that, he'd ceased dating other women altogether, focused solely on Tori. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to share his interest.

Hell, she'd only just called him by his first name. The sound of it rolling from her full lips had made his cock harden. Holding her willowy body in his arms wasn't helping matters any. He kept his powers up, doing as he promised, making her sleep dream-free.

Tori slept so quietly that he had to lean down to listen for her breathing to assure she was well. She was. She was also exhausted. He'd sensed it in her for the past few months and it was getting worse. All he wanted to do was take care of her but he couldn't explain why. It wasn't like he ever gave a damn about any other woman. Well, excluding his sister, Adira. He'd raised her after their parents had died. Adira was now married to one of Adam's best friends, Pike, who was also a League member. Pike had made one brief court appearance a year ago to assure he wasn't needed before temporarily pairing up with another League team who were down a man.

Lars, a smartass fellow League member and another a close friend of Adam's, spent a good deal of time at court as well. His mind-reading skills were needed to assure none of the people attending the trial were going to make an attempt to free Zephaniah. So far, all had gone off without a hitch. Well, aside from the large amount of cult followers lining the outer edges of the courthouse property. Their endless shouts and bizarre shows of allegiance to Zephaniah were certainly a hiccup in the keeping things running smoothly area.

That made Adam nervous. Nothing in their lives ever went perfectly or even close to perfect. Something was wrong.

"There you—" Lars stopped in mid-sentence as he walked around the corner. He motioned toward Tori.

Adam looked up at the blond man. "Trouble?"

"Nope, just looking for you." Lars glanced at Tori. "Odd."

"What?"

"I can kind of read her now, where I can't when she's awake. That's peculiar."

Adam stiffened, his inner alarms going off. "What do you mean you can't read her when she's awake? You can read anyone."

Lars began counting off on his fingers. "I can't read you, other League members, the Tribunal, the—"

Adam groaned. "Shut up. I get the point. Okay, you can read almost anyone."

Lars smiled, obviously pleased to have pissed Adam off already. Even for Lars it was record time. "Anyone human and almost anyone who is a supernatural."

"I think we'd have figured out if Tori were a supernatural. Don't you?" As Adam asked, a niggle in the back of his mind made him wonder if he'd missed something about Tori. Something that would explain why Lars couldn't read her.

Lars walked over to them and put his hand on Tori's forehead. He closed his eyes and jerked, yanking his hand away as if he'd been burned.

Adam stiffened and held Tori closer to him. "What did you see?"

"N-nothing," Lars said, paling. He walked to the end of the hallway and leaned against the wall, as if standing guard. He glanced back several times, each time worry shone in his eyes.

Adam knew his friend enough to spot a lie. Lars had most certainly seen something when he tried to read the good prosecutor and Adam wanted to know what it was. Adam used his powers to tap into Tori's sleep induced mind. What he saw confused him. He found himself standing in a room that was almost completely void of light. The one ray that shone through a tiny window illuminated Tori's sleeping form. She wasn't in the same dress suit she wore, but rather a barely there, sheer nightgown that hung to her mid-thigh.

He wanted to lie down beside her on the floor, pull her gown up and find paradise in her silken depths. He held back, wondering how it was she could be dreaming at all when his power was supposed to be keeping them away.

She whimpered and he rushed to her side, still in the bizarre dream. "Tori… Erm… Ms. Dore?"

She turned, still sleeping in her own dream. When she rolled back over, white feathers floated down from above, each one coated in bright red blood. They fell on Tori's face, her arms, everywhere. Adam brushed them away and drew upon more of his power, trying to force the dream to end so she could rest peacefully.

Tori lifted her lids and glanced up at him. "Don't expend too much energy, honey."

Honey?

"Tori?" He rolled her to face him completely and this time it wasn't bloody feathers that greeted him but rather a swollen belly on the part of Tori. She was pregnant in the dream? Unable to help himself, Adam reached out and ran his hand over it, shocked by how real it felt. He knew Tori wasn't expecting a child but still, the dream was very convincing.

Her hand slid over his. "Keep her safe, honey. Please."

Adam started to pull away but stopped. A force he couldn't explain seemed to drive his actions. "Tori, it's me, Adam Shafer, the man you have no interest in. I'm trying to stop the dreams but…"

Tori stared up at him through golden eyes, so very different than her normal color. She gave him a sleepy, adorable smile. "Mmm, Adam, I'm not dreaming. You've kept the bad ones away."

He glanced at her swollen stomach. "Not dreaming, really? Uh, hate to break it to you but—"

She closed her eyes, but still spoke to him. "My gifts interact with yours… The result isn't a dream, but rather a glimpse into the future."

Adam knew this was information Tori wouldn't willingly share with him while awake. He also sensed the truth in it. He ran his hand over her swollen stomach and tried to be happy for her. "So, looks as though you'll be a mother someday. Anything else you want me to tell you about your future while I'm sitting here doing my best to understand what the hell is going on?"

She gave his hand a tiny squeeze as the baby within her kicked against his palm. "Not my future, Adam. Yours."

"W-what? I'm not going to have a baby. I can't. I'm a man. Not that you seem to notice."

He thought about how his sister possessed the gift of magik now too and cringed. If Adira dared to cast a spell on him resulting in a pregnancy he'd hunt her down and strangle her.

Tori caressed the back of his hand and laughed, still partially sleeping. "Not you. You should see the woman you will wed before you now…in my place. You should see your future with her."

"I see you, Tori."

She looked confused and as if she were trying to wake up. "No. That can't be right. You should only see the woman you'll have a future with…and a glimpse of the good and the bad from it all."

He stared around at the bloody feathers, confused. He glanced back at Tori, whose belly was still swollen. Closing his eyes, Adam let his power run through her stomach. When he sensed his own power coming back at him, in a small amount, he drew in a sharp breath. The baby was his and the woman before him most certainly was Tori Dore.

"Tori. Look at me, sweetie."

Sweetie? I've lost my mind.

She blinked up at him, her eyes still golden instead of their normal color. "Hmm?"

"Is this hard and true or can our future be changed?"

She yawned. "Our future? You mean your future, right?"

He bit his lower lip, trying to remain calm—all the while tapping his foot, the need to expel nervous energy was great. "Sure, whatever makes you answer me. Can it be changed?"

"Don't you like who you ended up with?" she asked, laughing slightly, before closing her eyes once more.

"I more than like her. I want to make sure this comes true."

What? Had he really said that out loud?

A Cheshire cat smile moved over her. "I'll pray to the gods for you, Adam, that it does come true, but nothing is ever for certain. Outside forces can change destiny. We can change our own destiny as well."

Impulse took the lead and Adam bent, capturing her lips with his. So many emotions swept over him that he cried out in her mouth, pressing his body to hers. It took him a moment to realize he was pushing hard against the baby too. He stopped and pulled back enough to kiss Tori but not to harm the baby. She returned his kiss weakly, as if exhaustion had won out again.

"Adam."

The sound of Lars' voice tugged at the back of his mind as he kissed Tori again.

"Adam."

Adam opened his eyes to find himself still sitting on the bench in the hallway with his arms around a sleeping Tori. Annoyed, he narrowed his gaze on Lars. "What?"

Lars pursed his lips. "Gee, sorry to wake you, Sleeping Beauty, but I think the jury is heading back into the courtroom."

Roxy came around the corner just as Adam began to pull his power away from Tori. She woke with a start and he kept hold of her. "I've got you, hon."

"Hon?" Lars asked.

Ignoring Lars, Adam focused on Tori, hoping she'd ignore his slip of the tongue. She touched her swollen lower lip, confusion coated her face. "Was I asleep?"

Lars cleared his throat. "Yeah, do you, uh, remember anything?"

Tori stared blankly up at Lars. "No." She beamed. "And it was perfect." She turned to Adam and tossed her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

She stood quickly and rushed off behind Roxy.

Adam rose to his feet and walked to his friend, waiting until he was positive Tori was out of ear shot before speaking. "What did you see that has you so shaken?"

Stiffening, Lars scuffed his foot on the linoleum floor. "Nothing."

"Lars, you're a horrible liar."

Lars focused on the floor and picked at his thumbnail. "Uh, we're going to want to stick close by her, Adam."

"Why? What did you see?" His heart leapt to his throat.

"Zephaniah's people want her dead. They blame her, not us, for him going to prison. And, Adam," Lars exhaled a long, shaky breath, "he is going to jail. Tori is sure of it and something tells me when she knows something to be true, it is."

Adam's gut clenched. "Lars, if I tell you something, will you swear to not laugh and think I'm crazy?"

"She's your mate," Lars said matter-of-factly.

Adam's gaze snapped to his longtime friend. "How did you…?"

Lars rubbed his chin. "You stopped bedding everything that moved the minute you met her, Adam. It was a safe bet she was the one for you."

As much as Adam hated to admit it, Lars was right. He had changed his ways upon meeting Tori. He should have recognized the signs for what they were but he wasn't looking for a mate—nor was he hoping for one. Now, the idea of having Tori ripped from his life before she even truly had the chance to be in it terrified him.

"Lars, I have to protect Tori and our baby girl." As he said it, he cringed.

"Uh, you been sticking it to the prosecutor and not telling me?" Lars ran a hand through his blond hair, wisely picking then to levitate just out of Adam's reach. "Just kidding."

"Come down here so I can kick your ass."

Touching the ceiling lightly, Lars shook his head. "Nope. I'm fine up here. Better get a move on it."

Adam groaned as he stormed off toward the courtroom. Nothing would stand between him and protecting Tori.

Nothing.