"She needs you. But mankind will need her more."

Those were the words that Goddess Gaia told him before she disappeared into thin air two night ago.  Her words spread repetitively in his mind as he stood behind Hannah, wondering on the outcome of what's soon going to take place.

"I don't understand why I must do this, " Hannah said softly as she turned to face him.

Her soft brown eyes rose to his. Confusion and angst to just leave were there in their depths.

"Especially with him here, " her brow pinched into a frown as she looked over her shoulder.

He followed her gaze and they settled on Rafael in the distance, dressed in regular clothing. He was in awe of how the archangel, void of armor and wings, looked so normal in jeans and a T-shirt; despite the fact that he could kill them all where they stood with just a wave of his hands.

Maddox sighed and turned her chin gently around to look at him.

"He needs to be here as your...., " he paused briefly looking over her shoulder.
"As your ...focal point, and to teach  you how to fight," He swallowed looking over her shoulder at Rafael.

He felt conflicted with this decision but she needed to do this.

"To fight?" Her eyes rounded with worry. She frowned and shook her head.

"I'm...I'm a Serap-" she began to say then sadly she corrected herself.

"I'm an angel, I'm benevolent. I don't know how to fight, " she looked up at him and watched his eyes sparkle as he smirked.
" You sure about that?" He murmured.

She shyly looked away.

"I seem to recall you knocked me on my ass with a huge ball of white light," he chuckled as he lovingly tucked a loose curl behind her ear.

"That was forbidden, " she said sadly.

He frowned. "Why?"

"During her punishment, Metatron forbade her to use any of her angelic abilities on this plain." The baritone voice of Michael interrupted them.

They turned to face him. He looked over at his niece that refused to hold eye contact with him.

"Hannah?...." He began.

She ignored him.

"Let's be done with this so that I may leave, " she stepped forward and brushed past him.

Maddox could feel her annoyance as he followed behind her. But Michael just as fast reached for his arm and stopped him.

"It is best that you do not get close, " he warned Maddox.

Koda slowly growled and crouched in anger.
Maddox snatched him arm away.
"I think we're good, " he snapped.

"Don't say I did not warn you," Michael huffed as he stomped away in another direction.

He slowly made his way towards her as she silently stood a few feet away from her father.

"It's imperative that you remember that during your training, we can not use our powers, " Raphael said softly.

"But won't they be expecting that? Do you really think that Dante and his kind will fight fairly?" Maddox asked defensively. He was kicking himself to ever agree to this madness.

"We have our strength. And of course...certain weapons, " Raphael nodded with a sad smile. "But that is for a new day to discuss.  So, for now, hand to hand combat will suffice," He said stepping forward.

Maddox stood behind her and watched as he stepped closer until he stood before Hannah.

He could sense her emotional wall building towards her father. The Angel yearned for her forgiveness and Maddox felt divided by the rift his mate was having with her father. Her mood was chaotic and her senses conflicted.

"When you fight me, Hannah, don't hold back, " Raphael told her stepping away at a distance.

He stood there and watched as she began to fidget.

"Don't worry, " Raphael assured her, "You won't hurt me. "

Immediately Maddox felt his hair stand on his neck with the sudden jolt of anger from Hannah. His lips thinned as he looked up at Raphael.

"That... doesn't help, " he shook his head.

The last thing he needed was for him to upset her for her to the retreat into her wolf. He spent days in hell trying to coax her back to her human form.

He warily backed away at a distance and watched Raphael train with her.

She would need extensive training from the looks of it. His heart ached at the thought of her having to do this. He couldn't fathom the idea of her fighting, nevertheless, hurting a fly.

In his eyes she was fragile, delicate and naive but none the less dangerously powerful.

Their training went on for hours and he could see she was getting exhausted and agitated.

"Don't hold back Hannah, concentrate!" Raphael scolded her as he dodged her assault once more.

Frustration and anger hindered her attempt of taking him down. She lacked agility and focus.

"Again!" he barked tripping her to the floor.

Maddox growled angrily as his mate met the ground with a thud.

"Bro, she is okay, " Brody said at his side as he held him back.

"Does she look okay to you?" Maddox's alpha voice rumbled darkly in warning.

"Calm yourself, " Brody exhaled loudly.

Tension grew as he angrily looked away in time to see Hannah land on her back.

With a gush of air expelling from her lungs with the impact, she lay there unmoving. Exhaustion and defeat were her only outlet. Her tears had cascaded down the side of her eyes now, her vision blurred as she looked up at the shadowed figure of her father standing above her.

Instead of accepting his outstretched hand, she brushed it away and abruptly stood.

"Hannah, " he reached for her. She staggered back from his touch, her mind roiling with resentment. Bruised and in pain, she turned away from him and began to walk away.

She wanted to be done with it all. She did not want to fight. She did not understand why she had to.

So lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed Micheal in her path until she walked right into him.
"You're not done training."

"I'm tired, " she said walking around him. But he just as quick blocked her path.

"Stop acting like a petulant child, " he mumbled.

"A petulant child?" Frustratingly, the tears came even more intensely this time.

"Is that how you see me?" She choked back a breathless sob.
She had to crane her neck back to gaze up at his face.

"Yes, as of late, I do, " he hissed.

"Well, how else do you expect me to act, like a human, like a wolf or a Seraph?" She managed under her shaky voice.

"I didn't mean it that way,"
He muttered under his breath and then turned to look back down at her.

"Then how do you mean it?" She gazed up at him furiously from under her lashes.

Tension in the air grew as she looked up at him accusingly.

"You did this, " she suddenly snapped.

"Because of you I was raised without my father by my side. With no guidance!"

He remained silent.

"Hannah?" Raphael had joined them and tried to reach for her but she brushed him away. Angry now, Hannah spun around to face him.
"All this time I believed something was wrong with me only to find out I'm a hybrid...an abomination, " she growled loudly, the sound of her wolf distorting her voice.

"Don't say that, " he begged. She could see sorrow and hurt forming in his eyes.

She shook her head. "My mother died because of me,"  she couldn't finish, the sudden thought of what her mother endured, her chest suddenly tightened with pain.. it hurt all over.

" Hannah, she..., " he tried to explain, but she refused to listen.

"You probably hated me for what I've done. That's why you abandoned me." She sobbed.

"That is not true, " he tried to argue.

"You treated me as if...I were nothing to you. A random fledgling like the rest. At times I felt as if...I were a burden because I couldn't get anything right." She cried out slowly beginning to glow.

"Hannah, sweet heart, " Raphael choked out; nervously watching branches and chunks of grass floating up from the ground.

"Don't call me that, " she hissed furiously.

"Hannah, calm yourself, " Michael warned her. Slowly dread filled his eyes as he felt everything around him vibrate.

She pinned him with a hateful gaze that made him slightly step back.

All around her she heard them calling her name as wind slowly began to pick up and the deafening howl of her wolf blocked out their voices.

Her tears flooded her gaze and her throat tightened with her rage and emotional pain. The memories of feeling lonely and different in the past, bombarded her.

Maddox stood before her, speaking words she could not hear as branches flew around them and the ground beneath them shook. Suddenly, he was thrown back with the force of the winds.

They were all barely hanging on and struggling as they tried to reach her. Until Michael grabbed her. His words fell on deaf ear but the sight of him and his angry face, the face she knew too well; chastising her, only worsened things and that was her boiling point.

"You!!!" Was all her distorted voice growled out before a ball of light shot from her hands and tossed him on his back at a distance.

"Hannah stop, please, " Maddox mind-linked as he crawled towards her but the force of the wind was too strong as it tossed everyone around. Debris flew and thunder clapped in the sky so loudly it felt like it would part the earth in two.

Then out of no where, Gaia stood before her. Here lips moved and instantly Mya, her wolf dropped to a calming sleep. She felt at ease suddenly. The pain was slowly leaving her body. Then Gaia said more gentle words she could finally hear.

A soothing warmth fell over her as the moon goddess caressed her cheek, then brushed away her tears.
It was a mental peace she hadn't felt in a while that flowed slowly through her until sudden darkness surrounded her and she knew nothing else.

Maddox watched from a distance as the moon goddess calmed his mate. Everything dropped where it flew. Leaves, branches and dirt dropped on all of them and the skies quickly cleared.
He stood and ran to her side to catch her just in time as she went limp in his arms.

Koda paced impatiently as Maddox held her close and slowly looked up to Gaia.
His throat constricted with fear that she was....

"She is asleep. Don't worry." Gaia smiled.

She slowly looked around in awe at the chaos as everyone slowly stood up and dusted off the dirt from their clothing.

She turned to watch Maddox gently stand with Hannah, limp and cradled tight in his arms as he turned to leave.

"She sure does pack a punch, doesn't she?" Brody joined her, dusting dirt from his hair.

"That she does, " Gaia agreed.

"Why didn't you stop her sooner?" Michael asked with an irritated tone, suddenly approaching them.

They turned to look at the archangel as he flexed his shoulders. Obviously affected by Hannah's assault.

Amused, Gaia smiled up at him. Mischief twinkled in her eyes.
"And miss the opportunity to see you be finally tossed on your ass? Not a chance." She chuckled sweetly.

A shadow of a smile formed on Brody's face as he stepped out of Michael's way as he walked off and left them snickering.

Rafael stood there in silence watching his brother walk off before flexing his wings to fly away.

"This is a result of her hate for me, " he whispered looking around at the chaos.

"I don't believe it is hate, my friend. It is how the humans call it, a small hissy fit, " she looked around innocently assessing the damage before looking up at  him."A tantrum, mayhap."

His head shook with disbelief. "This is not what humans call a small hissy fit. This is chaos and destruction."

"I fear to see what she does when she is really angry." He turned finally facing her.

"For the sake of all you, I pray it does not get to that," The unfamiliar voice spoke behind them.

They turned slowly and immediately tension in the air spiked. Brody slowly began to growl.

Dante!

Raphael hissed and within seconds, he shimmered into his battle armor; making his way towards the vampire.

"I come in peace, " Danté rose his hands in surrender and stumbled back away from the archangel.

Gaia calmly and carefully made her way towards them; cautiously placing her hand on Rafaels arm as it lowered to his sword.

"Say what you must then, leave, " she said gently.

He hesitated some before speaking.

"This is a warning. But not from me," He said. His gaze softly filled with worry.

"My king wants her. He grows impatient and he will stop at nothing to have her, " he warned..

"This little meltdown of hers, placed her on the radar on just about every dark demons list. Please.. " he paused.

"Keep her safe."

******

Have an awesome weekend.

I'm still waiting for you guys to tell me which story you want next...
Let me know in the comments below.