Champion (War Angel Academy Book 3) Read online

  Champion

  War Angel Academy Series, Book 3

  S.J. West

  Contents

  Books by S.J. West

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Next from S.J. West

  About the Author

  COPYRIGHTS

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  © 2021 by S.J. West. All rights reserved.

  Proof Reader: Janelle Leonard.

  Cover Design: Coversbyjuan.com

  Interior Design & Formatting: Stephany Wallace @ S.W. Creative Publishing co, all rights reserved.

  Published by Watchers Publishing June 1st, 2021.

  www.Sjwest.com

  BOOKS IN THE WATCHER SERIES

  The Watchers Trilogy

  Cursed

  Blessed

  Forgiven

  The Watcher Chronicles

  Broken

  Kindred

  Oblivion

  Ascension

  Caylin’s Story

  Timeless

  Devoted

  Aiden’s Story

  The Alternate Earth Series

  Cataclysm

  Uprising

  Judgment

  The Redemption Series

  Malcolm

  Anna

  Lucifer

  Redemption

  The Dominion Series

  Awakening

  Reckoning

  Enduring

  The Everlasting Fire Series

  War Angel

  Between Worlds

  Shattered Souls

  Lucifer and Amalie's Story

  Surrendering the Dark

  Descending into the Abyss

  Guardians of the Void

  Restoration

  Atonement

  Exodus

  War Angel Academy

  Harbinger

  Nemesis

  Champion

  OTHER BOOKS BY S.J. WEST

  The Harvester of Light Trilogy

  Harvester

  Hope

  Dawn

  The Vankara Saga

  Vankara

  Dragon Alliance

  War of Atonement

  Vampire Conclave Series

  Moonshade

  Sentinel

  Conclave

  Requiem

  Circle of the Rose Chronicles

  Cin D’Rella and the Water of Life

  Cin D’Rella and the Golden Apple

  Cin D’Rella and the Lonely Tower.

  Cin d'Rella and the Messengers of Death.

  MULTI-AUTHOR ANTHOLOGIES

  The Monster Ball Year 3:

  A Paranormal Romance Anthology

  Second Chances

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who were with me throughout this creative process; to all those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments, allowed me to quote their remarks and assisted in the editing, proofreading and design.

  I would like to thank Lisa Fejeran, Nicole Edwards, Erica Croyle, Barb Todaro, Misti Monen, my beta readers, for helping me in the process with invaluable feedback.

  Thanks to Janelle Leonard, my editor for helping me find typos, correct commas and tweak the little details that have help this book become my perfect vision.

  Thank you to Stephany Wallace for creating the beautiful Interior Design for my books and formatting them.

  Last but not least, I want to thank my family, who supported and encouraged me in this journey.

  I apologize to those who have been with me over the course of the years and whose names I have failed to mention.

  A funeral and a wedding. One honors a life that’s come to an end, and one celebrates the joining of two people as they begin a new journey together. The gatherings are practically polar opposites from one another, and I never thought I would be asked to attend both on the same weekend.

  “I don’t like this,” I whisper to Silas as I cross and uncross my legs for what feels like the hundredth time. The wooden pew creaks underneath my shifting weight, voicing its own displeasure at being so roughly abused. I glance around the small chapel, wishing I was anywhere but here.

  Silas reaches out and places a hand on top of mine.

  “It won’t last that long,” he whispers back, “but I don’t understand why being here is making you so uncomfortable. What’s wrong?”

  “Yeah, what’s wrong?” Sariah asks from her place beside me.

  Kodi leans forward to look at me past Sariah. “Is the pew hurting your wings or something?”

  I shake my head. “I just . . . I just don’t feel right.”

  “Are you sick?” Silas squeezes my hands. When I look at him, I can clearly see the worry he feels for me in the depths of his beautiful hazel eyes. All I want to do is reach out and reassure him that I’m fine, but I’m not fine and he knows that.

  “I’m not sick. I’ll be all right.” I return my gaze to the front of the chapel when Jered clears his throat as he walks up to the podium by Rose’s silver coffin, festooned with a spray of white roses. “Let’s just get through this so we can go home.”

  Jered starts the funeral service by saying a few words about Rose’s life. Since he didn’t know her that well, I assume he gleaned his insight into who she was from his conversations with Cal and Caleb this morning before we all arrived. My gaze drifts from Jered to Cal, who is flanked by his parents on the first pew. I can only imagine the pain he’s going through. He was so close to saving both Rose and the baby, but in the end, only one of their lives was spared by the Void. I think the only thing holding Cal together at this point is his son. The birth of the baby is what ultimately killed Rose, but he will act as an unbreakable tether between his parents for all eternity.

  Although I’m acutely aware of Cal’s pain, I’m also conscious of someone else’s sorrow. I chance a glance to the back of the sanctuary where Caleb sits all alone. I haven’t spoken to him since we returned from the Void, and he’s kept his distance from me since we arrived at the castle for the funeral. Under any other circumstances, I would be grateful that he hasn’t approached me; yet today, of all days, I know he needs a friend, and I’m the closest thing to one that he has here.

  “Cal’s about to speak,” Silas whispers, drawing my attention away from Caleb back to the front of the chapel.

  Cal approaches the podium with his son cradled in the crook of his arm, swaddled in a white blanket. Even though we’re three pews back, I can still hear the baby gurgling as if he has a few words to say about his mother too. Sadly, he only got to see her for a few seconds before she passed away. He’ll never know her. He’ll never have any memories of her. That in itself seems like the worst tragedy of all caused by Rose’s death.

  “I know a lot of you didn’t know Rose very wel
l, and I also know some of you feel like she betrayed me by not telling me the truth about her past,” Cal begins, holding his head up high as if he’s about to defend her honor. He glances in Malcolm’s direction as if his words were meant for our teacher. Malcolm is flanked by his wife, Empress Anna, and eldest daughter, Liana. The baby gurgles again, drawing his father’s attention back to him. A slow smile brightens Cal’s face as he lovingly looks down at Rose’s final gift.

  “It wouldn’t have mattered if she’d told me who she really was and why she left the Void to come here,” he says, looking back at us. “I would have loved her just the same. I wish she had asked me for help instead of returning to the Void. If she had . . .” Cal’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down a couple of times as he attempts to keep his emotions in check. “If she had, then maybe she would still be with us today. My only solace is knowing that she’s in Heaven, waiting for me to join her there.”

  “She is?” I whisper to Silas in surprise. Silas shrugs his shoulders and looks as amazed as I am by the announcement.

  I’m not exactly surprised that Rose is in Heaven, but I didn’t realize it had been confirmed yet. As far as I know, Lilith hasn’t phased up there to check on her since we returned.

  I feel a gentle hand rest on my shoulder from the pew behind us. Helena leans forward in her seat and whispers in my ear.

  “Anna phased to Heaven last night to speak with Lucifer,” she says. “While she was there, she also spoke to Rose.”

  I nod my head in understanding as Helena sits back in her seat.

  After we returned from the Void, I remember Malcolm saying he planned to have Anna phase to Heaven to ask Lucifer something about Azrael. I guess I should have assumed she would also check on Rose while she was there.

  I turn my head to look back at Caleb again to see if Cal’s revelation surprises him or if he was told beforehand where his sister’s soul ended up. To my surprise, Caleb isn’t sitting where I last saw him. A quick scan of the chapel reveals that he’s no longer in the sanctuary at all.

  “Did you see Caleb leave?” I whisper to Silas.

  Silas seems surprised by my question and glances behind us where Caleb was last seen.

  “No,” he says, turning to face me again. “I didn’t even know he was gone.”

  “Maybe the stress of the funeral was too much for him,” Sariah suggests.

  I try to return my attention to what Cal is saying about Rose, but my mind is slowly going through all the places Caleb might have gone to escape this moment. The only place on Laed-i that he would feel comfortable is the academy, but how would he get there? Since he’s Abaddon’s child, he does have the ability to phase like the other angels, but I remember him telling me that he couldn’t figure out how to do it.

  Once the service comes to an end, the four of us file out of our pew and walk to the front of the chapel to pay our respects to Cal. His parents have been drawn off to the side to speak with Malcolm and Anna about something. They keep their voices low and secretive. From the worried expressions on their faces, I can tell whatever they’re discussing is serious.

  “Hey handsome,” Liana says as she saunters over to our small group, her long, Grecian style black dress billows out behind her as she practically glides across the floor with more elegance than I’ll ever be able to muster. At first, I thought she was addressing Cal, but when she gives Silas a hug and a kiss on the cheek, my assumption is quickly corrected.

  Liana is almost the spitting image of her mother with her thick, long dark hair and intelligent brown eyes, but I can definitely see Malcolm in the way she observes everything and everyone around her.

  “I’m surprised to see you here,” Silas says, as she pulls away from him. “I thought you would be pulling your hair out in Cirrus getting ready for the wedding.”

  “I wouldn’t have missed this.” Liana turns her attention to Cal. “I’m always where my friends need me the most.”

  “Thank you for coming,” Cal says to her, “but I understand if you need to leave to get ready for tomorrow.”

  “I’m yours for the rest of the day,” she announces as if the biggest moment of her life isn’t happening in a little over twenty-four hours. “In fact, I was hoping to spend some time with you and your little fella. I should probably get as much practice in as I can before my own little bundle of joy comes into the world.”

  “Are you pregnant?” I ask in surprise. Knowing Malcolm, I figured he had an ironclad chastity belt of some sort on his oldest child to keep her virginity intact until her wedding night.

  Liana looks surprised by my question at first but then she laughs.

  “No,” she tells me with a small shake of her head, “but the first-born girl of a descendant always becomes pregnant on her wedding night. It’s a tradition in my family and one of the reasons I didn’t want to get married too soon, but, considering how uncertain things are at the moment, I decided to move the wedding date up so Will and I can spend as much time together as husband and wife as possible.”

  “I’m happy for you,” Cal tells her, truly seeming to mean it with all his heart. “The little guy and I will definitely be at the wedding to cheer you on.”

  “Well, you won’t have to go far,” Liana says. “We decided it would be safer to have the wedding here on Laed-i. We’re going to hold the ceremony in the chapel at the academy. After Levi has been dealt with, we’ll have a larger celebration in front of the people of Cirrus.”

  Liana turns her gaze in the direction of her and Cal’s parents.

  “My parents are preparing for an all-out war,” she says, not sounding at all pleased about what’s to come in the future. “They’ve already started gathering up the troops from the other planets.”

  “What troops?” This is the first I’ve heard of any armies stashed away on other planets.

  Liana lifts an eyebrow. The expression reminds me so much of Malcolm it makes me want to laugh.

  “My folks have been preparing for a war like this for years now,” she tells us. “They’ve been training troops on hundreds of planets ever since Lucifer’s death.”

  “They’ve been preparing for war for that long?” Silas asks. “But the Void was only made a few months ago.”

  “True,” Liana acknowledges with a nod, “but before that Helena was the major threat they were preparing to fight. They’ve had War Angels stationed on planets all over the galaxy pretty much since they came here. Some of the War Angel outworld stations were there to help with conflicts on war torn planets. Some were created to train armies to take out whatever Helena might throw our way. Now, it looks like Levi and his army of half-angels is who they’ll end up fighting.”

  “If they’ve got all these trained fighters,” Kodi says, scratching his head and looking slightly confused, “why exactly are we going to the academy? I thought they were training us to fight Levi.”

  “They are,” Liana replies, “you were simply the next generation of warriors, but it looks like the war will happen before my dad and the others can fully prepare you for it. I assume most of the students at your school won’t be asked to fight in this war.”

  “I’m fighting,” I state.

  A look of pride and camaraderie appears on Liana’s face as she considers me with a fresh pair of eyes filtered through respect.

  “So will I,” she states. “My parents and Will want me to stay out of it, of course, but I’ve been training for this moment all my life. They know I’ll stand by their side in this war. I refuse to back down.”

  “Neither will I,” I tell her.

  “Neither will I!” Kodi says, pumping his fist in the air and getting caught up in the moment.

  I shake my head at him. “Uh, no. You’re not ready for this kind of battle yet, Kodi.”

  “But I’ve gotten better,” he says defensively. “I can fight, Lora. I’m not afraid.”

  “I know,” I say as gently as I can. His newfound bravado is fragile, and I don’t want to break it. “And if Levi
’s army gets through us, you and the others might be our last line of defense.”

  The suggestion that Levi and his troops will defeat the rest of us in battle seems to sober Kodi up and dismiss some of the glamour he must have associated with a war that may very well end all wars. The sad fact of the matter is that people die in battle, and the good guys don’t always win.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Jered says to our small group as he walks over. “Lora, could I steal you away for a moment?”

  The forced smile on Jered’s face warns me that he’s unsure how I’ll react to whatever it is he intends to tell me.

  “Is something wrong?” Silas asks his father.

  Jered looks rightly surprised by his son’s question. I think it’s the first time since we returned from the Void that Silas has spoken directly to his father.

  “No,” Jered says with a quick shake of his head, “nothing is wrong. I just need Lora’s help with a small matter.”

  “I’ll be right back,” I say to the group while placing a hand on Silas’s arm as reassurance that I’ll return to his side as soon as possible. As I walk over to Jered, he turns and leads me down the main aisle of the sanctuary.