by Tamar Sloan
And she’s going to prove to Reign he’s everything she knows he is.
Rico turns his head and spits. “I ain’t fighting no girl.” He spins on his heel and stalks away, jerking his thumb for Darnell to follow.
Mac snorts. “Now you’re going to pretend you have standards?”
They ignore her, not even glancing over their shoulders as they reach the end of the alley, leaving Mac frustrated and fuming beside the dumpster. She looks around, considering throwing something at them. It won’t get her the answers she needs, but it’ll give her a little burst of joy.
And right now, she suspects she won’t have anything to smile about for quite some time.
“Hey, Mac,” Rico calls from the street. She looks up, hoping maybe he’s discovered a shred of conscience in that selfish head of his.
He grabs his crotch as he jerks his hips. “I guarantee my package is twice what your lover boy’s got. Let me know when you want to play with a real man.” He hoots with laughter even though Darnell doesn’t join in, sauntering away. With a last look at Mac standing alone in the alley, Darnell hurries after him.
“Assholes,” Mac mutters.
There’s a gust of wind from behind Mac, grabbing at her clothes as it wafts past. She frowns. The alley is a dead end. How could a gust of wind come from that direction?
She turns around, fists by her side, muscles ready to fight or flight. A man steps out of the shadows at the end, walking steadily toward her. Mac narrows her eyes, quickly taking stock. He’s young, probably her age, with ebony skin and closely cropped hair. But that’s not what has Mac tensing. Broad shouldered and tall, he’s not wearing a shirt, revealing layers of finely-honed muscle. His whole body exudes strength in a way she hasn't seen before, but it’s even more than that. It’s the steady, predatory way he’s walking.
“I agree with your analysis,” he says, continuing his measured, unflinching approach. “Assholes is the appropriate term for those two specimens of human.”
Human. Whoever this guy is, Mac instantly knows he’s supernatural. Possibly another demon. And there’s no way of telling whether he’s in the Colt-I-got-ya-back category, or the killing-frenzy-is-my-pastime type. “Who are you?”
The man’s dark gaze flares, anticipation flooding his strong features. “Hello, Mackenzie. My name is Dumah.”
28
Arielle
“He’s free.”
Arielle spins around, hand flying to her chest. “Oh, Lizzie. I didn’t hear you.”
She works to steady her pulse, wondering how long she’ll be walking on this knife edge of fear. Probably until her mother is home, safe and sound…
Lizzie flicks her glossy blonde hair as she giggles. “Sorry, I guess I was excited to tell you.”
Arielle glances around. The front of the university is almost empty now, all the students rushing off with somewhere to go. Unlike her… She knows she needs to study—that’s what she promised she’d do—but she’s loitering. As if she’s avoiding going home.
In fact, she’s already texted Aunt Shell that she’ll walk back.
Then, she realizes what Lizzie just said. “Reign’s out?”
“He was released that night,” she beams.
Arielle nods, pushing away the thought that she had to find out through a girl she just met. “Well, that’s good news.”
“Yep!” Lizzie glances around as if to check they’re alone. “Are you going to see him?”
Arielle’s hand tightens around the strap of her backpack. “Ah, we’re not exactly that close.”
“Oh.” Lizzie scuffs her foot over the pavement. “I was hoping you’d take me to see him.”
Take Reign’s ex-hottie to visit him? Does the universe think Arielle is a saint? She shakes her head. “Sorry, but I can’t,” she mutters, glad she’s telling the truth.
Reign is likely staying with Colt, and that location is top secret.
Lizzie’s face drops with disappointment. “Are you sure? I wanted to talk to him.” She twirls a lock of glossy hair. “We have some…unfinished business.”
“Sorry, Lizzie. But as far as I know, he’s staying with a friend. And that friend is very private, he doesn’t give out his address.”
Lizzie’s shoulders join her face in trying to brush the pavement. “Oh. Okay.”
Arielle takes a step away. “Anyway, I’d better get going.” She smiles a little. “It seems I have a date with Columbus.”
But Lizzie’s hand snaps out to grab her arm. “You could give it to him!”
“I beg your pardon?” Arielle asks, a little uncomfortable with the way Lizzie’s fingers are digging into her arm.
Lizzie flushes, releasing her. “I gave him something once, but he left it at my place.”
Arielle glances at her feet. “I know that feeling,” she mutters under her breath.
“Pardon?”
“Nothing,” she says brightly. “Look, I’m not sure when I’ll be seeing Reign next. Maybe you’re better off waiting.”
Lizzie looks perplexed. “But you’ll be seeing him at some stage?”
Arielle stills as she considers the question. It’s not like she’ll never see Reign again…is it?
“Of course, you will,” says Lizzie, all bubbles again. “That smile of his is like heroin.”
Except Arielle has rarely seen Reign smile. She seems to inspire a permanent scowl in him.
“I really don’t think—”
Lizzie leaps forward, clasping her hands together. “Please?” she begs. “I really want him to have it. And I only live a block away. We’ll be real quick.”
Arielle hesitates, swayed by the pleading in the pretty girl’s eyes. “Fine,” she sighs. “But there’s no guarantee I’ll get it to him soon.”
Lizzie squeals as she jumps up and down. “Thanks! You’re the best!”
No, just a pushover, Arielle thinks wryly.
Lizzie loops her arm through Arielle’s and tugs her across the road. “It’s really not far,” she assures her.
Arielle allows herself to be drawn along, noting that Lizzie seems to be very comfortable to touch someone she’s only just met. She must be really keen to make new friends.
Lizzie draws her down a quiet street. “I love your boots, by the way. They’re so cool!”
Arielle glances down. “Thanks. My mom gave them to me.”
For some reason, the reminder of her mother has her wishing she hadn’t agreed to this. She should’ve gone straight home. She should be studying.
She notes the three scrawled words down the side of her laces. Kindness is power.
That’s why she’s doing this. Because it’s Lizzie’s first day and she needed a friend.
“Your mom sounds cool,” Lizzie says brightly.
Except Lizzie seems to have already forgotten that Arielle’s mom is missing.
A quick tug and Arielle’s pulled down a quiet cul-de-sac. “Almost there,” Lizzie chirps. “Reign is going to be so surprised.”
Arielle notes that the houses are now smaller, the yards a little messier. Didn’t Lizzie say her father was the Commissioner of Police? Surely, he’d have a nicer place in a more up market area?
She stops, pulling Lizzie to a halt. “Are you sure you live down here?”
Although she knows the question is a silly one—of course Lizzie knows where she lives—Arielle voices it anyway. Something isn’t right.
Lizzie releases her arm, flicking her hair as she rolls her eyes. “If I lived a block away, don’t you think I would’ve been attending Mercy City University a little sooner?”
Arielle flushes, feeling foolish and naive and thoroughly duped. She flushes an even deeper crimson as she realizes they’re all the reasons Aunt Shell and Gabby think she’s better staying out of everything that’s going on.
Before she can ask what this is all about, a shadow moves behind her. Arielle spins around, heart shooting up her throat and clogging the scream that was trying to escape.
Detective Kane angles his head. “Hello, Arielle.”
She takes a compulsive step back, only to crash into Lizzie. She quickly side steps, glancing over her shoulder. “You set me up?”
Lizzie shrugs, glancing at her manicured nails. “I was helping a friend.”
Arielle hates the flash of betrayal that spears through her chest. Lizzie owed her nothing. It’s her own stupidity that let her down.
Detective Kane casually tucks his hands in his pockets. “I need you to take me to Reign.”
“Sorry, I don’t know where he is.” Even Arielle isn’t stupid or naive enough to do that.
“So polite,” Kane purrs. “Even when you’re lying.” His face hardens. “What did you find in the Sinclair Mansion?”
Although the change of topic is unexpected, Arielle is already shaking her head. She has no intention of telling this guy anything. “Some very pretty crockery. You should totally check it out.”
A muscle twitches in the detective’s cheek as he angles his head. “If you were to help me, I could help with the search for your mother.”
Arielle doesn’t know if she’s more shocked or angry. What the heck has he been doing up until now? She throws back her shoulders. Truth be told, she has more faith in Gabby, Colt, Reign and Mac. “Go suck a duck.”
Fury flashes across Detective Kane’s face a split-second before he moves. Although Arielle registers the ferocity of the emotion, she never gets a chance to react.
Kane moves too quickly.
His arm lashes out and the back of his hand slams across her face.
Then there’s nothing but black.
GABBY
Gabby’s never seen so many emotions jammed into one person as she has with Reign.
Anger. Determination. Resentment. Guilt. Fearlessness. Rage. Way too much self-loathing. And beneath it all, deeply repressed hope.
Feeling others’ emotions is both a blessing and a curse. In fact, it’s the hardest part of being an angel. After everything they’ve been through, Colt understands that, which is why he simply nodded when she told him she was going on a pizza run.
His steady gaze told her he understood she won’t be going to the local place at the corner. Nope, Gabby needs more of a break from being cooped up with Reign than that. Colt knows she won’t be back for an hour or so.
In fact, he even offered for her to drive his precious car. And if that’s not love, Gabby doesn’t know what is.
Brushing her hand over the black glossy paint, she decides she’d rather walk so she tucks the keys in her pocket. Her legs need a stretch after spending so much time inside. She draws in a deep breath and tilts her face to the sun. Yep, a walk is just what she needs.
Something flickers in the clear blue above her and she stops mid breath. The barest flash of light, it was probably a satellite. Or a weather balloon. Maybe someone’s flying a drone.
But still, Gabby waits. In her world, she’s learned the usual explanations aren’t the only possibilities. She needs to make sure.
The flicker grows, becoming a sparkle, then a glowing ember. It streaks down, leaving a tail of shimmering pearl behind it. Gabby gasps as the vein of brilliant white tumbles to Earth like a falling star.
She yanks the keys back out and unlocks the car. “I’ll be careful, I promise,” she says aloud.
Colt never intended for her to take his baby very far. But she has to find out why an angel just descended to Earth.
And why now.
Although she taps the steering wheel with impatience, Gabby drives carefully through Mercy City, heading in the direction that the angel would’ve landed. Even the car seems to want to go faster, leaping away at lights and purring eagerly every time she accelerates. But she contains their restlessness. Not all angels are friends.
Gabby soon finds herself in the River District, the poorest suburbs of the city. She’s just about to consider turning around when a familiar jolt runs down her spine. She’s close.
She pulls over to the curb and locks the car. Then she double checks she locked the car. A scratch Colt could probably forgive…eventually. Someone stealing his pride and joy would surely test their relationship. Looking around, she finds she’s parked outside a derelict house with a saggy porch and the door hanging sideways by a single hinge. It looks like no one has lived there for a very long time.
Following her instincts, Gabby steps into the alleyway down the side of the house. She can sense this is where the angel landed. Cautiously, she enters, everything on high alert.
But there’s a dumpster to her right, some garbage cans to her left, and little else. The alleyway is empty.
Not willing to give up yet, Gabby closes her eyes, breathing in deeply. Yes, there it is. The pure scent of divine grace. This is where the angel landed. Her eyebrows twitch as she senses something else. Someone else has been here.
Gabby’s eyes fly open. Mac.
The trace is faint, but the girl’s signature stubborn passion is there. Mac was definitely here. And now she’s not.
Although there’s something odd about Mac, a muted flavor to her emotions that Gabby can’t put her finger on, Mac has done nothing but help. And her loyalty to Reign is something Gabby respects. That sort of love can never be born from evil.
Except, Gabby’s too late. She’s certain Mac’s presence and the angel’s aren’t a coincidence.
“Dammit,” she growls as she slams her hand into the dumpster, then instantly winces as a resounding boom echoes down the alley.
Gabby pulls her hand away, flushing guiltily when she sees the crater she just punched into the metal. Even now, her powers can still surprise her. Even now, after everything she’s been through, she has trouble controlling her emotions.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
Two teens appear at the mouth of the alley, frowning. The dark-skinned larger one glances around suspiciously as his smaller, lanky friend hitches up his saggy jeans as he saunters in.
“Well, hello there,” he purrs, revealing teeth that really shouldn’t be that yellow on a kid that age. “What do we have here?”
Gabby takes a step forward, trying to block their view of the dented dumpster. “I’m looking for a friend of mine. Mac.”
The dark-skinned guy frowns but doesn’t respond. Saggy jeans shrugs his bony shoulders. “Never heard of her.”
Gabby angles her head. “But you knew I was talking about a female?”
The guy’s face twists as he takes a menacing step forward. “We don’t want no trouble.”
“Me neither,” says Gabby, holding her ground. “I just want to know where Mac is.”
Saggy jeans spins on his heel, shoving his friend as he walks past. “Come on, Darnell. We got better things to do.”
Gabby takes a step forward but quickly stops herself. Maybe she should go back to Colt and Reign, see if they can make contact with Mac. Something about all of this feels off.
Saggy jeans storms out of the alley, kicking a trash can on his way for good measure. His friend, Darnell, pauses though.
He turns back to Gabby, concern swimming in his dark eyes. “A guy took her. No shirt, pretty buff looking. Said his name is Dumah.”
Even before Darnell has finished saying the name, Gabby is running, panic climbing up her throat.
Dumah has escaped.
29
Reign
When Reign’s cell phone rings, he almost doesn’t answer it. When he glances at the screen and sees it’s Lizzie, he strongly considers turning it on silent. Lizzie never calls just once.
As if to prove him right, the ringing stops only to start right back up again. Colt slides an unimpressed glance at Reign from where he’s studying the map. It’s what the guy’s been doing for the past hour, as if he’s turned into some statue of a scholar.
Reign rises from the couch and takes the call. Maybe if he tells Lizzie he’s at the library and can’t talk, she’ll leave him alone. He moves to the other side of the room, tucking the phone up to hi
s ear.
“Hey, Lizzie—”
“Reign, thank god you answered,” she says in a rush. “It’s Arielle.”
Reign freezes. “How do you know Arielle?”
“I ran into her this afternoon. I stopped to comment on her boots. They’re the coolest pair of Converse I’ve ever seen.”
Dread trickles down Reign’s spine like tar. “Why are you calling me, Lizzie?”
“Oh, Reign, it was terrible,” she says, her voice thick with tears. “I walked with her for a bit—she’s so friendly, you know?—when a man appeared out of nowhere.”
“What man?” he demands. “What happened?”
Lizzie dissolves into sobs. “He took her, Reign. I tried to stop him, but he was too strong.”
Reign’s heart feels like it’s stopped and is pounding out of control, all at the same time. “Where are you? I’m coming right now.”
Lizzie gives him an address and Reign hangs up. He finds Colt standing a few feet away, eyes narrowed.
“Who was that?”
“Lizzie, a friend of mine,” Reign says, already heading for the door. “She said she saw someone take Arielle. I’m meeting her there.”
To Reign’s surprise, Colt doesn’t move. In fact, he crosses his arms like he’s about to turn into a statue again. “We should call Gabby. Come up with a plan.”
“You’re kidding, right? Arielle’s in trouble and you want to think about it?”
“I don’t like this. It could be a trap. How do you know you can trust this girl?”
“What? You get a bad feeling about Lizzie, too?” Reign half-shouts. “Just because she’s associated with me?”
Colt shakes his head. “We’ll call Gabby,” he says again, this time with more force. “Then we can go together.”
Reign strides for the door and yanks it open. “Go back and stare at your map,” he shoots over his shoulder, taking the stairs two at a time.
No wonder those seven women are still missing. Colt needs to meditate on everything first.