by Cynthia Eden
Turning away from the flames, the watcher eased back out onto the building’s high ledge. The scent of the fire filled his nose. He spread his arms—
And fell.
Marna was fighting him. Kicking. Punching. Scratching. Tanner tightened his hold on her. Didn’t the woman realize when she was walking right into a burning hell of a trap? That asshole was jerking them around. Moving them like freaking pieces on a chess set.
Tanner had always hated that game.
No more.
He heard the wail of sirens the instant he burst outside that hellhole of a building. The cavalry would be coming in fast, and he was stuck being on foot, with no wheels worth stealing anywhere around.
Screwed.
But at least they were all alive. For the moment.
“Let go!” Marna shoved harder and broke free of his grasp—because he let her—but when she whirled to race into the inferno again, Tanner roped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.
“Do you want to die that badly?” The words were ripped from him. “Is being here, on earth, really such a hell to you?”
She stilled. Then, panting, Marna glanced over her shoulder at him. “He . . . he was there. I heard him. Talking to me.” Her gaze returned to the fire. “I could have killed him tonight.”
“Or he could have killed you.” Then what would I have done?
The flames and ash and smoke were clogging his nose. Choking him. Those scents were so strong that he couldn’t smell the SOB who’d been in that building. Right then, he couldn’t smell anything but the fire.
Maybe the guy in that building would do them all a favor and burn.
“Need a hand?” a cold, mocking voice asked. A voice that Tanner recognized instantly.
Though he hadn’t smelled the man’s approach, Tanner didn’t start in surprise. It seemed only fitting that the last vamp he wanted to see would be the one to come crashing this nightmare.
“Riley?” Marna asked and he heard her surprise.
Tanner turned slowly. Riley stood next to Cody’s prone body. Just the sight of Cody caused his gut to clench. How the hell was he still fighting to live?
“Don’t run again,” Tanner growled at Marna and rushed back to his brother. He lifted him, and Cody’s eyes didn’t open, but his chest still rose and fell in a ragged pattern.
“Instead of running, why don’t we drive?” Riley suggested. He lifted a pair of keys and dangled them from his fingertips. “I’ve got wheels close by.” He glanced at the fire. “From the look of things, you could all use a fast ride out of here.”
“Why are you trying to help us??” Tanner demanded as his hold tightened on Cody. His brother’s blood was on him. “You’re being a good Samaritan?” ’Cause that’s the kind of guy he was? Bull. More likely he was just looking for another chance to get Marna’s blood.
“I’m paying a debt.” The vampire was staring at Marna. Looking like he could freaking eat her. No chance, dick. No chance. “But if you don’t want my help . . .” Riley began to back away.
Dammit. “Just get us out of here.” Tanner’s eyes met Marna’s for the briefest of moments. “Then get the hell away.” Because if that fanged parasite came at Marna for a bite, Tanner would make sure he lost all of his sharp and pointy teeth.
Still carrying Cody’s unconscious form, Tanner followed them as Riley and Marna snaked through the alley turns and climbed into Riley’s ride. They hurried away, making sure to avoid the fire trucks and patrol cars that were racing to the scene.
Tanner tried to put pressure on his brother’s wounds. Cody could usually heal better than this.
But he wasn’t. He didn’t seem to be healing at all. “Don’t do this to me,” he muttered, pressing harder against the gaping wound. “You snap out of this and wake up.”
“What makes you so sure . . .” Marna’s quiet voice came from the front seat. “That he wasn’t the one who attacked me?”
“Because he didn’t have your blood on him.” Tanner didn’t look away from Cody. Blisters and deep burns covered Tanner’s body, and every move hurt, but that pain meant he was alive.
Did Cody feel the pain, too? Did he understand just what it meant?
Use the pain, boy. His father’s voice echoed through his mind. Another beating. Another day when his bones had snapped. If you give in to it, you just become weak. My son won’t be weak.
“Are you sure that’s even your brother?” she asked as the SUV hurtled to the right. They were heading away from the city and back toward the swamp.
Tanner gazed down at Cody. His brother’s face had bleached a stark white.
“I mean, if the killer can take any face, then how do you know it’s really Cody?” Marna’s voice was quiet and totally devoid of emotion.
While Tanner felt as if emotions were about to rip him apart.
Cody stirred. His lashes fluttered just a bit. A groan slipped from his lips. He swallowed. Groaned again.
Tanner leaned closer.
His brother was trying to whisper something to him. Tanner could just make out . . .
“When I . . . was . . . five . . . you . . . took first . . .” A rustling breath, and Cody rasped, “Beating . . . meant for . . .”
Cody didn’t finish. He didn’t have to. Tanner remembered that day, and the beating. Hell yeah, he’d taken his younger brother’s beating. Had he been supposed to just stand there and watch the kid suffer?
Tanner’s jaw clenched. “I damn well know he’s my real brother.” Slowly, Tanner turned his head to meet Marna’s stare. Her eyes weren’t black anymore. They were back to that blue that seemed to look right through him. “It’s him, Marna. Trust me.”
“Trust ain’t easy,” Riley said. Like he’d asked for the vamp’s input. His ride, yeah. His two fucking cents? No. But the vampire continued, “Now look, if I’m chauffeuring around a killer—”
“It’s not like it would be the first time you’ve done that.” And speaking of killers . . . Tanner leaned forward and slashed out with his claws, letting them come to rest right against Riley’s throat. He didn’t slice that throat open, though, not while the guy was driving them. But the warning was there. “If you’re trying to screw us over and take us to a den of vampires, you’d better think again. I’m not in any mood to play tonight.”
Riley’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “I told you, I’m just trying to pay back a debt.”
“There isn’t a debt,” Marna said. “We’re even now.”
Even? How? She’d bled for the guy. What had he done for her?
Riley cast her a quick glance. Marna was sitting in the front passenger seat. “Then let’s just say I like the idea of an angel and her shifter owing me.”
Figured. And that story he actually bought.
Tanner pulled back his claws. He didn’t trust the guy. Perhaps he should just kick the vamp out on the side of the road.
“I know a safe place,” Riley said quickly. Maybe he realized Tanner was seriously considering the idea of throwing him through the windshield. “There are bandages there, drugs, whatever you need for him. And no questions asked is the only policy they follow.”
Okay. So he wouldn’t toss the guy through the windshield. Yet.
“Then haul ass,” Tanner told him because Cody wasn’t talking anymore. “And get us there before my brother dies.”
He knew an angel of death was chasing them. He’d caught a glimpse of Bastion. Still seeing angels. But that prick wasn’t taking his brother.
Not without one hell of a fight.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The vampire took them to the edge of the swamp. A cabin waited, one that looked abandoned from the outside, but inside, the place was stocked with bandages, antibiotics, and . . . bags of blood.
Marna turned away when Riley pulled one of those bags from the extra-large refrigerator and began to drink.
Cody was in the back of the cabin. A woman had rushed out to meet them as soon as they’d
arrived. A doctor? A nurse? Marna wasn’t sure, but the woman with warm brown eyes and coffee cream skin sure seemed to know what she was doing. Tanner was back there with the woman, trying to force his brother to live.
And Marna was grappling with her own desire—to kill.
“You gave me freedom.” Riley tossed away the empty bag. A little bit of blood stained his lips.
Marna shrugged. “I gave a blood donation.” The least she could do.
“Is my family . . . are they safe?” Riley’s question was halting, and it seemed to be pulled from him.
She nodded. This much, she did know. “The instant they left you, they didn’t know any more pain.”
His breath eased out as he crossed toward her. His steps were slow. His eyes watchful. “Do they know what I became?” There was no missing the pain in his eyes.
She could give him this release, as well. “They only remember what you were.” Not what you are.
Monster.
Wasn’t that what she was now, too?
His hands came up and curled around her shoulders. “We can both be more.” His head lowered toward hers.
“And you can get your fucking fangs and hands away from her,” Tanner said, his lethal voice cutting through the room better than any knife ever could.
Riley’s hands didn’t drop, but his head didn’t lower toward her any more, either.
“Want to lose them?” Tanner asked. “ ’Cause I can accommodate you.”
Marna glanced toward Tanner. Sure enough, his claws were out.
Riley’s hands dropped. “I wasn’t—” he began.
“No, you weren’t.” Blood stained Tanner’s shirt and hands. He looked tired—and pissed. “With her, you’re not doing anything.”
Marna’s eyes narrowed on him. “That’s not your call to make.”
Tanner’s head turned slowly toward her. “It’s not?” How could a man’s voice be so cold and yet so furious at the same time? What an interesting blend, and very chilling. “I thought when you gave yourself to me, it sure made things like this jerk coming on to you my call.”
Men—humans or paranormals—could all be idiots. Marna exhaled. There was a room upstairs for her. Riley had showed it to her earlier. Right then, she just wanted to crash. The men could attack each other if they wanted. More bruises, scrapes, and busted ribs would serve them right.
She headed up the stairs. “He wasn’t coming on to me. He was talking. Maybe that’s something you should try more of.”
But all she got in response to that was silence. She was learning that Tanner could say more with his silence than most men could with their words.
She pulled at her shirt as she climbed the stairs. She was tired of smelling like blood. Tired of feeling like hell. And tired of her shoulders itching. Because on top of everything else, her scars had been bugging her for hours.
This day really did just . . . suck.
A knife to the heart—okay, from the back to the heart—could sure put a girl in what she knew Tanner would call a piss-poor mood.
But, jeez, at this rate, what else could happen?
The scent of flowers teased her nose. Her eyes squeezed closed. “Bastion, if that’s you . . .” She exhaled. “Stay away from me right now.”
Because she was in the mood to fight. Anyone. Anything. Even an angel.
Or a shifter.
Tanner watched Marna head up the stairs. Her shoulders were slumped. Her steps slow. He could feel the tiredness pouring off her, and it infuriated him.
Attacked. Stabbed with that knife.
While he just watched.
“You need to do a better job of keeping her safe,” Riley’s cold, drawling voice told him.
What? Advice from the vamp? Sonofabitch. Tanner tossed the guy against the nearest wall. “What I don’t need is some undead jerk telling me how to handle my angel.” He bared his own fangs. “And what you need to do . . . you need to learn to keep those hands off her.”
Riley smirked. Smirked? Really? Could he have begged any more for an ass beating? Apparently, he could because the vamp said, “What if she likes my hands? Maybe she’s in the mood for some . . . variety. Not every woman likes to lie with an animal.”
Tanner slammed his forehead into the guy’s nose. Bones crunched. Riley howled. Ah, that was one of his favorite moves. Why didn’t more people ever see that hit coming?
Tanner smiled, then said, “Trust me, she likes my animal side.” He’d been worried that he might scare her, but he hadn’t. Marna had been just as wild and fierce when they came together.
His gaze lifted to the stairs. He heard the roar of water and knew that she’d turned on the shower. She’d be up there now, naked.
Wet.
He dropped his hold on Riley and walked straight for the stairs.
“You really think she’s just gonna turn and greet you with open arms?” Riley’s voice mocked him. “That was one very angry angel who stalked up those stairs.”
Tanner tossed a glare over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about what happens between us.”
Riley laughed. “You are one clueless asshole. Go on up there. She’ll toss you right back down.”
Jaw clenching, Tanner grabbed for the thin stair railing. The day he needed romantic advice from a vamp—
I’ll be cold in the ground.
He took the steps three at a time. There was no lock on the door to Marna’s room, so he pushed it open and hurried inside. Steam came from the small room near the bed. She’d left the bathroom door ajar.
But Tanner didn’t rush inside. He stopped. Shut the bedroom door behind him, and took a deep breath.
I could have lost her.
He understood the game that the killer was playing now. The sick prick. The guy had set things up perfectly, and Tanner had been the one forced to choose.
Save the angel or save the demon.
Bastard.
Tanner had managed, just barely, to save them both. But what would happen next time? He couldn’t just let his own brother die.
He wouldn’t let Marna slip away from him.
So next time . . . he reached for the edge of his bloody shirt and tossed the garment aside. Next time, Tanner would make sure he was the one hunting—and the one killing.
He’d keep both Marna and Cody safe. He had to. There just wasn’t any other option for him.
He kicked off his shoes. Finished stripping. The water continued to pour from inside the shower. The steam rose, and drifted into the room like smoke.
Tanner glanced down at his arms. He’d shifted a few more times, trying to push his body’s natural healing powers into overdrive. The burns and blisters had all but faded. Now there were just faint lines, scars, left to remind him of how close he’d come to death.
More scars. More pain. At this point, his body was a mess of memories. Most days, he just wanted to forget them. But these new marks . . . the ones that reminded him that he’d gotten Marna out of that blaze, that she was safe . . .
He wouldn’t be forgetting them anytime soon.
Tanner stalked toward the bathroom. The old hardwood creaked beneath his feet. A few more steps, and his hand pushed the faded bathroom door open all the way. Marna stood behind a thin, clear shower curtain. He could see a perfect outline of her body. Water dripped down her curves. Such a gorgeous body. He’d touched and kissed every part of her.
I want to do it again.
“I was wondering if you would come in.” Her voice drifted to him, but Marna didn’t turn to face Tanner. “You sure took your time about it.”
He swallowed and realized he could already taste her.
“How’s your brother?” she asked. Still under the water. Still so perfect she made him ache. His cock couldn’t swell any bigger.
In her. That’s where he wanted to be.
He was almost drooling. Right. Way to be in control. Tanner cleared his throat. “He’s stable.” For now. The doc, a lady who’d barely looked twenty—but then paran
ormals were good at hiding their real ages—had patched Cody up the best she could. He was resting, and as for surviving, he’d better.
Marna faced him. Finally. She pushed the curtain aside and stared at him through the steam and pouring water. Her gaze dropped to his chest. Lingered. “You’ve got blood on you.”
He’d always had blood on his hands. It would never wash off. He took another step toward her.
She lifted a hand. “You were an ass.”
His angel and her dirty mouth. He rather liked that. When she cursed at him, he always got turned on. How screwed up was that? “I was . . .” He cleared his throat and managed to drag his gaze off her breasts. Want them in my mouth. “Jealous.”
Her brows rose.
Did she really think they were just gonna stand there, naked, and talk? If so, Marna didn’t understand a whole lot about shifters.
He was managing to keep his claws in and the beast on a leash, and that was pretty much all he could handle.
Tanner climbed into the too-small shower with her. Deliberately, he let his body brush against hers. “Yeah, jealous.” The water crashed over him. “As in . . . if that vamp touches you again . . .” He’d been able to all but smell the vamp’s lust, and it hadn’t just been lust for her blood. “He’ll lose those fingers.” Not an idle threat.
And, unlike a few other paranormals that Tanner knew, the vamp wouldn’t regrow those appendages.
“I don’t want him to touch me.” Her gaze met his. “I don’t want him.”
His hands rose. Sank into the heavy weight of her damp hair. “You want me.” Not a question.
Her chin lifted. “As much as you want me.”
Enough talking. He couldn’t handle any more. Tanner’s mouth took hers. The kiss was deep and hot, and just made the shower steam more. He’d never be able to get enough of her taste. Sweet but rich. Flowing right on his tongue. Making him insane with need.
Her body, so slick and warm, pressed against his. His fingers skimmed down her back, over the scars that he’d learned could bring her pleasure and not just more pain.
He only wanted her pleasure. Always.
She moaned into his mouth, and his fingers trailed lightly over the marks on her back. Raised ridges and the ghosts of wings that were gone. Only . . . he could almost feel those wings. So soft and silken beneath his touch.