by Cynthia Eden
Her mouth was so dry that it hurt to swallow. “How did you know . . . what they’d done?”
He took a gliding step toward her. “I could see the sin on them. Almost smell it.” His gaze dropped to Tanner. “Like I see it on him. Evil. He reeks of it. He’s got blood on him, and it will never wash off.”
Like the crazy jerk in front of her could talk.
“I’m going to kill him for you,” Jonathan promised with a nod. “Just like I killed the others for you.”
For you. Her heart lurched as she began to fully understand.
The two panther shifters in the alley . . .
“I knew you wanted those animals dead. You tried to do it. I saw you.”
A shiver slid over her at his words. She’d felt eyes on her, but she’d thought it had been Tanner watching over her. It had been Jonathan?
“I shot ’em full with one of my special mixes. A quick injection . . .”
Back in the interrogation room, he’d mentioned drugs. The cocky bastard, he’d been telling her what he’d done to them.
“They never even had the time to scream.”
No, they’d just had time to die.
Jonathan’s gaze dropped to Tanner’s still body. “He’s the one who led me to you. He was so focused on you, almost addicted. I wondered about the woman who was driving him crazy. Then I saw you. Your wings. And I knew.”
“You knew nothing,” she whispered. Tanner’s body was completely still against her. Still—but tight and tensed for battle. He was ready to attack, she knew it. And when he made his move, those claws of his had better go deep. She stood up, determined to distract Jonathan. She needed to give Tanner the perfect moment to strike. “You don’t know anything about me. I am nothing like you.”
Jonathan’s brows rose. “You wanted to kill. You wanted to punish.” His eyes were bright with a feverish light. “I punished for you. I killed for you, and I’ll do it again.” He rushed for her.
Marna was ready. She pushed out with her fire. He batted it away with one hand, but that was what she wanted him to do. In that instant, while his focus was on the flames, she kicked him, then drove her fist into his jaw. He stumbled back.
And Tanner attacked. He jumped up from the ground and struck with his claws out. His claws sank into Jonathan’s chest.
Jonathan screamed in fury and pain as he wrenched away from the attack. The hybrid stumbled back.
“I’m punishing now,” Tanner snarled. “I’m—”
Jonathan sent a wave of fire blasting right at Tanner. Tanner’s arms burned, and Marna leapt in front of him. “Stop!”
The flames froze. Not by Jonathan’s will, but by hers. Fury pumped inside of her. So strong that her whole body seemed to ache. “You aren’t killing him.” Not when Tanner was the one thing on this earth that she cared about.
The flames disappeared into a wisp of smoke.
“You choose him?” Shock had slackened Jonathan’s features.
What? Was the guy really that delusional? Did he think—
“I’m just like you!” His hands fell limply at his sides. “I’ve killed . . . for you.” Now he sounded lost. “He’s done nothing for you, while I’ve done everything.”
Wrong. Tanner had done the one thing that mattered most. He’d given her a reason to live.
Jonathan shook his head. “We can put the world back to order. Punish the wicked. Send the monsters to hell.”
Didn’t he see? “You are one of those monsters.” One of the worst she’d ever seen. And he didn’t understand just how evil he truly was. “That cop you attacked, what was his crime?”
He’d left an innocent to die—why? The cop had never done anything to her.
But Jonathan shouted, “He saw you! I know he did! You were with Tanner, so he must have seen! And he would have told the others that you were still alive! That—”
“You almost killed him for that?” she broke in, stunned. Tanner was behind her, swearing, and . . . she could smell his burned flesh.
Jonathan’s lips curved. “I’ve killed for less.”
Monster. “That’s not the way of our kind.”
Jonathan glared back at her. “I thought you’d understand. I thought you’d appreciate all I’ve done.” He shook his head and looked sad, but determined. “I see the truth now.”
The truth? What? That she was standing between him and Tanner, determined to keep her lover safe?
“You don’t see a fuckin’ thing,” Tanner growled, “but in a few minutes, I’ll be makin’ you see plenty.”
Marna glanced back quickly. Tanner was on his feet. Burned. Bloody, but not out. Not by a long shot. The floor creaked as he stalked closer.
She focused back on Jonathan.
He smiled. “You still think this can end well for you?” His furious gaze was on Tanner.
“I know it will.” Tanner pushed to her side and weaved a bit. He needed to shift, but if he did, he’d be vulnerable. Could she keep Jonathan busy long enough for Tanner to make that shift?
I’ll have to.
“Your brother is bleeding out in the back of a patrol car.” Jonathan spoke casually as he wiped his bloody hands on his shirt. “You’re both dying today, shifter. The only question is . . . which one of you gets to hell first?”
“You do,” Tanner promised him. “Then when we . . . get there . . . Cody and I will take turns kicking your . . . ass.”
Jonathan laughed. “Want to taste that fire again?” A ball of flames rose above his hand. “I’ll burn all your skin right off your body.”
No, he wouldn’t. She just had to get him away from Tanner long enough for her shifter to heal. To heal . . . and then kick ass. He did that so well.
“You’re not killing us,” she told him. “We’re killing you.” Not a lie. Promises weren’t lies.
But he laughed and sent his blasts of fire all around the room. The fire licked its way up the walls.
Marna pushed out with her own energy, whirling around as she tried to fight the blaze. Why was he so strong?
While she was still so weak?
Every time she put out the fire, he started it again. Bones were snapping near her, popping, and Tanner was shifting. Yes. She just had to keep battling the flames and keep Jonathan fighting her long enough for Tanner to—
Something sharp pressed into her side. Pain stabbed through her—no, she’d been stabbed.
The flames rose higher. She turned, and found Jonathan inches from her. “You disappointed me,” he said and sounded so sad. “So I have to punish you now.”
No. She shook her head. The flames were so hot.
Bones were still popping. A panther was growling and . . .
“Your lover wasn’t the first shifter I met,” Jonathan told her. “So many beasts over the years. So fucking many. Those animals begged for their justice, and I gave them just what they deserved.”
The pain twisted in her side. Marna glanced down. Her blood spilled down her clothing.
“At death, a shifter’s body always goes back to its human form.”
She knew this crap. Pain pulsed through her. The fire was rising again, and she couldn’t seem to muster the energy to fight the flames.
“But if you can cut off a shifter’s limbs before it dies, those pieces don’t ever change back. They freeze, and you get a real nice souvenir.”
He was a sick freak.
He yanked his hand back. Marna gasped at the agony. And she saw it wasn’t a knife that had stabbed into her. Heavy claws had dug into her flesh and torn her muscles.
Claws?
Her gaze rose to meet his.
“I took these from that panther shifter in the swamp. Russell. The guy thought he was such a badass, but you should have heard him crying when I sliced off his hand. I took my time with him. I tore that animal apart with his own damn claws.” He smiled. “Then I kept my souvenir, because I knew just how well a shifter’s claws could work against the other supernaturals out there.”
&n
bsp; Other supernaturals . . . me. Angels could be killed by those claws. So could every other supernatural beast that walked the earth.
Her body trembled. The scent of flowers deepened. And . . . was that an angel she saw? Slipping into the room?
“I didn’t want to use these on you. But you gave me no choice.” He lifted his hand and drove the claws into her chest. “If you’re not with me, angel, then you’re dead to me.”
Blood dripped from her lips. “Bastion . . .” She could see him now.
He’d come for her. Just like he’d said.
“You should have been more.” Spittle flew from Jonathan’s mouth. His face was right next to hers. Her body shook, and he snarled at her, “You were supposed to be mine. Supposed to be perfect! Forever!”
No one was perfect. Not even an angel. She hurt so much, but the pain wouldn’t last. Nothing lasts. She tasted blood and death on her tongue. But she heard the fierce growl of her panther and the sound had a smile curving her lips. Jonathan wouldn’t kill anyone else. Not after Tanner got hold of him.
“Go to hell,” she whispered and fell back.
Even as the panther leapt into the air.
Cody crawled from the car. That bastard . . . Cody had always told his brother that he had to watch out for the humans. I was right.
Only he hadn’t been watching well enough this time, either.
Pain ate at his insides and twisted his gut. The blasts from Jonathan’s gun had knocked him out for a few moments, and he still couldn’t see straight.
Drugs.
Yeah, he knew the feeling, but . . .
The bastard cop had made a mistake. Demons and drugs . . . when you mixed them, you never knew what you’d get.
Addiction. Hell.
He wouldn’t listen to the whispers now. Couldn’t. He had to find Tanner. Find the lost angel. And he had a cop to kill.
He pushed to his feet. Took a heavy breath. Then, he put one foot in front of the other. Again. Again. Blood fell in his wake. The drugs had started to numb the pain but the blood, nothing was stopping it. With every step, more flowed from him.
I won’t be weak this time. He’d show Tanner. He could be strong. He could be there to save his brother.
It was his turn.
He just had to . . . get to Tanner.
Good thing it was turning daylight. Otherwise, his blood would be drawing the vamps in.
Good thing . . .
Then he heard the faint whisper of footsteps behind him. His eyes squeezed closed. He’d never had good luck.
“Um . . . look at that,” a familiar voice drawled. “A walking blood buffet.”
Cody turned and saw the vamp stalking him.
No, he’d never had good luck.
I’m sorry, Tanner.
Then he faced the creature that stalked him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kill. Destroy.
Tanner slammed his body into Jonathan’s. The jerk just laughed as he crashed into the floor.
He wouldn’t be laughing when Tanner ripped his throat out.
The scent of Marna’s blood filled his nose and drove the panther into a frenzy. Hurt. His mate was hurt. He’d destroy the bastard who’d made her bleed.
And how had he missed the evil in Jonathan? How had he looked right at him and not seen it?
Because he was human.
No, Tanner had just thought the guy was human. He hadn’t smelled like a shifter, like a vamp, or even a demon. And he hadn’t possessed the telltale scent of an angel.
Just smelled human. Smelled human. Acted human. But that had been nothing but a lie.
Now Jonathan was on his feet and holding some kind of claws in his hands. The SOB thought he was a shifter now, too? Tanner would show him the damage real claws could do.
Tanner sliced out and let his claws rip across Jonathan’s forearms. Jonathan screamed. Blood flowed.
More. Destroy.
Tanner slammed his paws into Tanner’s chest. This time when he took his partner down, the guy didn’t get back up. Because he didn’t want to make it easy on him, Tanner sank his claws into Jonathan’s chest. This bastard was going to suffer before he went to hell.
For Cody. For the pain that he’d put his brother through.
For the young cop. That kid hadn’t deserved to have his body mangled on a dark, lonely road.
For Marna. Jonathan never should have come for her. To make her bleed, to make her cry out in pain . . .
She wasn’t crying anymore.
That knowledge slowly penetrated the rage of the beast. With his claws still buried in Jonathan’s chest, the panther’s head turned to the right. He saw Marna. Lying on the floor. Blood all around her.
Not moving.
Breathing?
Yes, yes, she was breathing. He could hear the faint rasp of her breath. And he could smell . . .
An angel.
The panther roared, and his head swung back to face Jonathan. The guy was grinning his sick, satisfied grin. Not screaming anymore.
He’d scream again. Tanner would make sure of it.
“F-fuckin’ animal . . . you’ll never . . . have her again.”
He’d have her forever. Marna was his. This bastard was dead, and Marna was going to—
“I touched her . . . heart.”
The panther’s gaze flew to the claws that Jonathan still gripped in his hand.
Touched it? Or . . . Took it?
“She deserved . . .” Jonathan coughed up blood. “To be p-punished.”
The beast snarled and his teeth sank into Jonathan’s throat. Jonathan struggled, shoved, tried to break free, but the panther held tight to the prey that would never escape.
Death didn’t come softly. He came hard. With a violent flash of fangs and fury. When Jonathan’s breath choked back into his lungs, when his body stopped spasming, Tanner let him go—straight to hell.
And he saw the angel standing over them. Only Bastion wasn’t reaching down to take the cop.
Bastion was staring over at Marna, and there was no missing the sorrow on his face. “I told her . . .”
No.
The panther leapt back to her side, but—but there was nothing the beast could do. Nothing but kill and destroy and he’d done that job well.
With her breath barely rasping out, Marna needed the man, not the panther. The shift hit him, brutal and swift, as the fur melted away and his bones reshaped.
Hold on. Marna just had to stay with him a few more moments. He’d shift, and then he could heal her. The same way he’d healed Cody. He could do this.
He reached for Marna with the hands of a man and not the claws of a beast. His fingers were shaking as he lifted her up against him. Her eyes were closed, but at his touch, her lashes slowly lifted.
“I was . . . waiting for you,” she whispered.
He’d spent his whole life waiting for her.
“Is he . . . d-dead?”
Tanner didn’t glance back. Bastion had done his job while he’d shifted. “He’s rotting in hell.” Jonathan had better be.
She swallowed. “You know . . . I . . . loved you.”
Screw this. “Baby, you’re gonna keep loving me.” He put his hand over her chest. Her blood was warm against his fingers. “You’re gonna love me for the next fifty years, at least.” Power pulsed through him, familiar, as if he’d been using it all of his life.
When he’d just been killing and fighting like a beast.
But this time, he was healing. Saving her life. He’d used the power before, and he could use it now. He would use it.
He pulled the healing magic from deep inside of him and pumped it toward her. He could feel the death angel coming closer to him.
“Stand back,” Tanner snarled at Bastion. “You aren’t taking her.” No one was.
“Another soul must be taken,” Bastion said quietly.
“Well, it won’t be her.” Energy poured through him, and drove right into her. She gasped and arched beneath
his touch, and a faint white light appeared where his hand touched her chest.
His hands had always been used for killing. His claws came out so quickly. But not now. Now was all about healing.
Tanner bent close to Marna. Did she even realize just how important she was to him? “I knew from the first moment I saw you.” Covered in blood. Broken, on the ground. Broken, but still so beautiful. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He’d taken one look at her, and realized his life would change. “I knew . . . you were mine.”
He’d planned to kill Brandt for hurting her. Brother or not, he’d been a dead man. But Azrael had beaten him to the punch.
After that, he’d tried to give Marna space. Tried to let her go. He knew how dangerous he was.
Her breathing steadied. The flesh seemed to close beneath his fingers.
He’d tried, but he hadn’t been able to stay away from her. He’d needed to see her, just to make sure she was safe.
Once he’d actually had her body against his, had his body buried in hers, there’d been no turning back.
Love? The word was too tame for the way he felt about her. And he’d never be tame. She consumed him. Made him wild, desperate.
For her. Always her.
There was another wound in her side. Deep, and bleeding too much. Lethargy pulled at him, but Tanner lifted his left hand and pressed it against her side. Bastion was still there, watching him, but not touching. The guy needed to leave. Just drag his winged ass away and go.
“She’s not dying,” Tanner growled. Not on his watch. The bad guy was dead. This was the point where they got to live happily ever freaking after.
He was getting his princess. She’d get her beast. The rest of the world could go and screw off.
“Tanner!” He didn’t look up at his brother’s shout. He couldn’t take his attention off Marna. She needed his focus. His power. If that power broke, what would happen to her?
He dug deep, pulled more energy from within, and pushed it toward her wounds.
“No! You can’t!” Now Cody was beside him. He could smell his brother’s blood. So Jonathan hadn’t been lying. The bastard had shot him and left him to die.