Tempted By Fate

by Cynthia Eden

  “Help…”

  Mora raced toward that weak cry. She jumped over a tent in shambles, then saw a parking lot waiting about twenty paces away. A body was slumped on the pavement of the lot. A human who’d almost gotten to safety?

  No, not a human.

  As Mora ran closer to the victim, she saw the bloody wings. Wings that were still attached to—“Trina!”

  Trina turned toward her. The angel’s hands were pressed to her stomach…to the terrible wounds that bled and bled. Mora’s knees hit the pavement next to her as she reached for the angel. “It’s okay. You’re going to be all right. Leo is here. He’s going to stop the werewolves.” Mora’s fingers brushed over Trina’s.

  And the images hit her.

  Werewolves…stalking closer to Trina. Seeing the angel try to crawl away because she was so weak. Then the wolves form a tight circle. Growling and snapping, they come at the angel with their mouths open, only…

  Their bodies are shifting. Transforming into something different. Not a wolf. Something—

  Trina grabbed Mora’s hand and held tight. “Not…wolf…”

  The angel was echoing the vision Mora had just seen.

  “H-hell…” Trina whimpered. “…hound…”

  Oh, shit.

  Then Mora heard the growl behind her. She whipped around and the vision she’d just seen…it was already becoming reality. Big, snarling wolves were coming out of the shadows. They were closing in on Trina.

  And they’re closing in on me. I didn’t see myself in the vision…But they’re here, and they’re going to attack us both.

  A big, tan wolf pawed at the ground, and as Mora stared at him, the beast seemed to grow even bigger. His teeth became even sharper.

  “You’re not a werewolf,” Mora yelled. “It was a trick.” All of it. “You’re hellhounds!”

  She could see it, in their eyes. In eyes that glowed with the fires of hell.

  Leo had told her that the hounds would return.

  And guess who is already back? Back…and they were coming for her.

  “I know who you are,” she spat at them. “I know what you are.”

  The wolf in the back of the group transformed. It wasn’t the bone-popping, fur melting transformation of a werewolf. In a blink, the beast was gone and a man stood in his place.

  A man she recognized.

  He was tall, muscled, and wearing a go-to-hell grin. “Hello, Fate.”

  Mora sucked in a sharp breath. It was the same asshole who’d kidnapped her before. The bastard who’d held her in that basement—and…

  I can see it now. The curve of his jaw. The hard edge of his nose. The sneer he wore…he was the same man who’d haunted her nightmares for so long. The same man who’d driven her to jump from her room in Greece because he’d been burning the place down around her.

  Werewolves hadn’t attacked the humans.

  Hellhounds had.

  Hellhounds who were after her and Leo.

  “Have we ever been properly introduced?” he asked with a slow smile. “I’m Reever.”

  Mora positioned her body in front of Trina. “Stay away from us!”

  “But it’s so much fun to take the wings from angels. They always think they’re so fucking superior. Then you rip the wings away, and they have nothing.” He laughed and the beast in front of Mora pawed at the ground. The third attacker was also still in wolf form, and he was starting to circle close. Soon the attack would come, just like it did in my vision.

  “Did he leave you alone?” Reever shouted to her. “Leo deserted his favorite thing? Not very protective of him. Not very caring. But then, I’ve always maintained that Leo doesn’t really give a shit for you. You’re just a toy to amuse—”

  “Go back to hell,” Mora screamed at him. It was bad enough he was about to attack. Did she have to listen to his BS, too?

  Reever laughed—

  And claws burst through the leader’s chest. His mouth dropped open in shock as he stared down, because, obviously, he hadn’t heard Leo’s approach. If he had, then maybe the guy wouldn’t have been such a boastful asshole. Blood began to drip from the hellhound leader’s mouth and he tried to spin and attack Leo—

  But Leo’s fire took him. Reever was screaming as he burned and Mora had to look away from the terrible sight. She turned her stare away just as—The two wolves attacked. They came at Mora, and one locked its teeth around her arm. She yelled as she touched him, sinking her fingers deep in his fur.

  Fire. Burning and burning and never stopping. Screams all around. Never ends. The gates will open…all will be free—

  Leo yanked the wolf away from her. He tossed the beast into the air, and it slammed onto the top of a car. The beast didn’t rise.

  One wolf was left. A beast who swung his head between Leo and Mora. The beast began to inch back.

  Leo lifted his hand. Fire danced over his fingertips. No, over his claws. “Hell is waiting on you. And I’m going to make sure you don’t get a ticket back this time. You’re staying down there. And you’ll burn and burn. You’ll pay for the humans you killed.”

  The beast transformed. He lifted his hands—pale hands. His hair was so blond it was almost white and his body was skeletally thin. “I was following orders! You can’t punish me for doing what you wanted!”

  Shock rolled through Mora. No, no, he was lying.

  But the blond pointed to Mora. “Starting with her…I’ve always done what you wanted! Given the pain you ordered. Taken the lives you wanted claimed. You send us to the fire, but then you pull us back again and again, and we always follow your orders!”

  Behind Mora, Trina was crying.

  “He’s lying, Mora,” Leo snarled. “And it’s the last mistake he’s making.”

  Leo lunged, his hand outstretched, the fire streaking toward the blond, and Mora knew if the fire touched that hellhound, there would be no answers for her.

  She leapt forward, moving as fast as possible, faster than most people realized that she could move. She felt the lick of flames along her back.

  “No!” Leo roared.

  She was in front of the fire. If he didn’t pull it back—can he even do that now?—she knew it would pour over her body. But she’d heal.

  She always healed. The scars were never on the outside, just the inside.

  There were so many scars inside.

  She reached out her hand and touched the hellhound.

  At the same instant, she felt Leo’s arms close around her body. He pulled her close, and her back pressed to his stomach. There was no fire. There was only…

  Leo.

  And the visions. Visions that flew through her head as she saw the hellhound’s fate.

  Leo’s claws flash. The hellhound’s head falls. The fire surrounds him again. He sinks down, down, and then he’s waiting. Rising again because his master calls.

  His master…

  A flash of light came. Bright, blinding.

  And then the wings were the only thing she could see. The hellhound master’s wings.

  “Mora!” Leo whipped her around to face him, and Mora blinked. The visions vanished and the scent of ash filled her nose.

  Leo stared at her with a frantic gaze, his eyes sweeping over her face.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, “I’m—”

  “Never step in front of my fire!” His roar was terrifying. His fury evident. “Never!” He held her so tightly she feared he might break her bones. “Mora, I was afraid I’d burn you. Your beautiful skin…That I’d hurt you…” He shuddered against her.

  She managed to turn her head to the right and look down. She saw the blond’s head a few feet away. His head wasn’t connected to his body. Immediately, her eyes squeezed shut.

  That part of my vision has already come true.

  “You can’t risk yourself. You can’t—”

  “I saw who was controlling them. I saw who is going to summon the hellhounds back.”

  His hold eased on her. He p
ulled back, stared down at her, and swallowed. “Not…me.”

  “Of course, not you,” she muttered and she shoved at him. She scrambled to Trina and put her hands on the angel’s wounds. Shouldn’t she be healing? Trina still had her wings, thank goodness, so she should heal. An angel’s power was always tied to her wings.

  Only she wasn’t healing

  Leo knelt next to Mora and immediately put his hands on the angel. Trina shuddered and her hand flew up. Her fingers linked with Mora’s. “I don’t…want to die.”

  “You’re not dying!” Mora told her. And she held tight to the angel. “You’re going to heal, okay? You’ll be fine.” She cut a quick glance at Leo. His hands were glowing as he touched Trina’s wounds but… “Leo…” His name was a worried whisper. “What’s happening?”

  His head turned. His eyes met hers. “I don’t know.”

  Mora kept her hold on Trina’s hand, but she put her mouth to Leo’s ear. “Why aren’t you healing her?”

  “I can’t!”

  There was such stark desperation and fear in his voice. Mora slipped back, staring at him, and she knew…“We need Luke.”

  Leo shook his head and his hands pressed harder to Trina. “He can’t heal an angel. His power doesn’t work on light paranormals.” Strain showed on his face. “I couldn’t save Merius, but I will save her. I swear, I will save her.”

  Mora tilted her head back and stared at the sky. “Luke!” She screamed for Leo’s twin, knowing there was no choice, not if they wanted to save the angel.

  But Luke didn’t appear. He didn’t come for her summons. She didn’t even know if the guy could hear her cry. But there was one cry he’d never be able to ignore. “Call your brother,” Mora told him.

  Sweat slid down Leo’s face. His focus seemed to be solely on Trina. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll save—”

  “Call. Luke.” Mora said, her voice choking because what was going to happen…she was afraid. “You can’t save her. I’ve seen her dying, with you crouched over her just as you are.”

  He wasn’t looking at Mora. So she grabbed him, and she shook him. Hard.

  “Listen to me!” Mora knew she was yelling. “I’ve seen the angel die. Her blood is on your hands. You try to save her, and it doesn’t work. I saw this. The image just came to me moments ago. You can keep trying, but it will do no good. If you want her to live, call your brother. Summon him, and do it right now.”

  His lips parted. “But Luke can’t help angels.”

  Don’t be too sure. “Neither can you,” she told him, and when he flinched, she wondered if he already knew the truth. Had he suspected it, all along?

  She hadn’t known. She was fucking Fate, and the truth had been hidden from her. Concealed by all of life’s little lies and tricks.

  “Luke,” Leo said, uttering his brother’s name softly.

  A streak of lightning slid across the sky.

  “Luke,” Leo said again as he kept his fingers over Trina’s wounds. Her eyes had closed but ragged breaths still left her body. “Luke!” Leo roared as thunder boomed around them.

  Mora kept her gaze on the dark sky. Powerful bursts of wind seemed to buffet them and then she saw the shadows up above. Shadows…that could be wings. A long, snaking tail.

  A burst of fire.

  Luke had heard his brother. And he was coming to the scene.

  Was he looking for that final battle? For the fight that had been prophesized so long before?

  “Don’t attack,” Mora frantically ordered Leo. “We need his help. He is not the one who summoned the hellhounds. I told you, I saw their master when I touched—”

  “Who is it?” Leo barked at her. “Who has been working against me? Who hurt you? And Trina? Who killed Merius—”

  Luke touched the ground. He came down not as a beast, but as a man. Fully dressed in a fancy suit, but his eyes glowed with power.

  “Who did it?” Leo demanded.

  She licked her lips and knew the betrayal would hurt him. But then, betrayals always hurt, didn’t they? Especially when you didn’t see them coming. “Ramiel. Ramiel summoned the hellhounds. Ramiel watched while they attacked Merius and Trina.”

  With her words, Mora knew exactly what chain of events she was setting in motion. After all, she was Fate. She’d seen what waited for Ramiel. Seen him fighting with Leo. Seen Leo cutting the angel’s wings away.

  Now, well, now she knew why Leo would destroy the angel.

  Because Ramiel has spent centuries trying to destroy Leo.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What in the hell is going on here?” Luke demanded as his hands fisted at his sides. “Who killed the humans? And, shit, is that an angel—”

  Mora leapt to her feet.

  Leo watched, his jaw locked and his hands still on Trina’s terrible wounds, as Mora grabbed Luke’s fisted hand and yanked him toward the angel.

  “Yes, it’s an angel,” Mora fired back. “And hellhounds killed the humans. Now, save the other questions—because we need your help.”

  He pulled away from her. “What on earth makes you think I help?”

  He wasn’t going to help, Leo knew it. There was no reason for Luke to help a dying angel. Trina’s eyes were closed. Tear tracks slid down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He’d failed her. He’d gone after the werewolves and left her with a traitor at her side.

  Ramiel. I will find you. I will destroy you.

  Trina’s blood was on his hands—literally. So was the blood of the humans. Merius…

  “Angels aren’t bound to me,” Luke continued, voice grudging. “Even if I were in the random mood to help—”

  “Stop!” Mora’s shout cut right through his words. “You think you can lie to me? I see. I know! I know what’s happening, and I think you’ve known it, too, for a very long time.” She stood toe-to-toe with him now. “I think you’ve known…ever since you met your mate. Ever since the Lord of the Dark fell for someone that was from the light.”

  Trina’s body was shuddering. It was as if…as if the claws that had sliced her were coated in some kind of poison. Were they? Her wounds won’t close. She just keeps bleeding. And my power doesn’t work on her.

  “My Mina isn’t of the light, not anymore. Her fate,” Luke emphasized with a sneer in his voice. “Changed.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Mora threw right back at him. “Who the hell do you think changed that fate?”

  Stunned silence came from Luke.

  And Leo had to admit, Mora had just taken him by surprise, too.

  “I am the one who put her in your path,” Mora continued, her words tumbling out in rapid-fire succession. “I get that you think you’re the big puppet master who makes deals and engineers the lives of everyone else, but I was playing this gig long before you walked the earth. I sent Mina to that low rent bar in the Keys. I’m the one who knew she needed protection, and what better protection could she get than from the so-called baddest of the bad?”

  “You…no, that’s not possible.”

  Leo pressed down harder on Trina’s wounds. No matter how much power he sent flowing into her, she wasn’t healing. And Luke was just standing back there, seemingly in shock because someone else had messed with his life.

  How does it feel, brother?

  “Mina has never mentioned you to me,” Luke finally growled. “You’re lying. Trying to trick me because you have always wanted Leo to come out on top—”

  “Mina hasn’t mentioned me because she doesn’t know me by name.” Mora’s answer cut through his words like a knife. “Sometimes, all it takes is a whisper to change a person’s whole life. Over five years ago, I whispered in her ear. I told her about you…and the magic you possessed in that damn ring you wear. The Eye of Hell. I sent her after you because I knew that you could change the end I saw for her.”

  “Wh-what end did you see for my Mina?”

  Luke had actually just stumbled over his words. Never happened before.

  “If I
hadn’t sent her to you, Minalynn James would have become a weapon. Used over and over by the government until there was nothing left of her. A trail of bodies would have been in her wake and eventually, her own blood would have soaked the ground. She would have been tortured, trapped, forced to become the monster she feared. I changed all of that. One whisper, that’s all it took.” Her breath heaved out. “So you owe me, Luke. And I’m calling in that debt. Put your hands on that angel and push every bit of your healing power into her.”

  “It will do no good!”

  Something inside of Leo snapped at Luke’s yell. “Just fucking do it!” Leo shouted back to his brother.

  And…Luke did.

  Luke put his hands on top of Leo’s. A hot wave of energy blasted through Luke’s fingers, over Leo’s hands, and into Trina’s wounds. She jerked at the contact and screamed, a high, keening cry as her eyelids flew open. Her eyes were wild and pain-filled. Her body heaved against them and then—

  She stilled.

  Luke’s hands were still on top of Leo’s.

  Trina’s eyes were open. Her breath slid weakly past her lips. “Thank…you.”

  Luke snatched his hands back. Slowly, Leo lifted his own fingers. Blood still covered him, but her wounds were gone. Closed completely. Leo forced himself to smile down at Trina. “You’re going to be all right.”

  She blinked. “Because you saved me.” A faint smile started to curve her lips.

  But Leo shook his head. Then he rose to his feet. Luke was pacing nearby, muttering about owing Fate, and Mora…

  She was looking down at the ground.

  Leo could smell the dead around them. So many bodies. Hurt. Lost. Gone. He lifted his hands and fire shot from his fingertips. The flames flew toward the human bodies, burning them, turning them to ash and clearing the scene. After all, he couldn’t just leave the bodies out there. Cops would eventually come. If they found those mangled bodies, the gruesome discovery would just lead to questions. Questions that the paranormals didn’t want to answer.

  Trina rose to her feet. Her wings spread behind her, but she didn’t take flight. She stood there, staring uncertainly at him.

  “Ramiel…” Her soft voice barely carried over the crackle of his flames. “He…he just watched while those beasts attacked.”