by Cynthia Eden
Her gaze darted back to the road. The interstate was deserted. Perfect. Run, run.
She’d spent the last ten years running.
“They shot me. They made it my fight.” Now his fingers fell away from hers. “They’re the ones who asked for death.”
Her stomach felt like it was twisted into knots.
“So they are the ones who will get him.”
His words sounded like a promise.
“The bullets didn’t even slow that joker down,” Riley muttered as the gray SUV hurtled through the city.
Brandt stared straight ahead. “Those bullets can slow down anything.” He’d made sure of it. He’d fucking traded more than a pound of flesh for them.
That particular batch of bullets had sent vampires to the ground and caused demons to scream in agony.
They could damn well take out the bastard with Jade.
“I put two of ’em in him,” Riley said as he yanked the steering wheel to the left and took the sharp turn. “He didn’t even stumble. He just spun around and sent a ball of fire at us.”
Interesting. Brandt rubbed his chin. “What the hell is he?”
“Not human, that’s for sure.” Riley exhaled on a rough sigh. “He’s not gonna be easy to kill.”
The good prey never was.
“Jade was desperate to get to him.” Riley’s fingers tapped on the steering wheel. “She jumped off that balcony and ran to him, screaming his name.”
Brandt’s jaw clenched. He didn’t particularly enjoy this news.
“I’m tellin’ you . . .” Riley hesitated and Brandt caught the tremble of what could have been fear in the shifter’s voice when he said, “we need to find out just what that bastard is before we do anything else.”
Brandt remembered the look in Jade’s eyes as she’d driven toward him. Rage. So much rage. But . . .
You veered away, baby. Can’t kill me, can you?
Just as he couldn’t kill her.
“I’ll tell you what he is,” Brandt smiled as his fingers slid down to stroke the edge of his chin. “He’s fucking dead.”
Let the hunt begin.
The three-story cabin sat nestled on a lake, its large glass windows gleaming in the early sunlight. Jade braked near the edge of the long, winding drive and jumped out of the car. Vaguely curious, Az watched as she ran from the vehicle. But she didn’t go far. A few seconds later, she was back—and tossing a FOR SALE sign into the back of the BMW.
“I figure we can stay here for a night, maybe two.” She slanted him a concerned glance as she drove the car up the drive. “We can crash here long enough to get you patched up.”
But he was already healing. At least, his shoulder was. His back ached and burned where the bullet still lodged near his spine.
Pain was an unusual sensation. Since falling, he’d realized there were so many different ways to feel pain. Fast cuts, slices with a knife that opened the flesh in an instant. Deep, burning pain that tore beneath the skin when a bullet lodged in muscle and—
“You’re not going to pass out on me, are you?” Worry had roughed her voice.
Jade braked the car, and Az realized she was staring at him with wide eyes.
He lifted a brow. “Hardly.” Her suggestion was fairly insulting. As if he couldn’t handle a few bullet wounds.
“Good.” Her breath expelled in a fast rush. He watched her hurry out of the car and race around to his side. She opened his door and reached for him. “Come on. Just lean on me.”
How . . . interesting. She was trying to help him again.
Once out of the car, he leaned. Az didn’t need to, of course, but he liked the feel of her body against his. She took his left arm and draped it over her shoulders. Her body angled toward his, and the lush fullness of her breasts pressed into his chest.
So soft.
Her scent teased his nose. Those strawberries again. He needed a taste of them. Of her.
His head tilted toward her as she maneuvered them along the stone path that led to the dwelling. It was odd, but her body—small, slender—seemed to fit just right beside his.
When they got to the front door, a rectangular lock box waited for them. Jade yanked on it. Nothing happened. She yanked again, swearing—
Az grabbed it for her and ripped it loose. A key popped free. Jade caught the key in midair and gave him a sunny smile.
The smile stopped him. She had a dimple in her right cheek. He hadn’t noticed that before, but there it was. Small, almost hidden. And her lips looked even fuller than before.
Taste. He’d gotten to sample her mouth, but he wanted it again. Wanted so much more from her.
She opened the door. Az barely glanced at the cabin as he entered. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Jade was biting her lower lip. She wasn’t looking at the cabin’s interior, either. Instead, she stared at him with eyes that were too big and dark.
Those eyes that made him think far too much of sin.
Az reached for his shirt. He yanked it over his head. Dropped it on the floor. There was no missing the hitch in her breathing.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “Your-your shoulder. . .”
He knew that wound had already closed. Az turned his back on her. “I can’t reach the second bullet.” This was the area that bothered him.
Silence.
Then the wooden floor creaked as she walked toward him. When her silken hand touched his shoulder, Az tensed.
“I don’t . . . I don’t want to hurt you.”
Glancing back over his shoulder, he said, “You won’t.”
Her gaze held his. “You don’t know that.” Her gaze fell to his back. He saw the faint flare of her eyes as she took in the damage. After a moment, she gave a grudging nod. “But we have to get that bullet out.” She bit her lip. “We should get you to a doctor. It’s so close to your spine—”
“I don’t need a doctor.”
“Uh, yeah, trust me, you do—”
“A human doctor can’t work on me.” Not unless they wanted the doc to freak and call in the cops.
She sighed as she eased away from him. “There’s a bedroom through there.” She pointed to the doorway. “I—”
“You’ve been here before.” Not a suspicion. A certainty.
Her smile seemed sad. “It helps to have a backup plan in place.”
He wasn’t sure what those words really meant.
Jade headed toward the kitchen area. She said, “I’ll see if I can sterilize—”
“No need.” He rolled his shoulders and felt the pull of the bullet. “I’ll heal from any infection almost immediately.”
Jade wasn’t looking at him as she said, “Those aren’t . . . normal bullets.”
He’d already figured that out. Weapons of man couldn’t hurt his kind. A normal bullet would have been nothing to him. This—it had ripped and torn, and inside, it burned.
She washed her hands. “Go get on the bed,” she said again. “I’ll be right there.”
He turned away from her and stalked to the bedroom. The bed was big, easily wide enough for him and Jade, and he could picture her there. Naked. Waiting for him.
Focus on the pain.
Because he didn’t need to be thinking about sex with her. Not again.
There was a job to do. Jade needed him, and if he played this game just right, she might wind up helping him.
A human, hunted by Other. Saving her would be noble. The right thing to do.
A task that might even earn him . . . redemption.
He’d looked at this all wrong before. The fall wasn’t about living in hell. Instead, it was about showing that you belonged in heaven. If he did the job right, if he helped her . . .
I might get to go back.
Az lay facedown on the bed. The creaking hardwood told him when Jade entered the room. A few moments later, the bed dipped beneath her weight.
“Have you removed a bullet before?” Az asked. Not that it mattered. The
bullet had to come out. By an expert or novice hand.
Her hands pressed against his back. “Do you want me to lie and say yes?”
Az almost smiled.
He felt her breath blow over his skin. “It’s so close to your spine . . .” She’d said that before, but this time, heavy worry weighted the words. Then she lifted her hands. “I don’t think I can do this.”
He turned, caught her hand. “You have to.” His jaw locked, and Az said, “It burns, Jade. Like it’s eating away at me from the inside.”
She licked her lips. “It . . . it is. Brandt got those bullets from some witch. I don’t even know that the hell they are made of, but Brandt’s pack uses them to take out the paranormals who get in their way.” Her lips turned down as sadness flickered over her features. “For up close kills, they always use their claws, but from a distance . . . nothing stops their guns.”
“Magic bullets.” Az shook his head. So the shifters had stepped up their game. “Guess I’m just lucky the bastard was a poor shot.” It took a whole lot to kill a Fallen, but maybe—
“You weren’t lucky.” Her hands were on him again, and her slightly cool touch soothed his overheated flesh. “They didn’t want you dead. They wanted you incapacitated. They were—”
She stopped.
But Az knew what Jade had been planning to say next. “They wanted to make me easier prey?”
“The better to torture later,” she said quietly. He felt the press of metal on his back. She must have found some kind of tool in the kitchen. “Don’t move.” Her nervous whisper. “Please don’t move.”
He felt pressure on his back. More pain as the burning deepened.
“Almost got it,” Jade told him. She moved her body, straddling his legs and ass. “Almost—there!”
The pain receded instantly. The muscles and tissues began to heal with a faint tightness that stretched across his back.
“Un . . . freaking . . . believable.” Jade’s hushed voice. “Your back—I can actually see the wound closing.”
And he could feel the warmth of her body all along his.
But then she was scrambling away from him. Climbing off his back and onto the bed beside him. In her hand, she held the bullet.
Az turned and pushed up beside her. He took the bullet, staring down at it. Gold in color, the bullet had a surprisingly heavy weight, and it burned. The heat singed his fingertips. The bullet he’d taken from his shoulder had burned, too, and that was why he’d ditched it at the first opportunity.
Now that he knew just how powerful this bullet was, he’d be holding onto it.
Curious, Az glanced at her. “Did it hurt you to touch it?”
“No.” Jade shook her head. She slipped away and headed toward the bathroom to wash the blood from her hands.
The bullets didn’t burn humans. Interesting. He put the bullet on the nearby nightstand. He’d have to find out just what special hell was in that bullet.
Huh. Maybe it was hell. Literally. It seemed to him that the supernaturals had gotten particularly vicious and inventive with their attacks lately. Even going so far as to use Angel’s Dust against each other.
Angel’s Dust. The Other weren’t talking about a drug when they named this weapon. They were referring to the actual dust that was left behind when an angel’s wings burned away. A few enterprising paranormals had managed to catch or find some of the stuff, and they’d been using it—with deadly consequences.
The magic from an angel’s wings could be very, very potent.
So now, angels appeared to be the main course on the menu—because everyone wanted that special kick of power. Like there needed to be another reason for the Other to go after his kind.
Az looked up and found Jade’s intense stare on him. “Tell me what you are, Az. I need to know.” She stood near the edge of the bed.
She’d asked before. He hadn’t answered. This time, he wouldn’t lie to her. In fact, he couldn’t. Angels weren’t allowed to lie.
But he wasn’t exactly an angel, not anymore.
“Those marks on your back, the ones that cut across your shoulders . . .” She leaned forward and traced a fingertip over the left scar—a scar that marked where his wing had once been.
When she touched his scar, a shock of pleasure stole through his body. The pleasure was so intense that he shuddered.
“Az?”
Her fingers were lightly caressing the scar.
The wings were always the most sensitive part of an angel’s body, and even the scars still maintained that enhanced sensitivity. So when she touched him, he just thought—want more.
“Keep touching me,” he gritted. The fire in his body didn’t come from his wound any longer. It was pure, hot need. Desire.
Lust.
Humans lusted. They needed. They took their pleasure.
I want the pleasure.
Her hands feathered over his back. “What happened to you?”
“I fell.” Truth.
Now both of her hands were on him, stroking over the scars that lined his shoulders and sending pleasure pulsing through his body.
That sweet scent of strawberries filled his nose as she leaned in even closer. Then—
He felt her lips on the scar that cut across his right shoulder blade. “I’m sorry you hurt,” she whispered and kissed the scar.
A dull roar seemed to fill Az’s head. Raw lust and need flooded his body. He spun, locked his arms around her, and pulled Jade close. His mouth found hers and his tongue drove deep.
Her fingers were on his scars, sliding gently over them even as her tongue stroked back against his.
Az’s cock jerked toward her, so full and thick that he ached. Pleasure.
He shifted their bodies to better bring her beneath him. Az kissed his way down her throat. He liked the way she gasped his name. Liked the lush feel of her breasts against his chest.
Liked her.
He yanked up her shirt. Her breasts spilled against the black cups of her bra. Taste.
With a hand that wasn’t quite steady, Az pushed the thin bra straps down her shoulders. Her breasts pressed toward him. Her small nipples were tight and dark pink. He lowered his head, and his tongue slipped over the edge of her nipple.
“Az.”
She tasted better than strawberries.
He licked her again. Again. His mouth closed over her breast, and he began to suck her flesh.
No wonder humans enjoyed sex. So far, it seemed pretty damn fantastic.
Her hands were on him. Her hips arching toward him. Her body was silk and sin and he wanted more.
But. . .
Angels didn’t need sex. Angels didn’t crave.
He craved her. Az’s hands were on her jeans. He yanked the button loose. Eased down the zipper.
Temptation.
He should fight the temptation. He should—
A thin scrap of lace.
Az shoved down her jeans. His fingers slipped under the edge of her lacy panties.
Touch her. Take her.
So much temptation.
“I want you,” her voice, whispering to him. His head lifted. Her lips were red. Full. He kissed her again. Drank her in and wanted more. His cock was so heavy with arousal that he felt like he’d explode any minute.
In her.
But her hand caught his. “I want you, but Brandt destroys everything—everyone—I want.” The memory of pain darkened her words.
Az grabbed onto his control and held tight. Take. Touch.
Jade shook her head. “This isn’t a good idea. They’re already after you because of me.” Now she pushed against him. “Let me go, Az.”
He didn’t want to let her go. Not then, not—
What am I doing? Az yanked his hands away from her and rolled to the other side of the bed. He stared at the ceiling as he sucked in deep, heaving breaths.
Jade didn’t leave the bed. She stayed there, just inches away. “He killed the last man that I slept with—Brandt kille
d him right in front of me.”
Bastard. Az turned his head and gazed at her. Jade’s eyes were on him.
“They’re gunning for you now, because you helped me that first night,” she told him. “Brandt . . .” She swallowed and her eyes were sad. “He likes to play with his prey.”
He didn’t really gave a damn about Brandt right then. Not while his body was hard and tight with need for her.
She sat up and climbed from the bed. Her body . . . perfect. “Having sex with me will just make him want to hurt you more.”
He watched her walk away, and the rage exploded.
In an instant, Az was across the room, in front of her. Reaching for her arms and hauling her up against him. All that sweet flesh. “Do you think I care at all about what some panther bastard thinks he can do to me?”
Her eyes widened. “Um, no?”
“I am a Fallen. I fear no one or nothing on this earth.”
“A-a Fallen?”
“I’ve seen heaven. I’ve seen hell. I’ve been the hand of death.”
She swallowed.
“The panther can hunt me, but in the end, I will be the one to kill him.” As he’d killed so many others. Thousands of souls—taken.
What’s one more?
Her pink tongue snaked across her lower lip. The lip he’d kissed. He could still taste her.
“The scars on your back . . .” she whispered.
Tell her all. “My wings burned away when I fell.”
Jade’s eyes widened as she slowly shook her head. “No, no, that’s not possible. You’re saying that you’re—”
He released her. Stepped back. “I don’t lie.”
Her chest rose and fell with her rapid breaths. Rose and fell . . . and her breasts were still tight with arousal. Just as his body still yearned for her.
“I’m a Fallen angel, and you—” His voice roughened with both his rage and his lust, “You’re my temptation.”
CHAPTER FIVE
An angel.
Jade stood in the shower, letting the rough blast of water slide over her skin. The shower was supposed to cool her off, but, um, no.