by Cynthia Eden
Because she kept picturing Az. His intense gaze. His wide, muscled chest, those lick me abs. She could feel his hands on her skin. His mouth on her breast and—
A Fallen angel.
Her eyes squeezed shut as she put her face under the water.
Sure, she’d heard tales about angels. When she’d been seventeen, she’d had a brutal awakening to the supernatural world around her. Since then, she’d seen just about everything out there—demons, vamps, even a djinn once—and he’d scared the hell out of her.
But—an angel? Oh, damn, if he knew all the things she’d done . . .
She was covered in blood and sin.
The shower curtain was yanked to the side and the sudden rush of cold air had her eyes flying open as she spun around.
Az stood there. His gaze swept slowly over her.
Should she pretend a modesty that she didn’t feel? His stare was scorching and—
“Someone’s outside,” he said.
Aw, crap. This wasn’t about wild sex.
And, ah, so much for a safe place.
She jumped out of the shower. He didn’t move back. Her body brushed against his as she yanked for a towel.
“You’re afraid of me,” Az charged with his voice flat and cold.
But, no, she wasn’t. “Should I be?” Jade asked as she secured the towel between her breasts.
She expected an instant denial. He’d been the one saving her ass for the past few days. He was the hero. The angel for goodness sake. But—
“Yes.”
Then she heard the pounding at the door. What had to be a fist thudding into the wood. Somebody sure wanted inside the cabin awful badly. Not a good sign.
“Get dressed,” he told her as he backed up. Finally. She could breathe. “I’ll take care of our visitor.”
Wait, take care of—how exactly?
But he was gone and she rushed to pull on her jeans even as she heard a voice call out . . .
“This is the police. Open the door!”
No, no, no! “Don’t, Az!” Jade yelled back and she lurched forward. She’d managed to put on her jeans—no underwear—and her bra.
Az turned to stare at her.
“You can’t let the cops in,” she told him, her voice hushed.
No one could be allowed to get in. They had to run.
He frowned at her.
Oh, jeez. Angels.
The front door thudded again. “Open up!”
She jerked a fresh white T-shirt over her head. “We stole a car,” she reminded Az and grabbed his hand. A car that had probably been equipped with some kind of anti-theft tracking device. Dammit, she hadn’t even checked for that. Beginner’s mistake, but she’d been in a rush. “He probably tracked us.” It had been three hours since they’d made it to the cabin. Three too-fast hours.
Plenty of time for a cop to hunt them down.
“We’ve got to get out of here.”
He just stared at her.
Okay, maybe she needed to break this down for him. “He’ll throw us in jail.”
Az offered her a crooked smile. “No, he won’t.”
She blinked.
“Because he’s not really a cop.”
Then Az pulled away from her. He stalked to the front door. She could all but see the tension that coiled his body with fierce energy.
Wait—had he said . . . not really a cop?
The door shook again. Even harder this time.
Az yanked the door open. She caught a fast glimpse of a police officer’s uniform. A badge. A gun that was aimed at Az—
And then Az snatched the gun right out of the guy’s hands. In an instant, the gun was flying across the room, and Az had the cop by the throat.
Um, he sure looks like a cop to me. Over the years, she’d sure encountered her share of those uniformed men and women, too.
Jade rushed across the room. “Az! Put him down, you can’t—”
Then she saw the cop’s teeth. The too-sharp canines that hung behind his lips. The man’s claws were out and currently digging into Az’s arms.
Despite the attack, Az wasn’t letting go of him.
“I could smell him,” Az said, lifting the fellow even higher into the air. “Shifter. Same scent those other jerks carried.”
But she didn’t recognize this guy, and she’d thought that she knew every panther shifter in Brandt’s pack.
She rose onto her toes and peered over Az’s shoulder. Was this maybe-cop another hunter Brandt had hired?
“Call him . . . off . . .” The guy grunted. “I’m not . . . gonna hurt you.”
Like she hadn’t heard that one before. Jade scrambled back and found the discarded weapon. She checked to make sure it was loaded—oh yes—and then rushed around Az to aim the weapon at the cop. “Step back, Az.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he did.
The shifter fell to the floor, gasping. Az had a killer grip.
“Who are you?” Jade demanded as her hold on the gun tightened. “And why the hell are you dressed like a cop?”
His palms flattened on the wooden floor. “Because I am a cop.” He looked up at her, revealing a hard, chiseled face—and a wicked smile that flashed his sharp canines. “And a shifter.”
“Are you working for Brandt?” Because Az had said the guy smelled like the others.
“I’m working to take Dupre down.” He said those words with vehemence. “That twisted bastard is destroying the panthers in Louisiana.” Now the stranger rose to his feet. “We’re not all psychotic fucks, despite what you may think.”
“You mean despite what I’ve seen.” She wasn’t lowering the weapon. Jade didn’t trust this guy. Sure, cops were supposed to be all good and safe, but the only man she felt safe with was—
Az.
Az’s gaze darted between her and the cop.
The shifter grunted. “Look, my name’s Tanner. Tanner Chance. And I want to stop Dupre just as much as you do.”
“Doubtful.” Highly.
Az spread his feet a bit and straightened his shoulders, a slight movement that held an aura of menace. “How did you find us?” Az wanted to know.
“You stole a car.” The cop shifter shrugged. “There’s an APB out for you. I was just the lucky bastard who found you first.”
“I don’t believe in luck,” Jade said. Especially since she’d only seemed to have bad luck in the last few years.
The gun was a steady weight in her hand. She was a good shot, but even if she hadn’t been, it would be hard to miss her target at a range this close.
“Fine. Don’t believe in it.” The guy called Tanner exhaled heavily. “Believe in a GPS locator and a cop who hauled ass to get to you before anyone else could.”
She could buy that bit.
Tanner’s gaze slid to Az. “Who’s the muscle?”
Az crossed his arms over his chest and stared steadily back at the cop.
“Caught my scent, huh?” Tanner frowned at him. “So you’ve got an enhanced sense of smell, and you’re too damn strong to be a human.”
“I’m her guardian,” Az said. “Azrael.”
Her gaze slipped to him. As in . . . guardian angel? Seriously? Of course, it totally figured that her guardian angel would have fallen from grace.
Tanner’s gaze narrowed. “You’re also the asshole that managed to piss off the pack of panthers in New Orleans.”
Az smiled.
Her heart did a crazy jump in her chest. Why did she like his smile so much?
“I do what I can,” Az allowed. He hadn’t relaxed his body, not yet.
But then, she wasn’t about to drop her weapon either. Jade had met far too many boys in blue that she didn’t trust.
The cop raised his hands, probably trying to show that he was harmless. The fact that he was sporting two-inch long claws didn’t help his harmless act any. “Look, you don’t have much time,” Tanner said. “Brandt has a bounty on your head, and, if they aren’t already, then every sup
ernatural in the area will be gunning for you.”
Jade laughed at that. “He’s been hunting me for years.”
“No. Not you. Not this time.” His dark head inclined toward Az. “Your guardian.” Tanner’s green gaze slid back to catch hers. “You know panthers don’t share well.” She saw the slight flex of his nostrils.
Damn shifter senses.
“Your scent’s all over him, and even your shower can’t hide the fact that he’s been all over you.”
Az punched him. The shifter stumbled back and fell against the wall.
Jade grabbed Az’s arm. “Wait!” His muscles were rock hard beneath her touch. He started to shake her off. She just held him tighter. “Wait, Az.” Because the battle wasn’t just about her anymore.
I can’t let Brandt get Az.
“I want to hear what he has to say,” she told Az.
His jaw clenched and she knew he’d just prefer to beat the crap out of the guy. Tempting, but they needed to try another option first.
“Please,” she said, easing her hold so that she was stroking the tense muscles of Az’s arm. “Give him just a minute. If we don’t like what he says . . .”
Az inclined his head. “Then I’ll make him wish he’d never spoken.”
Sounded good to her. Jade glanced back at Tanner.
The shifter swallowed. “Brandt doesn’t realize you’ve been fucking yet,” he said as he pushed away from the wall, and Jade caught the hardening of Az’s jaw.
We haven’t, yet.
Temptation.
“But when he does, you know what Brandt will do.”
Brandt liked to play with his prey.
The cop’s head cocked to the side. “How much torture do you think you can stand?” He asked Az.
And Az smiled. “More than you can imagine.”
Tanner lifted up his shirt to reveal flesh that had been savaged. Long, twisting scars covered his stomach and swiped around to his back. With deep, old scars like that, he would’ve been injured long ago. Before his first change as a shifter.
He would have been just a child.
“Trust me, I can imagine a hell of a lot.” Tanner’s voice was a growl.
Unfortunately, she’d seen marks like that before. Brandt bore scars just like them. “You’re in Brandt’s pack.”
“No.” Tanner shook his head. “I was in the pack, until I was twelve years old, and I managed to get the hell away from Brandt and his old man.”
Because Brandt’s father had been the one to give Brandt the scars he carried. To prove I can handle any pain. Brandt’s voice whispered through her mind. He’d told her those words, the first time she’d seen the scars that marked his body.
Brandt’s bastard of a father had enjoyed torturing, and he’d passed that love on to his son.
“You understand,” Tanner said, staring at her with eyes that saw too much. “You know why I had to get away from them. I wasn’t gonna end up like those assholes.”
Twisted. Broken.
Killers.
Jade lowered her gun.
Az frowned. “Just because he left, it doesn’t mean this guy isn’t like them.”
“I’m not. I got away from them,” Tanner said, anger roughening his voice. “And I stayed away. But then they came to my town—”
“Looking for me,” she finished. Brandt and his pack were based in northern Louisiana, but they’d headed down south to track her.
Tanner nodded. The badge on his uniform gleamed. “I almost had you in the Quarter. I was there when those bastards started firing at your . . . guardian.” His jaw tightened. “But I had to help the humans. I had to take care of them.”
“We didn’t need your help,” Az said. Right. Because he’d taken the bullets and kept on standing—and tossing around fire.
But Jade didn’t have the luxury of super strength. “What do you want?” She asked Tanner.
“I told you, I want to stop Dupre.”
But what was a cop’s definition of “stop”? “A cage isn’t going to hold him.” She tried to put it as delicately as she could. “You’re not going to be able to arrest the guy and—”
Tanner glanced down at his badge. Then, slowly, he shook his head. “I’m not looking to arrest him.” A pause. “I’m looking to kill Brandt Dupre, and any who follow him. The only way they’re gonna stop is if they can’t draw breath.”
A truth she knew too well.
“And you can help me,” he said. “We can work together, and we can kill the bastard.”
Been there, tried that. “He’s not exactly easy to kill.”
Az sent her a fast glance. “Anyone can die.”
Maybe. Maybe not.
“Look, we don’t have a lot of time to keep talking now.” Tanner swiped a hand down his face. The shifter was sweating. “About a dozen cops will be closing in on this place soon.”
“What?” She lunged forward but, surprisingly, it was Az who caught her shoulders and held her back before she could grab Tanner.
“Easy,” Az told her.
Screw that. She wasn’t feeling easy then. Not if cops were about to storm the place.
Tanner grimaced. “Witnesses saw you nearly plow down a civilian in New Orleans—”
“Oh, come on,” Jade exploded, “that was just Brandt—a hit from the car barely would have slowed him down.” Just given him some bumps and bruises and made him feel some of the pain that she felt.
“They saw you, so now the cops are after you.” Tanner cocked his head to the right as he studied her. “I’ve arranged for a motorcycle to be waiting for you. If you cut through the swamp, it’s about three miles northwest of here. After I traced you I got a buddy to leave the bike there for me.”
Az asked, “And we’re supposed to trust you?”
“Yeah, you are.”
Jade wasn’t the trusting sort. She didn’t think Az was, either.
“And you need to start hauling ass,” Tanner continued. “I only had about a ten minute head start on the rest of the police crew, and now I’d say you’re down to—”
“Five minutes,” Az finished.
Fabulous.
“Yeah.” Tanner nodded. “So get the hell out of here, take that motorcycle, then meet me tonight in New Orleans—”
“You want us to go back into the city?” Jade demanded. Really dumb plan. “With Brandt hunting there?” Maybe she could stop to paint a big bull’s-eye on her back, too. She yanked away from Az.
Or rather, Az let her go. Mostly because he was now studying the shifter with assessing eyes. “He wants to use you as bait.”
She’d figured that out on her own. Bait to dangle right in front of the big, obsessed psycho. Lovely.
“Tonight, I just want to talk.” Tanner’s words were gritted. “Meet me at the St. Louis Cemetery. Midnight.”
Even better. Because she wanted to hang out in the dark, in a cemetery, and wait for a panther that she didn’t trust.
Tanner took a step toward her. “I can make this all end. I can give you back your life, Jade.”
What life?
Then she heard the faintest screech of a siren. It looked like the cops weren’t coming in quietly.
Tanner’s gaze didn’t leave her face. “We’re out of time. Trust me.”
No.
He dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. Tanner tossed them and Az caught the keys easily in his fist.
“Now you’re gonna have to take me out before they arrive.” Tanner inclined his head toward Az. “It has to look like you overpowered me so no one thinks—”
“That a cop is helping a criminal,” Jade said. Right. She got it. “Fine, I think we can—”
Az swung out with his fist. He slammed the punch right into the shifter’s jaw with a rough crunch of sound. Tanner went down, eyes closing, and the guy’s slack body hit the floor.
“Or you can handle it,” she muttered and cleared her throat. Well, Az had saved her knuckles some bruising.
&nb
sp; Az glanced at her. She was pretty sure he’d enjoyed delivering that punch. The guy was fighting a grin.
Bad angel.
I like ’em that way.
“You up for a run through the swamp?” Jade asked as she pulled him away toward the back of the cabin. Judging by those sirens, the cops were getting way too close.
“We shouldn’t trust him,” Az said, moving slowly and slowing her down.
“Of course not. We shouldn’t trust anyone.” But she trusted Az. How could you not trust an angel? “One thing we know . . . the cops are coming. Those sirens are screaming louder every second, and we need to get our butts out of here.”
Jails sucked. She’d spent some unfortunate time in one before. Back when . . .
No. Jade slammed the door shut on that memory. She would not think about them. Not now.
As a general rule, she never let herself think about them. It hurt too much.
She realized that she was holding Az’s hand, her fingers intertwined with his. Jade stared at his hand. Strong. Warm.
Temptation. The whisper burned through her.
She pulled away from him. Did Az even know how much he’d hurt her with that one word? She was already another man’s curse.
Couldn’t she ever be more?
“Give me the keys, and I’ll get the hell out of here on my own.” She lifted her chin. “You can go the opposite way. The cops probably don’t even know about you. You can leave, we can split, and both just get on with our lives.”
He opened his palm. Jade tried to swipe the keys, but he snatched them away from her.
What? Jerk.
“We go together.”
Her gaze held his. “Sure that won’t be too much temptation for you?” Oh, yeah, she said it.
But then the guy surprised her when he said, “Will it be too much for you?”
Her jaw dropped. Maybe.
Screw this. Jade rushed for the back door. They could play coy and settle the tension between them later. Now was the time for running.
Her feet thudded down the wooden steps, and Az rushed right behind her. They hit the edge of the swamp at a run, ducking and dodging fallen trees and branches. The heat beat down on them, and Jade didn’t even want to think about the snakes that were probably lying in wait.
She hated snakes.
The thick scent of vegetation surrounded them. A line of dark green water, covered by algae, waited to the left. A log—no, not a log, a gator—drifted lazily in the sludge.