Angel Kin

by Tricia Skinner

  The impact of his flat statement skittered across her face. He hated reminding her of Abel’s misuse of their gift, but the truth would keep her alive.

  “Outside of Kas, the team didn’t know,” he continued. “Jarrid thought the markings were chicken scratch. I’d kept the info from them, but after that shit on TV, it doesn’t matter.”

  Having spoken the secret that had torn him into strips, Cain remained fragmented. Twins were said to be two halves of the same soul. As children, he and Abel had managed to surprise their family and neighbors with their identical gestures and mannerisms. It was as if they could read each other’s thoughts before taking action.

  Now, part of his soul had returned from oblivion.

  He wouldn’t fool himself. As much as his twin’s miraculous reappearance spurred every brotherly instinct he had to turn Detroit inside out until he was found, Abel’s actions meant there would be no tear-drenched family reunion, unless they were tears of pain.

  A clink dragged his focus to where Katie busied herself in the tiny kitchen.

  “You’re Cain and Abel. From the Bible story?” She unscrewed the top off a half-full bottle of Southern Comfort. When she peeked at him, he shot her a defiant stare.

  He’d known the question was coming. “No. The brothers of the Bible existed before us. They were human, but not twins. My father simply chose those names upon our birth.”

  Cain paused to give Katie an opportunity to speak—or scream. She did neither. Instead she tipped the glass to her mouth and gulped the contents. Then she refilled it. When she finally spoke, her tone hinted at her exhaustion. “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “My father was a former Watcher, an angel sent to Earth soon after humans flourished. His assignment was to observe the God of All’s new creations.” Cain slowly made his way to the kitchen and leaned his arms on the smooth countertop. “Father and many of his brethren…erred.”

  Katie squinted her eyes, but she didn’t run. “How?”

  “They looked upon the daughters of Man and wanted them.”

  Her brow wrinkled. “You mean they lusted after women?”

  “Some did, and many of the Watchers went further than ogling. They took human wives, who produced children.”

  Her green eyes brightened with understanding. “The Nephilim.”

  Cain rubbed his scalp and carefully chose his next words. “Nephilim and wives were not part of the Watchers’ mission. Heaven’s rulers saw both as a threat to sacred law. The Directorate decreed the renegade angels would be brought back to face judgment.”

  Dozens of brown freckles jumped out in contrast to Katie’s paling skin. “And their wives and kids?”

  Clashing swords and shouting echoed in Cain’s distant memory. The apartment faded away, replaced by a vast landscape of green fields dotted with dwellings made of mud, wood, and stone. Their village had kept eighteen Renegade families in a commune-like atmosphere.

  “The Directorate didn’t give a shit what happened to the women. The offspring—” Anger flared in his gut. “Nephilim were to be put to the sword.”

  “Oh my God.” Katie set down her glass, grabbed a second one, and filled it to the rim. She then pushed the glass across the counter to his waiting hand.

  Why the hell was he telling her this? Cain raised the glass without uttering a word and drained it. “My mother had called to Abel and me when the angel soldiers arrived.”

  My sons. To me!

  He slammed a lid on the memory of his mother’s voice. Despite his twin’s escape from death, he suspected his mother had not been as lucky.

  “I ran from her to find my father.” Regret made his throat raspy. “I thought I could help him fight.”

  “But you were a kid. You couldn’t have known what would happen,” Katie said.

  Cain clutched his chest against barbs of pain in his heart, squeezing to force the powerful muscle to cease tormenting him.

  “Fire. Fire engulfed our house. I don’t know how. By the time I ran back, I could only hear my mother’s screams.”

  The image overwhelmed him, and he crushed the glass in his fist. He frowned at the shards and blood and then tried to look at Katie through a red haze of anger.

  He returned to the small boy he had once been. Eyes wide, he had watched fire consume his home and smoldered with his mother and brother trapped inside, but before he could run to them, an angel had landed in front of him.

  “Tanis was part of the invading force. He found me before the other soldiers did.” His lips tugged into a half smile. “Every time I tried to run past him, he used those damned wings to swat me back. It felt like being slammed with a downy pillow.”

  A wet streak trailed down the corner of Katie’s face. The whole evening had turned surreal, skipping into an unplanned emotional quagmire. For some unknown reason, he wanted her to understand what had happened, to know why he did what he did, if only to show her the brother she’d witnessed wasn’t always a monster.

  “I begged Tanis to let me help my family, but he refused. My father had fallen, and nothing could live through the inferno of our house.” Cain stared past Katie, past the apartment, past the yawning stretch of time. “I lost everything.”

  …

  However Katie pictured her night ending, watching Cain struggle to hide his personal trauma was not on the list. His pain and anger seemed to surprise him as much as her, and she was still wrapping her head around the story he’d shared. As he wrestled his demons, she tried to imagine what living with that much guilt would do to a human being.

  He’s not human.

  The half-angel offspring of a being marked as a traitor. Hallmark didn’t make sympathy cards for that kind of baggage.

  Katie half turned away, ready to give him some privacy, but stopped. She had no idea how to help him, but they were in her apartment, which meant she’d look like an idiot excusing herself to sit alone in her bedroom.

  “We need to leave,” Cain said, as if he’d noticed her quandary.

  For all his hulking stature and wicked good looks, Cain now appeared like any ordinary guy, a guy who had just kicked himself in the nuts and was bluffing to hide the pain. Katie frowned and stared at the shattered drinking glass. If one person understood regret and guilt, she sure did. Every time she thought back to casing Ray’s house, jotting down his daily schedule so she could rob him, a rock rolled over her gut. She wished she’d never learned to pick a lock.

  Every brush with the law was her way of flipping the bird to the status quo. She’d never wanted to follow the Logan clan’s generation trap called firefighting. However, she never intended to remain a bad apple. Stealing from Ray was meant to be her final return to crime.

  She was the family screw-up. She was the one who hadn’t amounted to much. She didn’t ask them for money to help the band out of pride. She was in this mess for going back on her promise to stay out of trouble.

  “Let me get something for your hand.” She reached in a drawer and retrieved a dish towel. Cain accepted it, then pulled pieces of glass from his wound.

  Clearing away the broken glass gave her a moment to think. She carefully collected the large shards and scooped them into the trash bin next to the counter.

  “I made the wrong decision. Not the part about helping my friends. I’ll do anything for them.” She wet a rag and wiped the counter clean. “Stealing used to be an excuse to cover the fact I wasn’t cut out for the family line of work. I wanted to decide what to do with my life instead of them doing it for me. Stupid, huh?”

  “Not really. I’ve wondered what my life would be if things had gone down a different way.” Cain walked toward his jacket and picked it up from the floor. “When Tanis petitioned for the lives of all Nephilim children, his superiors only allowed him four.”

  Katie’s gasp echoed through the room. “Wait a minute. There had to be dozens, if not hundreds, of offspring.” She shook her head. “They couldn’t have made him choose so few.”

  He glance
d at her over his shoulder.

  She couldn’t believe they spoke of the same Heaven. “That’s fucked up. I’m sorry, but nothing I know about angels says they’re that cruel. Then again, it’s not like I have many angels friended on Facebook.”

  “Angels are warriors. You know what happens in war,” Cain said, his voice weary. “Tanis had already found Jarrid, Nesty, and Kas. By the time he ended up in my village, I was destined for death or hardship. I didn’t get a choice.”

  She had no idea what to say to that. His whole life sounded like a punishment. All the suffering he’d seen, the losses he’d felt, the excruciating punishment for using his powers, and now a crazy twin returned from the grave. She shifted her position and fumbled with the cleaning rag.

  Katie left the sink and rounded the counter, then walked up to Cain. He turned his large body until he faced her from messy blond hair to steel-tipped boots. His luminous eyes telegraphed his confusion.

  Do not chicken out.

  She wrapped her arms around his solid torso and rested her head near the base of his chest. God, the man was as tall as a light pole. His back muscles locked under her hands, and she whispered a prayer and wondered if anyone would answer. This was unnatural territory for a tomboy who didn’t do much of the comforting thing.

  Several heartbeats later, he raised his arms and encircled her. Katie smoothed her palms up and down his back the way Jon had done countless times. She almost jumped when Cain copied her movement.

  Okay, this was good. They were sharing a moment. People did that kind of thing all the time. This built trust, which was her goal, right? Trust and protection.

  Awareness brought tons of new information about the mysterious Nephilim in her embrace. First, Cain ran hot. Not ouchie hot, but his body temperature caused perspiration to pool along her chest.

  The next welcomed discovery was the up close whiff of the half angel’s unearthly scent. Katie eased her head off his wall of chest, nervous flutters invading her stomach. This kind of comforting was easier with her brother. She didn’t have to think so much, and Jon sparked only pure thoughts. With Cain, her brain had hopped on the lust bus and was riding high.

  She realized he had hunched low to return her hug. As he slowly straightened, she felt her body slipping away beneath his hands. His head turned, mouth parted to speak. Irresistible.

  Katie surged up and captured his lips with her own.

  Cain’s mouth was created for pleasure. Delicious, moist, wicked pleasure. She lapped at his tongue, inviting it to dance with hers. With the second pass of tip to tip, Cain’s hands locked onto her hips, firm and unyielding.

  This was not exactly the I’m-sorry-you’re-in-pain offering Katie had intended. Stupid brain. Now was not the time to think. She blanked all thought from her mind and gave herself over to the sensory overload that was Cain.

  His kiss was cautious, yet hungry.

  His hands, possessive yet gentle.

  His body was primed… Oh, so primed.

  Then Cain broke the kiss. He extended his arms, increasing the space between them.

  Katie gulped air and shook her lust-clogged head. When she peeked up at Cain, a startled yelp escaped her throat.

  His eyes glowed like two halogen bulbs, the same way they had in his bedroom earlier that night. “W-why are your eyes glowing?”

  “It happens when my Grace revs up.” He tilted his head, his eyes fastened on her lips. “Why did you kiss me?”

  She gave an awkward shrug and tugged the hem of her T-shirt. Girlie stuff made her uncomfortable, and now he wanted her to say—what? She was spared a reply when Cain stepped into her personal space, thumbed her chin high, and pinned her with a smoldering stare.

  “You’re a mysterious woman, Katie Logan,” he said. “I can’t figure you out.”

  Sheer willpower kept her gaze locked on Cain. God, his eyes were as beautiful as the rest of him. “I’m not someone who enjoys getting all touchy-feely, but I’m human. I hate seeing people in pain.”

  His expression shifted to something unreadable, before a smile that could implode ovaries appeared. “When this case is over, little burglar, I think I’ll return to correct your misconception.”

  “What misconception?”

  Cain leaned closer and lowered his voice. “The enjoyment of touchy-feely.”

  Chapter Nine

  The press of Katie’s lips on his was tattooed into Cain’s brain and had clicked his possessive switch. Whoever had taught her how to kiss best remain a mystery. He would soon be in enough trouble with Tanis without needing to explain why some guy’s lips were pinned to the dartboard in the Stronghold.

  Exactly the wrong reaction right now. Abel was somewhere in the city, doing who knew what. Romancing the woman who could pin a murder on his twin ranked pretty high on a bad-timing chart. Cain reached out, cupped the long red braid resting on Katie’s shoulder, and let the soft fullness slip against his palm.

  “I’ll find and stop Abel, but not until you’re safe.” He released her hair and straightened his back. “Pack. We leave in fifteen.”

  After a confused glance, Katie jogged into her bedroom. He watched her duck inside the room and then switched his attention to the rest of the apartment.

  As burglars went, she didn’t appear to keep anything of real value from her escapades. Their conversation had given him a glimpse into her life. Katie cared deeply for those closest to her—family and friends. Her recent backstep into crime unveiled an almost noble quality to the petite tomboy.

  The sound of wheels scraping the floor pulled his attention to the bedroom door. Katie dragged a small blue suitcase behind her but stopped moving when she saw him and frowned.

  “What?” Cain’s tone held a sharp edge.

  “If my brother was here, he’d tell you to go to the cops and clear your name,” she said. “Since Jon isn’t, you’re stuck with the bad-apple Logan.”

  He schooled his expression to a blank mask, unsure how to reply.

  Katie approached him, keeping her gaze pinned to his. “I’ve been where you are.” She looked away for a split second. “I know what it’s like to need help but not know where to turn.”

  The last thing he wanted was her believing he was weak. He straightened and drew his shoulders back. “I’ll handle this.”

  She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “True, but you don’t have to do it alone.”

  That caught him off guard.

  “I won’t lie. I want to split and stay the hell out of this.” She stepped around him and slung the backpack over her shoulder. “But I’m also the person who knows what happened at Washington’s house.”

  Respect for her notched a line on his heart. At least the police would know he wasn’t the only Nephilim with his exact features in Detroit. A nice gesture, but useless.

  “I won’t put you in danger,” Cain said. And he wouldn’t, not with Abel’s agenda to make his life misery.

  “Then let me go to my brother. No offense, but you’re gonna be real popular soon. Get me to Jon, and he’ll find someone else to protect me.”

  He couldn’t return to the Stronghold, and he was racing his own skilled team to reach his brother first. Katie would only slow him down.

  “Which fire station does he work at?”

  Chapter Ten

  Abel leaned against the chain-link fence surrounding the nightclub’s parking lot. Packs of humans waited in a line outside the Church, wrapped around the building until the end disappeared out of view down the alley. A steady but muffled beat escaped from the club. Murmurs and laughter accompanied the slams of car doors and the crunch of gravel as people parked their cars.

  He removed the plain carton from his soft leather jacket and selected a cigarette, hand-rolled with only the purest ingredients. He lit up and took a drag, and then expelled the sweet-smelling tobacco in a white plume.

  Across the street, a pair of hopeful young women approached the werewolf bouncer guarding the club’s entrance. The lyc
anthrope cast a bored gaze over both females dressed in cat suits before shaking his head. Watching the ridiculous routine play out over and over was poor entertainment. He’d arrived fifteen minutes earlier and had nothing else to pass the time as he waited for that fucking black-hearted dark elf. A city this size had plenty of clubs that catered to mixed-species clientele. What made humans so determined to get inside this particular nightspot for supernatural beings eluded him.

  A faint disturbance tingled in the air and Abel tensed. Dark elf magic. Gun unholstered, he aimed beside him without looking.

  “If you want to get laid, this place has the hottest asses in town,” Dravyn said, pointedly ignoring the gun pressed against his temple. “Women. Men. Take your pick.”

  The elf moved like a predator, but Abel was older, more tuned to everything around him, always aware that death only surprised fools.

  “We could have met at the penthouse.” He replaced the Glock in his shoulder harness.

  Dravyn smoothed his hands over his black suit jacket. “My amazing fashion sense is wasted on you. I felt the need to be seen by more appreciative eyes.”

  Pompous wizard.

  “What do you require now, elf?”

  “I doubt any of these partygoers caught your appearance on television,” Dravyn said. “I find I need entertaining.”

  Abel tilted his head and scowled at his companion. The Renegades had groomed him to be a mercenary, and over the centuries he’d used those skills for deadly purposes. Executing their enemies, their associates, their mistakes. His “saviors” were merciless, but he owed the Renegades his allegiance. Without them, he’d be ash. Still, working with the elf prickled his patience.

  “The mission is to permanently retire council members. I am not here for your pleasure.”

  Dravyn gave a dark chuckle, then patted his shoulder. “That’s where you are wrong, half-breed. Remember, I own you.” The elf leaned close, craning his neck until he could lock their gazes. “I own your skills. I own your will. You are mine, for as long as this job lasts. You’ll do what I want and to whom. Try to cross me and you know the consequences.”