by J. L. Weil
“Chase isn’t the only one with moves.”
Oh good grief.
The fact that we had stopped to have this ludicrous conversation was nail-biting. He was distracting us from the mission at hand—distracting me. I started moving along the off-beaten path. “We are supposed to be providing backup, not flirting.”
He gave me a come-get-me grin. “Yeah, but this is more fun.”
The flirting ended there. Travis put a finger to his lips, and for a second I thought he was trying to be cute, but then I realized that he heard things that my human ears couldn’t detect. My heart began to jackhammer. This was it. Travis tracked the low murmur of voices until we broke through to a clearing. Oh. Well. Shit.
The entire area was surrounded by men in camo with a slew of weapons aimed directly at us. I didn’t hesitate as I pulled the dagger from inside my boot and let it fly. It sliced through the air, the blade glinting off the starlight and embedded into Chase’s shoulder. Hardly a fatal wound but at least it would make the hunters think that I was rollin’ with them.
“God that was hot,” Travis declared, staring at me.
“Shut up,” I replied, shaking my head and giving him a steely glare.
His sunny grin only widened.
Angel’s reaction, however, was priceless. She did not take well to me wounding Chase. “You stabbed him,” she exclaimed.
I wanted to shake her. She was blowing my cover. “It won’t kill him. Trust me. This has to look real, Angel,” I said in low tones, trying not to make it obvious that I was talking to her. “They have to believe that I am with them.”
Angel of course couldn’t hear reason. She could only see that I had caused her precious Chase harm. Pitiful. Her eyes did some kind of freaky color-deepening-mojo before she lost her shit. “You stabbed him!” she yelled, and then she attacked me.
I was pretty damn tired of her tackling me to the ground. Lucky for her, Chase was uber fast. With death defying speeds, his arms swung around her waist in mid-tackle and pulled her against him.
“Damn it!” Chase swore in a growl. He whispered something in her ear that had her relaxing in his embrace.
Angel took one look at Chase’s shirt stained with a bit of blood and went as white as a snowflake. Chase held her steady, murmuring sweet nothings. Okay, so they weren’t actually words of love, but I found it hard to believe that Chase was capable of more. His voice was soft and reassuring. “Don’t even think about it, Angel Eyes. I’m fine. It is just a scratch. Stay with me.”
Apparently only Angel was blessed to see the softer side of Chase.
Regardless, we didn’t have time for Chase to baby Angel. She needed to put her big girl panties back on, so I spoke in a language Angel understood with clarity: smartass. “Wuss,” I said under my breath, but loud enough that she could hear.
And it worked. Angel perked right up, color flooding her pale cheeks. Of course I got the evil eye from lover boy, but hey, it did the trick.
All of this happened under a minute. Any longer and this fight would have been over before it really had the chance to get fun. The hunters closed in on us, and Chase’s stance went lethal. No longer was he worried about giving me the proper stare down. His eyes brightened in the dark woods like a cat on the prowl. It was hunting time.
Travis growled, standing straight beside me, his burning eyes zeroed in on the hunters. In a blink, Travis was in front of me, shielding me with his demon-rippled body. It was a glorious sight from where I stood, but completely unnecessary.
And foolish.
He wasn’t supposed to be protecting me. Stepping to the side, I withdrew my bow, which was slung over my shoulder. I heard my father’s voice and tried not to cringe. Or shake.
It was time for Angel to shine. I hoped she didn’t choke.
I tried not to think about what we were doing and just act on survival mode.
Chase flickered in and out of my vision as he made his way toward my dad. Travis and I concentrated on keeping the others busy. Letting loose a symphony of f-bombs that would have made Beethoven cringe, I unloaded a butt of arrows at anything that twitched. Arrows thunked into flesh and tree bark as I tried to distract the hunters from Chase and Angel. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Chase had my dad in his clutches, waiting on Angel.
There was so much pandemonium going on around me that I couldn’t focus on what the damn half-demon was doing. But it couldn’t be good.
A chill ran down my back, covering my arms in bumps. I glanced at Chase, lowering my bow. He looked madder than a cat covered in Post-it notes. Everything from that point moved in slow motion, yet I was powerless to stop it. Stick to the plan, I repeated in my head as if Chase could absorb my thoughts. When Chase put his hands around my dad’s neck, I froze, unable to believe what was happening. My body felt as if it was made of lead. Each movement I made was sluggish and clumsy. He wouldn’t dare. We had an agreement, a plan. Every hair on my body stood up, and I watched in utter horror as Angel captured his gaze, holding my dad motionless. I tried to yell his name, but nothing came out. Then Chase did the unthinkable. There was a quick twist of his wrist followed by a gut-churning popping sound. My dad’s body fell to the ground in a heap of awkwardness. Chase had snapped my dad’s neck like a twig.
I screamed like a banshee.
Chapter 16
The emotional pain was unimaginable. It lanced through me like a thousand knives, and I crumpled to my knees. I was delusional, my mind muddled, overwrought with denial. I knew my dad was anything but an upstanding citizen. He had done things. Killed. But he was still my dad. I loved him unconditionally, as a child does.
Pent up tears streamed down my cheeks and soaked the front of his vest. Boiling anger. Retched sadness. Immense disbelief.
Thoughts of my little sister and my mom ran through my rattled brain. Abi would grow up without a father. She would miss out on the daddy-daughter dances. She wouldn’t see his eyes light with pride at all of her dance recitals. Dad wouldn’t be able to give her first date hell and intimidate him.
My mom had lost her partner, her best friend, her lover. How the hell was I going to tell her? What did I tell her? That I betrayed them both. That I had chosen Travis over my family. That I had failed. I had been weak. I let my emotions rule my judgment. I had trusted the enemy and been stabbed in the back.
It was a mistake I would never make again.
Never again would I have the chance to make things better between my dad and me. To tell him that I wasn’t just a recruit, that I was his daughter. To make him understand my feelings, my wants, and my needs. I would never get the chance to tell him that regardless of all the crap, I loved him.
Through my haze of tears, hurt, and disbelief, I felt someone crouch beside me. A hand touched my shoulder, and familiar tingles fluttered down my back. A vile bout of anger rose swiftly inside me, and I was yelling before I even thought about it. “Don’t touch me! Don’t. Ever. Touch. Me. Again.”
I’d never felt more betrayed by anyone or anything in my life as I did in that moment. Travis was supposed to love me, protect me. I had trusted him, trusted them all, and they had spat on my trust, used me.
My eyes shone with giant tears as I watched Travis stagger to the ground. His face contoured in pain and regret, but I didn’t care. Not about him or his feelings.
My chest felt like it was going to cave.
Hatred shimmered in my green eyes with renewed purpose. I pushed unsteadily to my feet knowing that there was nothing I could do for him now. His body lay limp and cold, the fight gone from his eyes.
I don’t remember grabbing the bow or pulling the arrow back. It was just suddenly in my grasp, aimed dead center on Travis’s chest, his heart more specifically. My fingers, hands, and arms shook. There was this monstrous part of me that just didn’t give two shits anymore and wanted to sink my arrow into Travis. I wanted to scream and not stop.
I wanted blood.
Anyone’s blood.
; I wanted to hurt someone—to kill. I saw red and quivered with the need for revenge. But it was the understanding that shone in Travis’s eyes that stopped me. He was willing to give up his life for me, let me kill him in some spur-of-the-moment act of vengeance. Seeing him on his knees, looking up at me, I dropped the bow. Still shaking from head to toe, sobs seized my entire body, and I turned away from him. Away from the horrible scene at my feet.
“Emma!” Travis screamed. “Emma, wait!”
But I was already gone. His voice got lost in the wind and the static noise vibrating in my head. I ran like I’d never run before. I ran, trying to burn the ache that had settled in my chest. Later, that dull pain turned into a revenge I vowed to execute in my father’s name.
He might not have been a fabulous father.
He might not have been a great man.
But he had been an amazing solider, and I felt it was my duty to complete the one mission he had assigned me. If it was the last thing I did, I would kill them all.
Murderers.
Angel and Chase’s story continues in…
CHASING ANGEL
Coming in 2014
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16