by Tessa Cole
Another barrage of ice shot from the angel’s hands, but there were fewer spears and they hit with less force. None of them punctured the wraith this time. She was running out of strength.
The wraith’s smoke shuddered and shrank, then billowed and the power radiating from it increased. The tentacle around her chest twisted tighter. Bones cracked and the angel screamed and convulsed with pain. The ice holding the other tentacles back started to crumble.
“Free Zella,” Gideon said to his team and rushed into the room, his hands raised. A blast of divine light shot from each palm and slammed into the wraith, but didn’t cut through it.
The wraith growled. Its form shuddered again, thinning and surging as if fighting a windstorm. One tentacle dissolved in a puff of smoke, but it wrenched another one free from the ice.
Kol unsheathed two daggers that he’d had hidden somewhere on his body and leaped into the room, while Jacob bolted around the corner faster than humanly possible and fired two rounds into a tentacle that was crushing the angel’s leg. Marcus growled and barreled after them, claws extending from his fingertips.
My pulse tripped with horror.
He had claws.
I had ruined his life.
He dove for the wraith, jumping high, and dug his claws into its back. A tentacle snapped out, seized him, and tossed him against the wall. He hit the ground on his hands and knees but quickly stood. Kol sliced at the tentacles clutching Zella, but every time he cut one another would appear.
Light formed in Gideon’s palms again as the ice anchoring the wraith to the floor snapped. It whirled around with a roar and hurled Zella into Gideon before he could get off his shot. She crashed into him and they skidded across the floor, Gideon trying to protect Zella’s broken body with his.
Jacob fired another shot, the bullet slicing through a tentacle, but a flurry of more tentacles exploded from the wraith’s body. They swatted at Jacob and he dove out of the way, then they flung Kol into Marcus and shot toward me.
Marcus’s eyes flashed wide. “Essie, move!”
I jerked to get out of the way, but my muscles seized and I couldn’t move.
Marcus scrambled toward me but he was going to be too late. “Essie, go.”
I jerked again. Nothing. “I can’t.” God, why can’t I leave this spot—?
Ah, shit. Jacob had said to stay there. He’d given me a command.
The tentacle reached for me and I cast a divine light strike as fast as I could. Light streaked from my palms and sliced into the tentacle as it tried to grab me.
“Jacob,” Gideon said.
“Shit.” Jacob fired at the tentacle that was already reforming to continue coming after me and severed it from the wraith’s body. It turned to smoke and vanished. “Essie, defend yourself.”
My body lurched away from the wall and I twisted out of reach of the reformed tentacle, my pulse pounding.
Gideon blasted the wraith with more light and Marcus tore into it. The wraith screeched and shuddered, its smoke shredding away. With another cry, it bolted past me and disappeared in the darkness at the end of the hall.
“Get the car,” Gideon said, pulling Zella into his arms, her body limp, one mangled wing half on his shoulder, the other dragging on the floor.
Jacob rushed away, the fastest of the group with his vampiric enhanced speed.
Blood poured down the front of Gideon’s pants and his grip on Zella tightened as if just by holding tight enough he could save her. Except if his angel magic didn’t involve healing — and since Amiah had healed my broken bones, so best guess was that it didn’t — then there was nothing he could do.
Marcus ran ahead of us to clear the way, Gideon running after him, while Kol and I followed. The hall still threatened to turn into a vomit-inducing fun house from the effects of Jacob’s claim, but I gritted my teeth and kept up. I was dizzy, but I was fine. Zella needed immediate medical attention and no way in hell was I going to slow the group down.
We barreled up the stairs, through the pub, across the dance floor, and out the doors. Jacob had the SUV turned around, the engine running, every door except the far middle one open, and his hands on the wheel ready to go.
Gideon climbed onto the middle bench, cradling Zella, blood oozing over the leather seats. Kol shut the door after him and jumped into the front passenger seat as Marcus and I piled into the back.
We peeled away from Rouge, our tires screeching around the first corner, gunned it down the stretch under the UV-blocking canopy, and ran every red light to get to Operations. Thank goodness we weren’t far. Marcus called Amiah and told her to have a team waiting for us in the garage, then glared out the window, pointedly refusing to look at me.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop looking at him. I tried not to, but my gaze kept jumping back to his hands. His fingers had returned to normal, his claws gone, but the image of them filled my mind.
It was my fault. All my fault.
The SUV squealed to a stop in the parking garage where Amiah, two others — a man and a woman, I had no idea what kind of supers they were — and a gurney waited. Gideon set Zella on the gurney and they whisked her about twenty feet down the hall into whatever lay beyond the frosted-glass sliding door.
Marcus, Kol, and I got out and Jacob pulled into a parking spot.
Gideon stood rooted in the garage, staring through the glass doorway into the now empty hall. A blood trail, dark red against the pale gray floor, pointed the way they’d taken her.
Jacob placed a hand on Gideon’s shoulder. “She’s in good hands.”
“I know,” Gideon said.
Kol shoved his hands into his pockets, a hint of hellfire still in his eyes. “We didn’t know the wraith was going to be there.”
The muscles in Gideon’s jaw flexed. “I know.”
“And we couldn’t have killed him without endangering Essie,” Marcus said, his voice low and rough, as if he didn’t like what he’d said.
The temperature in the garage ping-ponged between hot and cold and I hugged myself, keeping back from the group. If it wasn’t for me, they could have stopped the wraith this afternoon.
Which was ridiculous. If it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t have been at that bar and stumbled across the wraith.
Still, the guys looked angry and exhausted, and I didn’t want to remind them that I was a complication they didn’t want.
Gideon drew in a ragged breath. “Jacob, mind what you say to Officer Shaw until your vampire claim on her diminishes. We can’t have her stuck in one spot again.”
Jacob gave a tight nod.
“Marcus, take the coalescence snare we bought from Bane to Summer to ensure it’s the real deal,” Gideon said. “Without Zella’s protection charm, we need it to work without a hitch because this plan just got more dangerous.”
“So we’re going ahead with using Essie as bait without the protection charm?” Kol asked.
Gideon glanced at me, his summer-sky eyes frosted and hard. Of course he was going ahead with the plan. I could see it in his eyes. The wraith had almost — please let it be almost and not actually — killed another angel. One measly human was worth it to end the slaughter.
I squared my shoulders. “You pick the time and place and I’ll be there.”
Marcus growled, shoved open the glass door, and stormed away.
The temperature in the garage continued to lurch between hot and cold, Marcus’s departure not giving me any relief.
Gideon followed him, his stride tight, restrained, every inch of him radiating frozen control.
The heat eased up, but I was still cold. Uncertain what to do or where to go, I hugged myself and brushed the brand, sending a spike of pain through my arm. They’d given me a room. I should use it. I needed another shower and I needed a bigger meal than just a sandwich. Except I didn’t want to leave Jacob.
Which had to be his claim on me.
That was going to become a serious problem if I needed his permission to do everyday things like eat
, shower, or sleep.
“I should…” Kol glanced at Jacob then at me. The hellfire had vanished from his eyes, but there was still an edge there. Of course, we’d just witnessed the wraith tear into Zella. I’m sure there was an edge in my eyes, too.
“I should…” Kol jerked his thumb at the door. “I’ll—” He rushed inside as well.
The door clicked shut and Jacob turned to me. “You need my permission to go back to your room, don’t you.”
“Yeah.” And I didn’t like the feeling one bit… even if a part of me seemed to love it. That had to be the part claimed by Jacob.
“I was afraid of that.” His hand slid to the butt of his gun, but I didn’t get the sense he wanted to threaten me. Instead, it felt as if this was an instinct, something his body returned to over and over again when he wasn’t thinking about it. “I took too much and the claim is too strong.”
“So what does that mean?” Was I going to be like this for the entire time that his essence was entwined with mine? Jacob had said that would be months. I couldn’t live like that. I had to deal with this wraith and get away from Gideon before he learned the truth.
“It means I need to be more careful what I say to you.”
I barked a bitter laugh. “You think?” I hadn’t been able to move more than an inch from that wall.
His gaze shifted to the garage behind me and the grip on his sidearm tightened. “I don’t have a lot of experience with this. I’ve only claimed someone once before.” The air in the garage turned thick, foggy — at least for me, since I doubted Jacob saw it — his grief manifesting as water suspended in the air around me. “I don’t want to have that kind of mastery over someone’s life again.”
“Does that have something to do with why you think an angel bond is unhealthy?”
His fog misted my cheeks and he frowned, drawing closer.
Shit. I turned my head to hide the moisture, but he captured my chin and urged me to look up at him.
The sadness in his eyes deepened. “It’ll be okay.” He cupped my face and traced a thumb across my cheek, wiping the mist away and drawing a shiver of need into my heart.
Please let him think I’m crying.
“We can protect you. We’ll put the wraith in hibernation.” He brushed more moisture from my cheek. “My claim will fade. You’ll get your life back. I promise.”
I pursed my lips. I wanted to run screaming from him, from all of it. Except it wasn’t because I thought his claim on me was wrong, but because the longer I remained here, the greater the odds I’d be discovered. A part of me was in shock that entwining our essences and drinking my blood hadn’t revealed my angelic nature to him. While another part, a part that didn’t care about discovery or self-preservation, wanted to lean into his touch and beg for a command, anything to please him.
I resisted all of that and made myself just stand there, trying to ignore the fog billowing between us that he couldn’t see.
“The need to be told what to do short of breathing will pass soon.”
“How long will that be?” Please say soon. Please don’t let my kneejerk reaction to protect him have completely screwed up my life.
“It’s different for everyone. Could be a few hours, could be a few days.”
Swell. No good deed goes unpunished. But even if I hadn’t known the specifics about what I’d gotten myself into, I’d known enough. And if I could go back and do it again, I’d make the same choice and save Jacob.
And that wasn’t the claim talking.
“Once it passes, you’ll have more autonomy. There’s still a danger of me commanding you if I don’t watch what I say, but if I don’t give you an order, you’ll be able to do your own thing.”
“Okay.” I could handle this. Except the things I needed to handle were piling on and it hadn’t even been a full day.
Jacob slid his other hand to my cheek, capturing my face between his palms, and met my gaze, the look in his eyes still intense and still sad. “I hate that I have to say this. Go take care of yourself. If I need you, I’ll find you wherever you are.”
A pressure in my chest released, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Two sentences and I’d been freed… a bit. I could do whatever I wanted and go where I wanted… although I sensed there were limits to how far I could actually go from him. But for now I was no longer obligated to stay by his side and wait for a command.
“Thank you.”
“No. Thank you. Victoria wasn’t supposed to be at Rouge. All our intelligence said she was out of town.”
“Which is why you thought you could sneak me in.” The fog thinned, Jacob releasing his grief. “I’m surprised Gideon went ahead with it. From what I’ve heard, it’s not like an angel to break the rules.”
“This is an unusual situation.”
Yeah, and it wasn’t because I was involved. If the wraith had killed three cops, the entire police force would be doing everything to catch him. With an attack on three angels, I could see why Gideon was willing to do almost anything to stop him.
Jacob slid his hands from my face and gestured to the door. “I don’t know when Gideon will reassemble the team to work out the details of capturing the wraith. You should—”
The pressure returned around my heart.
“Sorry. Go take care of yourself. If I need you I’ll find you wherever you are,” he said.
I rushed into the hall before he could say anything else to me while he waited in the garage, probably with the same goal. A few feet away, a janitor mopped up the blood trail. I hurried past him, keeping my head down, afraid to make eye contact, and went straight to the elevator.
My stomach grumbled. I ignored it. Yes, Marcus had said the cafeteria was straight into the new section, but right now I just wanted to avoid any other super. I needed to figure out the best options for the plan to use me as bait so I wasn’t strong-armed into a bad idea. Not that I thought Gideon would have a bad plan. He and everyone else on the team probably had more experience with these things than I did.
In honesty, my nerves were shot from the fear of being discovered, the wraith attack, and learning my soul was permanently bonded with that monster. And I really wanted to be in a room with a steady temperature for more than a few minutes.
The elevator door opened and I rode it to the fifth floor. With a ding, the door opened and I stepped into the hall. Marcus leaned against the wall beside my door. His gaze lifted and locked onto me and the temperature shot up.
His anger was still hot, the air thick with humidity. I’d never experienced anything quite like it before. His piercing green gaze froze me in place, and now I knew why. He was a predator, his human nature twisted with a wolf’s, and I was prey.
My chest tightened. He was a predator because of me. God, how did someone atone for that?
A person couldn’t atone for something that terrible and permanent.
But I also didn’t have the emotional fortitude right now to take whatever he wanted to throw at me. Even if I did deserve it. And jeez, my arm was stinging and I was sweltering.
The elevator closed, blocking off my escape. Not that leaving wouldn’t have been blatantly obvious that I was avoiding him. I shoved up my sleeves — doing nothing to alleviate the heat — and forced myself toward him. Please just make it quick.
“No Jacob?” he asked, his voice low.
I stopped just out of arm’s reach. I needed to get past him to unlock my door, but I was afraid that if I got too close, the attraction sizzling within me would keep me there. “I have permission to do my own thing.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I don’t like it, either, but Victoria was going to keep torturing him.”
“He’s a big boy. He could have handled it.”
“Sure. And she would have detained him to continue torturing him and you’d be down one team member. You needed everyone to save Zella, which means you’ll need everyone to trap the wraith.”
His hands fisted
at his sides and he jerked a step forward. “Don’t pretend this is about protecting yourself. We both know you have no sense of self-preservation. You’d sacrifice yourself in a heartbeat if it meant saving someone.”
“Hardly.” I forced a huff of disdain, his words hitting too close to home.
“The fight with those shifters was because a child was in danger. The fight with the wraith, you were protecting the pharmacist and cashier.” Tension radiated from his body and the temperature rose. Sweat beaded on my forehead and between my breasts.
“I get it. You’re pissed. You have every right to be pissed. But please—” My throat tightened and I fought back tears. God damn it, I was stronger than this. And I could be, if I just had a moment to steady my nerves.
“I’m not pissed,” he growled, sounding even more furious. “I’m terrified.”
“You’re what?” My brain stuttered over his words. That didn’t fit with the temperature or his body language or his tone or anything else about him.
He jerked closer, captured my face between his palms, and crashed his lips against mine, stunning me. The kiss was hungry and wild, his stubble rough against my skin. Sultry heat with humidity pasted my T-shirt to my body, my pulse roared, and heat spiraled through me.
A growl rumbled in his throat and my breath stalled, not from fear, but from the desire that had instantly struck the moment we’d first met and had never let up, even with four and a half years apart.
I slid my hands over his chest, savoring his sculpted pecs, and melted against him, needing to be closer, to feel his body pressed against mine.
His fingers tangled in my hair and tilted my head back to deepen the kiss, his tongue plunging inside. His passion was ferocious, consuming.
I moaned with pleasure, and he froze, his body trembling, his breath fast.
“Essie.” He breathed my name against my lips and pressed his forehead to mine. “You’re not supposed to be a part of this world. I know you don’t want to be.” He jerked away from me, his gaze piercing into my soul. “I left so you wouldn’t have to be.”
Then he stormed away, past the elevator and around the corner, taking his ferocious energy and the humid temperature with him.