Chapter 4
Chapter Four
The crowd’s roar drowned out her screams. Az began walking toward her. The shifters kept stalking behind him.
No, no, no.
“Behind you!” Jade yelled as loudly as she could. “They are right behind you !”
Az didn’t glance back. This was not working. Her gaze darted below her. Okay, that was just a one story drop. She’d survive that fall, right? Maybe with a few broken bones. Maybe just with some bruises. She could do this.
She had to do this.
Drawing in a shaky breath, Jade climbed over the railing. The crowd cheered louder. Louder .
She jumped.
And was caught by three guys. What the hell? Cheering, they swung her around.
Crazy assholes. But they had just saved her some serious hurt. So she placed a fast kiss on the nearest cheek and leapt out of those cradling arms. Then Jade started running for Az. “They’re after you, they’re?—”
A gunshot ripped through the crowd. The blast of the gunshot finally— finally— brought silence.
Silence that lasted for only a moment’s time because then another shot thundered in the air.
Jade’s eyes were on Az so she saw the jerk of his body as the bullet tore into him.
Then the screaming started as the shock melted away from the revelers. The humans scrambled, running, shrieking, dropping their drinks and their beads as they rushed away from the gunfire.
Desperate to get to Az’s side, Jade shoved her way through them. My fault. This was what happened to men who tried to play her white knight.
They wound up stained with blood.
Her side ached as she rushed toward him. He was slowly turning around now, finally facing the attackers who were after him. Too late.
Another crack of gunfire. She was close enough to hear the thud as the bullet sank into Az’s flesh.
His body trembled.
“Stop!” Jade screamed at Ryan because he was the jerk with the gun. “Leave him alone!”
She grabbed Az’s arm and pulled him close. Blood poured from a wound near his shoulder, and she knew he had at least one bullet in his back. “We have to get you out of here!”
She could already hear sirens. The cops were responding fast this time. No big surprise. No one wanted a slaughter during Mardi Gras. That was bad for business.
Her gaze flew to the left, then the right. There wasn’t any nearby cover for them, and Ryan still had his gun up. Only it wasn’t aimed at Az any longer. It was aimed right at her.
Ryan smiled.
But she knew bullshit when she saw it. “You can’t kill me,” she shouted at him, not even a little bit afraid of what he might do. “Because the minute you do, you’re dead.”
She understood how this game worked. Ryan wasn’t an alpha. He was a good little soldier shifter who did exactly as he was told.
A muscle flexed in Ryan’s jaw as he stalked closer. “Maybe I can’t kill you.” Rage beat beneath the rumbling words. She knew that, oh, yes, he wanted to murder her, but if he did, then Brandt would rip the skin from his body. “But I can still make you bleed.”
The gun wasn’t pointed at her head anymore. He’d dropped it, and taken aim at her leg.
She saw his sharpening canines when he smiled. “Let’s see how fast you can run with a bullet in?—”
He didn’t get to finish his threat. A ball of freaking fire rolled toward him.
Ryan and Anton leapt back.
The crowd shrieked even louder because, sure, bullets and fire would flip most people the hell out.
She pulled Az’s arm around her shoulder. Then she tucked her body close to his. Before the shifters regrouped, she had to get him away from there.
And she had to dodge the cops. There was a little matter of a few dead bodies from her past that she didn’t exactly have time to deal with right then. Those explanations could wait for another day.
“Come on,” she whispered. Wow. Az was heavy.
He didn’t speak, but his hold tightened around her shoulders, and Az let her lead him through the crowd. Luckily, after a few stumbling steps, she and Az soon blended with the fleeing throng.
Two streets over, she found a car. An older, black BMW that sat alone beneath a broken street lamp. Leaving that ride alone in that particular spot was a bad mistake.
The driver’s loss.
She grabbed a broken brick that had just been left near the edge of the street and smashed in the back window. An alarm immediately blasted. As fast as possible, she unlocked the door, hopped around inside the vehicle, and two seconds later, she was under the dash. It barely took a breath for her to stop the alarm and get the engine flaring to life.
She might just be human, but she had some serious skills.
Thanks to Brandt.
Damn him.
Jade helped Az into the BMW. Well, helped, shoved—same thing. He still wasn’t talking. With the bullets in him, maybe he was just in too much pain to talk.
The shifters had been playing with him.
Those sadistic pricks had just wanted to hurt Az. No doubt they’d acted on Brandt’s order. Because if they’d wanted Az dead…Ryan was a good shot. If he’d wanted Az on a morgue slab someplace, he would have simply blasted a bullet in Az’s brain.
While I watched.
Those sick shifters had to be stopped.
“Just hold on,” she told Az as she spared a fast glance in the rearview mirror. “I’ll get you someplace safe and dig those bullets out.” Worried, Jade glanced at him.
He wasn’t slumping in the seat. He was looking right at her, with a faint frown pulling his brows low.
Crap. “Are you in shock?”
He reached into the gaping hole on his shoulder and yanked out the bullet. When his fingers dug into the torn flesh, the contact made a sucking sound that raised goose bumps all along her body. After just a moment of searching, he had the bloody bullet gripped in his fingers.
Jade swallowed. “I’m guessing that means you aren’t in shock.”
He rolled down his window and tossed out the bullet.
“Okay then.” Now wasn’t the moment to gripe at Az for littering. She turned her attention to the road. Sirens screeched on the next block, and there had to be some people from that crowd who would be sober enough to provide descriptions of the shooters—and of her and Az. Her foot pressed down on the accelerator. Nice and slow. All of the glass had busted out of the back side window, so if anyone looked at it, they’d just think the window was rolled down. They wouldn’t realize she’d done a smash-and-grab.
As long as she played it cool, she had this.
Then he appeared.
Brandt walked out of the darkness. Tall. Muscled. A walking, talking fantasy. No. Not a fantasy. A nightmare.
How could someone so handsome be so fucking crazy?
He crossed his arms over his chest. Stood in the middle of the road. Waited.
She slammed on the brakes.
“Who is he?”
Ah, now, finally, Az spoke. Jade’s fingers whitened around the steering wheel. “A dead man.” She shoved her foot down on the accelerator as far as it would go. Dead.
The BMW lurched forward. The scent of burning rubber filled her nose. Fast, faster.
The motor howled.
Brandt cocked his head and grinned at her.
Did he think she was playing chicken? After the hell he’d put her through? She wasn’t going to swerve away from him. The collision wouldn’t kill him. Brandt was too strong for that. But she wanted him to hurt.
Wait. Dammit. Was she really becoming just like him?
No. Won’t be. Can’t be.
Brandt leapt away just as she swerved.
Her heart slammed in her ears, and the rough drumming was so wild that it shook her chest. She spun around the approaching curve too fast, and the car lurched on two tires.
Swearing, Jade jerked the steering wheel and barely managed to keep the car steady. Risking a quick glance back, she saw that Brandt had picked himself off the pavement. He was staring after her.
And the tough shifter wasn’t smiling anymore.
The gas pedal was already flat on the floor. Time to get the hell out of that city.
Good thing she’d already scoped out the area and come up with a backup plan. She did that whenever she was in a new place. For those desperate instances— like this one —when she needed to run fast and seek cover.
Az reached for her hand. His blood coated her fingers. “Who was he?” Anger—no, more like rage—thickened beneath his words.
But she’d put a target on Az’s back, so he deserved the truth and his rage. “Brandt Dupre.” A brief pause. “He runs the most powerful panther shifter pack in the Southeast.” Hell, probably the whole U.S. “He’s vicious, smart, and he loves to make his prey suffer.”
Az didn’t let her go, and she could feel the weight of his stare on her.
They swept past the tall tombs of the cemetery. The heavy monuments rose over the old wall. Dark. Cold.
“Who is he to you?”
“He’s the man who took my life away.” Everything she’d had. Everything she’d been. “And he’s the asshole who’s hunting me now. Brandt isn’t ever going to stop. He’s going to keep coming, keep attacking until I’m dead?—”
“Or until he is.” Flat, final words.
Her gaze flew to him.
Az’s skin wasn’t even pale. He’d taken bullets, lost a ton of blood, and he sat there, eyes glittering with intensity and dark determination carved onto his face.
“This isn’t your fight,” she told him, her voice quiet but firm. “You can’t understand…you have no idea what they’re like.” He might think he knew about the paranormals out there, but Brandt’s pack was different. Savage. She’d never encountered anyone else like them.
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,” Ryan 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 at least two of them in him.” Ryan 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.” Ryan 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.” Ryan’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 that news.
“I’m telling you,” Ryan 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 freak 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 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 rear 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 a 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 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 frankly 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 intriguing. 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 detail 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 intense
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 other bullet.” This was the area that bothered him.
Silence.
Then the wooden floor creaked as she crept toward him. When her silken hand touched his shoulder, Az tensed.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
Glancing back over his shoulder, he assured her, “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. “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. A normal bullet would have been nothing to him. Barely an inconvenience. 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 sprawled 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 her words. Then she lifted her hands. “I don’t think I can do this.”
He turned and caught her hand. “You have to.” His jaw locked, and Az confessed, “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. The bullets are indestructible. He told me they can be fired again and again.” 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 affirmed 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 and stared 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— I 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, too.
Her hands feathered over his back. “What happened to you?”
“I fell.” Truth.
Now both of her hands were on him as they stroked over the scars that marked him and sent pleasure pulsing through his body.
That sweet scent of strawberries filled his nose as she leaned in even closer.
He felt her lips on the scar that cut across his right shoulder blade. “I’m sorry you hurt.” Jade 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. Tossed it aside. 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 too tempting. 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 the tight peak.
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. Shoved them off her and away, along with her shoes. His fingers slipped under the edge of her lacy panties.
Touch her. Take her.
So much temptation.
“I want you.” Jade’s 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 killed 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…” Jade 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 and in front of her. Reaching for her arms and hauling her up against him . “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 began.
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.”
He released her. Stepped back. “I don’t lie.”
Her chest rose and fell with her rapid breaths. Rose and fell…and her nipples 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.”