Chapter 2
Chapter Two
“You should strip.”
Her big, blond badass turned and frowned at her.
Jade offered him one of her innocent smiles. “Your clothes are soaked with blood. Give them to me, and I’ll go wash them for you.” Didn’t that sound friendly? Helpful? “And you can, um, go shower.” She waved her hand to indicate the small bathroom that waited just down the hallway.
Her temporary place—because, yep, all of her places were temporary these days—wasn’t much. A small apartment nestled on the edge of the Quarter. She was on the top floor and an abandoned antique shop waited below her.
She’d painted the walls. Covered them with murals of the city. She had a thing about painting. It was the one talent she’d always possessed. Well, painting and killing. But the killing talent had come to her later in life.
Jade held out her hand. “Ahem. The clothes.”
He turned to fully face her, and Az showed no signs of being in the mood to strip. A real pity. How was she supposed to seduce him if he was going to be so difficult? She barely smothered her sigh.
But then his hands reached for the bottom of his shirt. His eyes were on her. She offered an encouraging smile. Come on, big guy, take it all off for me.
He yanked off the shirt. Tossed it to her with a casual wave of his hand.
She didn’t let her jaw drop. But, wow, damn, Az was built. Talk about some extremely lickable abs.
“I’ll...take care of this.” She stepped closer to him and cleared her throat. “Now let me see your back. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
But he stiffened.
She put her hand on his arm. Oh, he was nice and warm. “I know, you said you’re a super healer. But just let me check those wounds out, would you?”
A muscle jerked in his jaw. “My back doesn’t hurt.”
Right. The tough guy didn’t feel pain. “I need to see how badly you’re injured.” She stared up at him and waited.
His nostrils flared, just a bit. “Why do you,” he inhaled again, “smell like strawberries?”
Ah, okay. Not the question she’d expected. But maybe this was a good sign. He was showing actual interest in her. Or, at least, interest in her scent. “It’s the soap I use.” She inclined her head toward the bathroom. “Pretty soon you’ll be smelling the same way.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t wish to smell like strawberries.”
“Don’t knock it.” It was better than smelling like blood and a piss-filled alley. She shook her head and pushed him toward the bathroom. As he turned— ha, she got him—her gaze slipped over his back, and she couldn’t control the gasp that broke from her lips.
“I told you I’d heal,” he tossed back as he stepped into the bathroom.
And he was right. The deep gashes from the shifter’s claws were gone. Blood stained his back, but the wounds were completely healed.
But it wasn’t his super healing that had caused her gasp.
No, the shock had come from the sight of the angry, thick, and still very fresh scars that lined his upper back. Those scars perfectly traced the path of his shoulder blades. Perfectly.
He’d healed without so much as a scratch remaining from a shifter’s attack on his spine. So what the hell had gotten hold of him and left those deep scars on Az’s skin?
He kicked off his boots. While she was trying to figure out what paranormal creature had cut him, Az ditched his jeans. No underwear.
Of course, her gaze had to drop to his ass.
Nice. Actually, much, much better than nice.
Then he stepped into the shower and the rush of water filled the room.
Jade remembered to take a breath then. Okay, step one of her plan had just worked. She had Az in her apartment. Actually, naked and in her apartment.
She grabbed his jeans and snuck out of the bathroom. Her hands dove into his pockets for a quick and dirty search. A search that proved totally useless. Dammit, no ID! Who went around New Orleans without so much as a wallet?
Az—Azrael. Did he only have one name? She needed more info from him. About him.
She shoved the clothes into the washing machine and hurried back toward the driving rush of running water in her bathroom. Steam filled the room, and she could see the hard outline of Az’s body behind the thin shower curtain.
It had been a while since she’d had a lover. Actually, it had been seventeen months, fourteen days, and six hours. Not that she was counting.
Okay, so she was.
But she couldn’t erase the memory of her last lover’s screams from her head. No matter how hard she tried, Jade couldn’t forget them. My fault.
The image of his death was burned in her memory, and she wouldn’t be forgetting it, or him, anytime soon. Johnny had been another painful lesson for her. Most humans weren’t strong enough to survive the battle that she found herself in. And falling for a human male—one who couldn’t fight the shifters coming for her—that was a plan sure to guarantee death.
Her gaze lingered on Az. He wasn’t human, she knew that. But what was he? How strong would he really be? If she pushed him, if she got close to him, would he wind up the same way Johnny had? Bleeding? Broken? With her name on his lips?
But he took out a shifter. Killed him with just a touch.
She wanted to believe Az was strong enough to defeat anything or anyone that would come his way.
Only... something had ripped his back apart. He’d been attacked by a being so strong that he still bore the scars.
She reached for a towel. Placed it near the shower. Until she found out just who— what —Az was, she couldn’t risk sleeping with him. She’d just have to go back to counting the days.
Seduction would have to wait.
She couldn’t have another man’s blood on her hands. Not again.
When Az stepped out of the shower, he half expected to find Jade waiting on him. Maybe he’d been hoping that she’d be there with her bedroom eyes locked on him.
But the bathroom was empty. He grabbed a towel, dried off with a rough scrub, then secured the cotton cloth around his hips as he went to look for her. The blood had washed away, turning the water red as it slid down the drain. He’d healed and now…
He wanted.
Angels weren’t supposed to feel emotions. Not desires. But since he’d fallen, he’d gotten slammed with every sensation that humans experienced. All the needs. All the wants. All the endless hungers.
And, right then, his body was hard and heavy with desire.
Because Jade had looked at him with hunger in her eyes. He’d seen the heat in her stare when she’d gazed at his naked body. She’d liked what she’d seen.
Only fair really. When he looked at her, he could certainly appreciate the view.
He opened the door. A quick glance revealed that Jade wasn’t in the small bedroom that waited to the right. He eased out of the bathroom and turned left in the hallway.
And he found her crouched down, painting an image of a street performer on her wall.
She hesitated, then glanced back at him. A faint streak of blue paint lined her cheek. “Your clothes aren’t ready yet.”
Fine. He stalked closer to her. Took the brush from her hand. Let his fingers linger on her skin.
But she shook her head. “You don’t want to do...this.”
“This?” Az asked, though he knew exactly what she meant.
She nodded. “It’s not safe to want me. I thought…” Jade took a deep breath and licked her lips. He was discovering that he loved to watch the slick movements of her lips and tongue. “When your clothes are done,” she said, “you should leave and forget that you ever met me.”
He’d forgotten many humans. Remembered the screams of others. He put the paintbrush down on the rim of the small bucket of paint. Then his fingers slid up her arms. Curled over her shoulders. “I think forgetting you may not be an easy task.”
“You don’t get it.” She didn’t pull away but held herself perfectly still as she told him, “Men who want me have an unfortunate history of death.”
If she only knew…
Her smile was sad as she rose—and pulled away. “So for once, I’m going to do something right.” But her gaze dropped down his chest. “Dammit.”
He lifted a brow and continued to stand before her.
“Thanks for saving my ass today,” Jade said as she took a few steps away from him. “But once you have your clothes, you really need to just get the hell away from me.”
Not quite what he’d expected. Before he’d entered the shower, Az had thought the human female was trying her hand at seducing him.
Others had tried. Tempted him. But he hadn’t wanted them, not the way he wanted her.
He wanted Jade on the big bed in her small bedroom. Wanted her open to him, her arms around him. Wanted her screaming for him.
He wanted to taste the pleasure that humans enjoyed so much. With her.
Every angel was tempted at some point.
“I know it’s none of my business.” Her words had a husky edge that he found...sexy. “But,” she continued in the voice that seemed to stroke right over his body, “what happened to your back?”
“I fell.” Flat. The truth.
Her dark brows lifted. “You fell.” Jade gave a slight shake of her head and whistled lightly. “That must have been some fall.”
“It was.” He wanted to touch her again. Touch had been denied to him for centuries, and he hadn’t realized just how pleasurable it was to feel a woman’s skin against his.
So he stalked forward and let his fingers skate down her cheek.
Soft.
“You shouldn’t.” Her voice was like a whisper during sex.
“I should.” What else did he have to lose? His gaze locked on her mouth. Red, plump lips. “I want to know what you taste like.”
He caught the hitch of her breathing, but she shook her head. “I told you?—”
Now he laughed. “I’m not scared of death.”
Her lips parted in surprise.
Az didn’t wait any longer. His lips took hers. Not a gentle, seeking kiss. He wasn’t much for gentleness these days. His tongue thrust into her mouth. Drove inside and took.
She tasted sweeter than strawberries. So incredibly sweet. His tongue tasted her and his hands curled around her as he pulled her body closer to his.
Her body was small, her breasts lush, and he wanted more.
His cock shoved against the towel as his dick thickened and stretched toward her. He couldn’t pull away from her. Didn’t want to. Her lips sucked over his tongue and his whole body tightened.
He stumbled forward with her. Caged her against the wall and—enjoyed her.
Mouth. Tongue. Body. Heat.
The towel was in the way. He wanted to be skin to skin. He wanted to see the pink folds of her sex. Wanted to be in her.
Wanted, as he’d never wanted another.
Her hands curled around his shoulders. Her nails dug into his skin, and he liked the rough sting. A growl built in his throat.
His mouth tore from hers, and he began to kiss her throat. She trembled against him. Ah, she enjoyed that. Right there, on the curve of her neck and shoulder and?—
“No!”
His head snapped up, and he stared down at her. Her nipples were tight, hard peaks, pushing against his chest. Her hips had arched hungrily against him, and her eyes—there was no missing the lust in her stare. The same lust that heated his own body.
But the human was telling him no.
“Why?” Grated from him. Was it because he wasn’t...like her? He wasn’t less than human, no, he was?—
She trembled against him as her fingers slid down his arms. “I told you,” Jade said in her husky, sensual voice, “I’m dangerous. You don’t want to be with me.”
He did. He wanted to be fucking her right then and there.
“The best thing that you can do is to get away from me.” Her hands flatted on his chest and she pushed against him.
Az eased back a step. Just one.
She stared up at him with the green eyes that he suspected had probably broken mortal men. “That panther pack will be coming after me again. Coming after me and anyone who stands with me. So trust me on this, you don’t want to get caught in this war.”
Then she eased around him. Her body brushed his, a soft glide of feminine softness.
“I’m going to shower,” she told him. “You should—you should be gone when I come out.”
If that was the way the little mortal wanted things to be.
She headed for the bathroom. Didn’t look back at him. Why did that fact anger him? And why did he feel like he had to ask, “Why do the panthers want you?”
She paused with one hand on the door frame. “I guess I did something to make them angry.”
It would seem so.
“Now, they aren’t going to stop. Not until they kill me.”
A human against a pack of panthers. Hardly seemed like fair odds to him. A human against just one shifter wasn’t a fair fight.
“But this isn’t your battle.” She still didn’t look back. Why not? “You should leave while you have the chance. And don’t just leave my apartment. Get out of New Orleans. If you don’t, they’ll pick up your scent. They’ll hunt you down. They’ll rip you apart.”
Highly doubtful. “I’d like to see them try.”
She swung around in an instant. “I wouldn’t.” Soft. Wait, were those tears glittering in her eyes?
A mortal, crying over him?
“You helped me. You didn’t know me. But you...you saved my life.” She gave a fast, negative shake of her head. “Now let me save yours. Az, get the hell out of here, and don’t ever come back. ”
She sounded like she meant those words.
Jade whirled and slammed the door behind her. A few seconds later, the water flooded on with a roar.
Az stared at the closed door. After a moment, he waved his hand and instantly clothed his body in fresh clothes. He hadn’t needed her to wash the others. Working magic was easy for him. Always had been. Magic was one of his gifts.
The water continued to pour in the bathroom.
The mortal wanted him to leave her alone.
But sometimes, mortals didn’t always get what they wanted. Especially not when they tempted him so much.
He’d left.
As she tiptoed out of the bathroom, Jade’s hands tightened around the towel that covered her body. It was good that he’d left.
So why did her chest ache?
She took a deep breath. For once, she’d done the right thing. She hadn’t dragged Az into her hell. She could handle this nightmare, and he’d be much better off away from her. For his sake, Jade hoped Az hightailed it far and fast.
Besides, she was used to being on her own. It was the way she wanted to be. Az would have just complicated things for her. Distracted her.
And...and she could still taste him on her lips.
Dammit.
Az waited until the sun fell, then he sought out his brother Sammael at the Fallen’s favorite club.
Brother. He and Sammael—or, rather, Sam, since his brother preferred that version of his name—weren’t exactly close, especially since Az had spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to kill Sam over the centuries.
But, well, bygones. That was all in the past. He hoped. As long as Sam didn’t come looking for some payback anytime soon.
A long line of humans waited outside the doors of Sunrise. Humans were always trying to play on the dark side. Maybe they sensed that the club catered to a wilder clientele. Maybe they wanted the rush that came from risking death.
Fools.
He shoved past the paranormal bouncer and headed inside. Sam was at the bar, looking bored as he talked to one of his demons. Sam spent too much time with the demons. And with hellhounds. But, luckily, Sam’s hound wasn’t in Sunrise just yet. Perhaps later the beast would make his appearance.
Sam gave an exaggerated sigh when he caught sight of Az in the bar’s mirror. He spun on the stool to face him. “Visiting again?” Sam waved toward the stage. “And the entertainment hasn’t even started yet. My, you are out prowling the streets early tonight.”
Az’s back teeth ground together. “I want to talk to Seline.”
Sam raised a brow. “Now what would you want with my Seline?” Possessive steel had entered his voice.
Because Seline was his. A woman who’d traded heaven to live with Sam in this hell. Az still didn’t get quite why she’d made that particular choice. For love, or so she said.
“Ah.” Sam nodded and his gaze sharpened as he snapped his fingers. “You want to grill her on how to get back upstairs, right? Because that’s always what you fucking want to do...go back. Go back . Sometimes, Az, you can be such a whiny bitch.” He grabbed a shot glass and drained the contents in a quick gulp. “You screwed up, you got tossed here, now deal with it.”
But he didn’t want to deal with it. Az was tired of the emotions that were growing stronger every day. Ripping me apart. And since he’d met Jade, the lust inside had been growing— all day. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Couldn’t stop wanting her.
He could still smell the scent of strawberries.
Az exhaled on a heavy breath. “This world isn’t for me.” He’d ruled over an army of angels, and now he was reduced to fighting shifters in a dirty alley in order to get his kicks. “I’m going back.”
“Not unless you get redemption,” a soft, feminine voice told him.
Seline.
He glanced into the mirror and saw that Sam’s mate stood just behind him. Seline’s warm, brown gaze met his in the mirror. “If you really hate it here so much,” she continued, shrugging her slender shoulders and sending her thick hair sliding back, “then prove that you should get the free pass back upstairs.”
Upstairs . Where there were no pesky emotions to plague him. No feelings to tie him into knots. No needs that made him ache. Only duty and death.
“ If that’s what you want,” Sam interrupted, voice taunting as he offered his hand to Seline. She stepped toward him and their fingers locked. “But something tells me that the longer you’re down here,” Sam said, amusement flickering in his eyes, “the more you’re gonna like it.”
Az’s gaze drifted around the bar. Couples were dancing with their bodies pressed far too close together. Nearly screwing right in public. Drinks poured and were guzzled instantly. Magic drifted in the air.
Booze. Alcohol. Sex.
Jade.
He blinked, wondering for a moment if he’d imagined her. But, no, this wasn’t another fantasy.
She was there. Standing just inside the doorway with her eyes narrowed as she scanned the bar.
“See something you like?” Sam taunted. “Because I sure think you must.”
Az realized his whole body had stiffened. He’d even taken a step toward her without realizing it.
Sam’s left hand slapped onto Az’s shoulder, and it felt like a burning poker had been laid against his skin. Probably because Sam was still pissed at him and wanted the touch to hurt. Sam was as powerful as Az, and the other Fallen knew how to control fire and magic just as easily—if not more easily—than Az did.
“Go ahead,” Sam told him. “Go find a human. Screw yourself silly. Live a little. ”
But with every moment that he spent on earth, Az felt like he slipped away from his past. From his real life.
He was not meant for this realm. It held too much pain.
“Redemption,” Seline stated softly as she pressed against Sam’s side. “It’s your only way.”
Yes, it was his only way. Because if he stayed here, well, a very long, long time ago, a certain powerful prophet had predicted that Az might just bring about the end of the world...when he killed his own brother.
He’d had the chance to kill Sam before. He’d passed. End of the world apocalypse averted.
For the moment. But each day, Az could feel a darkness stirring inside him. If the emotions just kept growing stronger, what would happen?
Could he keep holding on to his control?
Or what if that old prediction finally came true? If the darkness inside of him grew too strong, Az wasn’t sure what would happen or what he might do.
His gaze returned to Jade. He could barely see the top of her dark hair now. She’d slipped to the side, moving almost stealthily as she turned toward the hallway that led to the darker part of Sunrise. The part humans weren’t meant to see.
She was a human. Lost. Alone. Hunted by the Other.
Weak.
Sam began to laugh behind him.
Humans were weak, but they were also favored.
“You’re going to regret so many things,” Sam murmured to Az as he pulled Seline closer. “So many.”
Az turned his head and offered a tight smile to his brother, the only angel who’d ever been able to equal him in power. The angel who’d fallen when he’d slaughtered dozens of humans. “Fuck off,” Az told him.
But Sam’s grin didn’t fade. It only stretched wider as he praised, “Now that’s the spirit, brother.”
Az left him. Intent on finding Jade, he made his way through the crowd. She shouldn’t be there. It was far too dangerous for her to be in this wild scene.
Redemption.
He pushed back two demons who’d blocked his path. Demons looked just like humans, unless you were powerful enough to see through the glamour that they used. Usually, only other demons could read past the illusion. A demon’s true gaze was pitch black. Darker than the worst night in hell.
The demons didn’t bother with glamour when they glared at him. Az shoved a burst of his power at them and sent the demons stumbling back. In this town, he was used to enemies being near. He was used to enemies being everywhere.
The dark corridor on the left snaked away from the main bar. A few more steps down that corridor, and Az found himself in front of a barred door. A seven-foot-tall bear shifter blocked his way, and there was no sign of Jade.
“Where is she?” Az demanded.
The shifter smiled.
Fine. Az grabbed him and slammed the shifter’s head against the door. Once. Twice. The third slam broke the door.
He tossed the shifter aside and peered through the shattered remains of the door. Another hallway waited. But voices reached his ears. Men. Probably more demons or shifters. And then, he heard her.
So he followed.
Az entered a cavernous room and, even with the cluster of bodies, he caught the scent of strawberries. He focused on that scent. Stalked after it.
There she was. Jade was leaning over an old wooden table. Two demons sat at the table, with their eyes too intent on her body. She slapped a wad of cash down on the table’s scarred surface. “Here’s the money, now do it .”
One demon jumped up. Grabbed her. And put a knife to her throat.
In that instant, the dumbass demon begged for death.
And Death heard his plea.