Angel In Chains (Fallen #3)

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Az raced around the crypts. He turned to the left. His body shook, and his heart seemed to burst through his chest. He pushed forward with a furious blast of speed and saw them. Brandt—with his hands wrapped around Jade’s struggling body. The bastard’s claws were out. Killing close.

But it hadn’t been the claws that killed her in Az’s vision.

Tanner was on the ground, covered in blood, and not moving. But the shifter wasn’t dead. Not yet.

No one was.

Not. Yet.

Az froze and stared at Jade. So beautiful. His frantic heartbeat began to slow. The shaking left his hands. The center of his focus narrowed just to her. Brandt had his mouth close to Jade’s ear and Az heard him growl, “Tanner never was as strong as me.”

My cue. Az took a deep breath. She won’t die. “No,” Az said quietly, and Jade’s desperate gaze flew to his. “But I am.” He looked away from Jade and held Brandt’s blazing stare.

You’re dying tonight.

Az lifted the gun and pointed it at Brandt. “Let her go.”

Brandt’s eyes narrowed, and he made no move to free Jade. “You’re not going to shoot her.” Brandt’s voice mocked him as Jade twisted and shoved against her captor.

Such a fighter. She was the strongest woman he’d met. Human or Other . She made him want to be stronger. To be better.

I will be. He wouldn’t be the monster from the vision. He’d be the man that she needed him to be.

Brandt held her easily in his grasp. “You did this,” he told her, voice snarling. “You should’ve just been happy with me.”

Never would have happened, bastard.

Jade strained against him. “And you should have left my parents alone, you sick freak.” Her head turned back to Az. Her eyes held his. So many emotions shone in her stare. Determination. Love. Fury. No fear as she said, “Shoot.”

Brandt laughed. “He won’t?—”

Because Az didn’t want to hurt her. He wanted to protect her. To keep her safe and keep her happy.

But he’d watched this scene before, and he was damn well getting a different ending. “I love you,” he told her, the words halting.

Her lips parted in surprise. “Wh?—”

He would try to hurt her as little as possible. With his angel blood in her, he wasn’t sure what the bullet would do to her. I’m sorry, Jade.

Aiming carefully, Az fired. The bullet tore through Jade’s shoulder, ripping past skin and muscle. She didn’t cry out. Just watched him with eyes that saw straight into his soul.

The bullet drove through her—and sank into Brandt’s chest. Brandt staggered back, releasing Jade.

She fell to her knees. “Thank you,” she whispered as blood and a sliver of smoke spilled from her wound.

Brandt hadn’t fallen to the ground. He was still on his feet and staring in shock at Az.

Guess I missed his heart. But he hadn’t wanted to risk aiming at any other location on Jade. If Brandt had moved her, if he had so much as jerked her a few inches… My shot would have killed her.

Brandt’s bones began to pop and crack as he started his shift. The bastard thought he’d heal. That he’d attack and get stronger.

Not happening.

Az leapt forward. He pressed the gun right against Brandt’s heart. “I’m not losing her, and I’m not fucking losing my sanity either.”

Brandt grabbed for the gun. Az had seen this scene before, too. Only he hadn’t been struggling with Brandt. He’d been battling Sam.

Change fate. He would do it.

Another bullet exploded from the gun. Brandt’s eyes widened, and he stumbled back. This time, he hit the ground.

Brandt’s claws retracted. His razor-sharp canines turned back into a normal man’s teeth. And his blood thickened on the earth.

“Jade?” Brandt whispered her name. “I’m…I’m sorry…” He broke off, gasping, and stared up at the sky. Smoke rose from his chest. The brimstone bullets were burning him from the inside out.

“Wanted…different …” Az could barely hear Brandt’s words now. He felt a touch on his arm and found Jade standing beside him. She stared down at Brandt, her body stiff, but her lips trembling.

“Guess…” Brandt’s breath wheezed out. “Can’t change…”

Sometimes, you could.

Brandt stilled.

Az didn’t move. What if this were just another vision? What if Mateo was jerking him around?

Be real. Because he didn’t want to live in a world without her. That truly would be hell.

Jade wrapped her left arm around him. “It’s over.” Her breath blew lightly on his neck. Her scent—sweet strawberries—filled his nose. She was warm against him. Soft, silken, alive.

He pulled her close. Held her as tightly as he could. He’d been given something special tonight. A second chance he would have gladly traded his soul for.

Over her shoulder, he saw Sam walk out from behind a crypt. His brother stared down at Brandt’s unmoving body, then he waved his hand. Flames engulfed Brandt. A white-hot fire that would destroy all traces of the shifter.

Brandt wouldn’t be able to withstand the fire now—he was already gone. Only the empty shell of his body remained. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Not ever again.

Az pressed a kiss to Jade’s temple.

“I told him you could handle things,” Sam said with a nod. “I knew Mateo was just being a paranoid dick.” His brother sauntered past the fire.

His brother.

“Ouch,” Jade said as she pulled back a bit. His fingers had accidentally brushed her wounded shoulder. “You need to ease up a bit there, Fallen.” She offered him a half-smile that made his heart ache. The smile lit her eyes and made her dimple wink. “I’m wounded.”

He brushed back a lock of her dark hair. “I’m sorry.”

She pushed her hand over the wound. “Hey, I’m the one who told you to shoot. We had to take him out. Who knows what would have happened if?—”

Az kissed her. Not a hot, wild kiss, though he knew that would come later. It had to. No, this kiss was soft. As gentle as he could be. He kissed her with tenderness and with love.

Because he knew exactly what would have happened.

He’d be seeing those images for years to come. Every time he closed his eyes, he’d see her die in his nightmares. And he’d see his own destruction.

We can change.

Slowly, his lips left hers. She tasted sweet. Fresh. Like life. Paradise.

Her lashes lifted. “You saved me.”

Az shook his head. That hadn’t happened. Not at all. “Wrong, sweetheart. You were the one who saved me.” She’d stopped him from losing everything.

She was the bravest woman he knew. The one who’d reached right into his dark soul and made him need. Made him want.

More than just death.

More than heaven.

Jade was everything.

The fire had died away. Faint ashes drifted up toward the sky.

Carefully, he inspected her shoulder. The brimstone bullet had gone right through her. “I want to get you to a doctor.”

Bones began to crunch behind him. He turned, keeping his hold on Jade—Az didn’t think he’d be able to let her go anytime soon—and saw Tanner fighting to shift on the ground. Fur rippled across his skin. His face elongated. His eyes widened. His legs shortened, reshaped, and the hands that grabbed at the earth became claws.

It was a slow shift, and one of the most savage that Az had ever seen. But shifts were meant to be savage and powerful. After a time, Tanner’s human body was gone. In its place stood a trembling, black panther. The panther parted its jaws to roar, but fell to the ground. The beast’s form melted away until only the man remained.

Tanner hadn’t held the shift long, but it appeared the brief shift had done the trick for him. His wounds were closing.

They’d all survive. All live to face another day.

“I’ll take care of the cat,” Sam said as he stalked toward Tanner. “You hold tight to your lady.”

He already was. Az lifted Jade into his arms. Her head fell against his shoulder and her light scent drifted around him.

He swallowed.

“We need to get out of here,” Sam continued as he bent over Tanner, “before the humans come to find out why fire has been lighting this place up.”

With Brandt’s body gone, only the ash and scorched earth remained to mark his passing. The nearby tombs had been smashed, and rubble littered the area.

When the humans arrived, Az knew they’d invent some explanation for what had happened this night. They always did. Leave it to the humans to be the ones who actually covered their tracks.

This cemetery already had a reputation. When the mortals discovered the wreckage, they’d blame it on the ghosts that were said to slip from these graves. Or perhaps the scorched earth had come from a voodoo ritual gone wrong. Either way, no one would ever think of angels.

They never did.

Yes, the humans would tell stories to explain this night away. And more tourists would come to see the destruction left in their wake.

Sam slung Tanner over his shoulder. Tanner growled and Sam just laughed. “Yeah, you can thank me later,” he said.

Az strode from the rubble. He passed an old, faded statue of an angel. She was looking down at the graves. Sorrow was etched onto her face.

Angels weren’t supposed to feel sorrow. But they did. They could even regret the loss of a killer’s life.

Can’t…change.

Things could have been different for Brandt.

Things will be different for me.

He heard voices. Excited, high-pitched voices that he knew belonged to humans. The other shifters had long since ran away. If they wanted to keep living, they’d keep running.

His gaze met Sam’s, and he nodded. Together, they lunged straight up and over the high stone wall that surrounded the cemetery. When Az’s feet touched down, his knees didn’t buckle. Sam landed beside him a bare second later.

Then they rushed forward together, moving fast into the night. Human eyes couldn’t track them any longer.

And only ash was left in their wake.

From his perch atop his family’s crypt, Mateo watched Azrael and Sam vanish into the darkness. The Fallen had done it. Stopped the promised prophecy of destruction. Saved the damsel. Let the world live to face another day.

Mateo glanced down at the gun he held in his hand. He opened the chamber, and two bullets fell into his palm. Brimstone bullets. He’d made them at his apartment when Azrael had been too distracted by Jade to notice his movements.

If necessary, he’d planned to use those bullets. He and Sam were…friends, of a sort, but if Sam had gotten between him and Azrael, one of those bullets would have been for him.

The other would have been sent right into Azrael’s heart.

Mateo knew too much of hell. He didn’t want it slipping into this realm. He wanted the humans—and even the so-called monsters who dwelled on this earth—to keep living as they were.

Hell didn’t belong here.

Azrael had possessed enough darkness in his heart that he could have bridged the gap between the worlds. A dangerous foe. A dangerous ally.

But Azrael had fought the darkness. For a human. The vision of what could have been—that vision had been enough to strike fear into the Fallen’s heart. Az had changed fate because he hadn’t been willing to let his human die.

Humans.

Most Other thought humans were weak. Prey. Little more than food or toys to play with when boredom struck. They were wrong. Humans were the strongest beings to walk this earth.

After all, they were the ones who could break angels, and one human woman— just one —had brought a Fallen to his knees.

He tucked the bullets into his pockets. He would keep them close because Azrael and Sam weren’t the only Fallen with darkness in them.

Angels were falling more often these days. Giving in to temptation.

Was a war really coming? He didn’t know, but, just in case, he’d be ready.

And he’d make sure hell kept waiting.

Dawn came. The faint light slipped through the blinds and spilled onto Jade’s bed. She stretched slowly but then her body stiffened as she realized?—

I’m in my bed.

She really was back in her own bed. She didn’t have to be scared anymore. Didn’t have to keep running. It was over.

Jade looked down at her shoulder. Only a thin, red line remained to show where she’d been shot. The bullet had burned like fire—maybe it had been—but her shoulder didn’t even ache now.

Her head turned to the right. Az lay beside her. He was fully clothed while she was naked. She was under the covers. He was on top.

She frowned at that. Hardly acceptable behavior. They should both be naked.

Jade pushed up to better see him. His lashes cast deep shadows beneath his eyes. She could actually see his eyes moving behind his closed lids. Moving quickly.

What was her Fallen dreaming about?

A smile lifted her mouth as she leaned toward him. She’d kiss him and find out?—

“No!” The snarl burst from him and froze her. “Jade, no!” His hands fisted in the bedcovers and deep lines suddenly bracketed his mouth. “Don’t leave me…” A lost whisper.

Oh, no. This wouldn’t do. Jade put her hands on either side of his face. “Az, wake up.”

He tried to pull away from her.

“Az, it’s okay.” Jade raised her voice even as she crawled on top of him. “I’m right here.” Her lips feathered over his. “Everything’s okay.”

He gasped beneath her mouth, and in the next instant, his hands were curling around her. His tongue pushed inside her mouth, and he kissed her with a wild desperation that made her heart race in her chest.

Her legs straddled his hips, and there was no missing the growing arousal pressing against her.

When her head lifted from his, her breath was ragged and her sex was wet. “Bad…ah…bad dream?” Jade managed to ask in a voice gone husky with need.

His eyes glittered at her. “The worst thing I can imagine.”

Her right hand slid down his chest and pressed over his heart. “Want me to help you forget it?”

“I won’t ever forget it.”

She frowned at him. “Az?”

His gaze searched hers. “Did you mean it?”

Her knees tightened around him. “Um, I’m not sure that I’m following you.”

“You said you loved me. Back at Sunrise. I heard you.”

Right. That. She straightened her shoulders. Hard to look dignified when you were sitting astride an angel. “You said you loved me, too.” Maybe it had been the adrenaline talking. They’d been in a life-or-death situation. Maybe…

Please love me. Her lips pressed together so that she wouldn’t let the words escape.

“I did.” His voice was deep and rumbling.

“And did you mean it?” Wait. Why was she trying to push this back on him? Pull up those big girl panties. “No, just…” She exhaled. “Yes. I meant what I said. I love you, Az.” She’d told two men that she loved them in her life.

One had burned and was probably in hell.

As for the other—she wanted Az to stay with her. Forever.

“Can you have a life with me?” She didn’t know how this worked. Hadn’t ever even thought this far ahead. She’d tumbled fast and hard for him, and now he was all that she could see when she imagined her future.

But an angel…and her?

“I can’t have a life without you.” His quiet words seemed to sink right into her heart. “You are what makes me whole in this world.” His fingers curled around her hips. “When I’m with you, I want to be more than a monster that others fear.”

“You aren’t a monster.” She’d kick the ass of anyone who said so. “You’re strong. Brave.”

But sadness had slipped over his face. “One day,” he said quietly, “I’ll prove I’m good enough for you.”

No, he didn’t understand. “You don’t have to prove a thing to me.” She loved him just as he was.

The sadness didn’t leave his eyes. She didn’t want him to look that way. It was time for him to be happy. Az deserved some happiness.

“Do you love me, Az?” Jade asked him.

“I didn’t know what love was until I found you.”

Oh. Okay. That was great. Jade blinked quickly because her eyes had just gotten all misty on her.

“It ripped into me,” he said as he stared deeply into her misty eyes. “Tore me apart on the inside.”

Um, not sounding so great. Her brows lifted.

“It destroyed who I was.” Az’s face was solemn.

Again, what he was saying definitely fell into the not so great category.

“And I’m glad,” he added, voice roughening even more. “Because I don’t want to be him anymore. I want to be someone who can love. Who can be happy. With you.”

Now that was what she wanted to hear.

“I’ll give you everything that I have.” His promise.

She smiled at him. “I know.”

“And I will love you long past this life.”

He was seriously going to make those tears start. Ah, hell. Who was she kidding? They’d already started. She was past the misting stage.

Leaning forward, Jade pressed her lips to his. This kiss wasn’t as desperate as the one before, but the need still flowed between them. She could taste the salt of her own tears in the kiss.

As she kissed him, her fingers slid down between their bodies. She found the bottom of his shirt and yanked it up. Their mouths parted only long enough for her to toss the shirt to the floor.

“I love you,” he whispered before their lips met again.

I love you.

Her hand pressed over the thick bulge of his cock. He’d always made her want, far more than any other man.

But then, he wasn’t just a man.

She unsnapped his jeans and lowered the zipper. His cock sprang forward. Heavy and full, right into her hands.

One day, she’d love to have his child. A child with his bright eyes and slow smile.

But maybe his smile wouldn’t always be so slow. Perhaps one day, happiness would come easily to him. And to her. One day.

She didn’t want long foreplay then. Didn’t want anything but his mouth on hers, kissing her so softly but deeply, and his dick filling her body.

Az positioned the broad head of his cock at the entrance to her body. She was more than ready for him.

With one smooth thrust, he slid deep into her sex. She gasped into his mouth because the fullness felt so good. Everything with him felt good. Right.

She rose slowly and stared down at him. His cock stretched her inside—a wicked good pressure—as he grew even bigger. She tightened her inner muscles around him. Held even tighter.

The nightmares were over for them.

Life was finally beginning.

His fingers closed around her hips, and he lifted her up. Pleasure pulsed through her with every dip and surge of his hips.

She didn’t look away as she rose and fell on him. His eyes burned up at her, but he didn’t take control of the pleasure.

Neither did she.

This time, they were equal. Giving. Taking.

Her breath panted faster as her heart thundered in her chest. His pupils widened, seeming to make his eyes go pitch black. More. Her knees pushed into the bed. He picked up the tempo with her as his hips plunged harder.

Jade’s fingers stroked over his chest. Found his tight nipples and teased them. His cock jerked within her in eager response. The need built. The tension tightened. The pleasure waited just out of her reach.

She leaned toward him and her hair slipped over his skin. Jade had to kiss him. Had to feel his lips on hers when the pleasure swept over them both.

Her lips touched his. His tongue slid into her mouth, skimming right over her lower lip. Then he was rising up, holding her in a fierce grip, even as he kept his lips on hers and his cock in her. He sat on the bed with his legs balancing her so that they faced each other.

The position drove his cock even deeper into her. I like that—like it a whole lot.

Her hands curled around his shoulders, and she kept kissing him. Rising, falling, taking him inside as far as he could go.

Jade’s fingers slid along his back. Traced the heavy scars that had made him into the being that he was. Az shuddered beneath her touch, and his thrusts became rougher.

She’d told him before that she wouldn’t break. Jade stroked him again. Again and again and she knew that, later, she’d kiss those scars on his back. But for now…

The climax slammed into her. It blinded her with a wave of pleasure so intense that her heart seemed to stop.

And Az was with her. As he came inside her, Az held her even tighter.

Her lips lifted from his, and she stared just over his shoulder at the shadow of his wings. Wings that she couldn’t touch, not really, but wings that marked him for what he was.

Fallen.

An angel cast out.

An angel that she loved.

The pleasure slid away so slowly. She shivered as her sex contracted in a little aftershock around him.

There were more questions that she needed to ask. More truths that she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to hear. But for now, she had him.

He loved her.

And that was all she needed.

They went to Sunrise that night. The club was closed. Marked off with yellow police tape. No thick line of eager humans waited to slip inside and dance with danger.

Az figured they’d be back. Sooner or later, they always came back.

He and Jade eased under the tape. A hard shove of his hand had the club’s front door opening. The inside of Sunrise was hollowed out and blackened from the fire. He stared at the floor and remembered what it had been like to be trapped while Jade was dragged away.

Never again.

His fingers intertwined with hers.

“Well, well…” Sam’s voice boomed as he strode down the hall. “Here to help me torch the rest of this place?”

Sam’s Seline was by his side, but her face didn’t have the same mask of unconcern that Sam wore. No, when she looked at Sam, there was worry in her eyes.

Az shook his head. “We’re here to help you rebuild.”

Sam blinked. “You? You’re into destruction and death, not into putting some two-bit bar back together.”

But the bar mattered to Sam. He could see it.

“It’s time to move on,” Sam said with a shrug. “More places to see in this world. More things to?—”

“This is home.” Their new home. “And we can rebuild.” He offered his brother a smile and both Sam and Seline stared at Az in shock.

“Uh, Az, did that hybrid shifter hit you on the head?” Seline wanted to know.

Jade laughed lightly at that question. Az loved her laugh. To him, that laugh was the sound of pure happiness .

“I realize that I owe you a debt,” Az said, “and I’m here to start repaying.” Because he would be the man that Jade deserved. She’d said that she loved him as he was. Well, she’d love him more once he atoned. Once the darkness was gone from his soul.

He’d make her happy each day of her life, and he’d see to it that she never feared again.

He blinked and found Sam in front of him. “What’s happening here?” Sam studied Az with eyes that seemed to see too much. “What did I miss in that cemetery?”

Some stories weren’t meant to be told. Az offered him a faint smile. “Everyone always said we’d kill each other one day.”

Sam wasn’t smiling back. “No, they said if we did, the end of the world would come.”

Jade sucked in a sharp breath.

Seline strode toward them. “Sam.” A warning note entered her voice.

Finally, Sam’s lips twisted into his usual hard grin. “But I don’t see the end of the world.”

Hopefully, you won’t ever. “Fate can change.”

Now his brother stepped back in surprise. That too-sharp gaze of his widened.

“It can change,” Az repeated, and that was all that his brother needed to know.

Slowly, Sam inclined his head.

“Now why don’t we get started cleaning up this place?” Jade asked, and Az saw her nose wrinkle. “Because, no offense, but it really smells like piss in here.”

Piss. Ash. Hell. Whatever.

Seline laughed as she agreed with Jade. She came closer, and Jade lifted her eyes to the ceiling as she said, “While we’re doing the cleaning, tell me we get to ditch that cage.”

The cage, though blackened with soot, still swung from the ceiling.

Seline looped her arm with Jade’s. “Oh, no,” she told her as they walked away. “I’m rather fond of it.” She glanced back and winked at Sam.

Sam’s face softened as he gazed after her. But when he turned back to Az, tension spread lines near his mouth and eyes. “Fate…” Sam sighed. “You should know better than to think that it can be totally changed.” His voice was pitched low so that the women wouldn’t overhear his words.

Yet fate had changed.

“Jade was meant to die last night.” Sam jerked a hand through his hair. “How long do you think you’re going to be able to keep her by your side?”

Forever. Az’s stare darted to the left. Found Jade. “I told you, fate changed.” He paused and turned his focus back to Sam. “ I changed.”

Sam studied him in silence. What was he seeing? The shell Az had been before? Or the man he was becoming?

Then his brother nodded and offered his hand.

Az stared at Sam’s extended palm. He’d been the one who sat in judgment when Sam had been banished from heaven. He’d watched as his brother fell, and he’d fought not to show any emotion.

“You were always stronger than me,” Az confessed.

Sam frowned. His hand began to lower.

Az didn’t take the hand. He grabbed his brother and held tight. The brother he’d lost centuries ago. The brother he’d found again. “I’m sorry.” He should have fought for Sam that long-ago day. He’d make damn sure he always fought for him now.

The wall he’d kept around his heart was gone. Battered away by Jade. Now he felt—so much.

But Sam had frozen against him. Az stepped back. Stared right into eyes so like his own. Sam had been his only family. The one closest to him, until that bitter day that had burned a divide between them. Burned as surely as Sammael’s wings had burned away.

“You were the better angel,” Sam said slowly, softly. “I could never follow the rules.”

No, he hadn’t followed those rules. And nearly a whole army had been killed by his fury.

But…

“Some of those rules are shit,” Az admitted.

Sam laughed, a sputter of surprise, and so did Az. He laughed and felt free.

Strange. An angel without wings had finally found his happiness, and it was with a family standing in a burned-out club on one of the wildest streets in New Orleans.

Jade glanced over at him. He couldn’t miss the love in her eyes.

He realized then just how lucky he was. Once, Sam had told him that angels weren’t always pushed out of heaven because they’d done something wrong. Sometimes, they lost heaven as a reward.

Because they were offered something…more.

He saw that more in Jade’s eyes.

Thank you. He sent the silent thought out and knew that it would be heard by the one who mattered.

All he’d needed to do was experience a little fall in order to find his paradise.

As the last streaks of darkness slid from the sky, Az walked out onto Jade’s balcony. The sun would be up soon. He could already see the faint streaks of red—like blood—sliding across the horizon.

He stared at the darkness and quietly called, “Bastion.”

Az knew the angel would come. He’d caught Bastion’s scent several times that night.

A rustle of wings, then Bastion appeared beside him. The angel was frowning. Ah, Bastion had better be careful. He was showing more and more emotions lately.

Soon he might find himself walking with humans.

“I have an offer for you,” Bastion announced with a dramatic air.

At that, Az lifted a brow. Maybe it was too late already. Bastion almost sounded human.

Az glanced toward the open balcony door. The white curtains billowed in the breeze. “What kind of offer?”

“You can come back.”

His hands tightened around the railing. “Says who?”

“The angels in charge.”

But they weren’t really in charge.

“I’ve earned redemption?” Az knew he sounded doubtful. “How?”

“You, ah, haven’t earned redemption.”

He frowned. Right, thought so.

“But some think you might be perfect for a new position that is becoming available.” Bastion paused and cleared his throat. “The punishment angels need a new leader. After the way you dispatched Brandt—a being tainted by evil who possessed our own powers—you seem the first choice for the job.”

Az didn’t speak.

“You’ll get your wings back. Your full powers. You’ll even have an army of angels at your beck and call again.”

His gaze returned to that open balcony door. “What happens to Jade?” Az asked quietly.

“Ah, well…” Bastion exhaled. “Nothing.”

Az looked at him and waited for more.

“She’s off the books. Your Jade isn’t slated to meet her end for a very long time.” Bastion shrugged. “Seems someone gave her a direct dose of angel blood.” His lips curved lightly. “So she has a very un -human-like life expectancy now.”

The tightness in Az’s chest eased.

“You can come home tonight. Ditch this world and be free again.”

He had his freedom.

“I only wish Marna could come, too.” Bastion’s gaze turned toward the empty street below them. “But she is lost.”

Perhaps.

Perhaps not.

Bastion’s wings stretched behind him. “Let’s leave so that we can?—”

“No.”

Bastion’s wings froze. “Uh, I’m offering you a chance to return through the gates. For power, for?—”

“I’m not leaving.” He wasn’t even tempted.

He could see Bastion struggling to understand. “For…her?”

Az nodded and stared silently back at the angel.

“You’d trade all that heaven can give, for a human?” Bastion seemed both shocked and horrified.

Az still didn’t speak. What was there to say? Heaven had given him his human. He needed nothing more.

A muscle flexed along Bastion’s jaw. “Fine. But know that the offer won’t be made again. You’ll be chained here, forever.”

Promises, promises.

Bastion turned away.

“You should be careful,” Az had to tell him. He felt it was only right to offer the warning. After all, he’d almost killed the guy. Amends had to be made some way.

Bastion hesitated and spared him a fuming glance.

Ah, there it was again. “When you let the emotions get to you too much, the lure of the mortal world will become too strong.”

“I won’t fall.”

How many angels had said that? He’d said that. “We all have temptations.”

“I know my duty. I won’t?—”

“You’re already weakened, and you don’t even realize it.” How could the angel be so blind? He’s blind, just like I was. “The rage got to me first,” Az admitted. “The fury about things I couldn’t control.”

Like Sam falling.

Innocents dying.

The guilty sliding away from the punishment angels.

Fury had been his weakness. It was also Bastion’s. “You’re enraged over Marna. That rage is burning in your gut right now.”

“You know nothing !” Bastion snapped at him.

“I know the sound of emotions when I hear them.” He’d warned the angel. The rest would be up to Bastion. “Be careful.”

“I don’t need care. I don’t need?—”

“I once told Keenan that it was the fire that would make him scream the loudest when he fell.” The fire that burned away an angel’s wings and stole so much of his magic.

Fear flickered in Bastion’s eyes. He rose into the air. “I won’t fall.” His wings carried him higher. “I won’t. ”

He was already on the path to a fall. The angel just didn’t realize it yet.

“Watch out for the burn,” Az whispered. Because he could see it coming. “It’ll make you scream.”

The angel vanished.

Az didn’t leave his post on the balcony. He waited for Jade to come and join him. He’d known she was there all along. No way to miss that sweet scent.

The curtains rustled once more.

“You…you can call him back.” Jade’s voice was hushed.

“Why would I do that?”

“So you can get home.” She came toward him with the softest whisper of sound as her bare feet slid across the balcony. “So you can get your wings back. So you can?—”

He turned and caught her hands. “Spend the rest of my life missing you?”

Her gaze searched his.

“No. I’m where I want to be.” Jazz music drifted up the street. “Where I’m meant to be.” With her.

The world wasn’t a safe place. It was brutal and hard. Dark. Dangerous. And beautiful.

Angels weren’t just needed in heaven. They needed to be here. Protecting the ones that they loved. Fighting to hold a balance between good and evil.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Jade’s full lips tilted into a smile. One that was echoed in her eyes. “Because following your butt into heaven wouldn’t have been easy.”

His own eyes widened. Would she have truly?—

Yes. He could see the answer in her gaze. Jade would have gone with him anywhere.

Fair enough. He would gladly follow her even through the gates of hell.

“Now I can stop worrying about trying to grow my own wings,” she teased as her arms wrapped around him. “That was not going to be an easy job, let me tell you.”

The sun was rising. The darkness gone at last.

“You don’t need wings.” Az pulled her even closer.

“Damn right I don’t.” She licked her lips and rose onto her toes. “And neither do you. I want you, I love you, just the way you are.”

As he bent his head toward her, Az realized that if he had to do it all over again…

He’d fall, in an instant. Just to be with her.

Some things in this world were worth dying for, but there were far more— far more— things that were actually worth living for.

He’d always live for Jade.

He kissed her and knew that he was home.