Nicole reached for Keenan and wrapped her arms carefully around his body. “Keenan ...”
He was so weak. She could feel the weakness pushing at her. He’d given her his blood and put himself at a disadvantage so that she’d live.
Her right hand touched her chest. The stake had come close to her heart, but, lucky for her, the psycho bitch had a really crappy aim. Blood had soaked her clothes. Her blood, his.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Finally, someone had noticed all the hell breaking loose in that alley and thought to call for help. Finally.
“Help won’t come in time,” Az said as he touched down a few feet away. “I’ve got a job to do—and I will do it. I won’t hesitate. I won’t make the mistake you did. Emotion won’t stop me.”
Then he came at Keenan again. Az grabbed him and yanked him right out of Nicole’s arms. Az tossed Keenan onto the other side of the alley. Keenan flew into the bricks, and a thick crack appeared to run the length of the wall.
“Stop!” She ran after Az with her claws out. “Damn you, stop!”
Az spun toward her. And smiled. “Ready to choose?” he whispered.
She stumbled to a halt.
“I told you before ... it’s all so easy. Your life ... or his.” His wings eased down. “We can make this right. Your soul should have been taken. Order has to come back.”
She glanced at Keenan. He was struggling to rise. If he could just get to his feet ...
“You don’t care enough about him to die, do you?” Az laughed at that. “Keenan loves you, but this time, you’ll be the one who stands there and watches death come.”
“No.” She wouldn’t have much time. She’d have to be fast. Fast ...
“You won’t give your life for him!”
Keenan was on his feet. His eyes were wide and desperate as he lunged at Az’s back.
“I’ll do better than that,” she said softly, and it was her turn to smile and show her fangs. “I’ll kill for him.”
Az blinked. “Wh—”
She leapt forward and grabbed him. Nicole’s teeth sank into his throat and her claws ripped into his chest even as Az’s hands closed tightly around her.
One touch ... just one ...
Cold spread from his hands and sank into her flesh. Death.
But Az was trembling against her and his blood was in her mouth. The angel wasn’t getting away unscathed this time. Actually, he wasn’t getting away at all.
Time to kill ... and time to die. For both of them.
Right there, in that damn forsaken alley. Right there.
Az had been right. Six months ago, she’d gone to the cathedral to pray. To ask God for strength, but his house had been closed to her.
Then the devil had come into the alley.
But she hadn’t turned away from her faith. Az had been wrong about that. She’d prayed and she’d hoped and she’d gotten her angel.
I’ll kill for him. I’ll die for him.
Because Keenan had given her a reason to live. Hope. Love.
“No!” Az shoved her back, a shove that sent her flying ten feet and thudding into a window. Glass crunched around her.
And Az hit the ground. Or rather, he hit when Keenan crashed into him and drove the guy down. Then Keenan started ramming his fist into Az’s face, again and again. The brutal thuds filled the air and almost drowned out the approaching sirens.
Nicole pushed to her feet. She took a step and staggered.
Strong, hard hands caught her. “You okay?”
Sam.
She blinked and realized that blood was dripping into her eyes. She could hardly see him—
Sam lifted his hand and pulled a chunk out of glass out of her brow. “Easy ...”
Now wasn’t the time for easy. Two angels were trying to kill each other, and one of those angels—I love.
Wind whispered against her body as she fought against Sam’s hold. “We have to help Keenan!”
“I don’t think Keenan’s the one who needs help,” Sam muttered. “Where’s the coyote? We need to stop him. If he gets his hand on any angel blood ...”
She broke Sam’s hold. “He’s dead.” She hurried for Keenan as she tossed that bit out.
Az didn’t seem to be fighting anymore. The angel just lay there, taking the hits, as he stared up at Keenan with swollen, confused eyes.
Then his gaze drifted to her. “You ...” He licked busted lips. “Should be ... dead.”
Keenan yanked him up. “No, you’re the one who’s dying.”
“T-touched her ...” Az shook his head and managed to stand up on his own. “She should die.”
Yes, he had touched her and she was sure he’d touched with the intent to kill.
But she was still breathing. How about that?
“Maybe it’s not her time to die,” Sam drawled as he stalked closer.
Az weaved on his feet. The blisters and burns on his body weren’t healing. Keenan already seemed fine once again. Powerful and strong, with not a mark on him, but Az ...
“She was on the list.” Az shook his head and tried to straighten. Two fallen angels surrounded him on either side and Nicole saw the fear in his gaze. “I saw her death. Here. Tonight.”
“Really?” Sam didn’t sound convinced. “If you were so sure she was gonna die, then why team up with the coyote?”
Az didn’t answer. He did spit out a mouthful of blood.
“Maybe you weren’t so sure she’d die,” Sam said. “Maybe you were just trying to change fate your own damn self.”
“I was trying to give Keenan a chance at redemption!”
Nicole’s claws dug into her palms. “You didn’t see my death,” so good at twisting truth, “and you didn’t see Keenan’s.”
His eyes hardened. “I saw death!” His brows furrowed. “Should have died ... should have died! The touch only doesn’t work on those with angel bl—” He broke off and his gaze lazered on Keenan. “You—you gave her your blood, damn you! You made her stronger so she could hold off the touch!”
Nothing was stronger than angel blood.
Az took a step forward. “I’ll touch her again ... she won’t be able to hold off the Touch. I’ll touch her again!”
“You’re not touching her.” Keenan’s hands were fisted and bloody. “And the death you saw ... maybe that was your own death, asshole.”
That had Az blinking. “I was trying to help you. We’ve worked together for two thousand years, I didn’t want to see you lose everything for a damned soul!”
Damned? Goose bumps rose on her flesh. She didn’t want to be damned. She wanted a second chance. When she looked up, Nicole could see the crosses over the cathedral. Black against the pink dawn. Before the sun comes, death will take a soul.
Keenan’s body vibrated with fury. “I don’t want your help, Az. I don’t want redemption.”
“What do you want?” Az screamed.
Seemed to her that the angel was losing control of his emotions.
“Now you’re sounding human.” The drawl was Sam’s, but his words echoed her thoughts.
Keenan caught Nicole’s hand and smoothed his fingers over her knuckles. “I have what I want.”
Those sirens were nearly on them. The cops would be bursting into the alley any moment. They wouldn’t see Az, she knew that. The cops would just see her, Sam, and Keenan—and two dead bodies.
“You have nothing.” Disgust tightened Az’s mouth. “You think she’ll stand by you? The bloodlust will get to her again, and she’ll take any man who comes her way. She’ll kill, she’ll—”
“Who are you to judge me?” Nicole’s voice came out ice cold. “You’ve killed. You set up these two—” A jerk of her head toward Carlos and the woman “to die tonight. You knew they wouldn’t make it out of this alley. But you put their deaths in motion. If you’d left them alone ...”
“Instead of baiting a damn trap!” Sam charged, looking ready to do some killing of his own. Probably because he was.
&
nbsp; “They’d be alive,” Nicole finished.
Az laughed then. He threw back his head and laughed long and hard.
The laughter mixed with the sirens. She could see the flash of the police lights now.
“I’m a ranking angel. One of the first created. Favored—”
A burst of wind whipped through the alley. The wind grabbed Nicole’s hair and tossed it into her face.
And Az staggered back a step beneath the force of the gust.
“You real sure about that favored status?” Keenan asked.
Nicole saw the sudden pallor of Az’s skin. He tried to retreat, but Sam caught him and held tight.
“You’re not going anywhere, brother. Nowhere but hell.” Sam told him.
Az turned and his wings knocked into Sam and sent the Fallen hurtling back.
Then Az faced Nicole and Keenan once more. “You’ll both die,” he promised. “I saw it!” Then there were flames in his hand. Conjured flames that he threw right at them.
Keenan jumped in front of her and shielded Nicole with his body.
But the flames didn’t touch him.
The flames didn’t touch anything or anyone.
That wind whipped again and the fire vanished.
This time, the laughter that rang out was Sam’s.
Nicole pushed Keenan to the side and saw that Sam was rising.
Az stared down at his hands. “How could—”
“I think that’s a definite,” Sam broke over his words, smirking. “Your ass isn’t favored anymore.”
Az’s body jerked, contorted, and flew five feet up in the air, as if he’d been yanked on a puppet string.
“Did you ever think ...” Sam’s voice was pitched high to carry to the rising angel. “That Keenan didn’t fall because he was being punished?”
Keenan’s arm was around her, holding her close. She could feel the warmth of his body and the strength of his muscles. Safe.
Az was screaming, struggling, but rising higher and higher.
“Maybe ...” Sam yelled to be heard over the howling wind and the sirens. “Just maybe he fell because he was favored.”
Keenan stared up at Az. When he spoke, his voice was grim. “Beware, my friend, this will hurt.”
It looked like Az already was hurting. Was it wrong that that made her happy? No, she figured it wasn’t wrong at all.
“I’ve heard,” Keenan called, still staring up at Az’s rapidly disappearing body, “it’s the fire that makes you scream the loudest.”
Az screamed again, a long, desperate cry that echoed through the streets. He shot upward and his wings flapped uselessly. Then he vanished.
“The fire won’t be all he has to worry about.” Sam turned to them with a shark’s smile. “Once his ass hits earth again, he’s mine.”
“No,” Keenan said, “for all that he’s done, I’ll—”
“Police!” A hard voice barked. “Turn around and put your hands up!”
Dammit. Could they not get a break?
They turned, slowly, and Nicole was all too aware of the carnage around them.
Her gaze met the cop’s. The first responder on the scene, and, oh, no ... his face that was familiar to her.
Greg Hatten. The cop who’d come to rescue her six months ago. The cop who now bore deep scars on his throat.
His eyes widened and she knew he recognized her, too. Some nights, you just had bad luck.
He fired the gun without another word. The bullet plowed into her chest. Right into her heart.
“I know what you are!” He screamed. “You won’t hurt me again, vampire!”
Her chest was smoking. Why was her chest smoking?
“Holy water,” Keenan yelled. “Sam, take care of the cops!”
Then Keenan lifted her into his arms, held her tightly, and ran as more bullets blasted around them. One bullet hit her leg and burned like a bitch. Other bullets flew right for Keenan but never broke his skin.
Over the gunfire, she heard the sounds of screams. “Don’t ... kill ...” It was so hard to speak, but she had to try since they were cops. Scared cops who thought they were fighting monsters.
Because they were.
Her chest hurt. A stake and now a holy water bullet—too much. Nicole’s eyes sagged closed. She wasn’t real sure she’d make it through much more.
The sun hit her when they broke clear of the buildings. Bright, strong rays of sunlight poured on her. The weakness instantly weighed down her limbs, but she held on to Keenan.
She wasn’t letting him go.
She ignored the fire that burned through her heart. “I love you.” She wanted him to know that, always.
His head jerked, and he gazed down at her with wild eyes.
She tried to smile.
His hold tightened. “You’re not dying.”
She didn’t want to die. He might have fallen for her, but she was living for him.
“We have to get the bullet out!” He rounded another corner and sat her down on the ground. Keenan ripped open her shirt and stared at her chest. She didn’t want to look at the wound so she just watched him.
His eyes widened, and then all emotion vanished from his face. Still trying to protect me.
“I know,” she whispered. The stake might have missed, but that cop had great aim.
Keenan shook his head.
“Just get it out,” she told him. “Get it out ... before it kills me.”
But she knew, even as she said the words, just how dangerous such an act would be. The knowledge was there in Keenan’s eyes, too. In the daylight, she wouldn’t heal. And if he dug into her heart and the bleeding couldn’t be stopped—she could die while he tried to save her.
Dying by Keenan’s hand would be just what Az had wanted.
Keenan shook his head.
She grabbed his hand. “I trust you.” Nicole wet her lips. “And I love you,” she said again.
His fingers were trembling.
“If you love me, save me.” She knew she was asking a lot, but there was no choice. I’m dying. “Save me.”
He touched her heart.
But then, he’d done that from the beginning. Touched her heart, touched her soul, and marked her as his.
The pain blasted through her. The agony stole her breath and the last sound she made was the whisper of his name.
Then she saw paradise.
The sun set and Nicole’s eyes didn’t open. Keenan sat by the bed and kept his stare trained on her. He’d been there, watching, waiting, all day.
Open your eyes. Look at me.
She still breathed. Her chest rose and fell. Her heart beat.
He glanced down at his hands. The blood was gone now. Finally washed away. He’d held her heart in his hands. Her heart.
His fingers clenched.
“She’ll wake.” Sam’s voice sounded confident.
Keenan didn’t look at him. His gaze was back on Nicole. “I gave her my blood. She should have been up by now.”
“She will be.” Sam’s hand slapped on his shoulder. “Give her time.”
He didn’t want time. He wanted her.
The floor squeaked as Sam turned away.
Keenan reached for Nicole’s fingers. He smoothed his hand over her flesh. “Sam ... why did you fall?”
Things were clear to him now, and he wished he’d realized sooner ...
Keenan was the favored one. Sam’s words echoed in his head.
He hadn’t even realized how lucky he’d been. Nicole hadn’t been his temptation. She’d been his reward. He’d just needed to be strong enough to fight for her.
“Maybe I became a power-hungry jackass like Az,” Sam said.
Maybe. But “maybe” wasn’t an answer. “The stories ... they said you killed nearly a hundred men. Men who shouldn’t have died.” So long ago ...
“Those bastards deserved death more than anyone I’ve ever seen.” From the corner of his eye, Keenan saw the ripple of Sam’s shrug. “Falling was a small
price to pay in order to get them off this world.” He paused. “Wasn’t it a small price to pay for her?”
Yes. For her, he’d burn again.
“I thought so.” He sighed. “Now I think you’re finally understanding this game.” The floor squeaked as Sam left.
Silence reigned and the minutes ticked by. The darkness grew heavier. And then ...
Nicole’s lashes began to flutter. He forgot Sam and leaned forward, holding her hand tighter. “Nicole?”
Her lips curled into a smile even before her eyes fully opened. “I was dreaming about you,” she whispered and blinked slowly.
His heart raced in his chest and he kissed her, a quick, hard kiss. “You scared me.”
She shook her head and her hair brushed over the pillow. “I wasn’t leaving you.” So simple and sure.
His gaze searched hers. “If you had, I would’ve just followed you.” The angels wouldn’t have been able to keep him away from her.
“I know.” Her grin widened a bit.
He brushed back her hair and knew that he had to tell her everything now. “I ... didn’t realize what was happening. Why I watched you so much ...”
Her eyes didn’t judge. Didn’t question.
“I should have stopped the vampire sooner.” That would haunt him. “I should have—”
“We can’t go back, and I don’t want to.”
She pushed up so that her face was only inches from his. “I meant what I said before. I love you, Keenan.”
She was ... everything to him.
“Az was right,” she said, and the words had his head jerking in immediate denial. “I’ve killed. I’ll probably kill again. And I’ll always need blood.”
She’d always have him to give that blood.
“I’m not perfect—”
To him, she was. Fangs, claws and sinful lips—perfect.
“But I want to be with you. I just want ... you.”
He swallowed. “I’ve seen everything this world has to offer.” Good and bad. Nightmares, battlefields, and miracles. “And you’re the only thing in my existence that has ever made me feel.” That should be a warning to her, but she was looking at him with soft eyes.
She didn’t understand the danger.
He forced his hands to lift from her. “You’re all that matters to me here, Nicole. Your life, your happiness—I’ll do anything to protect you.” He’d killed for her before and would do it again because he knew those times would come. The world wasn’t an easy place. Too many hated vampires. Too many hunted.