He stalked toward her. Slowly. She didn’t back away, not even when he lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. “I can kill him as easily as I can kiss you.”
Her breath whispered out. “An angel assassin. Az, you’re the last thing I expected to find in that dirty alley.”
And she was the last thing he’d ever expected.
Her fingers rose and curled around his hand. “Kiss me.”
His heart beat faster.
“This is the end right?” Her words tumbled out. “In a few hours, we have our big standoff. We use our secret weapon—you—and take out the bad guy.”
That was the plan. It wasn’t about trusting the cop and the witch. It was about using them in order to get an up-close audience with the panther shifter he’d be sending to hell.
“I’m protected,” Jade told him. “There’s no risk of pregnancy or—or, um—” She broke off, flushing a bit.
Az lifted a brow. “I have no diseases or illnesses. Angels can’t get them.”
Her breath sighed out. “Good to . . . know.” Yes, it was.
“Kiss me,” Jade told him again. “I don’t want to spend the next few hours worrying and being afraid of what will come with dawn.”
He wanted her mouth. More, he wanted her.
Jade brought her body closer to his. “I’m your temptation, right?”
He hadn’t meant—
“Then let me tempt you.” She was. “After dawn, after we face what’s coming, we’ll go our separate ways.”
Redemption.
“But let’s be together now.” She stood on her toes and her lips brushed over the line of his jaw. “I need this. I need to be with you.”
She knew the power he held, but Jade wasn’t afraid. He didn’t think she’d ever been afraid of him. Not his touch. Not the fire he controlled.
Should she fear the lust he felt for her? Because it could rage out of control.
Az caught her hands. “I’m not like other men.”
Her gaze held his. “Good.”
She didn’t understand. “I’m not . . . safe.”
She stared back at him. The desire he saw in her stare made his cock harden even more.
He tried to warn her. “If I lose control, it could be dangerous for you.”
But she just laughed. “You’re an angel, you can’t—”
Jade didn’t understand, and the lust rising in him would soon push him too far. “I’m Fallen.”
She kissed him. On her toes, so she could better reach him, but Az still lowered his head and her mouth pressed against his. Sweet, soft lips. Stroking tongue.
Her hand snaked down between their bodies. Found the snap of his jeans. Unhooked it. The hiss of his zipper filled his ears even as her fingers slipped inside and curled around his cock.
Yes.
She licked his lips and her stroking fist pumped his aroused flesh.
“Tonight,” Jade’s whisper was against his lips, “it’s just us. Give me this much.”
Right then, he would’ve given her anything.
He took over the kiss. Thrust his tongue into her mouth. Tasted her. Savored, and loved the light flavor of her.
This time, he wouldn’t stop. He’d take the pleasures humans felt. He’d take her.
One night.
Didn’t he deserve that much?
Her hand lifted from his straining flesh, and he immediately missed her touch. Az hooked his hands under her hips and picked her up. Jade gasped against his mouth. He liked that little sound. He spun around, and pressed her against the nearest wall.
Her legs wrapped around his hips. His cock strained toward her. Pleasure.
Though the lust pounded at him, Az knew that he had to make the sex good for her. She’d need the pleasure, too.
His head rose and Az’s eyes locked on hers. She stared right at him, not seeming to see the monster that had to gaze so hungrily back at her.
Why couldn’t she see him? Why wasn’t she running?
I won’t let her run.
He kissed her neck. Scored her flesh with his teeth. Sucked the skin. Licked her.
“Az . . .” His name was a whisper of need that spilled from her lips. Her nails dug into his arms. “You don’t have to go easy with me.”
Good. Because he didn’t want easy or gentle. He needed hot and hard and wild.
His hands pushed between her legs. He wanted the clothes gone. Wanted flesh to flesh.
Her nails sank deeper into his flesh, marking him, as she arched her hips against him. “I don’t want to wait . . . not the first time.”
He yanked off her shirt. Threw it and her bra. Az kept her pinned with his body and stared down at her flesh. Pretty little pink nipples. Full breasts that would fill his hands. Perfect.
He lifted her higher, holding her easily, and took her nipple into his mouth.
She moaned. He licked her. Sucked her. His cock shoved up from his open jeans, hungry, eager.
For her.
Holding her tight, he whirled away from the wall. Five steps, and he had her on the narrow bed. Two seconds, and he had her completely naked. She waited for him on the bed, arms on either side of her head, eyes on him.
He’d never taken a woman before. Angels didn’t need—
I need her. “What if I hurt you?” He didn’t want Jade to feel pain. Only pleasure. It was so important that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
And Az wanted her more than he wanted his next breath. She had to feel the same.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already left scratches on you.” She smiled at him, and her dimple flashed. “You won’t break me.”
She still didn’t understand how dangerous he could be.
But he couldn’t warn her any longer. The need to take was too strong.
Az ditched his clothes and climbed onto the bed. She touched him, sliding her hands over his flesh even as she rose up to lick his nipple. The wet touch of her tongue sent desire knifing through him.
His cock strained toward her. Her thumb stroked the heavy tip of his arousal, and then she brought her thumb up to her mouth and tasted—
Tasted him.
Az put his fingers between her spread legs. She was wet, warm. Ready for him.
He couldn’t wait any longer for her. It felt as if he’d waited too long already.
Centuries.
He caged her under his body. Pushed his hips between her legs. The head of his cock brushed against her slick sex. His eyes held hers as he began to thrust.
Tight. So tight and hot—
Sweat beaded his brow. He couldn’t look away from her gaze. He knew she would see too much in his stare, but he couldn’t look away.
He wanted to pound into her and race toward the promised release, but she seemed so small beneath him. Fragile. Human.
Her nails scratched down the base of his back. Her hips slammed up to meet his.
Az’s control broke. He thrust into her as deep as he could go. She gripped him, her delicate, inner muscles straining around his cock, and the pleasure lashed through him.
His hands slapped onto the mattress beside her. He lifted up his hips. Withdrew. Drove deep.
Again and again and again.
She shuddered beneath him as her breath panted out. Her legs curled around his hips and her neck arched as Jade choked out his name.
Thrust. Thrust. He couldn’t get deep enough.
Her body was perfect. Her sex a fist-tight glove. The back of his spine tingled. His thrusts became harder. Deeper. He kissed her. Drove his tongue into her mouth even as he took her body.
He kissed her, became even wilder for her. His lips tore from hers and he pressed his mouth to her throat.
Then she screamed, and he knew that high cry was only from pleasure. Her climax rippled around him as her sex contracted. And he drove deeper into her. Az never wanted to let her go.
Couldn’t.
Thrust. Th—
His release ripped through him and seemed to consume hi
m as the blasts of pleasure shook his body. And in that moment, he held on to Jade tighter than he’d ever held on to anyone or anything in his very long life.
Sex. Lust.
Pleasure.
The world seemed to splinter as he focused only on her.
Now he understood . . . now . . .
Need more. Must have her.
Temptation.
How was he supposed to resist?
Tanner walked slowly through the halls of the empty magic shop. Customers, even curious tourists, rarely came inside this place. Maybe they could feel its darkness, and it kept them away.
When he entered the weapons room, he found Heather staring into her mirror. That dark mirror always made him nervous.
“The trade’s set,” she said. “We meet the panthers in the swamp at dawn.”
He’d finally get his justice. He’d claw the flesh from Brandt’s body, make the bastard beg, and then send him to hell.
Tanner inhaled. The thick scent of incense was gone. Incense—and magic. “Did you really think that was wise?”
Heather looked up slowly. Her face seemed paler. “I don’t know what you mean.” Her voice was perfectly expressionless. She did that when she lied. Let all the emotion drain away until nothing was left.
He tapped his nose. “Shifter senses, remember? When we came in, I noticed you’d added something extra to your usual incense mix.”
Her lips curled in a faint smile. “It was just a light spell. Harmless, really.”
Did he look stupid? “What did it do?”
She shrugged. Her hands were on the mirror, as if she were trying to shove images back inside of it. “The spell I cast simply lowers inhibitions. It makes us more likely to take the things that we want.”
His eyes rose toward the ceiling. He had no doubt what Azrael wanted. “Brandt will smell him on her.” He looked back at Heather.
“Yes.” Her smile held an icy edge. “And it will make him furious.”
Furious was probably way too mild of a word. “Brandt killed her last lover.” When he’d first started digging into Jade’s life, he’d learned details that made even him shudder. She hadn’t been given an easy time of it, no thanks to Brandt Dupre.
Heather lifted her hands from the mirror. “But we’re counting on him not being able to kill Az, right? That is our master plan.”
Not our. “Did you scry? What did the mirror tell you?”
Her smile faded. “Someone will find death at dawn.”
“Brandt.” About damn time. Satisfaction had his body tensing.
“His heart stops.”
Tanner suspected his grin was savage. Working with Heather had been a risky business, but he’d known the witch held just as much of a grudge as he did.
Brandt had a way of leaving hell in his wake. He’d nearly broken Heather. Promised her eternity, a love that wouldn’t die . . .
But then he’d met Jade, and he’d tried to destroy the witch he didn’t want any longer.
Heather rubbed her right shoulder. Tanner knew her fingers pressed against the edge of scars that began at her shoulder and ended at her heart. Scars made by a shifter’s claws.
“Brandt can be a jealous bastard,” she said quietly. “That jealousy will make him weak. He’ll be so enraged that he won’t stop to think. He’ll just attack.”
Blind rage could be a weakness. For a shifter, it could also be a deadly power. Rage gave the beast within strength.
He sure hoped this gamble paid off. Because if it didn’t, there’d be no escape for any of them.
Tanner turned away from her.
“Wait!”
Shoulders stiff, he turned back. She was frowning at him. “The magic . . . it didn’t affect you?”
No, it had. He wanted. Heather was a beautiful woman, but he knew just how deadly she could be. Brandt hadn’t only left scars on her body, he’d twisted her soul. Use her, don’t trust her.
So he was holding on to his control. The witch wouldn’t get any more power over him.
“What will you do when Brandt’s dead?” He asked her instead of answering the question. As long as he’d known her—and he’d first found her years ago, nearly dead and covered in blood as she tried to crawl out of the swamp—she’d never talked about her own future. Others, yeah, she talked about what would come for them all the time.
Had she ever scryed to see what her own life would be like?
Her brows lowered. She shook her head. “I don’t—”
He sighed. Tanner knew fear when he saw it. “Maybe you should figure it out.”
She bit her lip and didn’t look quite so all-powerful.
“You’re not evil,” he told her. Twisted, just like he was, but at her core, Heather wasn’t without a soul. “Maybe, maybe you can find the girl that you used to be.”
Her hand slipped to her heart. Pressed over the soft fabric that covered her. “She’s lost.” Sadness hunched her shoulders and made her eyes look lost. “Sometimes, I think she’s dead.”
“No.” His answer was instant. “Brandt’s the one who’s dead. The bastard just doesn’t know it yet.”
Az thrust into Jade’s sex, filling her, stretching her inner muscles, and she gasped at the delicious friction.
She sat astride his hips, her knees digging into the mattress, as she stared down at Az. His eyes were so blue, burning bright, and his face was locked in lines of heavy need and raw lust.
Her nails raked down his chest. He thrust harder, arching her off the bed. The first climax had barely ended for them both when he’d started to thrust again.
And again.
Her angel was insatiable, and she loved it. Her core trembled with aftershocks of pleasure. Every move of his body had her tensing and wanting more.
She’d thought to deny him? Deny them both? Why? Hell could come at dawn. She’d take this time, take him, and never look back.
Her head lowered. She pressed her lips against his. Tasted him, even as his fingers slid between their bodies and his thumb pressed over her clit. Yes . . . The man knew how to use that touch of his just right.
She tightened her sex around him, squeezing with the surge of pleasure. Then she nibbled on his lower lip. When his breath panted out, she stole it, and gave him her own before indulging in a deep kiss.
Her head lifted slowly as she stared at him.
“I . . . understand now . . .” Az gritted out the words.
His hands were on her hips. Holding so tightly that she might bruise, but Jade didn’t care. She rose onto her knees, then pushed down.
“Humans and sex . . . the need . . .” His voice was raw and rough with passion.
And he’d better not be about to call her a temptation again.
“You’d . . . kill . . . for the pleasure.”
Some had. Some would again. With Az, the pleasure was so intense it seemed to rip her apart. Would she kill for this? For him?
He rose up, positioning his body so that he faced her and his arms were tight around her. Her hands slid over his back. Touched the thick ridge of those scars.
She saw his control break at her caress. His pupils flared wider, seeming to swallow all of the blue in his eyes. Az growled, an animalistic sound as he thrust faster, harder. They wrecked the bed as they rolled and fought for their release.
He caged her beneath him. Lifted her legs so that he could thrust as deeply into her as possible. The pleasure wasn’t a wave this time. It was an explosion. One that rocked through her and made the whole world go dark for an instant.
His name slipped from her lips.
He erupted in her.
Pleasure worth dying for.
Oh, yes . . . more, please.
“They arrive at dawn.” Riley strode to stand beside Brandt as the alpha peered out over the old dock and at the murky water. “The witch will be bringing them. Her and that stray we threw out years before.”
Brandt’s back teeth clenched as rage hit him.
Riley continue
d, “Who would’ve thought those two would be the ones to bring in the bounty? That piece of shit shifter couldn’t—”
Brandt spun and, in one fast and brutal move, he drove his claws into Riley’s chest. Blood spurted onto him as Riley’s words ended in a strangled gurgle.
“Careful,” Brandt admonished as he took his friend’s heart with a yank of his claws. “That’s my brother you’re talking about.”
And, finally, finally, his brother was showing that he had what it took to carry the Dupre name. Bringing back Jade. Offering her protector’s body. No one else in the pack had been able to bring in the prey he wanted.
Only Tanner. The little brother who’d run from them one dark night.
The little brother who was coming home again.
Brandt jerked his hand from Riley’s body. The man who’d been at his side for the last ten years shuddered, then fell to his knees. His eyes were wide open, his heart gone.
But he still lived. Some shifters just took one hell of a long time to die. Brandt smiled at him before he lifted his boot and kicked Riley as hard as he could. Riley tumbled to the side, fell off the rickety dock, and sank into the murky green water.
In the distance, Brandt saw two gators slide off the bank and begin to cut a fast path through the water. A path that would lead straight to Riley.
Gators were good at following a blood trail. Not as good as panthers, but still . . .
Pretty damn good.
“Good-bye, Riley.” His friend’s death was overdue. Had been, from the moment Brandt realized that Riley didn’t want to catch Jade. The bastard wanted to kill her.
No one hurt Jade. No fucking one.
And no one screwed with his family.
The gators swam closer. “Don’t worry,” he promised them. “There will be more blood coming.” There always was.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Remember the plan,” Tanner said as he braked the car at the end of the old dirt road. The thick, sloping trees of the swamp surrounded them and nearly blocked out dawn’s light. “I take in Azrael, and you . . .” He pointed to Heather, “You take in Jade.”
Jade’s heart slammed into her chest. She had the gun tucked into the back of her jeans, and she’d taken the liberty of strapping a knife to her right ankle. Az hadn’t taken any weapons.