Angel in Chains (The Fallen 3)

“Looking for me,” she finished. Brandt and his pack were based in northern Louisiana, but they’d headed down south to track her.

Tanner nodded. The badge on his uniform gleamed. “I almost had you in the Quarter. I was there when those bastards started firing at your . . . guardian.” His jaw tightened. “But I had to help the humans. I had to take care of them.”

“We didn’t need your help,” Az said. Right. Because he’d taken the bullets and kept on standing—and tossing around fire.

But Jade didn’t have the luxury of super strength. “What do you want?” She asked Tanner.

“I told you, I want to stop Dupre.”

But what was a cop’s definition of “stop”? “A cage isn’t going to hold him.” She tried to put it as delicately as she could. “You’re not going to be able to arrest the guy and—”

Tanner glanced down at his badge. Then, slowly, he shook his head. “I’m not looking to arrest him.” A pause. “I’m looking to kill Brandt Dupre, and any who follow him. The only way they’re gonna stop is if they can’t draw breath.”

A truth she knew too well.

“And you can help me,” he said. “We can work together, and we can kill the bastard.”

Been there, tried that. “He’s not exactly easy to kill.”

Az sent her a fast glance. “Anyone can die.”

Maybe. Maybe not.

“Look, we don’t have a lot of time to keep talking now.” Tanner swiped a hand down his face. The shifter was sweating. “About a dozen cops will be closing in on this place soon.”

“What?” She lunged forward but, surprisingly, it was Az who caught her shoulders and held her back before she could grab Tanner.

“Easy,” Az told her.

Screw that. She wasn’t feeling easy then. Not if cops were about to storm the place.

Tanner grimaced. “Witnesses saw you nearly plow down a civilian in New Orleans—”

“Oh, come on,” Jade exploded, “that was just Brandt—a hit from the car barely would have slowed him down.” Just given him some bumps and bruises and made him feel some of the pain that she felt.

“They saw you, so now the cops are after you.” Tanner cocked his head to the right as he studied her. “I’ve arranged for a motorcycle to be waiting for you. If you cut through the swamp, it’s about three miles northwest of here. After I traced you I got a buddy to leave the bike there for me.”

Az asked, “And we’re supposed to trust you?”

“Yeah, you are.”

Jade wasn’t the trusting sort. She didn’t think Az was, either.

“And you need to start hauling ass,” Tanner continued. “I only had about a ten minute head start on the rest of the police crew, and now I’d say you’re down to—”

“Five minutes,” Az finished.

Fabulous.

“Yeah.” Tanner nodded. “So get the hell out of here, take that motorcycle, then meet me tonight in New Orleans—”

“You want us to go back into the city?” Jade demanded. Really dumb plan. “With Brandt hunting there?” Maybe she could stop to paint a big bull’s-eye on her back, too. She yanked away from Az.

Or rather, Az let her go. Mostly because he was now studying the shifter with assessing eyes. “He wants to use you as bait.”

She’d figured that out on her own. Bait to dangle right in front of the big, obsessed psycho. Lovely.

“Tonight, I just want to talk.” Tanner’s words were gritted. “Meet me at the St. Louis Cemetery. Midnight.”

Even better. Because she wanted to hang out in the dark, in a cemetery, and wait for a panther that she didn’t trust.

Tanner took a step toward her. “I can make this all end. I can give you back your life, Jade.”

What life?

Then she heard the faintest screech of a siren. It looked like the cops weren’t coming in quietly.

Tanner’s gaze didn’t leave her face. “We’re out of time. Trust me.”

No.

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. Tanner tossed them and Az caught the keys easily in his fist.

“Now you’re gonna have to take me out before they arrive.” Tanner inclined his head toward Az. “It has to look like you overpowered me so no one thinks—”

“That a cop is helping a criminal,” Jade said. Right. She got it. “Fine, I think we can—”

Az swung out with his fist. He slammed the punch right into the shifter’s jaw with a rough crunch of sound. Tanner went down, eyes closing, and the guy’s slack body hit the floor.

“Or you can handle it,” she muttered and cleared her throat. Well, Az had saved her knuckles some bruising.

Az glanced at her. She was pretty sure he’d enjoyed delivering that punch. The guy was fighting a grin.

Bad angel.

I like ’em that way.

“You up for a run through the swamp?” Jade asked as she pulled him away toward the back of the cabin. Judging by those sirens, the cops were getting way too close.

“We shouldn’t trust him,” Az said, moving slowly and slowing her down.

“Of course not. We shouldn’t trust anyone.” But she trusted Az. How could you not trust an angel? “One thing we know . . . the cops are coming. Those sirens are screaming louder every second, and we need to get our butts out of here.”

Jails sucked. She’d spent some unfortunate time in one before. Back when . . .

No. Jade slammed the door shut on that memory. She would not think about them. Not now.

As a general rule, she never let herself think about them. It hurt too much.

She realized that she was holding Az’s hand, her fingers intertwined with his. Jade stared at his hand. Strong. Warm.

Temptation. The whisper burned through her.

She pulled away from him. Did Az even know how much he’d hurt her with that one word? She was already another man’s curse.

Couldn’t she ever be more?

“Give me the keys, and I’ll get the hell out of here on my own.” She lifted her chin. “You can go the opposite way. The cops probably don’t even know about you. You can leave, we can split, and both just get on with our lives.”

He opened his palm. Jade tried to swipe the keys, but he snatched them away from her.

What? Jerk.

“We go together.”

Her gaze held his. “Sure that won’t be too much temptation for you?” Oh, yeah, she said it.