She nodded, but Az wondered if Bastion could see the doubt in her eyes. But in the next moment, Bastion pulled her close against his chest. His wings began to wrap around her.
“I’m not like him.” The words seemed torn from Tanner.
Marna glanced back at him. Her lips trembled.
Then she and Bastion vanished.
Brandt stared at the line of humans waiting to gain entrance into the club. They were so stupid. Sheep, offering themselves to the monsters who were hungry for a bite.
He’d assembled his pack. A dozen strong shifters waited behind him, ready to attack on his order.
Jade was in that building. In that club with the desperate, avid humans. He could still smell her blood. Her wound hadn’t closed completely, not yet.
You should never have hurt her.
Whenever Brandt closed his eyes, he saw the image of his claws sinking into her chest, again and again. It was an image that haunted him.
Because I saw the old bastard do the same thing to my mother.
He’d been three, and she’d smiled at him even as the blood trickled from her lips.
I love you. Her last words.
And his mother had died. Left him. Left him all alone with the sick f**k of a father who liked to torture him.
He’d been seven when his father had first used his claws to strip the skin from his back.
Not even old enough to shift, much less to heal from the wounds.
“You’ll be strong, boy, you’ll be stronger than them all. Take the pain. Don’t f**kin’ cry, don’t ever f**kin’ cry.”
He hadn’t. Not since his mother’s eyes had closed. He’d cried then.
The torment from his father had been never-ending. The alpha had ruled the pack with an iron fist, and Brandt—he’d been like a whipped dog. Too afraid to move, to strike back in any way.
But Jade struck for me.
She’d killed the alpha. Given Brandt freedom.
Now Brandt wanted to give her everything. Why, why wouldn’t she let him?
He’d never meant to hurt her. Those chest wounds had been the angel’s fault, too. He hadn’t realized it in the heat of the moment, but Brandt was now sure that Azrael had deliberately used Jade as a shield to protect himself.
The angel had sacrificed her.
Now he’d hurt her again.
Azrael deserved hell, and Brandt would be the one to give it to him.
But first, he’d have to kill a few humans.
Because they were in his way.
“Someone has been visiting Mateo,” Sam murmured as he gazed at the spot where Bastion had been moments before. “I’d recognize that get-me-the-fuck-out-of-here spell anywhere.”
Az grunted. “Mateo sold me out to Bastion when we paid the witch a visit today. Mateo gave Jade to him. And she nearly died.” The thought still had his gut clenching in remembered fear and fury.
“Really?” Sam sounded mildly curious. “Mateo doesn’t usually work with angels. He finds them . . . annoyingly dull.”
“I guess if the price is right, he’ll work with anyone.” Az pulled out his gun and began to load in the bullets. The gold veneer on the bullets seemed to shine. From magic? Or hellfire?
Tanner whistled as he came closer for a better look at the bullets. “You actually got them.”
“Was there any doubt?” Jade asked as her brows rose.
Az almost smiled at her. Instead, he glanced at the shifter and said, “Guaranteed to stop an angel,” even an earthbound one, “in his tracks.” He closed the chamber with a snap of his wrist.
“And what if he . . . changes?” Sam asked, and Az glanced at him, struck by the odd note in his brother’s voice. But Sam’s face was perfectly blank as he said, “Seline’s a hybrid, too, and when her human body died, the angels just took her to work upstairs.”
Az knew that had been the moment Sam’s real hell began.
He spared a glance for Jade and saw worry flicker in her emerald gaze. Can’t have that. I don’t want her to worry.
“If that happens, I guess I’ll just chase his winged ass down and make sure he stays dead.” The gun was a light weight he barely felt in his hand. “But something tells me after all the crap he’s pulled, heaven isn’t going to be real eager to welcome him past those grand gates.”
“They’d better not be,” Cody muttered.
“So what’s the plan?” Tanner wanted to know. The shifter’s body seemed to vibrate with barely leashed energy. “You want me to go out and track the bastard?”
Screams trickled through the shut door. Shouts. Pounding footsteps.
“I don’t think that tracking will be necessary,” Sam said as he strode toward that door. His fingers curled around the doorknob as he yanked the door open. The screams spilled into the room then. “Something tells me our boy has found us.”
Jade’s eyes widened as she stepped toward the door. Az blocked her. “No way.” If Brandt thought he was getting his hands on her, the guy could think again. The hybrid shifter would have to go through him first. His gaze flew to Tanner and Cody. “You two stay here with her. Make sure no one but me comes back in that door.”
One entrance. One exit. Two powerful Other. They’d keep her safe.
Or he’d make them wish for death.
He glanced over his shoulder. Sam was already gone. The guy had disappeared into the screams and the chaos.
Jade grabbed his arm. “So that’s it? I just stay here while you run out and risk your life?”
That was the general plan, yes.
“Let me help you.”
Az shook his head. “I won’t risk you again. Brandt almost killed you before. He won’t have you tonight.”
He could hear animalistic snarls now. Brandt and his men had shifted to attack. With humans there? They really were crazy.
Bending, he kissed her. A fast, hard press of his lips. “It’ll be over soon.”
She didn’t speak, but just watched him with worried eyes.
Then it was Az’s turn to follow the screams. He raced outside of the private room and saw the stampeding mass. He’d been wrong—Brandt’s men hadn’t shifted, not all the way, but they were using their claws to slice apart anyone who got in their way. Slicing, laughing, and snarling like panthers as the blood flowed.
Sam was already running toward them. One touch, and the laughing ass**le to the right of Sam went down.
His brother was fast.
Az was faster.
Another shifter cut a redhead, slicing her right across the stomach. Az jumped forward and ripped her away from the guy. He pushed her behind him even as he shoved his hand against the shifter’s chest. Before that panther hit the ground, his body was stone hard and his eyes—wide, horrified—stared at nothing.