Avenging Angel (The Fallen 4)

But who was the bigger threat? The demon? Or the shifters? “You’ve been misinformed.” Marna’s voice came out a little shaky. Okay, a lot. Whatever. Do this. “I’m not helpless.”

“Not when you’re standing behind the big, bad shifter.” Jillian smirked. “But what will you do when he’s not there to protect your ass? Can’t fly away.” Her lips pursed in a smirk. “Not anymore.”

One of the panthers growled and swiped out at Marna. Tanner lunged and pulled her back, and his own claws flashed.

He’d need to shift in order to fight the other two panthers. He’d be weak while he shifted.

But not if she was covering his back.

“Run,” Marna told the demon. The woman’s green eyes had faded to black. “This is your only chance.” She was trying to give her a fair warning.

Instead of heeding that warning, Jillian fired on her.

The bullet never hit.

Because in that same instant, Marna lifted her hands and sent out a wall of fire. The fire circled her and Tanner, closing them in—but keeping the others out. The fire raged so hot that the bullet melted, vanishing in the inferno.

Power, pulsing heat, poured from Marna. “I’m not weak!” she screamed. Too many thought of her that way. All the supernaturals who wanted to cut her open and drain her dry. Even all the angels upstairs, the ones who used to whisper about her. The ones who’d thought she wasn’t strong enough to do the job of a death angel.

The panthers jumped back, hissing as they cringed away from the fire.

The demon didn’t move. She would move, though. Marna would make her move.

With a wave of her hand, Marna sent the fire flying toward that demon. But the cop laughed again. The woman tossed her left hand up toward the blaze. “I’ve been playing with fire since I was five years old.”

The flames died before they touched the cop’s skin.

Marna sucked in a deep breath. Okay, so the fire wouldn’t work on the demon. But the shifters couldn’t control the flames.

She lifted her hands toward them, palms out. These two jerks had been in her nightmares because they’d been there that night with Brandt. “The next time a woman is bleeding on the ground”—fury pumped inside of her—“don’t just stand there and laugh.” Fire exploded in two streams. One from her right hand. One from her left. The blazing trails ripped right toward the two shifters.

They jumped back, but the fire singed their fur. Oh, she could do a lot more than just singe them, she could—

“Give her to me,” Jillian yelled. “Stop the bitch’s fire and give her to me, or your brother is dead.”

Wait—what?

She felt Tanner’s start of surprise. The circle of fire around them had vanished, courtesy of that demon.

And now she was talking about Cody? Threatening him?

“Bullshit,” Tanner called as he lunged forward with his claws out. “And you’re a disgrace to the PD.”

The cop scrambled away a few feet. The panthers had retreated to stand at her side. “I’m in the PD to protect my own kind. Same as you should be. You think I’m just gonna stand there and let the humans lock up demons?” Her hair slid over her shoulders as she shook her head. “Not on my watch.”

Marna’s flames had scorched the earth. The pulsing fire— that feeling of power that surged beneath her skin—it was starting to die away.

No, no, she couldn’t lose that power again!

Can’t be weak.

“You think these are the only two I brought with me?” Jillian put her hand on the head of one of the panthers. “I was hunting your brother. I knew he’d be the key to breaking you.”

Tanner’s only blood relative. The man he’d always protected. Yes, Marna knew he’d do anything for Cody.

Even trade me?

It was Marna’s turn to back up a step.

Tanner didn’t move. “I don’t know why you teamed up with these ass**les, but it was a bad move.”

Jillian shrugged. “They needed an alpha. I needed some fangs and claws to get the job done.”

Marna’s gaze searched the trees. She didn’t see anyone—anything—else out there. Was the cop bluffing?

“My men caught Cody’s scent, just the same as you did.” Jillian’s hand was still on the panther’s head. What? Did the lady think they were some kind of pets? Didn’t she know shifters would just as soon bite the hand that fed them? That they liked to bite that hand? But, calm as you please, Jillian continued, “Except they didn’t give up the chase once they heard an angel scream. My men kept going. They’ve got him now, and unless you want to be trying to sew the pieces of him back together, then you’ll step away from the angel.”

A bluff. Tanner wasn’t stepping away from her, and Marna knew that he had to realize—

He stiffened. “You bitch.” There was a dark mix of fury and hate in his voice. “I can smell his blood.”

Oh, no. That meant—no bluff.

Then Marna heard it. The sound of thrashing in the bushes. Grunts. Three men burst from the darkness. She recognized Cody’s bloody form instantly. But the others? She’d never seen them before, but with one look, she knew they were shifters. It was rather hard to miss those fangs and claws.

Cody was barely on his feet. Stumbling. Slashes covered most of body. “I didn’t . . . scream,” he managed to say.

No, he hadn’t screamed. She had. She’d screamed, and Tanner had come running to her side. And he’d left Cody alone in the dark.

“My kind have a weakness,” Jillian said with a tsk. “Some of us can’t handle our drugs, and some can’t handle the alcohol. One drunken night, your brother just had to run his mouth in Hell about the pretty little angel his brother was keeping so close.”

That pulse of power began to build within Marna once more. She could feel it, like a surge growing inside of her. If that surge got strong enough, she could blast at the shifters holding Cody. Free him.

One of the shifters sank his claws into Cody’s throat. “One move,” the shifter warned and his eyes were on Marna, “just one, and I rip his throat open.”

Cody moaned, trying to speak.

He couldn’t.

“You know I will, man,” the shifter continued with a grim smile. “Because you f**kin’ know me.”

Marna hadn’t seen this shifter before, but was he also a part of Brandt’s old pack?