Angel in Chains (The Fallen 3)

Az . . .

He couldn’t hear a thing. Az stalked to the line of windows. The sunlight streamed in, but no warmth filled the room. A puff of chilled air appeared in front of his mouth every time he took a breath. Ice and evil liked to stay close.

He gazed out of the window. All of the nearby buildings were abandoned. His gaze trekked down. Then every muscle in his body locked.

Jade was across the street. She wasn’t alone.

Her head turned toward him, and Az saw her lips move in a desperate scream that he couldn’t hear.

His name.

He roared and smashed through the glass. Two seconds later, he was on the ground, his knees barely buckling as he lunged forward.

Bastion was smiling. His hands were wrapped around Jade.

“Let her go!” Az bellowed. He didn’t know why Jade was out there on the street. Didn’t care. All that mattered was getting her back. Keeping her safe and—

And she vanished. Bastion vanished.

No.

When the earth stopped spinning, Jade collapsed on the ground. Not the rough asphalt of a paved street, but on soft, grass-covered earth. Nausea roiled in her stomach, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she fought for control.

Then she realized she was still alive. Because if she felt this miserable, she had to be alive.

Her eyes flew open, and she shot upright. That fast movement just made the nausea worse.

“Easy.” Bastion frowned down at her. “I’d forgotten . . . humans don’t always react so well to magic.”

She swallowed rapidly. “Magic? And here I just thought you’d . . . done that angel . . . super speed thing.” Second by second, she was getting her control back.

“We needed something stronger this time.” One golden brow lifted. “You weren’t the only one to visit the witch today.”

What? That jerk had totally sold them out!

“Az . . . changed you. Gave you his blood.”

Everyone seemed to keep harping on that.

Bastion lifted his hand and stared down at his fingers. “A simple touch from me can’t kill you. Az’s blood is making your immune from the Death Touch . . . for now.”

That was good, right?

Bastion dropped his hand and stared into her eyes. “I don’t want you to suffer.”

She staggered to her feet and put some precious distance between them. “What a coincidence. I don’t really want that, either.”

His head cocked as he frowned at her.

“So how about you just go your merry angel way,” now she could see the wings bursting from his back. Rather hard to miss them without his extra magic mojo. “And I’ll go mine.”

Bastion shook his head. “I need you.”

“No, you need to get the hell away from me. Once Az gets here . . .” Get here, Az, get your Fallen butt here. “You don’t want to be around.”

“Things have to be set right. Az can’t be allowed to change fate.”

Oh, no. That sounded very bad. “You-you want to kill me.”

“You should already be dead.” He gave a short, hard shake of his head. “Instead, the Fallen attacked an innocent. He brutalized Marna, an angel who’d never—”

“Whoa! Hold on there.” She was gonna ignore that whole “You should already be dead” part for the moment. “Az hasn’t attacked any angel.”

Bastion laughed. “Really? Then how’d I get a brimstone bullet in my gut?”

Ah . . .

“I went to take you, and he shot me.”

He’d shot another angel to save her? Sweet, but, deadly.

“You’re marked for Death, and, once marked, there’s no changing what will come.” His eyes darkened. “I’ve seen you die.”

Jade licked her lips. “Now when you say that, do you mean—”

“You’re on my list. I’ve seen what will come for you. It’s a vicious ending.”

Did he have to sound so chirpy about it? Weren’t angels who still had those precious wings supposed to be unemotional?

“As I said, I don’t want you to suffer, but other plans are already in place. The Death Touch from me would have been merciful, but now, another end waits.”

“Yeah, well . . .” And she dug deep, trying to pull out that new power that she still couldn’t even control. “I’m gonna have to take option B on all this and say . . .” She sent a burst of fire out at him. Not a controlled ball of flames, but a swirling, bulging wall of heat. “Screw your plans.”

Then she turned and ran, not even bothering to see how Bastion stopped the fire. Get away. Fast. That was her priority. Get away. Get to Az. Get—

She hit the dirt. Something hard and strong had slammed into her back, and Jade’s feet just flew out from under her.

“Abomination.” Gravel crunched as Bastion circled around her. “Humans weren’t meant to have such powers.”

She tasted blood in her mouth. Jade lifted her head. Nope, the angel wasn’t so much as singed. He stood about five feet away, not looking winded, but appearing . . . mildly annoyed.

Well, big damn deal for him. She was feeling pretty annoyed, too.

“You’re not going to get away.” Bastion’s wings fluttered in the breeze. They were doing that neat magic trick again where they seemed to just burst right through his shirt. He crouched so they were more on eye level. “He’ll find you soon.”

Now why did those words fill her with dread?

Because he’s setting a trap for Az, and I’m his bait.

Az didn’t bother knocking at the witch’s door this time. He just blew off the right wall of the place and stormed back inside.

Mateo turned at his approach, holding up the small, black bag that Jade had given him. “Ah, back from your psycho moment, are you? Bueno, because I’ve got your bullets—”

And Az had him. His hands locked onto the witch’s shirt, and he yanked Mateo toward him. “You’ve had another visitor.”

Mateo glanced down at the floor. Az was holding him a good foot in the air. “I have many visitors.”

“In a moment, you’re going to be in many pieces.”

Mateo’s gaze lifted. “Your eyes have gone black.”

“Where. Is. She.”

“Some beings are too powerful. When emotions hit them, they lose all control. Power without control can mean—”

“Would you like for me to incinerate you?”

Mateo smiled at him. “I’ve felt fire before, Fallen. Remember where I came from.”