Absolute Surrender (42 page)

Ignoring Neal’s malicious glare, Echo reached for the napkins in front of her when he grabbed her hand, squeezing painfully.

“You laugh now, but I will have you,” he hissed. “Jon’s not here to hide behind today.”

She stared into his angry eyes. “When hell freezes over,” she said coolly. Didn’t bother tugging free. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of doing so. He flung her hand away and stalked to the other end of the bar.

“What was that about?” Jess whispered when she came back.

“A difference of opinion,” Echo said, wiping up the spills.

“Right. He wants you and you want to kick his ass. Echo, you need to be careful. I’d hate to think of what can happen, if he gets you alone—” Jessie’s mouth dropped open as she looked over Echo’s shoulder, her eyes widening.
“
Oh, there is a God. Get a load of him.”

Hearing the awe in her voice, Echo smiled in relief, grateful for the change in topic. In this place there were always good-looking guys about. Musicians, sometimes models. Heck, even the occasional movie stars liked to come in, kick back, and chill—the deciding factor why Kira chose to work here.

Jessie sighed, her gaze pinned on whoever it was. “I wouldn’t mind bed-wrestling with him.”

Echo turned around and her stomach dropped as she watched Aethan survey the bar. A low growl vibrated in her chest at the images Jessie’s words conjured up in her mind. She shouldn’t be jealous, knew Jessie was all talk, even if there was a layer of lust in her voice. Besides, what right did she have to be jealous?

Aethan wasn’t hers, never would be.

Dressed in his perpetual black, he put all the men there to shame. He carried off his patrolling gear with such masculine ease. But not a flicker of emotion showed on his handsome face as he glanced around. His gaze honed in on her, a determined light firing in his stone-cold stare.

Týr must have told him what happened. Humiliation, like a wave, engulfed her.

“Don’t waste your time looking. He would never want a cold bitch like you!” Neal’s malicious hiss slapped her across the face.

The pain expanding in her chest made it impossible to breathe. Because what Neal said was so true—when it came down to it, Aethan didn’t want her.

The glass rattled on the table where she dropped it. Echo slipped off her stool and hightailed it out of there to the staff restroom. She locked herself in a cubicle, unable to control the hot tears spilling down her face. When she heard the door open several minutes later, she bit her lip to silence her sobs and prayed it was a staff member.

“Echo?”

The low cadence of his voice seeped into her, made her want to open the door and hurl herself into his arms.

She pulled her feet up onto the toilet and buried her face in her knees. Hoping he wouldn’t hear her, hating that the locked door would be no barrier for him.

She didn’t want him to see her like this. Broken.

He rapped on her stall. “Echo, open the door. Please.”

She didn’t answer. A few more minutes passed and she heard the click. The door opened. She didn’t look up, keeping her face hidden. His leather rustled as he crouched in front of her. A hand brushing over her hair made the tears come faster.

“Don’t hide from me, please. It kills me to see you like this.”

Her head snapped up. “I’m not hiding. I need a moment to myself. Can’t I even have that?”

His face darkened.

She didn’t care that he was hurting, too. He’d brought them to this moment because he was too damn stubborn to listen. Releasing her knees, she stepped around him and left the cubicle. The cold water she splashed on her tear-ravaged cheeks did little to hide the damages. She tore paper towels off the dispenser and dried her face. And glanced up to find him watching her in the mirror above the basin, his expression grim.

“Elytani is not my betrothed. You know this.”

“It changes nothing. She is like you.
She’s
what you need. Not me.” She tossed the used paper towels into the overflowing trashcan and walked out.

He followed her. His scent a torture of what could have been. She had to get out of this place and away from him.

“Echo, wait.” Kira stopped her as she passed her section and a group of people. “Before you go, a reminder, don’t forget about Saturday—ugh, never mind. I’ll text you.” She glanced over Echo’s shoulder. “Aethan? Nice. Thanks for putting him in his place.”

That caught Echo’s attention. “Put who in his place?” she asked, but Kira merely smiled and danced off.

Echo turned to Aethan, her stomach knotting as she waited for him to answer.

A heartbeat passed.

“If you’re prepared to talk to me—” His hard gaze pinned hers. “Then it better be something important. Like us.”

“There is no
us
.”

***

No us
?

Aethan refused to accept that. His jaw compressed so tightly, it was a damn miracle his teeth didn’t shatter. He saw her into the Range Rover, waited until she belted up, before slamming the door shut. He circled the hood to the driver’s side and, moments later, tore through the street, ignoring the irate honking and squealing of tires.

If he didn’t find a way out of this mess that was their life, the outcome was guaranteed. Michael’s words gnawed at his brain like a bloodthirsty parasite.

‘
Mate with her to keep her safe or she will ascend to the Celestial Realm.
’

There was no way. No way would Michael leave Echo on this cursed realm, unmated and thereby unprotected.

***

Andras stared at his reflection in the new, ornate mirror in his chambers and tugged at his long, brown dreadlocks. Perfect, he smiled. Uncanny to see his brother’s reflection instead of his own, but as much as he hated the fucker’s face, he had to put up with it, for now. Because now the glamor remained longer, unlike in the bar. He would have had the prophesied one but for one thing. The damn glamor wore off far too soon and the binding hauled his ass back to the Dark Realm.

Still, nothing mattered but the victory he could almost taste.

Excitement stirred in him as he left his chambers and headed for the outer caverns. He wouldn’t miss this shithole. He neared the place that marked his confinement to the Dark Realm and hesitated.

The binding barrier usually hauled him back to his chamber if he dared to cross it. An excruciating experience that he continued to test, hoping to weaken the incantation.

Until he took Lazaar’s blood.

Smiling, he passed the barrier and entered the dank cavern without a single stir in the spell. Secure in the knowledge all was well, Andras made his way through the tunnels.

Soon, it would all be over.

He took the potion from his pocket.
Three drops,
that sniveling little oracle had said. He didn’t even care that someone had released her. As long as he had what he wanted. He took four, to keep the glamor bright and energized. Then he opened a portal and stepped into the tunnels leading to a passageway near the surface of the mortal realm. He came to a solid wall. A touch and the concrete barrier moved.

The moment Andras sauntered into the crypt, he smelled the human. Mortals as minions were far too irresistible with the delicious light of their souls burning in them. However, he had to put temptation out of his mind, for now. Most important, he had to get the girl before someone else claimed her.

Bael followed orders well. Maybe he’d keep him when he ruled the realms.

The demon strode over to him. “He has news,” Bael said and nodded to the minion.

The human’s vacant brown eyes stared at Andras as he spoke. “The girl was in the bar. There was a clash between a blue-haired man and another over her—”

“Enough.” Andras touched the human’s mind, seeing the events for himself. “Are they still there?”

“Yes.”

Andras shimmered and flashed from the crypt back to the Peacock Lounge. Humans, he snorted, were such creatures of habit, made his job of hunting them so easy. First the alley in Chinatown and now the same bar.

Finding the warrior and the girl were no longer there was a disappointment, however, it didn’t deter Andras.

Scanning, he found whom he wanted in the back room. He strolled into the locker room. The human male was changing his clothes. His rage, a thick red haze that surrounded him, was palatable. Inhaling, Andras let the negative energy fill his psyche and caught the scent of the male’s embarrassment.

Oh, so perfect. A human failing that always worked to his advantage. “You aren’t going to let them get away with that, are you?”

The human spun around, rapidly zipping up his jeans. “Who the fuck are you?”

Andras glanced around the poky little room, with chipped lockers and mismatched chairs. “The warrior shoved you against the shelves, didn’t he? Messed you up? No, not good at all.” He could smell the alcohol and see the bits of glass still in the male’s hair.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” The human brushed him off and pulled on a dry shirt. Andras touched the male’s thoughts with his mind and smiled. “Come now, Neal, I’m here to help you.”

Neal scowled.

“You’ve wanted her for a long time, haven’t you? You can have her,
if
you agree to a little proposition I have.” Andras tugged at the annoying dark dreadlocks hanging into his face.

The human narrowed his eyes. “What’s this got to do with you?”

Andras smiled. “You want the girl and you want to avenge yourself against the warrior, correct?”

“So what if I do?”

“I have a fail-proof way. All you have to do is say
yes
.”

He saw the male contemplate his words. The darkness of revenge, of hatred, filled the human’s psyche. “If I help you, then she is mine?”

“But of course,” Andras lied. “I want the warrior dead. What better way than to use the girl to get him. Once it’s over, she’s yours. Agreed?”

Neal smiled, eyes bright with malice. “Count me in.”

“Wonderful.” Andras grabbed hold of Neal’s mind and took over, so much easier when they forfeited free will for greed. His sire should be proud of him. The old bastard would see soon enough, that he, Andras, was the better choice than that fuckhead loser, Lazaar, to inherit his Sin.

CHAPTER 28

Echo avoided the kitchen the next morning, when she’d heard male voices there, and wandered over to the library instead. She missed the solitude her apartment gave her. Bob offered a small measure of comfort but it wasn’t the same. The moment they took care of the demon who was after her, she’d move back—she halted. The reality of her situation hit her hard. She could never go back to her normal life, ever. She would have to be protected. Always. That meant she’d have to live here for the rest of her life, and see Aethan every day, knowing he’d never belong to her.

Echo stumbled through the french doors and into the freezing cold. She wrapped her arms around herself against the blistering winds and walked blindly into the garden. The vibrant colored leaves beneath her feet soon gave way to damp ground as she trudged on. The smell of moss and decaying wood drifted to her, and Echo found herself in a dark canopy of trees.

She’d stopped, unable to go on, waiting for the pain to ease, when she saw a tall figure heading toward her, a sword in his hand. Her flighty heart pounded like mad until she saw the wild black hair.

She greeted the Archangel as if coming out of a long sleep. “Hello, Michael.”

She hadn’t seen him since the day Aethan had introduced them in the study. He stopped, sheathing his enormous sword in the scabbard strapped to his back.

“Eshana.” He came closer. A light touch of his hand on her cheek and warmth seeped into her, banishing the cold.

A moment later, something warm, settled across her shoulder. Her jacket. “T–thank you.”