Angel in Chains (28 page)
Bastion’s gaze narrowed.
“And I can’t help but wonder . . .” Sam sauntered closer to them. Knowing his brother, Az suspected that Cole was now standing guard outside of the closed door. “Just how many angels does it take in order to stop one hybrid shifter?”
“It only takes one,” Az said, meeting his brother’s gaze. “Because this fight is mine.”
“It never hurts to have backup.”
And it never hurt to protect the man you’d wronged too many times before. “Brandt is mine. I know how to take him down.”
The others weren’t speaking. It was Jade who cleared her throat. “I just . . . need to know.” She looked at Tanner—who was still holding tight to Marna—and Cody. “How’d he wind up being the son of an angel?”
Cody’s lips tightened, then he said, “Our father wanted an unstoppable son. The bastard liked to experiment.”
“No,” Tanner cut through his words, “he liked to think he was God.”
The silence beat heavily in the room.
“What kind of angel was she?” Sam finally asked as his head tilted to the left. Ah . . . Sam
would
be the one to ask that question. Since Seline had been a hybrid, too, one with a powerful angel side, it made sense that Sam would want to know about the angel type that had created Brandt.
would
be the one to ask that question. Since Seline had been a hybrid, too, one with a powerful angel side, it made sense that Sam would want to know about the angel type that had created Brandt.
He understood just how dangerous a hybrid like Brandt could be.
“I don’t know,” Tanner said, meeting Sam’s eyes with a level stare. “Brandt is my half-brother. His mother . . . she died before I was born.”
“Killed by father’s tender hands—and claws,” Cody added.
“Huh.” Sam cast his assessing gaze toward Az. “I’m guessing their father’s on the hit list, too?”
“The father’s dead,” Bastion spoke without looking away from Marna. “He was dispatched years ago.”
“By my hand,” Jade told them, voice flat.
“Interesting.” Sam nodded, and Az saw the spark of admiration flare in his eyes. “Some humans can be surprisingly strong.”
“And some angels can be surprisingly weak.” It was Bastion who spoke. “And Lailyn was weak.” He offered his hand to Marna. “We need to leave here. You’re not strong enough for the battle that’s coming.”
Tanner’s arms tightened around her.
“Lailyn?” Az repeated the name. It was familiar. An image of a small, dark-haired, fair-skinned angel flashed through his mind. He hadn’t seen her too much, because she’d been a . . . guardian.
“She was sent to watch over Vincent Dupre. To help guide and protect him.” Bastion’s lips twisted in what would have been disgust, if he’d been human. If he’d been plagued by emotions.
Of course, he wasn’t. So the angel pretended.
“She traded heaven for a chance to redeem him. Lailyn thought she could save him, by staying by his side and offering him a life with her.”
“But some people just can’t be saved.” Az spoke the truth that all the angels should already know. Even those blinded by the human emotions. Guardians were the ones tempted the most by those emotions. They were around the humans so much, it was easy for them to be tempted . . . to want what was right in front of them.
So close, but so far from what they were meant to have.
“I saw what he did,” Bastion said. “When he drove his claws into her chest and cut out her heart, I was there, watching, and I could do nothing to help her.” His gaze fell to Tanner’s hands, no, to Tanner’s sharp claws. “All animals know is violence and pain.”
Slowly, Tanner’s arms fell away from Marna. His claws didn’t recede. But they also didn’t so much as scratch her delicate skin.
Bastion took Marna’s hand. “I’ll keep you safe,” he promised her. “Until this is over . . . then we’ll figure something out.”
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.
Her last words.
And his mother had died. Left him. Left him all alone with the sick fuck 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 fuckin’ cry, don’t ever fuckin’ 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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 asshole 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.
Two down. The rest of the pack to go.
Az smiled in anticipation.
No way. Jade watched Az’s powerful form rush from the room. She wasn’t just going to stand back, to
hide,
while Az went out there and faced her nightmare.
hide,
while Az went out there and faced her nightmare.
The guy had forgotten, she wasn’t just a human anymore. As the adrenaline pumped through her, Jade’s body began to heat up with a charge she’d felt before.
Burn, baby, burn.
Burn, baby, burn.
If she had to, she could burn her way right through that pack.
I won’t let you take all the risk, Az.
The guy needed to think again.
She strode forward. Tanner’s fast grip on her arm jerked her right back. “Just where do you think you’re goin’ now, ma’am?”
Jade narrowed her eyes. “I think I’m going into the fight.”
Snick.
She glanced down at her wrist. The gleaming, gold cuff that he’d taken off Marna now locked around her wrist.
Snick.
The other cuff circled his thick wrist.
Son of a bitch. She really hadn’t seen that one coming. Sneaky shifter.
“Don’t think so,” Tanner said softly. “You see, despite what you may think, I don’t have a death wish, and I don’t want that Fallen lover of yours coming to send my ass to hell.”
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