Angel in Chains (33 page)
And he’d make sure hell kept waiting.
Dawn came. The faint light slipped through the blinds and spilled onto Jade’s bed. She stretched slowly but then her body stiffened as she realized—
I’m in my bed.
She really was back in her own bed. She didn’t have to be scared anymore. Didn’t have to keep running. Keep glancing over her shoulder.
It was over.
Jade looked down at her shoulder. Only a thin, red line remained to show where she’d been shot. The bullet had burned like fire—maybe it had been—but her shoulder didn’t even ache now.
Her head turned to the right. Az lay beside her. He was fully clothed while she was naked. She was under the covers. He was on top.
She frowned at that. Hardly acceptable behavior.
Jade pushed up to better see him. His lashes cast deep shadows beneath his eyes. She could actually see his eyes moving behind his closed lids. Moving quickly.
What was her Fallen dreaming about?
A smile lifted her mouth as she leaned toward him. She’d kiss him and find out—
“No!”
The snarl burst from him and froze her.
“Jade, no!”
His hands fisted in the bedcovers and deep lines suddenly bracketed his mouth. “Don’t leave me . . .” A lost whisper.
The snarl burst from him and froze her.
“Jade, no!”
His hands fisted in the bedcovers and deep lines suddenly bracketed his mouth. “Don’t leave me . . .” A lost whisper.
Oh, no. This wouldn’t do. Jade put her hands on either side of his face. “Az, wake up.”
He tried to pull away from her.
“Az, it’s okay.” She raised her voice even as she leaned closer to him. “I’m right here.” Her lips feathered over his. “Everything’s okay.”
He gasped beneath her mouth, and in the next instant, his hands were curling tight around her. His tongue pushed inside her mouth, and he kissed her with a wild desperation that made her heart race in her chest.
Her legs straddled his hips, and there was no missing the growing arousal pressing against her.
When her head lifted from his, her breath was ragged and her sex was wet. “Bad . . . ah . . . bad dream?” Jade managed to ask in a voice gone husky with need.
His eyes glittered at her. “The worst thing I can imagine.”
Her right hand slid down his chest and pressed over his heart. “Want me to help you forget it?”
“I won’t ever forget it.”
She frowned at him. “Az?”
His gaze searched hers. “Did you mean it?”
Her knees tightened around him. “Um . . . I’m not sure that I’m following you.”
“You said you loved me. Back at Sunrise. I heard you.”
Right. That. She straightened her shoulders. Hard to look dignified when you were sitting astride an angel. “You said you loved me, too.” Maybe it had been the adrenaline talking. They’d been in a life-or-death situation. Maybe . . .
Please love me.
Her lips pressed together so that she wouldn’t let the words escape.
Her lips pressed together so that she wouldn’t let the words escape.
“I did.” His voice was deep, rumbling.
“And did you mean it?” Wait. Why was she trying to push this back on him?
Pull up those big girl panties.
“No, just . . .” She exhaled. “Yes. I meant what I said. I love you, Az.” She’d told two men that she loved them in her life.
Pull up those big girl panties.
“No, just . . .” She exhaled. “Yes. I meant what I said. I love you, Az.” She’d told two men that she loved them in her life.
One had burned and was probably in hell.
As for the other—she wanted Az to stay with her. Forever.
“Can you have a life with me?” She didn’t know how this worked. Hadn’t ever even thought this far ahead. She’d tumbled fast and hard for him, and now he was all that she could see when she imagined her future.
But an angel . . . and her?
“I can’t have a life without you.” His quiet words seemed to sink right into her heart. “You are what makes me whole in this world.” His fingers curled around her hips. “When I’m with you, I want to be more than a monster that others fear.”
“You aren’t a monster.” She’d kick the ass of anyone who said so. “You’re strong. Brave.”
But sadness had slipped over his face. “One day,” he said quietly, “I’ll prove I’m good enough for you.”
No, he didn’t understand. “You don’t have to prove a thing to me.” She loved him just as he was.
The sadness didn’t leave his eyes. She didn’t want him to look that way. It was time for him to be happy. The guy deserved some happiness.
“Do you love me, Az?” Jade asked him.
“I didn’t know what love was until I found you.”
Oh. Okay. That was—great. Jade blinked quickly because her eyes had just gotten all misty on her.
“It ripped into me,” he said as he stared deeply into her misty eyes. “Tore me apart on the inside.”
Um, not sounding so great. Her brows lifted.
“It destroyed who I was.” Az’s face was solemn.
Again . . . what he was saying definitely fell into the
not so great
category.
not so great
category.
“And I’m glad,” he said, voice rough. “Because I don’t want to be
him
anymore. I want to be someone who can love. Who can be happy. With you.”
him
anymore. I want to be someone who can love. Who can be happy. With you.”
Now that was what she wanted to hear.
“I’ll give you everything that I have.” His promise.
She smiled at him. “I know.”
“And I will love you long past this life.”
He was seriously going to make those tears start. Ah, hell. Who was she kidding? They’d already started. She was past the misting stage.
Leaning forward, Jade pressed her lips to his. This kiss wasn’t as desperate as the one before, but the need still flowed between them. She could taste the salt of her own tears in the kiss.
As she kissed him, her fingers slid down between their bodies. She found the bottom of his shirt and yanked it up. Their mouths parted only long enough for her to toss the shirt to the floor.
“I love you,” he whispered before their lips met again.
I love you.
Her hand pressed over the thick bulge of his erection. He’d always made her want, far more than any other man.
But then, he wasn’t just a man.
She unsnapped his jeans and lowered the zipper. His cock sprang forward. Heavy and full, right into her hands.
One day, she’d love to have his child. A child with his bright eyes and slow smile.
But maybe his smile wouldn’t always be so slow. Perhaps one day, happiness would come easily to him. And to her.
One day.
She didn’t want long foreplay then. Didn’t want anything but his mouth on hers, kissing her so softly but deeply, and his cock filling her body.
Az positioned his shaft at the entrance to her body. She was more than ready for him.
With one smooth thrust, he slid deep into her sex. She gasped into his mouth because the fullness felt so good. Everything with him felt good.
Right.
She rose slowly and stared down at him. His cock stretched her inside—a wicked good pressure—as he grew even bigger. She tightened her inner muscles around him. Held even tighter.
The nightmares were over for them.
Life was finally beginning.
His fingers closed around her hips, and he lifted her up. The length of his flesh stroked right along her clit, and she smiled at the surge of pleasure.
Then she pushed down on him, and he filled her even better than before.
She didn’t look away as she rose and fell on him. His eyes burned up at her, but he didn’t take control of the pleasure.
Neither did she.
This time, they were equal. Giving. Taking.
Her breath panted faster as her heart thundered in her chest. His pupils widened, seeming to make his eyes go pitch black.
More.
Her knees pushed into the bed. He picked up the tempo with her as his hips plunged harder.
Jade’s fingers stroked over his chest. Found his tight nipples and stroked them. His cock jerked within her in eager response.
The need built. The tension tightened. The pleasure waited just out of her reach.
She leaned toward him and her hair slipped over his skin. Jade had to kiss him. Had to feel his lips on hers when the pleasure swept over them both.
Her lips touched his. His tongue slid into her mouth, skimming right over her lower lip.
Then he was rising up, holding her tight, even as he kept his lips on hers and his cock in her. He sat on the bed, his legs balancing her so that they faced each other.
The position drove his cock even deeper into her.
I like that—like it a whole lot.
I like that—like it a whole lot.
Her hands curled around his shoulders, and she kept kissing him. Rising, falling, taking him inside as far as he could go.
Jade’s fingers slid along his back. Traced the heavy scars that had made him into the being that he was. Az shuddered beneath her touch, and his thrusts became rougher.
She’d told him before that she wouldn’t break.
Jade stroked him again. Again and again and knew that later, she’d kiss those scars on his back. But for now . . .
The climax slammed into her. It blinded her with a wave of pleasure so intense that her heart seemed to stop.
And Az was with her. As he came inside her, Az held her even tighter.
Her lips lifted from his, and she stared just over his shoulder at the shadow of his wings. Wings that she couldn’t touch, not really, but wings that marked him as what he was.
Fallen.
An angel cast out.
An angel that she loved.
The pleasure slid away so slowly. She shivered as her sex contracted in a little aftershock around him.
There were more questions that she needed to ask. More truths that she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to hear. But for now, she had him.
He loved her.
And that was all she needed.
They went to Sunrise that night. The club was closed. Marked off with yellow police tape. No thick line of eager humans waited to slip inside and dance with danger.
Az figured they’d be back. Sooner or later, they always came back.
He and Jade eased under the tape. A hard shove of his hand had the club’s front door opening. The inside of Sunrise was hollowed out and blackened from the fire. He stared at the floor, remembering what it was like to be trapped while Jade was dragged away.
Never again.
His fingers intertwined with hers.
“Well, well . . .” Sam’s voice boomed as he strode down the hall. “Here to help me torch the rest of this place?”
Sam’s Seline was by his side, but her face didn’t have the same mask of unconcern that Sam wore. No, when she looked at Sam, there was worry in her eyes.
Az shook his head. “We’re here to help you rebuild.”
Sam blinked. “You? You’re into destruction and death, not into putting some two-bit bar back together.”
But the bar mattered to Sam. He could see it.
“It’s time to move on,” Sam said with a shrug. “More places to see in this world. More things to—”
“This is home.” Their new home. “And we can rebuild.” He offered his brother a smile and both Sam and Seline stared at him in shock.
“Uh, Az, did that hybrid shifter hit you on the head?” Seline wanted to know.
Jade laughed lightly at that. He loved her laugh. To him, that was the sound of pure—
Happiness.
“I realize that I owe you a debt,” Az said, “and I’m here to start repaying.” Because he
would
be the man that Jade deserved. She said that she loved him as he was. Well, she’d love him more once he atoned. Once the darkness was gone from his soul.
would
be the man that Jade deserved. She said that she loved him as he was. Well, she’d love him more once he atoned. Once the darkness was gone from his soul.
He’d make her happy every day of her life, and he’d see to it that she never feared again.
He blinked and found Sam in front of him. “What’s happening here?” Sam demanded as he studied Az with eyes that seemed to see too much. “What did I miss in that cemetery?”
Some stories weren’t meant to be told. Az offered him a faint smile. “Everyone always said we’d kill each other one day.”
Sam wasn’t smiling back. “No, they said if we did, the end of the world would come.”
Jade sucked in a sharp breath at that hard truth.
Seline strode toward them.
“Sam . . .”
A warning note entered her voice.
“Sam . . .”
A warning note entered her voice.
Finally, Sam’s lips twisted into his usual hard grin. “But I don’t see the end of the world.”
Hopefully, you won’t ever.
“Fate can change.”
“Fate can change.”
Now his brother stepped back in surprise. That too-sharp gaze of his widened.
“It can change,” Az said again, and that was all that his brother needed to know.
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