Hunting Angel 2 (8 page)

I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore the sketchy feeling his lingering gaze was giving me. Did no one in this hick town watch movies? “Sally from
Nightmare Before Christmas
.”

He blinked.

“It’s a movie,” I added.

“Oh. Well it’s by far the best costume of the night.” He drowned the rest of the contents in his cup, whipped his mouth with the back of his hand, and set the empty cup on the bed of the truck.

Attractive
.

I was waiting for the epic belch to follow and maybe even some belly scratching. It would have made my night.

Yet for whatever reason, my body suddenly went on alert.

Maybe it was the fact that he was clearly drunk.

Maybe it was the funny, slurred speech.

Maybe it was the scary gleam in his eyes.

Regardless, for his safety and mine, I knew that I didn’t want to be alone with him. I was feeling very unsure about this whole situation, unsure about this whole night. Everything seemed off, bizarro.

“I didn’t think I would get a minute alone with you,” Brody slurred his words.

Touching. Can you believe this guy?

Suddenly he was in front of me, his arms boxing me on either side of the truck and pinning me in with his bulky body. I got that icky, sick feeling and swallowed my first taste of fear. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I realized I was trapped between his much larger-than-mine body and the side of the truck.

Shit
.

Well this was an unexpected turn of events.

Not good.

“Brody,” I said, trying to make my voice stern. “Don’t do this,” I warned, risking a glance up into his glassy brown eyes.

He angled his moppy brunette head. “Why not? I know you want to. I can see it in your eyes.”

What an asshat. The only thing he saw in my eyes was disgust and fear.

“Brody look, I am sure you are a nice guy.” My voice was tight, fear gripping me. I flattened my hands on his chest, pushing. He was an immovable force. I couldn’t breath. That pause was just the opening he was waiting for and then his mouth was on mine. He smelled like a brewery and tasted worse. I hated beer. An assault of memories flooded me. I was frozen in absolute panic.

This wasn’t happening.

What was happening?

I couldn’t believe it. I knew that Brody could be a jerky jock, but this…

It just goes to show you how horrific my judge of character could be.

I knew in my head I should scream, but nothing came out. His hand grabbed me at the waist, digging painfully into my skin. His mouth was rough, bruising my lips with sloppy, wet kisses. I wanted to puke.

I needed to do something. Now.

I did the only thing I could think of. I brought my knee straight up in-between his legs with as much force as I could muster.

And I got just the results I was looking for.

His hands instantly released my waist as he moaned, clutching his groin. I wasted not a second of the reprieve I was given, knowing that it wouldn’t cripple him for long.

I scrambled away from the truck. “Chase!” I called, breathing heavily, knowing that I only needed to say his name, and he would hear me.

Or so I hoped.

He stepped out of the dark shadows, eyes glowing like the Las Vegas strip. His movements were deadly quiet and dangerous, and he looked a thousand times scarier than Brody.

Chase
.

“What took you so long?” I snapped, all my fear turning into rage, that and the fact that I wanted him to wrap his arms around me and take me the hell away from here – far away.

Chase’s mouth thinned and his jawed ticked. “How was I to know that you weren’t into it? You wanted space, remember? Well, I gave you plenty.”

Ugh. He would have to bring that up now of all times. “I think I was making it pretty damn clear I wasn’t interested. This fucktard was just too drunk and stupid to listen.” My mouth tends to get filthier when I’m scared out of my wits.

Brody groaned again. In a flash, Chase reached down and hauled Brody up against the truck one-handed.

He wiggled his brows. “So you are admitting that you need me after all?” Smugness oozed from his whole entire body.

Brody made a grunting noise, causing Chase to remember he was still there and stiffen. Seriously bad move. He should have kept his trap shut. Now I was sure Chase was going to murder him. His eyes lit like embers against the starry night, and they were definitely filled with a murderous glare. Brody was toast.

I had to intervene.

Well, maybe not until Brody learned a lesson. No meant no, and if he needed the bejeebies beat out of him to get that, then by all means, who was I to begrudge him that lesson.

The first crunch of knuckles cracking against Brody’s cheek wasn’t pretty. I caught a glimpse of Brody’s head swinging back right before I hid my eyes, no longer thinking that this so called
lesson
was a great idea. Especially with the kind of fists Chase packed. It wasn’t exactly fair. Chase had been itching for a fight, and I just handed him one on a silver platter.

A trickle of blood seeped from Brody’s nose, but that didn’t stop Chase. He seemed to be out for more than just blood as he hit Brody again and again. If I didn’t do something now, Chase might lose control. I have had my fair share of run-ins with both half-demons and the nasty stuff from the underworld. And though Chase never hurt me, that didn’t mean I still didn’t fear what lied hidden inside him.

I would be a fool not to. And mama didn’t raise no fool.

Well most of the time I wasn’t foolish. There were those few times where desperation overrules reason.

“Chase!” I yelled from behind him.

At first I didn’t think he heard me. Then his hand stopped midair – clenched and suspended in barely restrained fury. The fact that he had been able to stop wasn’t lost to me, or the fact that I might be one of only a few people who could have actually gotten through to him. Later, when I wasn’t feeling so exposed and vulnerable, I might realize the kind of power I had with him. For now, it just washed right over me.

Muscles taunt, he had Brody slammed up against the truck again, eyes glowing brighter than the moon. Brody’s were full of fear and the fog of booze, he looked close to tears. “Touch her again, I dare you,” Chase said in a haunting voice.

Mental eye roll
. I hoped that was more of a threat than a challenge. The last thing I wanted was Brody to give Chase another reason to beat him to a bloody pulp. His face already looked like it had a horrible meeting with a meat grinder.

I gasped, as Chase’s fist found the center of Brody’s belly for one last punch. Brody crumbled to the cold, rocky ground. Chase turned to me, and a slice of fear rippled through me. Sometimes I forgot how scary he could really be. His hand grabbed mine, tugging me through the overgrown brush of the field.

I sighed, suddenly tired of being manhandled. “Are we just going to leave him there?” I asked, leaves crackling under our feet as I scrambled to keep up with Chase and his superior speed and long legs.

A hopeless endeavor really.

He stopped and my legs thanked him. “Do you really want me to go back there?” he growled.

I swallowed. “Umm, definitely not–”

No sooner had the words left my mouth, when I felt the air sucked out of my lungs, and I was flying in the air. I never saw it coming. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a faint whoosh and humming, but it didn’t register in my brain. When you are sailing through the air, there was only one place to go. Down.

My back hit the ground with a jarring force, and my chest felt like it was crushed by a giant boulder. That giant boulder turned out to be a body. It seemed like minutes before I was able to breathe again. In reality it was probably only seconds, yet time seemed to have slowed.

Disorientated, I stared above me, looking into Chase’s glittering topaz eyes. He had tackled me, literally to the ground.

Now what
?

Chapter 8

“What the hell Chase? What is wrong with you?”

He looked down at me, pushing the hair out of my face. Both of us were breathing hard from the unexpected fall. “You ungrateful little brat, I just saved your life – again I might add.”

I followed his gaze above our heads where I used to be standing. There, embedded in the grainy tree bark was a long sleek arrow with yellow feathers at the end. Someone had shot at me, or us, I wasn’t certain.

“I was being shot at?” I asked in disbelief, peering back at his looming face.

“It looks that way.”

I tried to ignore the way his body covered mine. You think after a death defying moment, I wouldn’t be thinking about how glorious his rippled chest felt against mine, or that even when he was tossing me to the ground, I rarely get hurt. “Who would want to shoot me? With an arrow?” I asked, when I could think clearly again.

His eyes were studying mine. I could only assume that my eyes were doing that color changing dohicky. He had that look on his face. “Hunters. And it looks like they have figured out my kryptonite.”

Kryptonite
? Did he mean me? I was his weakness? “I thought you said you weren’t a superhero?”

He snorted. “Angel, you’re impossible.” Then he kissed the tip of my nose before pushing to his feet. With a rough hand, he brushed his fingers through his windblown hair.

My chest felt lighter without his weight, though I missed the zing. I just laid there on the ground, looking at him hovering above me. He looked gorgeous and powerful with the moonlight at his back. He blended perfectly with the night. Yes, I was totally ogling, but so was he. We just couldn’t seem to help ourselves. We probably should have been running for our lives from whatever was hunting us, not spending an eternity eyeballing each other.

The side of my hip tingled in hypnotic bliss.

It was Chase who eventually broke what was becoming a sizzling spell. He held out a hand. “We need to go.”

Nodding, I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. I couldn’t have agreed more. Though, a tumble on the ground would have been fine too. Just saying.

But I knew he was right. We were sitting ducks out here in the open field. Who ever was out there, had the trees and the twilight as their cover. But I had a half-demon. I think I win.

So far this Halloween was becoming too much real life horror for me. It wasn’t my kind of fun. I’d like to leave the life-threatening situations to the movies. However, it seemed that wasn’t in the cards for me.

Not now.

I needed to be a realist here.

I was going to be hunted.

My life was going to be in constant danger.

And one day, Chase might not be there to save me.

“Let’s find Lexi before they decide to take a second shot,” he said, sounding stressed.

I could see it in his stance, how much he wanted to go all demon gung-ho and get us out of here much faster. It riled him to have to resort to human speeds, especially when our lives were at stake.

He wrapped his around my shoulders, pulling me close to him, using his body as a shield. I felt his biceps bunch in barely restrained control. Things were not looking promising. At least if anyone asked about the glowing eyes, we could say they were contacts. No one would question it on Halloween.

We found Lexi in the same spot I’d left her. Dancing.

Chase literally plucked her from the man-made dance floor and hauled her through the sea of people. “Party’s over. It’s time to leave cuz.”

I followed swiftly beside him. Lexi, even in her slightly hammered state, knew better than to argue. That didn’t mean she went without style.

“Why does every party end with us dashing off? I just wanted one night to be free.” There was pain and anger in Lexi’s rant.

“You can throw a pity party at home. Get in the car. Now!” Chase demanded harshly.

He slid into the driver seat, immediately throwing the car in to drive and took off at mach ten. The wheels spun, squealing and leaving black rubber on the road behind us. I gripped the edge of my leather seat. A dense dust of gravel kicked up behind us, making it impossible to see.

No one said anything on the ride home. Lexi sulked in the back, and I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, I might lose it. Tears were already burning the back of my eyes, and my throat felt closed up.

The whole night hit me like a blizzard.

We dropped Lexi off at her house, and she went storming inside, giving Chase the cold shoulder.

He sighed heavily. “God, I hate this holiday.”

Leaving him downstairs to stew on his personal hatred, I headed upstairs for the bathroom. The need to get out of this costume was stifling. Striping the patched dress, I tossed it haphazardly into a corner of the bathroom. In nothing but my skivvies, I started scrubbing the cracking make-up from my face. Minutes later it felt like I was trying to scrub away the events of the night, but it hadn’t worked. Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I could still feel Brody’s hands piercing into my flesh. I could still see the arrow sticking out of the tree instead of my chest. I stared in the mirror at a girl who looked traumatized; my blue eyes were wide and an unusual shade lighter.

Gripping the side of the counter, I heaved and shoved the tears back down my throat. I refused to go postal and give into the useless tears that were threatening to spill all over my cheeks.

Tossing on a t-shirt, I opened the bathroom door and was hit with a wave of aftershocks. My entire body started shaking. Before I could register that I was about to have a mental breakdown, Chase was there.

So much for the brave face.

He pulled me against him, wrapping his strong arms around me. I was encompassed by his warmth and the scent of dark sin. My body, still trembling, pressed up to his even though in my mind I knew I was safe.

One thing was for certain, I didn’t want to be alone. I knew all it would take was for me to ask and he would be suction-cupped to my side. In my present state, I wouldn’t mind.

“Don’t leave,” I murmured quietly. So soft that anyone else wouldn’t have heard it.