Angel Betrayed (The Fallen #2)(20)

The smoke thickened, and the flames began to crackle. Sam raced for the warehouse. A retreating guard saw him and fumbled for his weapon. “Wait, stop! You can’t—”

Sam flew forward and knocked the guy aside. Sam blasted the warehouse door open with a stray thought and rushed inside. The flames swelled, growing higher and higher. His power pushed out, and he should have been able to instantly quench the fire, but the flames didn’t so much as flicker.

Az. Only another angel could have enough power to stir the fire like this.

Time to find his brother and give him some payback—payback that had been centuries in coming.

Another scream ripped the air. This one echoed with pain.

“Seline!” He rushed after that fading scream, never feeling the touch of fire on his skin as he leapt right through the flames.

And then he saw her. On the ground. Rolling as she tried to put out the fire that burned her flesh. He roared her name and lunged for her.

“Sam . . .” Her hoarse whisper and there were tears—f*cking tears—sliding down her cheeks. He held her close against his chest, and, through the flames, his gaze locked on his brother.

Azrael. The second Angel of Death created. One without feelings. One who existed only to kill.

One who’d finally fallen.

The fire rose higher, hotter, and those flames seemed to come right after Seline.

Holding her, cradling her carefully, Sam stepped back.

Az was smiling.

“Bastard!” Sam yelled even as he retreated a few more steps from that fire. The fire wouldn’t hurt him, but Seline was a different story. She was shaking in his arms, and he could feel the waves of her fear.

A manacle dropped from Az’s wrist. Still smiling, Az stepped forward.

“I’m going to kill you,” Sam promised him.

Az’s brows rose. “No . . . you won’t.” Az lifted his hands. The restraints were at his feet, and Sam knew his brother’s power was ready to burst free again. “Not now.” And Az vanished. In less than a second’s time, he simply disappeared.

Holding tight to Seline, Sam sent out a wave of his power and blew out the wall on the right. He ran forward, holding her as tightly as he dared.

The shrill scream of sirens reached his ears. He caught the flash of red lights. A fire truck was racing to the scene, leading a line of police cruisers and an ambulance. Sam hesitated.

“No.” Seline’s rough whisper. “Humans . . . don’t let them see me. They . . . can’t help.”

He risked a glance down at her. The tear tracks were still on her cheeks, and angry red blisters covered her arm.

Az, run . . . run f*cking fast. His brother had just earned more pain before his death.

“Please,” she said, holding his stare, “get me out . . . of here.” More tears slid from her eyes.

“You’re hurt. You need—”

“I’m a succubus.” Her eyes closed even as a flash of pain had her face tightening. “Medicine won’t heal me.”

No, not medicine.

He turned away from the cops. He kept his hold on her, and he knew just how to help Seline.

Medicine couldn’t take away a succubus’s pain, but pleasure could.





Rogziel watched as the warehouse burned. His guards had escaped, and Alex waited behind him, swearing and muttering because he had a bruise on the back of his head.

Humans could be so dramatic.

“You’re sure Seline was the one who hit you?” Rogziel asked again, because he had to be certain.

“Yes! She hit me, and she took the freaking keys. She went after that Fallen . . .” Alex stalked forward and pointed to the blazing building. “And they did that.”

Burned their way to freedom?

Maybe.

Or maybe Azrael had just burned Seline and sent her to hell.

His gaze slid over the fire. He’d expected the betrayal from Seline. He’d hoped that she’d stay true to him, but, deep inside, he’d known. It had been just a matter of time.

Blood always tells. Poor Seline had the blood of the wicked coursing through her veins. He’d tried to warn her, but there had been no changing fate. There never was.

“We’ll wait until the authorities secure the scene.” He’d learned how to keep a low profile over the centuries. So he’d let the cops do their work. Let the firefighters fight the blaze that was already cooling, and once the smoke cleared, he’d see if any bodies were recovered.

If Seline had somehow slipped away, then he’d find her. Seline was his, and he wouldn’t let her get away. He’d see her dead long before he turned her loose on the world.

Because he knew just how dangerous she truly was. The pretty face was a lie. Inside, Seline was a monster, one that he’d been fighting to control since the day he’d found her.

Tossed away in an alley.

Trash.

Evil.

And the evil ones in this world had to be punished.





Sam took Seline to one of his safe houses. Acquiring a car wasn’t hard; he just took the first one he saw and drove as fast as he could. Within minutes, he had Seline at his place, locked inside, and on his bed.

Carefully, using a gentleness he hadn’t even realized he possessed, Sam removed her charred and ash-stained clothing, and he wiped away her tears.