Angel Betrayed (The Fallen #2)(82)

Sierra swiped away the tears on her cheeks. “An . . . angel?”

“A hellhound is chasing Tomas because he came back for you. That wasn’t a wolf, okay? It was a hellhound.” She shoved Sierra toward the broken door. “Now be smart, and run. Run really, really fast.”

Sierra looked back at her with dazed eyes. “Th-thank you.” Then she ran, really, really fast.

Seline turned to Sam.

“You need to run, too,” he told her.

Probably. “Maybe I’m just not into playing it smart.” She closed the distance between them. “I’m not leaving you.”

He shook his head. “You want freedom. This is your chance. Take it.”

Didn’t he see? Didn’t he get it yet? “I think I want you more.” The stark truth, and one that scared her to death.

Sam’s eyes widened, and a burst of blue appeared around the darkness of his eyes. “Seline?”

Her lips started to lift in a trembling smile.

“You want him?” Azrael demanded from right behind her.

Aw, hell. Angels and their too-fast—

“Then just see exactly what you’re getting . . .” Before she could even look over her shoulder, Azrael touched her.

And Sam roared.

Hello, Death.





She stared down at the men. She could hear the laughter, but couldn’t understand their words. Their clothes were . . . different. Old. Foreign.

Another time, another place.

But Death was there.

Seline saw Sammael leap from the sky. His wings, strong, black, so powerful, thrust behind him. The men were staring with wide eyes, looking all around.

But they couldn’t see him. Not yet.

Then he touched the first man.

The man with the red hair screamed, and the sound chilled Seline’s blood. She’d never heard a cry filled with such terror. The redhead fell to the ground, his body frozen, his face twisted in agony. He was the first, but not the last. Far, far from the last.

Soon the men could see Sam. Seline didn’t understand how or why, but they were staring at him. Pointing. Screaming.

He . . . laughed?

More men fell. He cut right through them. Killed, touched, until none were left living.

When the dead littered the ground at his feet, Sammael tilted back his head, stared up at the heavens, and smiled.

More.





“Seline!” Sam’s roar jerked her back to the present just as he pulled her away from Azrael. She realized that only a moment had passed, barely a second.

It had felt like an eternity.

Sammael put his body between her and Az. “What the f*ck did you do?”

“Relax,” Az said, voice tight. “She’s completely unharmed. You know the touch doesn’t work on those with angel blood. Most of the demons who run on this earth have blood so diluted, it doesn’t matter, but she’s . . . fresh.”

Her hands were shaking. Seline stared at Sam’s back and saw the shadow of his wings.

And when he fired a fast glance over his shoulder, she saw his rage. Seline rose to her toes, craning to see over his strong back.

“I just wanted her to see exactly who you are,” Az said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “She thinks that she wants you? Well, she needs to know just what it is that she wants.”

Azrael’s voice grated in her ears.

Sam must have thought the guy’s voice grated, too, because he slammed his fist into Azrael’s face to shut him up. “Don’t f*cking touch her!”

“Why?” Az hadn’t moved. Blood streamed from his nose. “Because you didn’t want her to know just what you were? Didn’t want her to see how much you enjoy a kill?”

In a flash, Az was beside her. “Those men weren’t marked for death. He decided to kill them, and he did.”

Sam growled. No other word for it. He growled. “They had murdered a village. Slaughtered the children. Raped the women, then killed them when they were done. And you wanted—what? For me to turn the other cheek? Hell, no. Death for death. Eye for—” He broke off, seeming to finally realize just what Az had said before. “See?” he repeated quietly, and his gaze found Seline’s. “He . . . showed you?”

Not just rage in his voice now. Fear.

She lifted her hand toward him. The slight edge of cruelty was still on his face. It would probably always be there, in the curl of his lip and the hardness of his eyes. But he was more than cruelty and rage. So much more. Why hadn’t she seen that in the beginning?

“Can you really trust him?” Azrael murmured, like the devil whispering in her ear. “Don’t you want to leave him? Now’s your chance, succubus, run. I’ll hold him back. Get your freedom.”

Sam flinched.

Very, very slowly, Seline turned her head to meet Az’s stare. “I trust him with my life. And you can just go and f*ck off.”

The ceiling trembled above them. Cracks raced across the sagging tiles.

“You should have run when you had the chance,” Az told her with what looked to be a sad shake of his head. “Now we’ll all—”

The ceiling caved in—no, fell in because Rogziel had just blasted his way through as he hurtled toward them.

“Hell’s waiting,” Rogziel called out, raising his bloody hands, and lightning flew across the room. One bolt slammed into Azrael’s chest. Another hit Sam’s back. The scent of burned flesh filled Seline’s nostrils.