Angel in Chains (The Fallen #3)(4)

“How?” Jade asked. The floor creaked as she came closer to him.

His wounds would heal, but for the moment, the pain had his teeth grinding together. Now wasn’t really the time for explanations. Not that he felt like offering any to her.

With a wave of the hand that had killed, he motioned toward the busted doorway. “Flee while you can.” Another warning. Hopefully, she’d be smart enough to actually listen to him and get the hell out of there.

He’d do the same. Leave this place. Find another dwelling.

“Flee?” She repeated, voice rising a notch.

Sucking in a deep breath as he turned, Az nodded. “Yes, before the police arrive and find—” He gestured to the body. “Him.” Because it didn’t look like he’d killed a panther. No, now it looked like he’d just murdered a man. At the moment of death, shifters always returned to their human forms.

She knelt near the body. “There aren’t any wounds on him.”

No. He didn’t have to wound in order to kill.

Jade fell back onto her butt and stared up at him. “How’d you do it?”

With a touch. That was what the Angel of Death did. He touched, and he killed, and the rest of the world feared.

That was his life. Or, it had been.

Take anything you want.

She licked her lips and the eyes that made him think too much of pleasure and human sins met his.

Temptation.

It was staring right at him. Sometimes, the most dangerous temptations were the ones that were right in front of you.

Then he saw the fear that slipped over her face. “What are you?” Of course, she’d ask that annoying question again.

It was the question he hated because the answer was—an abomination.

So Az didn’t respond. He’d saved her. Warned her to flee. That meant he’d more than done his part. What happened next would be up to her.

He turned from her and slipped into the rising light of dawn. He blurred his body, moving quickly, and he knew that, to her, it would look as if he vanished.

If only he could.

But just disappearing from the world would be far too easy, and Az knew he wasn’t meant for the easy path.

He was meant to suffer.





Her hero left her with a dead body. Jade stared down at the panther. “Austin, you jackass, I hope you’re somewhere really, really hot.” After the hell he’d put her through over the last few years, he deserved to burn.

The screech of sirens reached her ears. It figured the cops would be fast this one time, when she needed them to be slow. Jade jumped to her feet. “Az!”

She shoved through the broken door. The wood scraped her arm. Perfect. Of course she’d leave DNA evidence behind at a murder scene. But, hopefully, once they examined the body, the wise folks at the NOPD would realize they weren’t dealing with a normal stiff, and they’d make this murder victim just . . . vanish.

Other deaths had a way of disappearing in the Big Easy. Mostly because there were so many Other hiding in the city. When supernaturals looked to blend in with the human population, they flocked to the big cities. It was easier for them to hide in plain sight there. Of course, in New Orleans, the city made for voodoo and magic . . . hiding in plain sight took on a whole new meaning for the paranormals.

She glanced to the left, then to the right. Where the hell was her savior? Big, blond, and way too gorgeous had vanished on her.

Freaking literally vanished. Come on, she did not need this right now. Her savior should have stayed put, and well, done more saving.

You’re not getting away from me that easily.

Her gaze scanned the old cement sidewalk. Looking, looking . . .

Blood drops.

She locked onto those red drops and raced along the spattered trail. Austin had cut her hero too deeply. With that kind of wound, it was amazing that Az could walk at all. She’d been sure Austin had severed his spine—or come real close—but Az had acted like the wound had barely troubled him. An attack that brutal would have crippled her.

Az had killed with a touch. He’d been super strong. And he had amazing endurance.

Oh, yeah, he was the man she’d been dreaming of for years—the man who could finally help her.

Not. Getting. Away. When a girl had been waiting as long as she had for her hero to show up, she didn’t let the guy fly away.

Police cruisers whipped by her. Jade hunched her shoulders and rushed forward even faster. The blood twisted down an alley. Great. Another alley that reeked of piss. Why couldn’t just one ever smell like roses?

Her speed slowed way down as she entered the alley. Not rushing anymore, but more like creeping now as she carefully followed the blood trail. As far as she could tell, there was no way out of this dead-end alley. Red bricks stared back at her and her throbbing forehead reminded her that she’d already gotten up close and personal with the hard edge of bricks once and—

An arm snaked around her and hauled Jade up against a very big, very, very strong male body. There was no chance to scream—not that she’d been planning to scream—because a heavy hand covered her mouth.

“I told you to flee.” His low, rumbling voice.

But then she’d known Az’s touch instantly. There was no mistaking that deadly strength.

“You should have listened to me.” His breath blew over her ear, and she felt the lightest touch of his lips against her lobe. Jade couldn’t help it, she shivered. Her ear had always been a weak spot.