Angel in Chains (The Fallen #3)(78)

Bastion’s brows pulled together. “No, Azrael—”

“He found her. Brandt was the one who got off on slicing her apart.” She swallowed. Don’t look over the hill. “Just like he’s going to slice me unless we leave here, now.”

His gaze held hers.

“I’m telling you the truth. It wasn’t Az.” She swallowed. “Please, believe me.”

“Angels can’t lie.” His own voice had softened.

She knew what he meant. Angels couldn’t lie, but humans could. “Humans can also tell the truth.”

He studied her a moment longer, then seemed to . . . believe her? He pulled her against his chest and held tight. His wings were stretching out again as he prepared for flight. In the distance, she could hear snarls.

Brandt had her scent.

They needed to get the hell out of there.

Now.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Az pulled Mateo from the wreckage. Flames shot high up into the air. Sirens blared as the humans raced toward the burning warehouse.

They’d never arrive in time. By the time the fire trucks pulled up, the building would be ash.

He tossed the witch onto the ground. Mateo had talked. Witches, even half-blood ones, couldn’t take the fire.

Az turned away from him.

“S-saw . . . th-this . . .” Mateo’s words froze him. “You . . . destroy . . .”

He’d destroy anyone who tried to take Jade. “I let you live.” After the witch had deliberately betrayed him. Separating him from Jade had been part of the guy’s plan all along. So she’d be vulnerable. Alone. Then Mateo had whipped up the wind in that room so Az couldn’t hear her screams.

Not until it was too late.

He glanced into the sky. The flames and smoke had dimmed the sunlight. Yet as he stared, the clouds seemed to thicken. A dark shape emerged.

A shape with the wide, black wings of a Death Angel.

His back teeth ground together. If Bastion was coming back to taunt him, he’d make the angel pay.

And it was Bastion. There was no mistaking the angel’s form. But—but Bastion wasn’t alone.

Bastion touched down just in front of the flames. He held Jade against his chest. One of Bastion’s arms circled her stomach, and the angel held a knife to her throat.

“Let her go,” Az demanded. The sirens were growing louder. The fire seemed to shriek behind Jade and Bastion.

Bastion’s eyes were wide. “You did this?”

Mateo climbed slowly to his feet. Blisters covered his right arm. They’d heal. Mateo was too powerful not to heal now that he was away from the flames. “She’s not supposed. . . to be . . . here.”

The tip of the knife sliced her throat.

Az couldn’t hear the screams of the approaching sirens or the crackle of the flames. Jade’s lips were moving but he could discern no sound.

He leapt forward, stopping mere inches from Bastion. “Let her go or die.” If he had to use his fists to pound those brimstone bullets into Bastion’s head and heart, he would.

No one was hurting Jade.

Fear flashed in Bastion’s eyes. Az knew fear when he saw it and smelled it.

“M-Marna . . .” He caught the angel’s whisper. “Tell me, did you take her wings?”

“I already told you,” Jade muttered, “he didn’t.”

Az fought the fury inside of him. His gaze held Bastion’s. “I did not.”

Bastion’s wings curled inward.

“Brandt was the one who attacked her,” Az told him. “He’s more than human. He could see her. And you know what a shifter’s claws can do to us.”

“Not a weapon of man.” Bastion swallowed. The knife lifted. His hands were shaking. “I-I thought you . . .” He pushed Jade toward Az.

He grabbed her, held her close, and smelled her blood.

Az stiffened. Keeping his hand on her, his gaze swept her body. There was no missing the long gash that had torn open her arm.

“Az,” Jade began, with her eyes wide. “Hold on. It was a misunderstand—”

Bastion attacking her wasn’t a misunderstanding. Az pushed her behind him. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

The angel’s head hung down. “When I found them, Marna’s wings were covered in blood. There was no sign of her in the swamp. I-I thought that you’d—”

“You didn’t attack me. You attacked her.”

The angel wasn’t meeting his stare.

“What were you going to do?” Az demanded. The urge to attack, to destroy, was so strong that his body trembled.

Bastion’s chin slowly lifted. “I was going to let Brandt have her.”

“Bad, bad mistake.” He lifted his hand and prepared to beat the hell out of a certain angel.

“Az!” Jade grabbed his hand. “Dammit, we don’t have time for this now!”

Sammael would have said there was always time for an ass kicking.

Perhaps he truly was becoming more like his brother. Or maybe he’d always been like him and just hadn’t realized it.

“The cops are almost on top of us. We need to get out of here.” Fear flickered in her eyes. “There is no way that we want to get caught by human authorities now.”