C
HAPTER
N
INETEEN
B
efore the panthers’ claws could tear into her skin, he was there.
Az appeared right in front of her, in front of them, and he wrapped his arms around her. “Close your eyes,” he told her.
She did, but she felt the force of the heat on her skin and knew that Az had used his power to burn and destroy.
The whimpers of the panthers filled her ears—whimpers from the beasts and screams from the men as they transformed.
Her feet left the earth and when they touched down again, she was a good ten feet away from the flames sputtering on the ground. The shifters were still alive, but out of commission.
And Brandt—
Where was he?
“Are you okay?” Az’s hold on her arms was too tight. “Did he hurt you?”
She still had the iron in her hands. “No.” Not any pain worth mentioning. Her throat would heal. Az had arrived just in time.
She was so glad to see him that tears wanted to fill her eyes.
The injured shifters began to edge away. “Brandt.” She licked her lips and blinked away the tears. Now wasn’t the time to get weak. “He was just here!”
“My bastard brother ran as soon as the fire started.” Jade jerked towards the sound of Tanner’s voice. He’d just grabbed a fleeing shifter and knocked him back on the ground. “Don’t worry, I got his stench.” He pointed toward a small space between the tombs on the right. “That way.”
Az nodded. “Stay here.” In the next second, before she could even get the breath to argue, he was gone, racing away after Brandt’s trail.
And leaving her behind.
Rage pumped inside of Az as he streaked through the cemetery. That bastard had dared to touch Jade again. And he’d let his pack of sadistic shifters get killing close to her.
No more.
Az pushed ahead even faster. A few quick shots from his gun, and this would all be over. Jade would be free. She wouldn’t have to spend her days looking over her shoulder and wondering when her psycho ex would pounce.
She could have a life again.
A life with me.
Because if she’d have him, he wanted to spend all of his days with her. Heaven could wait. He’d found something he wanted more.
Jade.
To him, she was . . . everything.
He’d make her happy. Get her to laugh. To smile not just with her beautiful mouth, but with her eyes.
She’d live again.
He paused at the heavy stone wall that marked the edge of the cemetery. Had Brandt left the cemetery? Run back into the city? Where had he—
“There’s something you need to see.”
Az spun at the voice and came face-to-face with Mateo. Not exactly the asshole he’d wanted to see. “Out of my way,” he growled. The witch had betrayed him once already. He didn’t intend to give the guy a second chance to screw him over.
“I can show you the way,” Mateo said, eyes dark. “You just have to trust me.”
He wouldn’t trust that guy any day.
Mateo pointed to the right. “Come here, and see . . .”
Hell. Az could smell blood. He surged forward, heading down the path Mateo indicated.
He didn’t look back, and he didn’t see Mateo’s slow smile.
Jade sucked in deep gulps of air and stared after Az. Really? He wanted her to just . . .
stay there
?
It sucked being human. Or, half human—or whatever the hell she was these days. Dammit, she—
Tanner took off toward the left, running as fast as he could. Jade blinked. The left? Now why would he run that way?
I got his stench.
Those had been Tanner’s words, and Tanner had sent Az running into the opposite direction.
Why?
Because Tanner wants to be the one to take out his brother.
Oh, hell. She raced to the left and followed him. Tanner was overmatched in this fight. He couldn’t defeat Brandt, not when the guy had the strength of an angel on his side.
The graves whipped by her. Or rather, she whipped by them. Thick and white, the tombs seemed to reek of the dead. A few candles flickered near the ground, silent offerings to the spirits, promises to a long-gone voodoo queen.
“You son of a bitch!”
Jade rushed toward that yell. A turn to the left. To the right. The graveyard was a twisted maze and—
And Tanner had Brandt pinned against a tomb.
“It ends tonight,” Tanner growled at him. “You don’t get to hurt anyone else.”
But Brandt just laughed. And he drove his claws into Tanner’s stomach. “You never could stop me.”
“Tanner!”
The horrified cry burst from her.
“W-watch me . . .” Tanner managed and he sliced his own claws right across Brandt’s throat. Brandt’s blood flew out, soaking him, and Brandt didn’t even have a chance to scream.
Brandt’s gaze turned to her. His eyes widened. He smiled.
Tanner yanked away from him, and Brandt’s claws slid from his chest with a wet slosh of sound.
Brandt fell face-first onto the ground.
Jade stared down at him, stunned, as her breath heaved out.
Slowly, Tanner turned toward her. “I d-did . . . i-it . . .” His shirt was soaked with blood. His skin ashen. His whole body was shaking.
Jade rushed to him. She grabbed Tanner as his knees buckled and eased him to the ground. “You have to shift,” she told him, voice desperate. Her gaze flew over his wounds. They were bad. Brandt had ripped right through him. Ripped things
out
of him. “Shift
now
.” Jade forced steel into her order.
His lips were paler than the moon. A ripple shook his body and fur burst out on his arms, only to vanish a moment later.
She realized that Tanner wasn’t strong enough to shift. And if he wasn’t strong enough, he’d die in her arms.
She ignored the scent of flowers. The scent was deepening around her. The scent . . . it wasn’t from an Angel of Death
.
Just flowers from the graves. Nothing more.
Nothing . . .
Tanner’s claws retracted.
“You don’t get to die like this!” She snapped and slammed her palm into his chest. “You don’t get to—”
Hands grabbed her from behind. Strong hands. Hands that knew too well how to hurt.
Brandt wasn’t done yet. Or maybe the devil just hadn’t wanted him. “Tanner never was as strong as me,” he whispered into her ear.
Her breath choked out as horror and fear swamped her.
“No.” Az’s voice. Cool and lethal and cutting right through the night. Cutting through her fear and giving her hope. “But I am,” Az promised.
Jade’s head whipped up. Az stood before them, just inside the gateway of tombs.
Damn that man looked sexy. Strong. Determined. Pissed. He lifted his gun. “Let her go.”
Brimstone bullets, asshole. Choke on them.
If she hadn’t been trapped against said asshole, she would have smiled.
“You’re not going to shoot her.” Brandt was mocking now. Something wet slipped down her shoulder, and she was pretty sure that it was his blood.
Jade twisted and turned to look at Brandt. Only the thinnest cut remained from the torn hole that had been his throat.
Damn—that was some fast healing.
But his clothes were soaked red and now so were hers.
Brandt met her gaze. His eyes were glowing with his rage. “You did this,” he told her. “You should’ve just been happy with me.”
“And you should have left my parents alone, you sick freak.” Her head whipped forward. She stared right at Az. “Shoot.”
Brandt laughed. “He won’t—”
“This is the best chance we have, Az.
Shoot
!” She yelled.
But Az wasn’t firing. She could see the struggle on his face. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she was all for taking a bullet or two if it meant they could get Brandt out of commission. “Kill him, just kill—”
Snap.
She didn’t feel any pain, but, suddenly, Jade’s body was falling. She slammed into the earth. She didn’t feel that either. She couldn’t get her fingers to move. Her legs were numb and her heart . . .
Thunder rumbled. Once. Twice. Someone was screaming. Yelling.
Wait, that wasn’t thunder.
Gunshots.
Az had fired. He’d fired—and Brandt’s body crashed onto the ground beside her. His face was inches away. Blood trickled from his mouth. Brandt’s eyes were wide open—and empty.
Dead.
Jade wanted to turn away from that empty stare, but she couldn’t move. And why was she so cold?
“Jade!”
Her name was a roar. But panthers roared, not angels, and that was Az’s voice, wasn’t it? “Don’t do this!”
Do what? She’d just fallen. She’d be fine in a few minutes. Brandt was dead. They’d all be fine now. Better than fine. She could live again.
“Do n’t!”
Strange. That word had been choked and so full of pain. She didn’t want Az in pain. Had he been hurt? Had Brandt managed to attack him before Az fired his gun?
She tried once more to turn her head and look at him, but couldn’t move. Everything was getting dark. Perhaps the moon had gone behind some rain clouds.
The light would come back soon. She’d figure out what was happening in a few moments.
Her heartbeat seemed so weak in her ears.
The light would come back soon.
But then the whole world vanished.
The bastard had broken Jade’s neck. One hard snap of his hands, and Brandt had taken her life away.
Brandt’s chest was full of brimstone, and he lay dead on the ground, but
he’d taken her away.
Bones snapped and popped behind him. Tanner. Az didn’t glance at the shifter. He couldn’t.
He bent his head toward Jade’s. Her eyes were open. “Sweetheart, it’s going to be—”
Empty.
Her eyes were empty.
Az grabbed her and yanked Jade up into his arms. He held her body against his chest. How could she already feel so cold? Jade should be warm. Her silken skin should singe him with a touch.
Not ice. Not her. She’d only been cold once before, when death had come too close to taking her.
Her head hung limply, and his heart stopped. “Jade, dammit, come back!” A desperate order. A painful plea.
She wasn’t moving.
He bit into his wrist. Forced his blood into her mouth. His blood had helped her once. It would help again. She’d be okay, she’d be—
“You know it doesn’t work like that.” Sam’s voice. Quiet. Sad. He didn’t even know how Sam had gotten there, and he didn’t care.
There was only one thing he cared about. One person.
Her.
“Tell me how to bring Jade back.” His hand smoothed over her dark hair. Had he ever told her how beautiful her hair was? Had he ever told her that she was beautiful?
You are, Jade. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Better than even the golden streets in heaven.
“I . . . don’t know how to bring her back.”
“Then get me someone who fucking does!” Rage beat at him. A constant scream echoed in his head. She’d been looking at him when she fell. When that asshole had snapped her neck, she’d been looking right at him and begging him to shoot.
He hadn’t. “I didn’t want to hurt her.” Az’s lips feathered over Jade’s cold cheek.
“I know.” Sam’s hand closed around his shoulder. “She’s not hurting anymore.”
Az stiffened. “Bring her back.” A demand. His control was splintering. He could feel it inside. A darkness opening up, yawning, swallowing everything.
Sam didn’t move his hand. “I can’t. I don’t have that kind of power.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. His Jade. Had he ever told her that he’d been . . . happy . . . when she was near? That he’d started to dream when he slept. He’d never dreamed before. Until her.
All of his dreams were of her.
His hands were shaking. “Seline came back to you. She died.” He knew. He’d been there. “You got her back.”
“Seline was half-angel.” Sam’s voice was soft, still with that sad, sympathetic edge that was tearing into Az. “Your Jade . . . she isn’t built to come back. Even with the blood you gave her, she’s human at heart.”
His blood had smeared on her cheek. “Summon Mateo.” The witch was close by. He wouldn’t have been able to flee this quickly.