Page 132 of Angel Betrayed

The hound launched. Its teeth sank into Sam’s arm.

Sam didn’t make a sound.

“You can’t kill the hound,” Uriel said, and for someone without emotions, the words sure sounded like a taunt.

“We can sure as hell slow the thing down.” Now this was from Azrael. He had a knife in his hands. He jumped forward and drove that knife into the hound’s side.

The beast’s howl…hurt her.

Seline gasped. She saw the hound’s gaze turn to her. It looked lost, confused.

“Sammael,” Uriel snapped.

Seline tried to push toward the hound.

Sam blocked her and turned back to face the beast. The hound slashed him. Deep slashes that cut into his chest. Slashes that came too close to his heart.

Seline shoved Sam out of her way—and, wow, Sam hurtled into the air. She guessed being a punishment angel came with a strength bonus.

The hound stared at her with its mouth open, those deadly teeth dripping blood, and it took all of Seline’s willpower not to turn and run.

Claws at my throat. Teeth slicing. Digging into my skin. Sam! Sam!

Sam was on his feet. He raced toward the hound. The hound dug its paws into the ground and prepared to leap at her Fallen.

“Stop!” Her bellow.

Everyone froze. Everyone, even Uriel.

The hound’s head turned to her. Seline walked toward the beast, one slow step at a time. She held out her hand, and her fingers only trembled a little. “Easy.” Please don’t eat me. Been there, done that, and don’t want to do it again.

The hound lowered its head and whined.

This hound was smaller than the one that had, ah, killed her. Deep scars marked its body. So many wounds. So many deaths.

Was the hound the evil one? Or was it the hound’s master?

The angels think you’re a monster. Trained to attack. But maybe, maybe, the beast could be more.

“Protect.” The word came out stronger than she’d anticipated. Seline lifted her hand, and her fingers didn’t shake any longer. “Protect Sammael,” she ordered her hound. Not prey. “Protect him, always.”

The hound’s head swiveled between her and Sam. “Not prey. Not him,” she said.

The hound eased forward and licked her fingers.

He’s not prey, and you’re more than a monster.

“Good,” she whispered. Because there was good in the hound, she could feel it, struggling against the darkness that seemed to wrap so heavily around the beast.

Right then, the hound almost reminded her of Sam.

Sam who stared at her with the eyes she loved. Black, not angel blue, because that darkness swirled too strongly in him. Always would.

“You can’t do this!” Uriel reached her side and barely glanced at the hound. “Sammael is to be punished for what he did to?—”

Lightning flashed from the sky, and the bolt hit right at Uriel’s feet. The scent of sulfur burned Seline’s nose.

Real emotion appeared on Uriel’s face in that moment. Fear.

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