Page 129 of Angel Of Darkness

“Find Sam.” To him, his voice boomed, but to the coyotes, it was probably little more than a whisper.

Carlos tensed, then spun around in the next breath. His gaze swept the clearing.

Helping fate could be a real pain. “Find Sammael.” He used all of his energy to blast at Carlos.

“Sammael,” Carlos repeated, voice soft and subdued.

“He’ll take you to the Fallen.” Projecting out of his realm was nearly impossible. But, at least he was dealing with a shifter. Humans hardly ever heard the whispers—correction, the roars of angels.

With his strength dwindling, he left the shifter and hoped that Carlos would be successful in his hunt.

It grated that he had to leave his fate in the hands of a cold-blooded killer. But sometimes, you couldn’t really choose your allies or your enemies. You just had to be ready to fight, to kill, or to die.

He was ready.

Was Keenan?

Chapter Sixteen

Sam’s place was as quiet as a tomb. The lights were off. The silence thick and deep. As soon as he walked inside, Keenan knew they were alone.

He’d taken five steps up the stairs when Nicole caught his hand. “Keenan, wait.”

Her voice was weak. Breathless. They’d run back through the city, moving so fast humans wouldn’t remember them.

“I need…” Her husky voice had his body tensing. He knew what she needed. He turned, took her into his arms, and pressed her up against the stair railing.

“Drink from me,” he rasped as he urged her head closer to his neck.

Her lips pressed against his skin. Her mouth trembled and then he felt the slight sting of her teeth. At her bite, the whisper of pain disappeared and pleasure pumped through his body. Had she really been close to biting Sam earlier?

A growl built in his throat as his hands tightened on her.

But then he froze. Ice poured through his veins, and he pushed her away.

“Keenan?” Her tongue swiped out and licked away the drops of blood on her lips. “What’s wrong? Was I taking too much?”

His hands clenched. “I…” He took a breath and tried to fight down the rage that had risen within him. “I was afraid I’d hurt you.” A careless touch. An angry thought. Was it that simple? What if he crossed the line? Control.

One weak moment. Could he hurt her so easily?

“You didn’t hurt me,” she told him. “We’ve been over this, remember? You have to want to kill.”

“Right then,” he admitted with total honesty, “I did.”

Her eyes widened. “Me? You wanted to kill me?”

“Sam,” he bit out the name. “You had your teeth on his throat.” The words rumbled from him. “You were going to drink from him.” Just drink. Not fuck. Why should he be jealous over a blood exchange?

He shouldn’t be, yet he was.

“I wasn’t.” Her voice was soft and still managed to stroke right over him like a caress.

His brows rose. He forced his fingers to unclench. “I saw you. You were at his throat.”

“But I wasn’t going to drink.” Nicole shook her head. “I really wasn’t that hard up. I’m not going to make your friends into meals.” She shrugged. “He was playing some kind of game, and I wanted to figure out why.”

“Sam’s always playing games.”

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