Page 119 of Angel Of Darkness

He bent, picked her up, and held her gently. “It’s okay now.” Julia had never feared anything. Until she died.

“They’ll pay.” The other coyotes slunk out of the darkness. “They’ll pay!” Carlos vowed. It wasn’t just about getting an angel’s blood anymore.

Vengeance. When the angel died, he’d fear, too. Fear, beg, and suffer.

Just like his precious vampire bitch would.

Chapter Fifteen

“Why won’t you look at me?”

Nicole’s soft voice had Keenan’s head turning toward her. She stood with her body pressed against the stark white wall in Sam’s “safe” house.

No place was safe enough. Keenan knew the coyotes would come after them. Once a shifter got your scent, it was pretty impossible to shake him. Going back to the antebellum house he’d bought—for her, everything had been for her—wasn’t an option. He might as well just paint a bull’s-eye on his back if he did that. Plus, there would be folks who’d come looking to take vengeance on Big Mike’s killer.

Those folks would have to get in line.

“Thank you,” Nicole whispered.

He blinked, but was careful to keep his face expressionless. Sam, ever the sly one, had brought them to this place—an apartment in the Quarter. One with reinforced shutters and a perfect view of the outside. Once, the Quarter houses had been designed to keep out enemies. Shut the doors, bar them, and no one could get in from the street. The buildings were all lined next to each other, the better to keep intruding soldiers out.

The design still worked to their advantage. At least, this way they’d know when company came calling.

Nicole rubbed her arms. “So you’re looking at me now, but you’re not speaking? Fine. Okay. Fine. You didn’t have to come after me, you know. No one made you do it.”

He stepped toward her. Her lips pressed together. He took a breath and could almost taste her. “Did you really think I wouldn’t come for you?” Of course, he would. He’d do just about anything for her.

That stubborn chin lifted as her eyes glittered. “No.” Soft but certain. “I knew you’d hunt for me. What happened...” Nicole cleared her throat. “What happened to the leader, Mike?”

One touch. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” He turned away from her and paced out onto the balcony. Jazz music drifted up to him, and he saw the people strolling down the street. A motorcycle raced below him. “That coyote, he’s the one we have to worry about now. He wants you dead, and?—”

“You’re the one he wanted.” The floor squeaked behind him. She was coming closer. Her scent reached him. Wrapped around him. “Keenan...”

“Don’t touch me.”

He heard the sharp inhalation of her breath and knew she was hurt. Better to be hurt than dead. He grabbed the railing. “You need to get away from me. Get out of New Orleans and don’t come back.”

“You’re the one who brought me back!”

“My mistake.” So foolish. But he’d wanted her back in the city because she’d been happy here. She hadn’t been happy the whole time he’d been with her in Mexico and Texas. He’d thought if she came home, he could keep her safe. Make her happy.

Maybe even make her laugh. She hadn’t laughed once in all their time together, not laughed and actually meant it.

“I can’t touch you.” Anger snapped in her words. “You barely look at me, yet you were screwing me yesterday.”

More than screwing. “Things have changed.”

“You don’t want me anymore?” Pain darkened her voice.

“Wanting isn’t an option.”

“Dammit! What the hell is up with you? You never give me a simple yes or no answer to any question I ask you!”

Because he couldn’t. “Things are never simple.”

“You want me.” Certain and not so soft now.

He stared at the street below. The river was close, and the scent of the water drifted to his nose. “Lots of people in this world want what they can’t have—or what they don’t need.”

---