Page 120 of Angel Of Darkness

“You fight for me, then tell me to get away.” A choked laugh. Not the kind of laugh he’d wanted to hear from her. His fingers tightened on the balcony’s railing and the wrought iron groaned. “You’re giving me some seriously mixed messages, Keenan.”

“Then let me be very clear.” He took a breath. Face her. He turned slowly and looked right at her. She was pale. So very pale. Her eyes were big and dark. “I want you to get away from me, and I want you to get away now.” Truth. He’d never spoken truer words.

And she realized that. He saw the words sink in as she took a step back. Her hands came up, as if she’d cover her mouth, but she caught herself. Nicole stiffened. Shoved back her shoulders and dropped her hands. Bruised, bloody hands. He frowned.

But she was the one turning away now. “Watch your ass, angel. That coyote wants you, and he knows how to kill you.”

It was his turn to laugh, and his laugh was as cloaked with bitterness as hers had been. “Killing me isn’t easy.” The female shifter had learned that.

“He knows how,” Nicole retorted and she didn’t stop walking. “He won’t stop until he has your blood because he thinks he can use it to make his precious Angel’s Dust.” Her hand reached for the bedroom doorknob. It looked like she’d battered that hand to pieces.

His jaw clenched and he had to ask, “What happened to you? What did he do?”

“Chained me in a crypt. Left me as bait.” She threw a fast glance over her shoulder. “For you.”

That had his brows rising.

“Angel’s Dust. He wants to use your blood because he thinks getting it will make him the big badass in the Other world.”

If Carlos could take out the level-ten demons with the Dust, he would be the badass that the Others feared.

“I told you,” she murmured, “this time, it wasn’t all about people wanting to take out the evil vamp. The coyote wanted your blood, not mine.”

Carlos had been willing to sacrifice Nicole to get what he wanted. The coyote would pay. Want blood? I’ll make sure you bleed. He pushed back the fury. Tried to, anyway. “What did he do to your hands?”

A ghost of a smile tugged at her lips. “Nothing. That was all me.”

She’d done that to herself?

“Vamps heal, you know. We heal from just about everything. Even the wounds that asshole angels give us.” She opened the door and walked away.

Keenan knew she was right. She’d get over him. She’d get past the pain that he’d glimpsed in her eyes. She’d heal.

It was a pity he couldn’t say the same thing.

His nostrils twitched. He hadn’t just scented the river on that balcony. “Az, you bastard, I know you were watching the whole time. I hope you’re happy now.” Because he’d lost the fight against temptation.

He’d lost everything.

Keenan stepped forward and slammed his fist into the glass of the open balcony door.

“You’re just going to walk away?”

The drawling voice stopped Nicole as she neared the bottom of the staircase. She looked up and saw Sam strolling toward her. Dressed all in black, again. Black T-shirt. Black pants and boots.

“He wants me gone,” Nicole replied without flinching and kept her gaze up. “So it’s time for me to leave.” She’d survive. She’d made it for the last six months. She’d make it six more.

Screw the angels waiting.

She brushed by him and felt a little jolt of electricity zing her as her shoulder pressed against his.

“He was desperate to save you.”

Right. He’d looked desperate when she first saw him in that cemetery. Now he was just desperate to kick her butt out. Why?

Nicole forced her back to stay straight and tall as she walked. She wasn’t about to show weakness in front of Sam.

“Don’t you wonder how he killed that shifter?”

---