Page 124 of Angel Of Darkness

She spun around, but didn’t go far. Sam had her clasped tightly to him, his arm a steel band around her waist.

Keenan thundered down the stairs, his eyes flashing black, then blue, as he raced toward them. “Get your hands off her! What are you thinking? You could kill her!”

Sam didn’t let her go. “Only if death was what I wanted.” She felt his shrug. “I don’t want death for her.”

“Let her go.”

“She’s holding me.”

Oh, crap, she was. Her hands were still on him. Wrapped around his forearm even though he’d let go of her waist in a flash that Nicole hadn’t even felt. She released him. “Keenan, it’s okay, I was just going to?—”

“Have a bite,” Sam finished and Keenan jumped down to the landing. “After all, you left her weak, Fallen. Burned, broken, weak. What did you expect her to do?”

Keenan staggered to a stop less than a foot away. His hand lifted, then his fingers clenched into a fist. “Nicole, get away from him. You can’t trust him. He’ll turn on you in an instant.”

Like that was something she didn’t know.

“You want her, then take her.” Sam’s voice was mocking. “Touch her, take her, if you think you’re strong enough.”

Oh, so that was what this was about. Nicole jabbed back with her elbow, as hard as she could. Sam grunted, and she sprang away from him. She didn’t hurry toward Keenan, but rather backed away from them both. “She doesn’t need taking by anyone,” Nicole stated clearly.

But the two fallen angels were too busy glaring at each other to listen to her.

“Don’t ever touch her again,” Keenan ordered.

“I don’t touch her. You don’t touch her.” Sam shook his head. “That’s gonna be one lonely vampire.”

Keenan growled.

“Just back off,” she snapped right back at him. “You’re the one who told me to leave, remember?”

His head inclined in a tight nod.

“Dammit, she needs blood.” Sam threw his hands into the air. “Look at her. Look.”

Keenan’s gaze darted to her. She saw the hunger in his eyes. The need. The fear.

“If you’re not going to help her, I will.” Sam reached for her.

“No,” Nicole denied, her voice firm. She’d been planning to pull back even before Keenan came flying down those stairs. “I’ll find another source.”

Keenan’s jaw tightened, and she caught the flash of fury in his gaze.

So did Sam. “Don’t like that, do you? Makes you jealous.” His voice lowered. “Those damn emotions. They’re real bitches, aren’t they?”

Keenan ignored him. “I won’t kill you,” he told her.

Sam laughed. “Isn’t that what this whole mess has always been about? You killing her.”

Keenan didn’t glance back at him. “If you leave now, you’ll have a good head start, sweet. I’ll make sure the coyotes don’t follow you.”

“Because it’s okay to kill them,” Sam asked, “but not her?”

Keenan’s gaze hardened even more. “Go, Nicole.”

He was really throwing her out the door. Fine. She spun away, took two steps, and locked her fingers around the doorknob.

“Thank you.”

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