Page 136 of Angel Of Darkness

Keenan? He wouldn’t survive?

She sprang for the door.

“Get ready to choose!” Az called after her. “I see death coming. I see it.”

The image of that last moment. He would see it. She could feel the truth in his words. Dammit, sometimes angels sucked.

“I see you and Keenan. I see the stake, and I see blood.” He shook his head. “The blood is on Keenan.”

No. He wasn’t supposed to die. She nearly tripped over the stairs as she raced down them. “Keenan!”

“Death will come.” Az’s voice followed her. “Before the sun rises, death will take a soul.”

“Stay away from him!” Nicole shouted, but she didn’t know if she was shouting the words to Az or to Carlos.

Then she hit the ground floor and she saw the broken glass that littered the floor. Two naked men—had to be shifters, they were always supposed to be naked when they transformed back to human form—lay on the floor.

But Keenan was gone, and there was no sign of Carlos.

“Better hurry, vamp.”

She glanced up the stairs and saw Az staring down at her.

“Time’s running out,” he warned.

Damn him. Shouting Keenan’s name, Nicole ran out into the night.

Chapter Seventeen

Keenan caught her when she raced outside. He yanked her close even as he put his hand over her mouth to stop her screams.

He pulled her back into the shadows and covered her with his body. “Easy, sweet,” he breathed the words against her ear, and she sagged against him. “We’re being hunted.” And that knowledge had the fury ripping through his skin.

Two coyote shifters were already down—they’d been the welcome party that had launched at him with claws and teeth. They’d managed to make him bleed, spilling his blood all over the foyer, but he’d made sure they paid for those bites.

The fingers of Nicole’s left hand curled around his arms. “It’s you,” she whispered, and he tilted his head so that he could see the fear in her eyes. “They’re not stopping until they get your blood.”

They’d already gotten all he felt like giving.

“Az told me that you could die tonight.”

He nodded once. “Stay here while I hunt.” He turned away.

She jerked him back. Hard. “What the hell? Did you just hear me?” She shoved something—a gun—behind her.

Carlos probably heard her. The woman wasn’t trying to keep her voice down.

“We thought I was Az’s target, but we were wrong, Keenan! It’s you!”

He’d always been aware of that possibility. He knew Az liked to put down the Fallen who walked the earth. Sometimes, Keenan really wondered if Az was killing as ordained or just killing whoever he wanted.

But then he’d fall, too. And Az hadn’t fallen. He’d been sitting up at that heavenly right hand for years.

Her claws bit into his hands. “You’re not dying for me.”

So fierce, his vampire. He brushed back her hair and let his palm linger on her face. “You worry for nothing. Az is trying to frighten you.” He could feel the eyes on him, watching in the darkness. Another strike would come soon. He needed to get Nicole back inside. As long as she was inside, any attackers had to go through him in order to get her.

“Yes, well, he succeeded. I’m scared. I don’t want to lose you!”

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