Page 46 of Angel's Vengeance

Chrome didn’t nod, didn’t acknowledge her in any way, didn’t take his focus from anyone other than Rhode.

The air in the tunnel thickened so much, Neela tried to swallow back the tension just so she could breathe freely again.This wasn’t right.Whatever had happened between these two, whatever rift her presence had caused, it was tantamount to two planets converging toward a cataclysmic explosion.If the course wasn’t corrected soon, the ripple effect would have untold devastating consequences.

She should say something.Plead, beg, scream, justsomething.This was her fault, and it wasn’t right that this family should suffer so harshly as a result of saving her—ofknowingher.

Neela retreated from the room slightly and directed what little voice she could find toward Chrome.“If there’s anything I did, know that?—”

“In.”Rhode pressed a palm between her shoulder blades, the first touch he’d given her since he’d revived her, and guided her forward with surprising force.Not gentle but not unyielding either.She stumbled but quickly caught herself and straightened.

Drea glared at him.“Don’t be a dick, Rhode.”Then she gentled her expression and smiled sadly at Neela.“We’ll get this sorted out as soon as possible.”

“Precautions,” Titan elaborated, if one could call that an elaboration.

Neela suspected that what the second-in-commandwantedto say was, “Precautions against a charmer invasion.Precautions against a demon insider and would-be traitor.Precautions against an infiltrated spy who has access to our soul bonds and the underground home we all share.”

“I understand,” she offered quietly, even though she understood about as little of what the hell was going on as how she was even still breathing, let alone standing upright to argue over semantics.But making waves was not worth it, not when her supposed soul bond refused to even look at her.The way the fingers he’d touched her with instantly recoiled into his palm was enough of an indication to prove that the few people she’d started the day off with in her corner were quickly jumping ship.

Neela smiled back her understanding to Drea, clasped her hands in front of her, and waited for the door to slam.

There were shoddier places she could be.Hell, she imagined a hard floor, leaking stone walls, rodents, maybe a dilapidated pallet, and a bucket of dubious liquids.A girl could do far worse than a clean mattress and sheets when trying to clear her mind and figure out just how the hell the male who had begun to consume more than just her thoughts suddenly?—

Rhode stepped into the room with her and, without touching the solid metallic door, willed it to slam closed.

Chapter23

Neela waited for the fear to hit her, for the uncertainty of her situation to send her screaming into a corner as far away as possible from the man blocking the doorway.

Except that fear never came, nor would she categorize what Rhode was doing asblocking.Once the door closed, he just sort of stood there facing it.Sure, tension radiated off his back in gusts strong enough to register on the mortals’ hurricane wind scale, but it wasn’t like he was making strides to ease their circumstances.If anything, he seemed to thinkshewas in the wrong somehow.If that was true—which it emphaticallywasn’t, but she’d yet to get to that—wouldn’t he be more ...smug about it?After all, she’d binged more than her fair share of murder shows in her time, and not a single one came without an arrogant detective or seen-it-all beat cop.

Accusations were one thing.Interrogations were another.And she sure as hell had questions of her own, not the least of which was how he could go from worshipping her with his mouth the way he had earlier to somehow kissing away whatever was killing her.And then, in the very next breath, using that same mouth to call her a liar.

But they were no closer to getting the information they’d come for; he’d dumped her there in the most comfort-meets-value-stay prison cell she’d ever seen and didn’t even have the good sense to at least open up the conversation.

Well, if he thought her weak or complacent, he had another thing coming.

There were only so many personal attempted murders a woman could deal with in her life before she eventually started snapping back.

“Where are we?”Neela asked, no longer giving a rip how much venom found its way into her voice.

Ooh, and Rhode had figured that out, too, judging by the way his back muscles twitched when her question found its mark.

Uh-huh.That’s right.Mama ain’t playing anymore.

But the voice that answered her was filled with so much gravel, she almost missed the words entirely.“My room.”

Neela took in the bare granite surrounding them again.“You-you live here?I thought you said you were taking me to a cell.”

His chin touched his shoulder, but he never lifted his eyes to her.“That is what I did.”

She not only saw it but felt it.The overwhelming sadness of the circumstances that had brought them both to where they were.Truths that were clouded in more questions than either of them had answers to.Pasts that were far too cold to ever truly have a chance at thawing out on their own.

The loneliness.The isolation.Time stolen when you never even realized it was a limited commodity to begin with.

Neela hugged herself at the enormity of the realization.“It makes sense why you would think this place is a cell.”

He scoffed and gave her the full breadth of his body.“What would you possibly know of my thoughts?”

“I know you think I’m a liar.”One of his brows lifted, but she ignored the unspoken accusation.“I know you think I have ulterior motives or that I’m in cahoots with the other charmers.”Then she dropped her arms and stared at him with more gumption than she’d ever needed to muster.“And since you’re so content to draw conclusions without so much as asking me for mine, I’ll grab the floor for myself and say my piece.”She waved a hand in his direction.“Listen or not, I don’t care, but I willnotbe intimidated by you.”Neela swallowed past a wave of emotion brought on by memories she hadn’t shared with another living soul.So it was fitting, perhaps, that the very soul in question she was about to unload on was also somehow inextricably linked to hers.

---