Chapter Twelve

To say he was pissed was the understatement of the century. What was Gabriel up to? Lucifer, he understood. The devil wanted him to get closer to Morrigan so she’d have an opportunity to kill him.

Or was that his purpose at all? She wasn’t skilled enough to handle him. And that wasn’t a slur on her skills but a testament to his own. Maybe Lucifer was hoping he’d kill her but was being sneakier about how he went about it.

Whatever their motivation, when Gabriel had fired a bolt of light at Morrigan, his instinct had been to protect her. Not himself.

That made her extremely dangerous. She weakened him in a way he’d never been before. Made him vulnerable. And now the archangel knew it.

Maybe that had been the entire point of the exercise.

But Morrigan had used her intelligence instead of a weapon to outwit her enemy. Opening the door for the humans had been inspired. Ignoring her question, he asked one of his own. “Why did you call your supervisor?” Bringing another paranormal—especially one on the devil’s side—into the mix was risky.

“Emmett?” When he nodded, she continued. “I figured Gabriel would try to kill the demon. Lucifer could say I didn’t complete the bounty and would have no choice but to drag me back to Hell. Calling Emmett was the lesser of two evils.”

“Smart thinking.” He kept a tight grip on her, enjoying the way their fingers laced together. It was an unusual sensation. One that wasn’t familiar, but he liked it. He checked both ways before stepping out into the street to cross it. “Will there be repercussions?” He had no idea how much power this Emmett had over her.

She shrugged and hurried to keep up with him. “Probably. If he recognized you or Gabriel, he’ll have questions. But since I’m on a secret project for Lucifer, I can’t say anything. On the plus side, I did collect the bounty.” She tilted her head back and looked up at the darkened sky. “He’ll likely give it some time to see if this blows over and things go back to normal, or if I end up dead and back in Hell. Emmett isn’t stupid. You can’t get to his position without some brains. He has to realize the boss has a hand in this.”

“Good. Then he won’t be a problem.” If he became one in the future, Maccus would deal with him. He might have been asked to leave Hell. That didn’t mean he couldn’t go back and kick some ass if he chose to.

“Crap.” Morrigan’s tone had him searching the darkness for enemies. He trusted the shadows to warn him. They were more sentient than people—human or inhuman—believed. And they spoke to him, giving him information, sensing a kindred spirit, treating him as one of them.

“What is it?” If there was some trouble that he couldn’t find, he had to know what it was and why he didn’t sense it. He’d survived all this time by learning and adapting, by growing and honing his skills, new and old.

“Roving band of idiots at two o’clock.” Sure enough, just off to their right and angling toward them were a group of young human males. They swaggered down the sidewalk, their laughter rolling before them. They were taking advantage of the power outage to wreak some havoc.

One of them held a bat and smashed several store windows as he passed. They hooted and hollered when the glass shattered. Morrigan was right in her assessments—idiots. But they were still dangerous and likely armed with a lot more than just a bat.

“Hey, big guy.” The man in the lead proved his assessment by whipping a gun out from under his T-shirt and pointing it at Maccus. “Give me your wallet.” He glanced at Morrigan and let his gaze travel over her body from head to toe, lingering the longest at her breasts. “And we’ll be taking your bitch, too.”

Maccus stepped in front of her and simply stared at the man. His friends had gathered around him now. Humans or demons, get a group of males together, throw in some alcohol or other substance, and they inevitably looked for trouble. This crowd reeked of whiskey and beer.

“You deaf?” the man demanded, taking another aggressive step forward. “Gimme your fucking money.” He waved the gun in the air, assuming it gave him control of the situation.

Maccus sighed. He preferred to choose his victims on his own terms, not to be forced into it. Every death at his hands dimmed what little remained of his soul.

Morrigan stepped out from behind him. “I may be a bitch, but I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Standing beside him, she was magnificent with her shoulders back, stance relaxed, and hands loose by her sides ready to draw her weapons. She could draw them faster than any human could shoot, but he still didn’t like her exposed like this. A bullet could kill her.

“Leave or die.” He gave them an ultimatum, tired of simply standing around. They should already be home with him losing himself in her sweet body. Or maybe he found himself there. Whatever was true, his priority was getting her alone and naked. And these men were in the way.

“Big words, big man,” the leader taunted. He waved the weapon in the air before leveling it at Morrigan.

He could kill them all without breaking a sweat. Still, he hesitated. It was likely Lucifer or Gabriel had a hand in this. Not directly—they were forbidden from direct involvement in the fate of man—but they could give the men’s instincts toward violence a little push and send them in his direction.

Was he so close to the edge? Maybe so.

A man eased from the shadows. Morrigan startled and had her gun drawn in the next heartbeat. Maccus grabbed her hand and pushed the barrel down. “No.”

There were questions in her eyes, but she gave him a curt nod and tucked the weapon away. The humans appeared confused. Their leader tracked his gun over all three of them, not quite sure who to settle on.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Asher?” He didn’t like surprises, especially not ones like this. “How did you find me?”

It was bad enough he’d sensed Asher’s presence in the alleyway earlier. The Brotherhood generally stayed out of one another’s way, but Maccus had crossed paths with Asher more than a few times, and they stayed connected by email.

In fact, the Forgotten Brotherhood had been born out of their first meeting. Since they hadn’t tried to kill each other—except for that first time—they were practically friends.

“I admit I was curious when you sent out feelers for information. I had to find out what was going on. Call it curiosity. Since I was in the area and know where you live, I thought I’d keep an eye on you.”

“You shouldn’t have come.” Maccus didn’t need anyone else involved in this battle. And how had the vampire found his home? He kept that information well-guarded.

There was also the concern that one of his enemies might have hired Asher. It was against Brotherhood rules, but they’d been broken before. That always ended badly for the one breaking them.

The truth of the matter was he had no idea where the vampire’s true allegiance lay.

“Thank you, Asher,” the vampire mocked. “So nice of you to join us, Asher. Why it’s nice to see you, too, Maccus,” he continued his solo two-sided conversation. “And since I’m here, I’ll handle this.” He pointed to the men still standing there.

“You sure?” He damn well didn’t need anyone to fight his battles for him. And he had questions for the vamp.

“Take your woman and go home.” When he hesitated, Asher sighed. “If you’re not going to let me have any fun, why did you post on the website? You knew it would make me curious. Admit it. I’ve been following you when I could be home watching reruns of The Bachelor or The Real Housewives of Somewhere.”

He almost smiled. As much as he hated modern culture, Asher loved it, soaking in every nuance and tidbit of gossip. He’d told Maccus once that it made him feel more alive. He could understand needing something, especially something other than death.

“You’re Asher?” They both heard her unasked question: Who or what are you?

The leader of the group of men finally lost patience with being ignored. “Hey. Give me your damn wallets.” To make his point, he fired his weapon. Maccus shot out his hand and caught the bullet in midair. The tattoo of the push knife solidified, allowing the projectile to land harmlessly without piercing his skin. He opened his fist and let the bent metal drop to the ground.

“Fuck me,” the leader whispered. Several of the men with him backed up slowly, turned, and fled, but some of them seemed frozen in place by fear, unable to move.

“Not if you were the last person on earth,” Maccus assured him.

Asher sighed. “You just had to, didn’t you?”

He shrugged and took Morrigan by the hand. “Morrigan, this is Asher. Asher, Morrigan.”

“You were in the alley earlier, weren’t you?”

Shock was followed by a slow smile. “Your hunter is as observant and smart as she is beautiful. It would be a shame to see something happen to her.”

He growled a warning, not sure if the vampire was stating a fact or threatening her. When Asher kept on grinning like an idiot, he took it to mean the damn vamp honestly thought her beautiful.

Done with talking, he strode away, practically dragging her behind him. It bothered him that Asher found her attractive. What did she think of him? The damn vampire was good at drawing women to him.

She hurried behind him, casting a glance over her shoulder. “Just what is Asher? Because he’s sure as heck not human.”

“Vampire.”

“Really?” She looked over her shoulder again. “Where’d they all go?”

“He’ll take care of them.” Whether he’d kill them or not would depend on his mood. It was likely he’d content himself with scaring the shit out of them and probably helping himself to a late-night snack.

“He doesn’t smell like any vamp I’ve ever run across.” She turned back around and kept pace. “They mostly stay away from hunters. He’s one of you, isn’t he? One of the Forgotten Brotherhood?”

He came to a dead stop.

She slammed into his back and bounced away. “Hey, watch it.”

“What did you think of him?” This was not the place to have this conversation. And why should it matter to him if she found Asher attractive?

Darkness swirled inside him, cloaking him, blocking out the sliver of light that remained. The weapons on his body quivered, searching for a target.

He was jealous of a damn vampire.

“Um, he seems like a decent guy. I mean, he came out tonight and watched your back, even though you didn’t ask him to.” Then her gaze narrowed. “If he was in the alley, where the hell was he when we were fighting Gabriel?” Her voice got louder with each word. Her scowl grew darker.

It thrilled him more than it should.

Still, he couldn’t leave well enough alone. “Do you think he’s handsome?”

She frowned as though she didn’t understand the question. “I suppose,” she said slowly. “He’s pretty enough.”

Maccus growled. He hadn’t meant to, but he couldn’t help himself. The urge to go back and rip the head off one of the few men in the history of existence he might even remotely call a friend was almost too tempting to deny.

She stepped up to him and placed her hands on his chest. “He’s too pretty. I prefer a more rugged man myself.”

“You do?” Keep your damn mouth shut, you idiot.

“I do,” she assured him. “I’ll show you just how much more when we get back to your place.” There was laughter in her eyes, but he didn’t care.

She could be lying, a voice in the back of his head cautioned. How better to kill him than to get him to care and then plunge one of his own daggers into his heart? Even if it wouldn’t physically kill him, her betrayal would end up pushing him firmly into the realm of the dark where he would become a true monster, sentenced to death by both Heaven and Hell.

And if he killed her, the result would be the same.

He was totally fucked with no way out. And considering some of the situations he’d found himself in, it was almost laughable how easily he’d been caught in this trap. Being betrayed by a friend, losing his wings, and being pushed from Heaven—those he’d survived. He’d battled his way out of Hell, fighting demons and Lucifer with a ferocity that had never been witnessed before.

But a female bounty hunter, a former human, would be the one to bring him to his knees.

Only she was as trapped as he was.

There had to be a way out, but damned if he could see it.

“Maccus?” They were standing in the middle of the sidewalk during a power outage. Thankfully it was only a grid and not citywide, and there were lights up ahead.

“Let’s go home.” His apartment had always been a place to live and store his belongings. For the first time, it seemed like a real home and all because he was sharing it with someone. With her.

Morrigan smiled and nodded. “Let’s go home.”

…

So that was his friend, of sorts. She hated the qualifier. Not being able to trust anyone sucked, but she got it. It was how she’d lived since she’d become a hunter. How much worse was it for someone who’d lived as long as Maccus?

And he hadn’t answered her earlier question.

Rather than think about dying, she gave thanks for still being alive. It even gave her a boost that he’d protected her. Not that she’d needed it against the human males. The angel was a different story.

She shivered in spite of the balmy evening.

Asher wasn’t a stereotypical vampire with his long blond hair. He wasn’t pale, either. But he was powerful. It had all but bled from his pores, in spite of his seeming good humor.

And Maccus had been jealous. Of the vampire. It had confused her at first. Then a sense of wonder had settled over her. That had to mean he had some feelings for her, beyond just the sexual chemistry between them. Didn’t it?

Maybe she was spinning dreams that could never manifest, but so what? What was the alternative? Sit and fret? Cry and scream at the universe? Cower? None of those were options.

No matter what went down, she’d slug it out to the very end. But now she was fighting for someone else, too—Maccus. They wanted to hurt him, and they were using her to do it.

When she glanced up, he was watching her. “What?” he asked. It was amazing how quickly she’d gotten used to his abruptness. Where she’d found it off-putting at first, now it was simply part of who he was.

“Do you think—” She broke off, not quite sure how to phrase this.

“Do I think what?”

“Us, the chemistry, the connection, do you think they planned this somehow?” No need to say who. No need to utter their names aloud and maybe manifest them.

They crossed the road to his building. “Damned if I know.”

Not what she hoped to hear, but realistic.

“The sexual chemistry, maybe.”

Okay, she could deal with that. “The rest?”

He kept on walking without answering. They stayed silent until they entered his apartment. When the elevator doors slid shut, locking them into the protective haven, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had no idea if the warding symbols painted in blood on his walls would truly work against those beings with real power, but the tension she’d carried from the time they left slowly slipped away.

The doors were barely shut when he spun her around, shoved her back against the door, and kissed her. Like the warrior he was, he plundered her mouth, taking what he wanted.

All the stress from the bar and the subsequent battle, all the adrenaline and worry channeled itself into something positive and life-affirming—passion. It was a natural reaction to give the volatile emotions an outlet.

But only with Maccus. Any other male and she’d have left him. Even Asher, pretty as he was, didn’t move her as her dark warrior did.

He grabbed her hands and raised them over her head, trapping them against the metal panel. The first time she’d stepped inside his home, she would have fought such possession; now she reveled in it.

She kissed him back, her tongue dueling madly with his before she nipped on his bottom lip. Her skin tingled, her breasts ached, and the sensitive place between her legs throbbed. She couldn’t touch him with her hands, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have other options. Using his hold on her as leverage, she pushed up and wrapped her legs around his waist.

That brought her mound in perfect alignment with his erection. She took immediate advantage and rubbed herself against him. Heat poured off his big body, seeping through her clothes. “Yes.” It didn’t matter that she couldn’t catch her breath. Who needed to breathe, anyway?

Then her hands were free. Tangling her fingers in his hair, she tilted his head to get just the right position. Perfect. His passion tasted like shadows and desperation. She ate it up and went back for more.

He rocked his hips against her pelvis, driving them both closer to the edge.

Pulling away, she gasped for air. That didn’t stop him. He left a trail of kisses along her jaw and down her neck, pausing halfway to bite. Not hard enough to break the skin, but certainly enough to leave a mark.

Maybe this wasn’t smart, but she didn’t care. Life was fleeting, and hers would soon be over unless she came up with some kind of miracle.

“Look at me.” With her chin caught in his hand, he gave her no choice.

Not that it was a hardship. His eyes were fathomless, bottomless wells of darkness that drew her. Soft like a dark cloud some moments and hard as obsidian the next. When she looked deeper, moving beyond the superficial, it was like peering into his soul.

She feared he was doing the same with her.

There were such depths of shadows they seemed to swallow her. It would have been claustrophobic if not for the faintest glimmer of light. It was far away, but she gravitated toward it. It kept moving, always out of reach, growing dimmer. The light couldn’t afford to go out. Maccus would no longer be him if it did. She didn’t question the knowledge.

Then he blinked, and the connection was lost.

Lightheaded, her vision dimmed. She blinked several times, trying to get her bearings. The hard elevator door was still at her back. Maccus was pressed against her front. Beneath her clothes, she was fully aroused. And so was he. His erection pushed against her core.

“What just happened?” Because something powerful had just occurred.

Maccus shrugged and took a step away, forcing her to let go and allow her legs to fall away from him. There was only a foot between them, but it seemed like a chasm, like the Grand Canyon.

“We didn’t get to the art showing.” His statement came from left field, jolting her and shoving aside some of the sexual arousal swamping her.

How had she forgotten about seeing her sister? Kayley needed to be her priority. That and figuring out how to save herself. Had her sister had lied to her?

Maybe it was pointless to see Kayley, but she needed the truth. Even more, she deserved it.

He waited silently for some kind of sign. She wasn’t sure what, but she wasn’t ready to walk away from what they had between them. The devil or an angel might have put them together, but the heat, the passion was all them.

She refused to believe otherwise.

The sexual attraction between them was a hum in the air, a magnetic pull that drew her, urged her to rub herself against him, to use him to ease the ache deep inside.

“Why did you stop?” She was curious. Even now, his pupils were dilated, his cock a hard bulge in his pants, and he was breathing heavily. Had he seen into her very being the same way she’d seen into his?

If so, what had he seen?

Had their lives always been meant to intersect, or was it nothing more than chance? She’d like to believe it was intentional. If so, there was a reason. And it wasn’t so they could lose their lives in whatever game Lucifer and Gabriel were playing.

Their connection was important. It was a certainty that rang true deep in her soul. Allowing a chasm to open between them wasn’t an option. It might seem to be the wiser course of action, but she trusted her gut.

If her sister had set her up and betrayed her, then maybe she couldn’t depend on her instincts. But she’d honed them to a razor’s edge this past decade, along with her fighting skills and her will to live. And right now, they were all she had.

Maccus still hadn’t answered her. He was so stoic. So alone. More like the man she’d first encountered. Maybe the difference in him had mostly been in her mind, but she didn’t think so.

“No matter what happens,” she told him as she ran her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders, “I’ll never regret this.” Going up on her toes, she kissed his chin. “They can’t taint this if we don’t let them.”

His gaze narrowed, and his eyes flashed red before returning to their normal black, a man at war with himself, fighting to retain his soul. They were engaged in the same battle, combatants in the same war.

That he’d done it for thousands upon thousands of years left her in awe.

When he made no move to take things further, she took a step back and slid her coat off, letting it fall to the floor.

Got your attention now, don’t I?

With every item that followed, his breathing deepened, his chest expanding and contracting heavily.

Her nipples tightened, and arousal had her skin flushed, but she didn’t back down, didn’t back away.

It seemed to take forever for her to finally slip off the last piece of clothing. In reality, it only took seconds. Naked, she walked toward the bedroom, putting extra sway in her hips. “I’ll be in bed.”

Talk about making herself vulnerable.

She honestly had no idea if he’d join her but wouldn’t take it as rejection or failure if he didn’t. Something was going on inside him. Something she didn’t fully understand. Whatever it was, she was determined to defeat it.

There was no sound to announce his presence, but she knew when he fell into step behind her. Without warning, he picked her up, carried her the final few steps, and tossed her onto the giant bed. She bounced once and flipped over so she could see him.

He was already half naked. She drank in the sight of him, his broad shoulders, chiseled abs, and rippling biceps. When he stripped off his pants, she licked her lips in anticipation. His erection was hard and long and thick. Her core pulsed in anticipation.

A low rumble came from deep in his chest as he kicked away the last of his clothes and joined her.

“There’s only you and me in this bed,” she told him. “No one else. Nothing else.” Lucifer, Gabriel, her sister, none of them belonged in here with them.

“Only us,” he agreed. He crawled on top of her, spread her legs wide, and pushed his cock inside. There was no need for foreplay. The entire evening had been leading them to this. She opened for him and moaned as he stretched her, filled her.

With their eyes locked, he thrust hard and fast.