Angel Betrayed

The fire flared hotter. He couldn’t see her anymore. Could only see the flames.

Just the fire.

Then . . .

Nothing.

Seline, come back to me.

“I can’t.” Her whisper.

The darkness lifted a bit, and he saw her on the bed. Shadows cloaked her.

“Seline?” Hope had him leaping toward her.

She lifted her hands to him. His mouth crashed down on hers. She tasted, oh, damn, she tasted like life. Heaven. Everything he’d ever wanted but never realized he needed. Her body trembled against his. His lips lifted, pushing against her helplessly, and he growled, “I thought you’d left me.”

“I did.” The pain in her voice broke the heart that was hers. Her fingers smoothed over his chest. “And I don’t know how to get back.” A tear slid down her cheek.

He caught the tear with his mouth. Tasted the salt. Tasted her. Real. “Sweetheart, you are back, and I’m not letting you go. Stay. Just . . . stay.” He had to make her stay. “I’m more . . . than what you’ve seen. We can have a life together. We can have everything.”

Because he’d give her anything.

“Stay.” His hold tightened on her.

“I don’t know how!” Her hand seemed cool on his chest. She eased away from him. Her head tilted back as she studied him. Her neck was smooth, unlined. No scars, no blood.

And he knew this wasn’t real. Fuck, no. Just another nightmare. She’d leave him and reality would be his hell on earth. “I love you.” Just a nightmare, but he’d tell her anyway. Why hadn’t he told her before? Why hadn’t he realized the truth? “I’d trade my life for yours in an instant.”

Something whispered in the darkness, a soft rustle of sound. Wind seemed to brush over his face. He stared into the shadows around him, aware that his heart had started to thud too fast.

“I can’t get back to you.” Now her hands were on his face. Her fingers trailed down his cheek, over her jaw. As if memorizing him. “I don’t want to forget.”

“You won’t.” A vow. “I won’t.”

But she was fading. Her lips pressed against his once more. He tasted her breath. Life. Love.

Seline.

She vanished. The fire came back. The pain. The torture. But he wouldn’t forget. His Seline had come to him.

And she’d had black angel wings.

She hadn’t been dragged to hell. His angel had been sent to heaven.

He fought through the fire in his nightmares and opened his eyes. He glared at the cracking ceiling above him. “You aren’t taking her!”

Sam knew he didn’t have to fight his way through hell to get Seline back. But he would have to knock down the gates of paradise.

If you wanted to see an angel, sometimes you had to raise a little hell. Sam stood in the middle of the crowded street, his gaze on the dark sky above him. Power crackled in the air around him.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Az’s voice. Very slowly, Sam turned his head to the right. He’d dumped Az in a motel three days before. He hadn’t wanted to deal with him. Killing him . . . well, shit, Az had tried to sacrifice himself so that Sam would be protected. Killing him after that just hadn’t seemed fair. So he’d let the bastard walk away with his head still attached to his body.

Only it seemed Az was walking back to him now. The guy must have a death wish.

Sam sure did. Gotta be a family trait.

Sam smiled and knew the grin would flash with evil. “I’m about to call down some angels.”

Az blinked. “Uh, you sure that’s the best plan you’ve got?”

This was a much darker part of Mexico. The men and women filling the cantinas on this beaten street weren’t human. Shifters. Demons. Some good, some in-between, some so vicious he could feel their taint in the air. “It’s the only one I’ve got.”

Az frowned back at him. “Look, I’m sorry about the girl, but she’s dead. Sacrificing yourself won’t bring her back.”

A gust of Sam’s power slammed into his brother and knocked him back a good ten feet. Bones popped when Az landed.

“She’s not dead.” Sam pointed to the sky and glared at the heavens. “She’s just . . . there.”

Az rose slowly. He snapped his shoulder back in place and adjusted his broken wrist. “You’ve finally gone crazy, haven’t you?” Said with a bit of sadness. “I always thought the day would come.”

“Maybe I have. Doesn’t matter.” He pulled back his hand and let a line of fire race down the street. Voices rose. Shrieks filled the air. “I’m about to make a fire so bright that heaven has to see it.”