Wings. Black wings. Not shadows, but real, honest-to-God wings appeared as the angel approached. Angel. His face seemed carved from stone but made of beauty. He wore a white T-shirt, dark jeans. Strange, she’d expected—
Nicole swallowed. I shouldn’t be seeing him. This was wrong. Something was wrong. You didn’t see an angel of death unless you were dying. That’s what Keenan had said. “I see your wings,” she told Keenan. “And I see him.”
If she saw the angel of death, that meant …
Her time had come.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
As Keenan lunged forward, his arm swept out to make sure that Nicole stayed behind him.
She can see Az.
Fear and fury churned in Keenan. “You’re not taking her!”
Az’s eyes narrowed. “You really think you can stop me?” “I can damn well try.”
Az’s eyes jerked at the curse. Right. Angels weren’t supposed to curse.
Or to f**k.
Not an angel anymore. And Nicole was rubbing off on him.
“Get in my way,” Az told him, voice deep and dark and promising, “you’ll die.”
“No!” Nicole shouted as she shoved past the arm Keenan was trying to use to shield her. Her clothes were wrinkled, her face flushed, her lips red and swollen—and she was so beautiful.
And she was running toward Death.
“Don’t even think about hurting Keenan!” She yelled at Az.
Az blinked, then his light brows pulled low over his eyes. “You can truly see me.” Now he sounded surprised.
What? An emotion? From Az?
No time to dissect that now. “You aren’t taking her.”
“No.” Az cocked his head to the side and studied Nicole. Then he took one step inside the abandoned building. Another. The floral scent deepened, but Az wrinkled his nose, obviously smelling something else. “Sex.” His nostrils flared. “That’s why you came in here?” His eyes judged Keenan. Found him lacking. “How very human of you.”
Keenan knew the words were supposed to be an insult. “Thank you.” He’d always thought humans got the better end of the deal. Pleasure, passion. Sure, pain was thrown into the mix, too. But you could live through pain.
No expression crossed Az’s face.
Nicole stood between the two men now. Her hair fell over her shoulders and tension held her small body tight. “I thought I had ten days.”
“Um …” Az took another step inside. A step that put him closer to Nicole.
Don’t touch her.
One touch would be all it took.
Keenan caught Nicole’s arm and forced her back. She tried to fight, he just pulled harder. “He touches you, you die.” Flat.
That stopped her struggles. Her eyes widened and she looked back at Az. “Why do I see him?”
Only the dying should see Az. Only the dying or—
“Been drinking angel blood, have you?” Az asked.
The mark on Keenan’s neck seemed to burn. But he hadn’t minded her bite. He’d craved it.
Az shook his head slowly. “We’re not meant to be prey, Keenan.”
“He’s not,” she snapped, and Keenan felt a spurt of pride. Even with death close, she wasn’t weakening.
But Nicole’s words had Az’s eyes zeroing in on her. “I know about you.”
“Good.” She barred her sharp teeth in a cold smile. “He”—her hand tightened on Keenan’s—“knows, too.”
Az measured her with his gaze. “With all that you’ve done, are you worried about what the afterlife will hold for you, vampire?” He offered her a smile in return, and it wasn’t pretty.
“I know why you were on the church steps that night …” He whispered the words. “You would have gotten a free pass that night. Straight upstairs then, but now … now fate will be different for you.”
“Get out of here, Az!” Keenan snarled, his control fragmenting.
Az didn’t move.
“You wanted another chance, didn’t you?” Az asked. “But that’s not what you got, you got—”
Keenan raced across the room and plowed his fist into the angel’s jaw. The smash of bones and flesh felt good. Az flew back. The angel crashed through the door frame and stumbled outside.
“Guess what that is, buddy?” Keenan followed him out, and Nicole ran at their heels. “It’s called pain.” Time for the angel to start learning how humans lived.
Az picked himself up slowly. He lifted a hand to his jaw. His eyes narrowed. “No—you can’t—”