Avenging Angel (The Fallen 4)

Death didn’t come softly. He came hard. With a violent flash of fangs and fury. When Jonathan’s breath choked back into his lungs, when his body stopped spasming, Tanner let him go—straight to hell.

And he saw the angel standing over them. Only Bastion wasn’t reaching down to take the cop.

Bastion was staring over at Marna, and there was no missing the sorrow on his face. “I told her . . .”

No.

The panther leapt back to her side, but—but there was nothing the beast could do. Nothing but kill and destroy and he’d done that job well.

With her breath barely rasping out, Marna needed the man, not the panther. The shift hit him, brutal and swift, as the fur melted away and his bones reshaped.

Hold on. Marna just had to stay with him a few more moments. He’d shift, and then he could heal her. The same way he’d healed Cody. He could do this.

He reached for Marna with the hands of a man and not the claws of a beast. His fingers were shaking as he lifted her up against him. Her eyes were closed, but at his touch, her lashes slowly lifted.

“I was . . . waiting for you,” she whispered.

He’d spent his whole life waiting for her.

“Is he . . . d-dead?”

Tanner didn’t glance back. Bastion had done his job while he’d shifted. “He’s rotting in hell.” Jonathan had better be.

She swallowed. “You know . . . I . . . loved you.”

Screw this. “Baby, you’re gonna keep loving me.” He put his hand over her chest. Her blood was warm against his fingers. “You’re gonna love me for the next fifty years, at least.” Power pulsed through him, familiar, as if he’d been using it all of his life.

When he’d just been killing and fighting like a beast.

But this time, he was healing. Saving her life. He’d used the power before, and he could use it now. He would use it.

He pulled the healing magic from deep inside of him and pumped it toward her. He could feel the death angel coming closer to him.

“Stand back,” Tanner snarled at Bastion. “You aren’t taking her.” No one was.

“Another soul must be taken,” Bastion said quietly.

“Well, it won’t be her.” Energy poured through him, and drove right into her. She gasped and arched beneath his touch, and a faint white light appeared where his hand touched her chest.

His hands had always been used for killing. His claws came out so quickly. But not now. Now was all about healing.

Tanner bent close to Marna. Did she even realize just how important she was to him? “I knew from the first moment I saw you.” Covered in blood. Broken, on the ground. Broken, but still so beautiful. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He’d taken one look at her, and realized his life would change. “I knew . . . you were mine.”

He’d planned to kill Brandt for hurting her. Brother or not, he’d been a dead man. But Azrael had beaten him to the punch.

After that, he’d tried to give Marna space. Tried to let her go. He knew how dangerous he was.

Her breathing steadied. The flesh seemed to close beneath his fingers.

He’d tried, but he hadn’t been able to stay away from her. He’d needed to see her, just to make sure she was safe.

Once he’d actually had her body against his, had his body buried in hers, there’d been no turning back.

Love? The word was too tame for the way he felt about her. And he’d never be tame. She consumed him. Made him wild, desperate.

For her. Always her.

There was another wound in her side. Deep, and bleeding too much. Lethargy pulled at him, but Tanner lifted his left hand and pressed it against her side. Bastion was still there, watching him, but not touching. The guy needed to leave. Just drag his winged ass away and go.

“She’s not dying,” Tanner growled. Not on his watch. The bad guy was dead. This was the point where they got to live happily ever freaking after.

He was getting his princess. She’d get her beast. The rest of the world could go and screw off.

“Tanner!” He didn’t look up at his brother’s shout. He couldn’t take his attention off Marna. She needed his focus. His power. If that power broke, what would happen to her?

He dug deep, pulled more energy from within, and pushed it toward her wounds.

“No! You can’t!” Now Cody was beside him. He could smell his brother’s blood. So Jonathan hadn’t been lying. The bastard had shot him and left him to die.

We’re harder to kill than you thought.

“Help me!” Cody shouted to someone. Bastion? But then Riley’s form appeared as the vamp crouched down next to Marna. He reached for her.

“Touch her,” Tanner managed, voice barely human, “and die.”

“A soul must be taken,” Bastion said quietly.

Riley jerked and his gaze flew up. Had he heard Bastion? With Marna’s blood in him, he just might have—

Cody’s hands grabbed Tanner. “You’re killing yourself! Let her go!”

Never.

She just needed a little more energy.

“You’re shaking, dammit! Blood is coming out of your eyes!”

Was that what the moisture was? He’d thought it was tears.

“You’re dying!”

Yeah, well, without her, he might as well be dead. What was he supposed to do? Go back to the life he’d had before her? Not when she’d shown him what he could be.

What he would be.

Cody tried to pull him away. Tanner didn’t budge. He wouldn’t move. Not until her eyes opened again. Not until he saw that she was going to be okay.

“You’re all I’ve got, man! The only family who ever meant shit to me!” Cody was still jerking on his arms.

“And she’s . . .” Tanner swallowed. Why was talking so hard? “She’s . . . what matters to me.”

Marna’s eyes opened. Her eyes weren’t filled with pain. They were so bright and blue that it almost hurt to look into them. Her gaze found his. Widened. Her lips curled in a smile. “Tanner.”

The light vanished from beneath his fingertips. His heart raced in his chest. Far, far too fast, that drumming beat seemed to shake his whole body.

But then fear flashed over her delicate features. No, she should never be afraid of him. He’d never hurt her. He’d protect her, take care of her and—

“Tanner?” She sat up.

He slipped back and fell onto the floor.

Then her hands were on him, touching him lightly, but he couldn’t seem to feel her touch. Why couldn’t he feel her? Her skin was silken and soft, and he wanted to feel it one more time.