I needed his mouth against mine so badly it blinded me to anything else. And he wasn’t pushing me away.
Someone nearby noisily cleared his throat. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?”
Bishop stepped back from me, a look of surprise on his face. He bent over to snatch up the dagger and then turned away from me. I felt like some sort of spell had broken with the abruptness of a hand slapping my face.
Kraven leaned against a brick wall, his arms crossed over his chest. He was grinning.
“See, dude? I just knew you could convince her to help out.”
“We’re searching for the others.”
“I’m sure you are. Just taking a little break right now to get to know each other better, right?”
Bishop sent a look toward me, his eyes stormy. Was he angry we’d been interrupted? Or angry that we’d nearly kissed? I hoped it wasn’t the latter.
I wasn’t sure what had happened just now—why I’d nearly kissed him.
No, scratch that. I did know. That was courtesy of my strange pull toward Bishop, the same pull I’d felt last night when I’d first met him. Something was there between us, and I didn’t want it to be.
And yet, I’d still desperately wanted to kiss him just now.
“I think you freaked her out.” Kraven studied my distress. “Bad angel breath, maybe?”
“We need to keep searching,” Bishop replied.
He still seemed disturbed, but I was composing myself quickly. Something about the demon made that easy. Probably because I despised him so much. Angels might not hate, but I didn’t have a huge problem with it.
“Surprised gray girl’s even willing to pitch in.” Kraven lifted one hand and studied his fingernails. “You know, being one of them. Are you really sure we shouldn’t just kill her and get it over with?”
The only reason I knew he was fooling around was his smart-ass grin, which I wanted to wipe off his face. Preferably with the sole of my shoe.
“Do that and you won’t find your team,” I snapped. “I’m getting the feeling you two are stuck here together until you finish your job, you jerk.”
“Jerk? Is that the best you’ve got? How disappointing.” His grin only stretched wider.
“I need to talk to you for a moment,” Bishop said to Kraven.
“Be still my heart.”
“Privately.” He cast an apologetic glance in my direction.
I let out a shaky breath. “Go ahead. I’ll just wait here and think up some better insults.”
Bishop followed Kraven around the corner and out of earshot. It didn’t take long before the night felt like it was closing around me. The cold sank deep into me even with my coat wrapped tightly around me.
I had to admit, I was curious about what they were currently discussing.
Probably me.
I moved slowly toward the edge of the building until I could hear them. I pressed my back up against the brick wall and strained to listen.
I was right. It was about me. And they were speaking quietly as if trying to prevent me from listening in. It didn’t work.
“…a liability to the mission. You never should have brought her in. How much have you told her?”
“Enough for her to understand.”
“Great. I didn’t think you were a complete idiot, but I guess I was wrong. But I’ve been wrong about a lot of things, haven’t I?”
Bishop’s voice turned sharp. “That makes two of us.”
“She’s one of them.”
“She’s different.”
“Sure, she is. Maybe you can’t see clearly since you’ve got the hots for her. I mean, she’s cute enough, but is she worth risking everything over?”
“The mission is all that matters to me.” Bishop’s voice was tense, and I couldn’t tell if he was lying. But he’d said angels didn’t lie.
I struggled to breathe. The mission was all that mattered to him. I was only a means to help him complete that mission successfully.
Was that really true? Or had I seen something in his eyes before, something real between us? I hated to think it had been my stupid imagination or, even worse, that he’d been messing with me to get what he wanted.
“Yeah, right. You’d never risk anything for a girl. Not you.” Kraven snorted. “So what I just interrupted—you weren’t about to go at it right here in the alley? Or are you going to try to convince me that as an angel you’re totally priestly all the time? All self-denially?”
Bishop hissed out a breath. “I have everything under control.”
“I sure the hell hope so.” I could hear the sneer in Kraven’s voice. These guys really hated each other; I didn’t care what Bishop said about angels not hating. Their interaction felt personal, like there was bad blood between them. “I know she works some kind of hocus pocus on your brain when you two touch. Can you imagine what she might do to you if it’s full naked-on-naked contact? Maybe you should get it out of your system and just throw her down and—”
The next sound was a grunt of pain after a fist connected with some part of a body. I chose that moment to round the corner and saw Kraven now crouched on the ground favoring his stomach before he slowly rose to his feet. His eyes glowed red in the darkness. Bishop stood with fists clenched at his sides as if ready for the demon to attack. Both their fierce glares turned in my direction.
I faltered for a moment under the heat of those glares, but then forced myself to lean against the wall with my arms crossed, an echo of Kraven earlier. “So…am I interrupting anything?”