Redeeming Angel (10 page)

“
I always thought you had a
kinky side,” I said.

Anger made her cheeks flush.
Straddling me, her hand snaked down over my hips, going for my
pocket. “Of course you would turn this into something perverted.”
Her mouth grazed the side of my jaw.

I snatched her wrist. “If you bite me
again, so help me, Angel...”

She smiled tightly as she tried to
yank her arm free. “You’ll what?”

If she only knew what I was planning
to do to her... But I said nothing. I let her go and she scrambled
to her feet, hands curled at her side. “That’s what I thought. You
don’t have the balls to hurt me. Now let me out of
here.”

Standing, I met her gaze. “You know I
can’t do that.”

“
Give me the key,” she
demanded, shooting forward.

I took a step back, out of her reach.
I didn’t care if the devil himself was knocking on the door. Hell
wouldn’t be cackling much longer. “I have something else in
mind.”

Her chest rose quickly, and I could
sense her panic. “You don’t understand. They’re waiting for
me.”

“
I don’t care.”

I recognized the wild look
that sprang into her eyes, like a crazed hyena. She was about to
lose control.
Dammit
. This was not how I’d envisioned things going. Granted, I
didn’t think she would cooperate, but actually fighting her had not
crossed my mind. We would have to do this the hard way.

She exercised a whirlwind kick, knee
bent at a ninety-degree angle. The power pack whooshed into my gut
and momentarily stunned me. Hot pain jarred me to the bones. “Where
the hell did you learn to do that?”

Her chest rose quickly from exertion.
“I learned from the best. You. And there is a whole lot more where
that came from.”

My brows shot up.

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve watched you
fight countless times.”

“
Watching is a whole lot
different than being able to execute moves like that,
sweetheart.”

She shrugged. “I’m a
natural.”

“
And I have more
experience,” I countered, keeping a steady eye on her.

Angel was fast—I’d give her that—but I
was faster. And a good thing. Spinning around, she jabbed her elbow
into my side and used the heel of her palm to hit me in the chest.
I darted behind her before she could sweep a kick to my legs. She
pivoted around, swinging her arm in an arch that just barely missed
my chin. Ducking, air rushed over my jaw and I wrapped my arms
around her waist, drawing her back against my chest. I pinned her
arms with mine.

She went wild underneath me, wiggling
like crazy. “Let me go!” she screeched, as if I was hurting her,
another one of her manipulation tactics.

“
Are you going to be
reasonable?” I asked, although the probability of reasoning with
her was up there with lunacy. “It’s your choice. We can do this the
easy way or the hard way. If you fight me, I promise you’re not
going to like what happens.”

Rocking forward and then backward, she
used the momentum to her advantage, slamming my back into the wall.
“I think you got it backward, douchebag.”

I held her easily, but hearing her
call me douche brought back so many fond memories, I couldn’t help
the tiny grin tugging at my lips.

Her elbow thrust into my stomach and
she sprang free. “Because I’m seriously going to kick your
ass.”

When had she become so slippery…and
scrappy?

I sprang forward to grab her just as
her knee flew straight up. Thanking my quick reflexes and knowing
this was one of her all-time favorite moves, I managed to avoid
getting my manhood literally crushed. “Will you just stop and
listen to me for one second before you hurt yourself?”

“
Hurt myself?” she echoed
in a way that said I was going to regret it. Laughing, her voice
became high-pitched. “The ones who are going to get hurt are you,
Lexi, Travis, Devin, Emma... Do you need me to go on?”

I’d had enough of the games and the
fighting. This time when her hands flew at my face, I snatched her
wrists, backing her against the wall. I used my body to trap her
and restrain her hands above her head. “Now you’re going to listen
to me whether you want to or not.” Leaning down, I brought our
faces so they were only a few inches apart.

She closed her eyes, squeezing them
shut.

“
You don’t have to look at
me, but you are going to hear me out.” I pressed my forehead to
hers, letting the warmth of her skin calm me. She was still alive,
and somewhere behind the magenta eyes and the bad attitude was the
girl I loved with all my soul. Taking a deep breath, I had to try
one last time to get through to her. Just in case… “This isn’t you,
Angel Eyes. You might lash out at me now and again, but you would
never hurt me. Hurt anyone.”

Her body arched, agony stinging her
voice. “I said, get your grubs off me.”

My eyes traced the contours of her
face. “You’re letting Hell control you, and the Angel I know
doesn’t bow to anyone, especially not to a demon. She wouldn’t
dream of it.”

Beads of sweat dotted her brow.
Tendrils of dark hair clung to her neck.

“
I swore to protect to you
and somehow I’ve failed, but I’ll be damn if I’m going to give up
on you. Never,” I vowed with more passion than I’d ever
felt.

Besides the ragged rise and fall of
her breathing, she didn’t move a muscle.

“
I know how strong you are.
You proved that tonight, but I’m not just talking physically.
Only
you
can
control your destiny. Hell doesn’t get to decide for you.” I wanted
to shake the shit out of her, rattle her brain cells until she
started thinking clearly again. “Show me you’re not
weak.”

Her eyes flew open, the circle of red
luminous and powerful. “There is nothing weak about me.” There was
a gravelly texture to her voice. It was sort of robotic.

As beautiful as her unearthly eyes
were, I despised them. Hated what they stood for. Detested what
they meant. The only light I saw in what Hell had done to her was
they hadn’t been able to sever our connection. And that made us
fiercer. Chase and Angel. We were epic, and our story wasn’t going
to end here—end like this. “Prove it. Prove me wrong.” I knew it
was a long shot, goading her, but I was betting on her taking the
bait.

Her lips thinned and a shudder rolled
through her, racking against my body.

My chest tightened. “Please come back
to me, Angel. Please. You have to. I can’t live in this world
without you. I love you too much. I won’t let them take you from
me, but you have to fight. I need you to fight to live.” I framed
her face with my fingers as words I never thought possible spilled
out of my mouth.

A heartbeat passed. Her lashes
fluttered down. Then they opened. Blue eyes churned, clear and
brilliant, shimmering like starlight. A tear trickled down her pale
cheek, lips quaking. “I-I’m so sorry, Chase.” Her brows knitted,
eyes I thought I might never see again swam with a thousand unsaid
emotions. “I can’t stop it. I don’t know what to do.”

Before she could utter another word, I
pulled her against me, burying my face into her hair. “Don’t think
about that now.” An erratic blend of feelings channeled between us,
making it hard to do what came next.

I admired her, loved her, needed her.
And if we ever made it through this, I would tell her every day of
our lives.

“
Angel…”

“
There is a war coming,
Chase,” she whispered.

I weaved my fingers through her hair.
“Let them bring it. I will destroy them.”

She slumped in my arms, hope sucking
right out of her. “We can’t win.” Her lip trembled. “You’re issuing
our death.”

“
We will win. And if I die,
you’re coming with me,” I breathed into her ear and closed my eyes.
My hand slipped behind me, twisting around and gripping the cool
handle tucked under my shirt. I pressed a soft kiss to her temple,
lingering. “I love you.”

The blade felt like barbwire in my
grasp, and the demon inside me screamed in protest, thrashing and
kicking, attempting to surface and overthrow what I was going to
do, I wanted to rage. With my heart in my throat, I positioned
myself. There was a very good chance I was going to
vomit.

Her body stiffened, sensing the sudden
and abrupt change. She pulled back and I let her, eyes searching my
face. “Chase?”

“
It’s I who am. Sorry. This
is entirely my fault. If I had just stayed away from you…” I let my
voice trail off, unable to stop staring at her. Then I plunged the
knife into her side, right into the heart of our identical demon
mark, the one that started it all when I saved her life for a
servitude to Hell.

Energy hummed through me, shocking me
every couple seconds. I hadn’t been prepared for the sharp pain
that hissed at my hip, but it was nothing compared to what Angel
was feeling.

Please God don’t take her
from me. Not my Angel.

Chapter 10

{Angel
}

Golden eyes stared back into mine,
tortured with agony. Hope crashed into razor sharp disappointment
and disbelief. He stabbed me. I gasped, unable to believe Chase had
stabbed me. He would never hurt me. Ever.

But I had bigger problems. Much
bigger. Pain. It sizzled through my veins, starting at the entry
point where the blade had pierced my skin and spreading like
wildfire. Burning. It was a pain I remembered well and never
thought I’d feel again. The night Chase brought me back from the
dead.

A scream tore from my throat, cold
sweat gathering above my lip. My body bucked from the trembles of
misery draining me of energy. I shook my head back and forth, hair
whipping me in the face. “I-I can’t… It’s everywhere. It…hurts. So
much, Chase. Please…you have…to make it stop.”

Sweeping me off my feet, Chase laid me
down on the mattress as I whimpered and thrashed. “It’s going to be
okay. Try to relax. It will be over in seconds.”

How could he possibly think it was
going to be okay? I was going to bleed out if he didn’t get me to a
doctor. Glancing down at my hands gripping the wound, I expected to
see gobs and gobs of sticky blood covering my fingers. So imagine
my shock when there was none. Not a damn drop.

WTH.

What was going on?

“
No! No!” I repeated over
and over, punctuating each
no
with increased panic. I tried to sit up, but it
only made things ten times worse, so I slumped back down onto the
mattress. Grabbing his hand, I squeezed. “Chase, it’s killing
me.”

His luminous amber eyes lit the entire
room, brighter than I ever remembered seeing them, and I understood
that whatever I was going through, it was affecting him too.
Nowhere near the same level, but our unique link made the
impossible possible. “Don’t fight it,” he whispered.

Wetness gathered on my cheeks, and I
clenched my jaw, tasting the tartness of blood. It felt like the
fire would never end. Licking and lapping at my skin, burning away
my organs. “What have…you done?” I asked, curling up and clutching
my side.

With a pained expression, Chase
crouched in front of me, eyes pleading with mine to understand. “It
was the only way to get you back.”

He hadn’t answered my question.
Typical Chase fashion. Evasive.

I pushed up my shirt,
needing to be free of the scratchy material against the extremely
sensitive spot. Gazing down, I saw the marks.
Well, that’s not normal either. Good flippin-grief. What
now?

The intricate designs still bled into
my skin, but it was the ink that morphed. Swirling from just under
my armpit down to my hip, the marks were awash in a stunning, bold
sapphire. “Chase?” My voice shook as his name choked at the back of
my throat.

Stilled, his eyes were fastened to the
undeniable “Breathe,” he said.

Easier said than done. My head fell
back and I forced my muscles to relax, no longer fighting against
the pain that rocked my body. I took a long deep breath that
sounded close to a sigh. Within moments, the blaze slowly began to
subside and I couldn’t have been more relieved. For a time there, I
had been positive I was going to kick the bucket. I should have
known Chase would never let that happen. I should have trusted
him.

Like the floodgates had been opened,
an overwhelming current of memories flashed back. All the horrible
things I’d said. Every threat I’d made. It was like watching myself
in a movie—a horror flick.

For a shattering moment, I wasn’t sure
who I was. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, not knowing if I was
really me or that other ugly part.

You’re Angel Morgan. You
grew up in Arizona. Your mom is your best friend. And this
mind-bending gorgeous male hovering over you is your
boyfriend.

I blinked, anticipating the darkness
rising up and taking over. “Well, that just happened.”