The Angel of Death (The Soul Summoner Book 3) (35 page)

Warren snapped. “Shut the hell up, Nathan.” He pushed himself off the ground and walked back inside the camper, slamming the door behind him with so much force a side window fell open.

Nathan sighed. “Well, at least he didn’t kill me.”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t be too relieved just yet. He’s got a lot of guns and ammo in there.”

A shadow fell over us. It was Az, offering a hand to pull Nathan up. “Can’t say you didn’t deserve that one.” He pulled Nathan to his feet.

“I know,” Nathan said.

I slapped Azrael’s chest. “You could have stopped that.”

He rested his arm across my shoulders, turning me back toward the fire. “My dear, had I stopped it, Warren would have come up with nineteen ways to kill Nathan before sundown. And we don’t have time for that.”

“I should go talk to him,” I said.

Azrael held me still. “No. You need to let him cool down. Then you can talk.” He pointed toward a chair. “Sit.”

Rather than taking the empty seat beside me, Nathan sat on the opposite side of the fire. Enzo handed him an ice pack from the cooler, and he pressed it against the side of his face.
 

“Here,” Azrael said, handing me a plate of gas station fried chicken.

“Thank you, but I’m really not hungry.”

He sat down next to me. “Your daughter is hungry.”

“Do you have a course on guilt trips in the spirit world?” I asked, accepting the paper plate.

He just smiled. “I need to talk to you about something, and I want it to stay between us.”

That didn’t sound good. I frowned. “Why do I have a feeling this is very bad news?”

“It isn’t news at all.” He rested his arm along the back of my chair and leaned into me. “What was the FBI agent’s name who arrested you?”

I pulled the skin off the chicken leg on my plate. “Sharvell Silvers.”

“I want you to summon her here,” he said.

“You want me to do what?” The question definitely went well beyond the volume of ‘just us’ dialogue. Everyone looked our way.

He rolled his eyes. “Keep your voice down.”
 

When the rest of the group returned to their own conversations, he continued. “Sloan, the government will never believe you’re completely ignorant to everything Kasyade’s been up to. Every shred of evidence they find against her will always point back to you because you’re central to her plot. Don’t you realize that by now?”

I stared into the fire, knowing he was right. I’d known it since the first night Nathan and I sat across from Agent Silvers in Texas.
 

“If you bring her here, she’ll see for herself what you could never explain.” He pressed his finger into my shoulder. “She’ll see what no jury will ever believe.”

I dropped my chicken leg. “And what will stop her from hauling me back to jail when she gets here?”

He motioned around the campfire. “No one here will allow her to haul you anywhere. Besides, she’ll be completely unprepared to encounter you. She won’t know where she’s going, remember?”

“This is a bad idea.”

He bent forward to look me in the eye. “Sloan, trust me.”

Across the campfire, Nathan was watching me, obviously curious as to what we were so deep in discussion about.
 

“Why don’t you want anyone to know?” I asked.

Azrael’s gaze shifted to Nathan, but he kept his voice low. “You know as well as I do that my son and Nathan will do everything they can to keep you from going back to jail.” His eyes snapped to mine. “But nothing they can do will actually work aside from keeping you hidden for as long as possible. Is that what you want? To sleep in that camper or something similar for the rest of your life, always on the run and always looking over your shoulder? To ruin Nathan’s career and make them both accomplices to crimes you can’t prove you’re innocent of?”

Looking down at my chicken, I felt sick. A bloody vein ran through the dark hunk of meat bared by the missing skin. I added it to my newly written mental list of food aversions in my first trimester, right behind deviled eggs—thank you, Taiya.

“You need to decide this for you, Sloan.” He stood, but he paused before walking away and looked down at me. “Let me know what choice you make.”

Unable to eat, I put my plate on the ground and tugged my sleeves over my cold, bare hands. I stared at my feet as my mind played out all the possible scenarios that could unfold if I did as Azrael suggested. Maybe it would clear my name if Silvers were allowed to peek behind the curtain to the supernatural world. Or maybe instead of prison, she’d have me committed. Given my recent string of luck, Silvers would probably wind up dead and I’d be able to add homicide to my long list of federal charges.
 

But I had more than just me to consider. Rusty and dilapidated campers I could live with; ruining Nathan’s life and Warren’s, I could not.

I closed my eyes and reached into the universe with my gift. In the darkness, I found Agent Silvers’ spirit and before I could convince myself otherwise, I pulled her to me.

“What are you so lost in thought about?”

Nathan’s voice snapped my attention back to reality. He sat down in the seat Az had vacated. His face was still swollen, and the redness was deepening to purple.
 

I looked away. “So much has happened in the past few days, I might never find my mental way back here again.”

“I can sympathize with that.” He nodded toward Azrael. “What did he say to you?”

I shook my head. “Nothing important.”

“Liar.”

I didn’t even bother to argue.

Dark blue blood had begun to pool under his left eye, and the skin was split just above his cheekbone. “How’s your face?” I asked.

He pulled back the slide on one of the Glocks. “It’s throbbing, but it isn’t broken anymore. Thank you.”

“Do you want me to fix that gash under your eye?” I asked.

He shook his head and laughed. “Nah, it’s all right. It will probably make Warren feel better to look at it.”
 

I nudged him with my shoulder. “I guess I have to forgive you for leaving me, huh?”

He pointed to his face. “Yes. You have to give me a pass for all transgressions past, present, and future because I haven’t taken a beating like that in my life.”

I poked out my bottom lip. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s my fault. I would have kicked my ass too.”

Behind us, the door to my camper flew open and Warren stomped down the metal stairs. Nathan was out of his seat and five feet away before Warren looked in our direction. He stopped near the pile of shopping bags Enzo and Kane had brought back. After rummaging through them and repacking some of the contents, he slung a bag over one shoulder, his rifle over the other, and picked up two cans of gasoline. He walked by me without so much as a glance in my direction.

“Where are you going?” Nathan called out.

“To the woods to think about killing you,” Warren replied, storming off toward the field.

Nathan put his hands on his hips, hung his head, and groaned. “Well, that’s great.”
 

I pointed at Warren. “Seriously, where’s he going with the gas?”

He nodded toward the trees. “Probably to mix napalm and fantasize about burning me up with it.”

“Warren’s making napalm? That’s frightening.”

He nodded. “You’ve got a Recon Marine for a boyfriend, Sloan. Napalm is pretty low on the frightening scale of what he’s capable of.”

“How long do you think he’ll be pissed off?” I asked, leaning on my elbow.

Nathan looked up as Warren cut through a pile of brush. “If I were him, forever.”

* * *

The sun was low in the sky by the time Warren returned from the woods. He glanced at me by the fire as he walked wordlessly to our camper. I took that as my invitation to follow him.

Inside, I sat down on the bed as he silently unloaded his gear by the sinister red-orange glow of the space heater. “Are you going to talk to me?” I asked.

There was no answer.

Instead of joining me on the bed, he sat in one of the rickety lawn chairs. Its hinges creaked under his weight. He didn’t even look at me.

After what felt like eternity, his deep voice echoed off the metal walls. “Is it over now with you and him?”

I got up and crept over beside him. “It will never happen again. I promise.”

His eyes reflected the burning coils of the heater when he turned his head to look at me. “You didn’t answer my question. Is it over?”

“I think so.” It was the most truthful answer I could give. “I want it to be.”

He looked out the window.

Dropping my head, I took a step backward. But he grabbed my hand, pulling me down till I straddled his lap. Studying my face, his hands gripped my hips, then he stood and carried me to the counter. With his arms braced beside my thighs, he dropped his face and cut his black eyes up at me. “It’s him or me. I love you and I will always take care of our daughter, but I will not share you. Ever. Do you understand?”

I nodded. “I swear, I’m yours. Please forgive me.”

“Not today.”

I gulped. At least I couldn’t fault his honesty.

Warren straightened, his eyes still smoldering as they searched me. His fingers found the hem of Nathan’s sweatshirt I was still wearing, and silently, he yanked it up and over my head. “I never want to see you in this again.” He threw the shirt toward the door.

I nodded, hugging myself to shield my bare skin from the chill of the room.

He peeled my arms from around my body, and his warm hands slid up my sides, slipping underneath the white cotton of my prison-issued sports bra. Sexy.

As he dropped it on the floor with one hand, the other raked through my hair till he could pull my mouth down onto his. The kiss was fierce, hot, and angry. His teeth scraped across my lower lip as he worked the button on my jeans. He freed one leg from the denim and didn’t bother with the other before he buried himself inside me.

And in that moment, we both knew it.

I’d made my choice.

I was irrevocably his.

26.

My stomach rumbled so loud Warren raised up on his elbow and looked down at me. I laughed and covered my face with my hands. “I haven’t consumed enough calories today to do what we just did.”

Smiling for the first time since that morning, he settled back down on the pillow beside me, resting his hand on my stomach where we lay, our naked and sweaty limbs tangled under the mound of thick sleeping bags. “We should fight more often,” he growled in my ear. “That was amazing.”

I snuggled against him. “I think I blacked out a couple of times.”

He laughed and tightened his arm around me. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Definitely a good thing.” My stomach growled again. “I smell burgers.”

He pushed himself up. “Let’s go grab something to eat before it’s all gone.”
 

As he stood, he pulled his cargos up over his bare, perfect butt. I smiled, enjoying the view. I reached for his hand and tugged him back toward the bed. He sat down beside me and pushed my hair out of my face. “Are we OK?” I asked.

“We will be,” he said. “But I meant what I said. My patience has run out and I’m not doing this wishy-washy bullshit anymore.” He tugged the blanket up around my shoulders. “Do you swear you told me everything? No more secrets.”

“I swear,” I said.

He was quiet for a moment, and then he leaned down pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I forgive you. Let’s try to forget about it.”

As if on cue, we heard Azrael’s voice outside. “Nate, are those burgers about ready?”

I grimaced and traced my finger along the thick black line of the tattoo down the center of Warren’s chest. “Will you forgive Nathan?”

He shook his head. “Probably not, but we do need him to help fight a war.”

I caught his eye. “And it sounds like he has dinner.”

Warren smiled again. “I am pretty hungry.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. “Get dressed. Enzo bought you some clothes earlier.”

He crossed the dark room and flipped on the light switch. By the door were a few shopping bags. He tossed me one that was tied shut. Inside was a black thermal shirt, some black jogging pants, a fleece pullover, and three plastic packages of women’s underwear. I looked up at him. “Eighteen pairs of underwear? How long will we be here?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea.”

There was a pack of granny panties, a pack of bikini briefs, and a pack of animal print thongs. I held up the last one over my head. “Seriously?”

He stopped tying his boots and pointed at me. “Speaking for all men everywhere, cut them some slack. We don’t have any business shopping for women’s underwear if it’s not split crotch and covered in lace.” He stood and zipped up his coat. “I’ll see you out there.”

* * *

The campfire cast an ominous glow over our group as we ate charred burgers and canned baked beans. No one said it out loud, but despite Azrael’s confidence, we all knew it could be the last peaceful dinner we ever ate. And ‘peaceful’ was a generous description of the meal. The tension between Warren and Nathan was almost palpable across the campfire.

Breaking the silence, Azrael cleared his throat and poked the embers with a long stick. “Tomorrow, we’re moving away from the campsite,” he announced. “This area is too wide open with too little cover.”

“Where will we go?” I asked between bites of my hamburger.

“There’s a mountain spring that serves as the headwaters of Calfkiller Creek about a half a mile, directly north of here. It will give us a high vantage point because everything below and around the spring is an open meadow.”

“Plenty of spots to pick people off from above,” Kane added.

Warren looked at me. “And there’s a cave back in the rocks where the spring is.”

My eyes widened. “I hope you’re not insinuating the cave is for me.”

He shrugged. “Just in case.”

I shook my head. “I’d rather be out fighting demons than be stuffed into a dirty cave with spiders and snakes and god-only-knows-what-else.”

Nathan sighed. “You’re so weird. Do you even hear yourself?”

I nodded. “Ysha, I can see coming. A brown recluse can slip into my shoe and inject me with skin-rotting poison while I shop for shoes on my cell phone. Those things are no joke.”