She inched closer to him. Very deep grooves. The kind of grooves that were made when something clawed the floor.

Just as something had clawed the other victims. “A Fallen couldn’t do that,” she said.

He looked up at her with a hooded gaze. “No.”

“Shifter?” Her best guess.

“Only one with very big claws.”

My what big claws you have . . .

The better to rip you wide open.

She took a slow breath. Did folks even realize that the old Red Riding Hood tale was based on truth? A hungry wolf had gone after Red one day. No matter what the stories said, she hadn’t made it back to Grandma’s house in one piece.

“A bear?” Yeah, bears had big claws. She frowned at those claw marks. They’d sunk deep into the wood, and they were so wide. “A tiger?”

“It’d have to be something bigger.”

That wasn’t good to hear.

Sam stalked toward the open door. The demons backed up, being sure to give him plenty of room. Smart demons. Sunlight fell on him and threw shadows in his wake. His hands rose to his sides, stretching far out, and he looked for all the world like he was trying to feel—

“He hasn’t gone far.”

The demons glanced at each other. Seline ignored them and crossed to Sam. She touched his shoulder, being careful not to let her fingertips reach his scars. “How do you know?”

He turned his head, and his gaze met hers. “Before he fell, Tomas was a guardian. Guardians always leave a distinct trail in their wake.”

A guardian angel—those were supposed to be the nice ones. Pity she’d never had a guardian on her side. “You actually see this trail?” She rose onto her toes and peered over his broad shoulders.

“No, I feel it.” He caught her hand and pressed a quick kiss to the back of her palm. “And I want you to stay here while I go find him.”

“Bad plan,” she said immediately with a hard shake of her head. “Where you go, I go, remember?”

He stared back at her, face determined. “I’m not going far, and I don’t want you out in the open while I hunt.”

Still, bad. “But I don’t want to be a sitting duck!” Az was after her. What if he decided to pop back in while Sam was gone? He’d already used that separate-and-attack technique before. She didn’t want to give him another shot at her.

Sam jerked his thumb toward the demons. “They’ll watch your back.”

Like she trusted them. Never trust a demon you don’t know—her motto. And even then . . . be careful. Since she had demon blood, she knew just how tricky her so-called brothers and sisters could be. “I want to come with you. I can—”

“You’ll slow me down.”

Blunt and pretty brutal. She managed not to flinch, but she was pretty sure her cheeks heated. “I’m not without power, you know.”

“But you can’t come close to fighting the ones hunting out there.”

Did any more of her pride need a hit? Maybe he should just call her useless. Sure, her demon power scale might not be the best, but she could fight in other ways. Like she hadn’t spent years fighting Other.

Was inept written on her forehead?

He released her hand. “I have to go. Tomas could be out there, hurt, and I need to find him.”

Right. She had to suck it up and deal with the situation. Put on your big-girl panties. “Go. I-I don’t want to slow you down. Help him.”

His eyes narrowed a bit, but then his attention shifted away from her as he pointed at the demons. “Guard her with your damn lives—or else I’ll make sure you lose them.”

Black eyes wide, they nodded quickly.

Then he was gone.

Seline rubbed her palms on her jean-clad thighs. One demon immediately took up a position near the door. Seline eyed the guy. Please. She could take him. No kind of protection there. But at least there were three of them in the room. Three against . . . well, whatever might come.

She spun around and let her gaze sweep the room once more. Maybe she’d find a weapon, or some kind of clue. Something.

Her shoes padded over the deep claw marks.

Sam didn’t hunt. Or, rather, he didn’t leave the motel so that he could go racing across the town after Tomas.

He hadn’t lied to Seline, not really. Even Fallen could never truly lie. He’d felt the slight shift in the air that told him a guardian had passed by, but he had no idea where that guardian was now. The trail didn’t work like that.

Usually, the only way to tell if an angel was close . . . you had to smell them. Those who hadn’t plummeted and burned smelled like damn roses. You could always smell ’em before you saw ’em.