“Come with me.” He offered his hand but didn’t step closer.

She shook her head.

His face hardened. “We both have too many enemies now. You need me,” he said, “and I—”

Seline turned away and headed for the back door. Her steps were fast. Get away. “I know, you’re addicted to me, right?”

Unfortunately, that addiction burned both ways.

Her father had been addicted, too. So addicted that one night, he hadn’t been able to stop taking energy from her mother. He’d taken so much that he’d killed her.

She pushed open the old door. Metal grated, and she glanced to the left, then the right. The cops hadn’t made it to the alley yet.

Seline hurried outside.

“It’s more than an addiction.”

She kept moving.

He followed. The soft pad of his footsteps should have been swallowed by the sirens, but she heard him. She’d always been too conscious of everything about him.

Sam grabbed her arm and spun her back to face him. He crowded her against the side of the narrow alley.

“Don’t move,” his breath whispered over her ear. “Cops are coming.”

And the cops thundered past the mouth of their hiding spot. Heading toward for El Diablo, and not even noticing the couple in the shadows.

But Sam didn’t release her when they were gone. She was too aware of the solid length of his body and the heavy press of his arousal against her.

She wanted Sam. Had from the first moment she’d seen him. But had he ever really wanted her? Or had her succubus side just pulled him in, an automatic instinct to acquire that strong psychic blast of power that was his core?

“I’m not going to run from Rogziel,” Sam said. “I don’t care how many hounds he has at his beck and call.” His mouth brushed against her cheek.

Seline swallowed and tried not to want him so much. He didn’t trust her. He’d threatened to kill her—

“I’m going hunting, Seline.” His fingers slid under her jaw. The cops were gone. Probably swarming the empty interior of El Diablo. “And I want you by my side.”

Her hands came between them and pressed against his chest. She had so much power boiling inside her, if she wanted she could have tossed him into the air and walked way.

The problem was that she didn’t want to walk away. She’d found something she wanted more than freedom. “I didn’t think you trusted me.”

“I’m an ass**le most days.” She felt the hot lick of his tongue on the edge of her ear.

A shiver trembled over her.

“With you . . . something happens to me.”

Great. Still not the declaration she wanted to hear.

“I don’t trust myself when I’m with you,” Sam continued. “I want you too much.”

She needed more than want. There’d been too many other men who wanted her. There had to be more. She pushed him back. Not a toss into the air, just a shove that gave her a few precious inches. “I’m an abomination.” She’d been called that before. Heard Rogziel say it when he hadn’t realized she’d been around.

But now, she knew Rogziel had been right. The powers of a succubus and an angel, all boiling inside of her. “Only punishment angels can control hellhounds.” Even she knew that much. “I’m no angel.” Would never be. The wings and the sweet promise of heaven hadn’t been offered to her.

His fingers were still under her chin. “Do you know how the first demons were made?”

She knew the legend. “From the Fallen.” From the first angels who’d sinned and been cast out of heaven. “They mated with humans and their offspring were cursed.”

He laughed at that. “I’m betting you heard that tale from Rogziel, didn’t you?”

Yes.

“It’s all in how you look at it,” he murmured. “Maybe they weren’t cursed, maybe they were blessed . . . given powers no mortal had ever held before.”

Now it was her turn to give a rough laugh. “That blessing killed many of them.”

“And it turned some of them into kings and queens. They were given the power, and the free will to use it how they saw fit.” He closed the distance between them again.

“You’re telling me I’m blessed?” More sirens. She wanted out of there. That small alley was making her feel claustrophobic. “I’m not buying it.” She pushed away from him and headed toward the darkness that waited for her.

“I’m saying you’re a whole lot stronger than you realized, than Rogziel probably realized. But now that he knows just what you’re capable of, he’s going to come after you with everything that he has at his disposal.”