CHAPTER EIGHT

“Remember the plan,” Tanner said as he braked the car at the end of the old dirt road. The thick, sloping trees of the swamp surrounded them and nearly blocked out dawn’s light. “I take in Azrael, and you . . .” He pointed to Heather, “You take in Jade.”

Jade’s heart slammed into her chest. She had the gun tucked into the back of her jeans, and she’d taken the liberty of strapping a knife to her right ankle. Az hadn’t taken any weapons.

Too confident.

And his hands were currently cuffed. Just for show, of course, because even though the cuffs were supposed to be some sort of Other-proof trinket that Heather had pulled out of her box of tricks, Az had snapped free of them earlier in about two seconds.

A test breakaway. To make sure he’d be able to ditch the cuffs when the real action came. And the real action was coming, soon.

“Wait until he comes toward you,” Tanner told Az with a hard glare. “Don’t go charging up to him. Brandt can move faster than any other shifter I’ve ever seen. If we attack first, the game is gonna be over for us all.”

Because the plan was for Az to wait until Brandt came to him. When Brandt was close enough to touch . . .

Az would do his thing and the nightmare would end.

So they hoped.

“We all know the plan,” Heather muttered. “We’ve gone over it enough times by now.”

Yeah, they had.

Tanner exhaled. “Alright. Let’s do this.” Jade wondered if he knew that his voice trembled. The cop was scared. You didn’t need a shifter’s senses to smell his fear.

Tanner and Heather climbed from the car. Hesitating, Jade glanced at Az. After the fury of sex and pleasure, she wasn’t sure what to say. Except . . . “Please be careful.” A hollow ache filled her gut. She’d never planned on Az. Wasn’t even sure what she felt for him, but she knew that she didn’t want to lose him. “Brandt is very smart and very dangerous.”

Az cocked his head and studied her. Then he lifted his cuffed hands. Touched her cheek. “You were my first.”

She blinked at that. “First?” First what? First human who’d dragged him into a hell of a mess with her psychotic ex?

“I watched death and suffering for centuries,” he said as his eyes searched hers. “I never stepped in. Never stopped it, until you.”

Oh, wait, that was . . . um, not sweet, exactly. Something more.

“It seems only fitting that my first taste of real pleasure came from you.”

She hadn’t meant for last night to happen. She’d stared at him, needed, and her self-control had vanished. So much for holding back and keeping him—

Whoa. Wait. His words sank in. Was he saying . . . first? She was pretty sure she lost her breath right then. “You should have told me.” Things could have been different, she could have—

He kissed her. Her lips were open, and his mouth just seemed to fit hers so perfectly in that moment. No danger. No fear.

Just him.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed against his chest. Her tongue met his, and she realized how very much she loved his taste. Jade didn’t break the kiss, just enjoyed it. As she enjoyed him.

When he slowly pulled away, she had to whisper, “Where were you ten years ago?”

He didn’t speak. Jade opened her eyes and forced herself to smile. “I guess you were upstairs, looking down on us mortals.”

His eyes narrowed.

I wish I’d met you first. Wish I’d known you before Brandt.

Life could have been different. Her family would have been alive. She wouldn’t have been a murderer.

Tanner cleared his throat and knocked on the window. “Let’s do this.”

Because it was time to face her own personal devil. She pulled away from Az and opened her car door. He exited on his side, and they met in front of the vehicle car.

Heather was moving nervously from her left foot to her right, then back, over and over. Tanner stood with his arms crossed and stared into the darkness.

Jade’s heart was racing, and the fear swirling in her gut had her whole body tensing up. Because of last night, she knew Az’s scent was all over her. Just as her scent marked him. That scent would infuriate Brandt. Before they went into this battle, she needed Az to understand. “I’m not going to watch him kill you.”

If something went wrong, if the plan didn’t go the way they’d figured . . .

He lifted a brow. Gave her a faint smile. “You won’t have to,” he said. “You can just watch me kill him.”