“Order will be restored,” Bastion said.

She covered the wound. He’d sliced her deep, a cut that went almost from elbow to wrist. “Why didn’t you just drop me on the bastard’s doorstep?”

He hesitated.

“Were you scared he’d slice you apart, too?” Her words came fast and she wouldn’t let her gaze drift over Bastion’s shoulder. Don’t come, Brandt. “For the record, he’s the one who attacked the other angel, not Az. Brandt. The guy is some kind of hybrid shifter and angel mix. He attacked her and now—”

Now she definitely had his attention. Bastion stood right in front of her. “Her wings were sliced from her body.”

More rage. And the guy thought he didn’t feel emotion?

“Yes.” Her voice was soft. “We found her in the woods. A doctor is helping her.” She left out the little bit about Cody being a demon doctor.

Bastion’s brows pulled together. “No, Azrael—”

“He found her. Brandt was the one who got off on slicing her apart.” She swallowed. Don’t look over the hill. “Just like he’s going to slice me unless we leave here, now.”

His gaze held hers.

“I’m telling you the truth. It wasn’t Az.” She swallowed. “Please, believe me.”

“Angels can’t lie.” His own voice had softened.

She knew what he meant. Angels couldn’t lie, but humans could. “Humans can also tell the truth.”

He studied her a moment longer, then seemed to . . . believe her? He pulled her against his chest and held tight. His wings were stretching out again as he prepared for flight. In the distance, she could hear snarls.

Brandt had her scent.

They needed to get the hell out of there.

Now.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Az pulled Mateo from the wreckage. Flames shot high up into the air. Sirens blared as the humans raced toward the burning warehouse.

They’d never arrive in time. By the time the fire trucks pulled up, the building would be ash.

He tossed the witch onto the ground. Mateo had talked. Witches, even half-blood ones, couldn’t take the fire.

Az turned away from him.

“S-saw . . . th-this . . .” Mateo’s words froze him. “You . . . destroy . . .”

He’d destroy anyone who tried to take Jade. “I let you live.” After the witch had deliberately betrayed him. Separating him from Jade had been part of the guy’s plan all along. So she’d be vulnerable. Alone. Then Mateo had whipped up the wind in that room so Az couldn’t hear her screams.

Not until it was too late.

He glanced into the sky. The flames and smoke had dimmed the sunlight. Yet as he stared, the clouds seemed to thicken. A dark shape emerged.

A shape with the wide, black wings of a Death Angel.

His back teeth ground together. If Bastion was coming back to taunt him, he’d make the angel pay.

And it was Bastion. There was no mistaking the angel’s form. But—but Bastion wasn’t alone.

Bastion touched down just in front of the flames. He held Jade against his chest. One of Bastion’s arms circled her stomach, and the angel held a knife to her throat.

“Let her go,” Az demanded. The sirens were growing louder. The fire seemed to shriek behind Jade and Bastion.

Bastion’s eyes were wide. “You did this?”

Mateo climbed slowly to his feet. Blisters covered his right arm. They’d heal. Mateo was too powerful not to heal now that he was away from the flames. “She’s not supposed. . . to be . . . here.”

The tip of the knife sliced her throat.

Az couldn’t hear the screams of the approaching sirens or the crackle of the flames. Jade’s lips were moving but he could discern no sound.

He leapt forward, stopping mere inches from Bastion. “Let her go or die.” If he had to use his fists to pound those brimstone bullets into Bastion’s head and heart, he would.

No one was hurting Jade.

Fear flashed in Bastion’s eyes. Az knew fear when he saw it and smelled it.

“M-Marna . . .” He caught the angel’s whisper. “Tell me, did you take her wings?”

“I already told you,” Jade muttered, “he didn’t.”

Az fought the fury inside of him. His gaze held Bastion’s. “I did not.”

Bastion’s wings curled inward.

“Brandt was the one who attacked her,” Az told him. “He’s more than human. He could see her. And you know what a shifter’s claws can do to us.”