Tanner cleared his throat. “We’re all pissed. We all want our pound of flesh.” He sighed. “But if we want to use her, then we have to hurry up and go get her.”
“Not yet.”
They all turned at Cody’s hard snap. The demon stood his ground. “We’re not leaving yet.”
Like the doc was going to stop him.
But Cody pointed to the woods. “I can smell the blood, too,” he said. “Someone’s out there, hurt. Are we really just going to leave ’em?”
No, they weren’t. Az inclined his head, and Tanner took off running. He cleared the dock and headed toward the left. They all fell in behind him, racing through the thicket of trees. The shifter didn’t hesitate as he tracked through those woods. When it came to hunting, nothing beat a shifter’s nose.
And Tanner made short work of cutting through the swamp and finding his prey. The others followed him, and Az made sure he kept Jade close to his side. Until he found out all the effects his blood would have on her, Az didn’t want Jade out of his sight.
Tanner stopped. Inhaled. Pointed to the side. “The scent of blood and flowers is coming from that way.”
Blood . . . and flowers? Az’s heart began to beat faster.
Tanner cocked his head as he studied Az with a growing understanding in his eyes. Jade and Cody huffed out breaths as they paused.
“You sure you want to play hero again?” Tanner asked. “Maybe this isn’t someone you want to save. Maybe it’s someone that you already gave one ass kicking to.”
Maybe. Blood and flowers. He wouldn’t know for sure, not until he actually saw the prey.
They started moving again. Faster now because Tanner was closing in on that scent. Jade was moving too fast for a human, and she didn’t even seem to realize that fact. He didn’t know how long the blood would keep impacting her. The fact that she’d seen his wings—
She wasn’t afraid.
The trees seemed to blow past them as limbs reached out and scratched at his flesh.
“Tanner!” For an instant, he lost sight of the shifter.
Then Az rounded a bend, leapt over a fallen tree, and found Tanner crouched on the ground.
A blond woman lay in his arms. Skin pale and bloodstained. Marna.
No.
In an instant, he was at Marna’s side. She was on her back, with her eyes closed. He lifted her up carefully. Her clothes were torn but the skin of her stomach and chest were fully healed. Angels could heal so fast, even from a panther’s claws.
But as he lifted Marna higher into his arms, he realized that some wounds just couldn’t be healed.
Her wings had been sliced off. The flesh of her back was still mending, crossed with thick, red slashes, and her wings were—gone.
“Az?” Now Jade’s voice held fear.
The angel who came to take your soul. Did Jade remember her? He couldn’t look at her then. The guilt was too much. Marna’s injuries were his fault. He’d interfered. Altered fate.
An angel couldn’t fly to the gateway and enter heaven without her wings.
“I know that handiwork.” Tanner’s low, rumbling words. Az glanced at him and saw that Tanner’s face was twisted in fury. “Looks like Brandt got hold of her.”
Marna’s eyes weren’t opening.
Jade touched Az on the shoulder. “You know her.”
He nodded. “Her name . . . She’s Marna.”
“Another angel?” She whispered. “This—this probably sounds crazy, but I think I’ve seen her before.”
“You have seen her.” An angel’s power came from her wings. Without the wings, it would take Marna weeks to build up her strength. The others could see her now because her wings were gone. Marna’s life was gone. “When it was time for you to die, she’s the one who came to take your soul.”
Jade sank to her knees beside him. “Then why is she the one broken on the ground?”
Because of me.
Cody bent to press his hands against Marna’s back. “I can stitch her up. We need to get her back to my place. I’ll clean the wounds, bandage her—”
“And then Brandt will appear and finish slicing her up,” Tanner finished. “Sorry, but hell, no. This woman’s best chance for surviving is to get out of here.”
He was right. Az stood, with Marna cradled in his arms. His gaze met Cody’s. “I’m trusting you with her life. If anything happens to her, you don’t even want to know the fury that’s gonna rain down on all of us.”