Huh. Now why was his voice so cautious?
Tanner shook his head. “Don’t play dumb. You were never good at that bit.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Your place is torched. Flames are shooting up into the sky, and you’re running like the devil’s chasing you. What. Happened.”
Cody didn’t meet his gaze. “Someone was coming after me. I needed to throw ’em off. To make ’em think—”
Hold up. “You set the fire?”
“You know I’ve always been good with flames.” Cody carefully looked over Tanner’s shoulder.
Tanner glanced back and expected to see Marna rushing up behind him.
Only she wasn’t there. That sick rush of fear began to fill him again. “Who was after you?” Come on, Marna. Get over here. She’d been right behind him.
“You don’t want to know.” Now Cody was backing away. “You’ve got enough shit on your hands, bro. This time, I can clean up my own mess. You don’t have to play hero.”
But he’d always taken care of Cody. That had been the—
“Story of my life,” Cody muttered, taking another step back. “I screw up, but you’re the one who suffers for it. Not this time.”
“Tanner!”
Marna’s voice. She was . . . scared. Tanner inhaled. Caught her scent. Only, she wasn’t alone. “Marna!” He didn’t even spare another glance for his brother as he took off through the swamp.
“I’m sorry.” Cody’s voice followed him. “I’ll make it right. I swear I will.”
But Tanner didn’t turn back to him. The brother he’d nearly died for—he left him alone in the woods.
She tried to calm her racing heart as she stared at the angel who’d confronted her. Bastion. Why was he there? What did he want?
Bastion’s gaze wasn’t on her. He stared at the blackened ground. “I thought you’d died.” His voice was hushed.
She didn’t move.
“I found the blood and your wings, and I thought you’d been killed.” His hands were clenched.
Anger? Fury? From him? There was no denying the rage vibrating in his words, but—but he still had his wings. He shouldn’t feel emotions like that.
Bastion glanced up at her, and his eyes seemed to burn. “I wanted to kill then.”
Death angels carried out their duties. They didn’t want to take souls.
She swallowed. “Bastion, this isn’t . . .” You.
He glided closer to her with a powerful movement of the black wings that sprouted from his back. “Everything is changing. Up there and down here.” He stood just a foot away from her now.
Marna found that she was backing away from him.
His eyes narrowed at her movement. “Are you afraid of me?”
She shouldn’t be. He’d been her confidant for centuries. The closest thing to a friend that she had. But the way he looked at her—yes. “Have you been watching me?” Marna whispered the words and was afraid of the answer that she knew would be coming.
Bastion had always been far more powerful than she was. If he hadn’t wanted her to see him—
Then I wouldn’t have seen him.
But she’d still caught his scent in the air a few times. Felt eyes upon her.
“The shifter is the one who watched you. Who followed you when you didn’t know.”
His words made her hesitate. But how would he know that about Tanner? Unless he’d been there, too.
“He’s hunted you.” Bastion was even closer now. Close enough for his wings to stretch out. To block the light. To surround her. “And yet you let him f**k you.”
She flinched away as a cold horror filled her. Bastion had watched that? Why? Why would he—
“Marna!”
Bastion’s eyes narrowed at Tanner’s shout. “He’s not going to save you. He’ll betray you. Destroy you. Just as he’s destroyed so many others.”
But Bastion stepped back, and Tanner ran to her. Her shifter grabbed her hand, pulling her close. His heart pounded, and she felt the fast rhythm beneath his chest. “I heard you scream,” he growled the words. “I heard and—” He stopped, breaking off abruptly.
Marna tilted her head back as she stared up at his face. His eyes had narrowed, and they drifted around the small clearing. Drifted, and seemed to stop directly on Bastion.
Because the angel was still there. Watching them with a gaze gone hard and cold. Not burning any longer.
Ice.
“We aren’t alone,” Tanner said with absolute certainty.
Yet he couldn’t see Bastion, she knew that.
His nostrils widened even as his head inclined to the left.
Shifters didn’t have to rely on just what they could see. Not when their other senses were in overdrive 24-7.
Tanner wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. “What does he want?”
He. Bastion. Tanner’s senses were definitely on target. “I’m not completely sure,” she said as she stared straight at Bastion. Truth, but . . .
Part of her was afraid that maybe, just maybe, Bastion wanted—
Me.
The whisper slid through her. An uncomfortable suspicion because, now that she’d been with Tanner, she could understand what she’d seen in Bastion’s stare.
Need. Desire.
Lust.
Angels don’t lust.
Or did they?
Bastion had retreated and she thought he would leave, but suddenly, he marched right toward them.
No. Marna shoved Tanner back. She put her body between his and Bastion’s. “Don’t even think about it.” Her voice came out as a low, furious order.
Bastion stilled.
“Think about what?” Tanner demanded from behind her.
Marna kept her eyes on Bastion. She wouldn’t look over the angel’s shoulder, at that burned ground that marked her change. She stared into his eyes, saw all that she’d lost, and knew that she wasn’t losing anything else. “You won’t touch him.”
Bastion’s eyes widened. “You’d protect the animal?”
Marna nodded. Tanner wasn’t an animal.
“What the hell is happening?” Tanner demanded. “I can smell him. I just can’t see the bastard.”
Most folks wouldn’t describe angels as bastards. Then again, Tanner wasn’t in that “most” category.
“I just want you to be safe,” Bastion said, and a muscle flexed along the length of his jaw. Another sign of emotion. Did he even realize how close he was to the edge?