Angelic Avenger (14 page)

“Gray, can I talk to you in the kitchen, please?”

All three men blinked at me, but I ignored them. Let them think whatever the hell they wanted. Last I checked, this was still my place, after all. I was done with the territorial marking, but I wasn’t about to settle the debate in front of Lizzy.

He came into the kitchen a step behind me, but wasn’t prepared for what I had in mind. My coffee cup hit the counter as I turned. His reflexes were fast, but mine were faster. Reaching up, I yanked his face down to mine and planted a kiss more appropriate for midnight rather than noon. His mouth opened under mine and he tasted of peppermint. His hands reached around to pull me closer and I was lost in a haze of teeth, tongues, and air.

“We got interrupted,” I whispered when he came up to breathe. “I somehow managed to wake up next to the wrong man without the entertainment I had planned. How’d that happen, anyway?”

“You passed out when the yelling started and I thought it might be better if you went to bed alone. That damned angel decided your virtue was in danger and entrenched himself by your side. I couldn’t even sneak in to sleep.”

He was hiding his tension behind the little boy smile I was beginning to think was so adorable, but the way his arms locked around me told me his thoughts were very, very adult. Somehow, I thought if he had snuck in to sleep, I would have woken up in a much nicer way.

“Did you think about it?” I giggled. I couldn’t help it. The disgruntlement that chased the smile from his face was absolutely priceless.

“Hell, yeah. I had a plan worked out, but he wouldn’t budge.” He reached up and let his fingers toy with the ring on my finger. “I thought you’d changed your mind about giving me a chance. I thought I’d pushed too many buttons last night and you were going to freeze me out.”

I turned my hand in his and mingled our fingers. “Why? Because I took the ring off or because there was no follow through last night? I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even realize it was gone.”

Uncertainty flashed across his face. His gaze searched mine.

“Do you mean that? I mean,
really
mean that?”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

Just like that, I crossed that bridge. I was going to have a relationship with a man I’d known for two days and who was going to wither and die before my eyes. It was a daunting possibility, but the joy in his face made it seem worthwhile. For the first time since I died, I felt something spark in that hollow place where my soul should be.

“Miss Bella, Miss Bella—” Lizzy bounded into the kitchen and beamed up at us. “Mr. Ben says that we can go out for ice cream since you’re up, if you’re feeling better. Did your nap make you better? Please say we can go.”

“I don’t take naps in the morning any more. I’m not a baby.” Lizzy’s pout was adorable and I was no match for her.

“Oh. Ice cream it is.” I smiled at her from the circle of his arms. The rightness of it clicked inside and I felt the other two men hovering beyond the doorway. Lifting my gaze, I smiled at them.

Foras smiled back sadly, but Ben’s face showed his approval. Apparently, I’d made the right choice.

Like his opinion mattered. I didn’t need any sort of validation. Really.

Chapter Twelve

“You’ll be here when I wake up, won’t you, Miss Bella?”

I brushed Lizzy’s bangs across her forehead as her bright eyes stared up at mine and I nodded with a small smile. We’d read two Winnie the Pooh books that had magically appeared on the bedside table. One of the boys had thought of it, making me more than a little ashamed to have missed something so obvious. She had relished telling me about the characters, more to prolong the inevitable than anything, I was sure. The curse of children everywhere—bedtime.

“Count on it, pumpkin. Mr. Ben and I are going to run out for a bit and talk to some people we know, but we’ll be home way before morning.”

“Can we have French toast for breakfast?” Lizzy made no effort to stifle the yawn that slurred her words.

“You’ll have to ask Mr. Gray that one, Lizzy. He’s the cook of the house.” I laughed at the bright look on her face and impulsively kissed her forehead. “Sleep tight, angel.”

“Good night, Miss Bella. Have fun with Mr. Ben.”

I watched her tuck the worn bear tighter in her arms and sat beside her while she fell asleep. Someone had popped into her house and fetched her favorite, very worn panda bear and her clothes. Yet another thing I’d not thought about. Maybe this momwannabe role wasn’t for me, after all. After pulling the covers up a little higher on her slight body, I steeled myself to the argument I was walking in on.

The men were arguing in the other room, but I ignored them as I closed the door to Lizzy’s room quietly behind me. This was my show and they could jump on board or be left out altogether. It was all in how they wanted to play it. Conversation stopped when I came into the room and three angry faces turned to me.

They were angry for different reasons, of course. Foras was livid because we wouldn’t tell him what was going on. I wasn’t snitching to the Council of Angels until I knew what the story was and he would be honor bound to tell what he knew. Archangels were funny that way no matter what color their wings were.

Gray was hurt because my left hand was conspicuously missing his ring. I couldn’t very well go out with the intention of flirting my way through a bunch of shifters with it on.

Poor Ben was being accosted by the both of them simply because he got to come along. I needed him because he knew all the best places to chat up shifters.

“Be nice and don’t wake her up,” I admonished and walked straight to the closet by the front door, pulling out my black leather coat. The small sword was sewn into the lining and it was the only emergency weaponry I would need. If I went out to the shifters smelling like gun oil, they’d not talk to me at all. Right now, getting them to talk to me was the prime objective.

“Do you think it’s safe to leave them alone?” Ben wasn’t the least bit happy about my idea on any level. Leaving the two prospective men in my life without supervision was only the tip of the iceberg where he was concerned. I might have made a choice this morning, but Foras wasn’t counting himself out of the running until a more definite claiming happened. He’d play by the rules, though, if only to ensure he had a chance to step back up to the plate in the future.

Gray and Foras were even
less
happy about being left behind. They couldn’t go with us, though. Angels didn’t mingle with shifters. Even Gray’s presence would make them worry about where the information they were providing us would go. Of course, that was providing that they left me alone long enough to garner any information whatsoever. I was enough of a wild card that they might think I was safe to talk to. Ben was hard to dislike even at his worst. Between us, we should be able to uncover enough details to piece together an idea of the political climate.

“Yep.” I turned back to the room at large with a pointed look. “They both have something to lose and that should be enough of a deterrent for bad behavior.”

Nearly identical looks of alarm flashed on their faces. Ben hid his laugh with a cough and opened the door.

“Well, you’re the boss.”

Glad someone thought so. I swept through the door with a light laugh, leaving the heavy cloud of possessiveness behind. The two of them would have to work out their own dynamics. I wasn’t going to babysit them. Ben, being Ben, waited until the elevator closed behind us before he started teasing me.

“You know, I thought I was going to get to see some skin, but only you can find something club worthy that doesn’t show anything worth seeing.”

I glanced at him with a raised brow. We looked like the Bobbsey Twins do leather. Our black leather overcoats were nearly identical and his leather pants were a matching black while mine were burgundy. My top was a silver - threaded burgundy turtleneck that clung enough to be suggestive without showing anything at all. His was practically sheer in basic black.

“Well, a girl’s got to leave something to the imagination.”

“I could do with a little less imagining.”

“Oh, but that’s where all the fun is,” I quipped as the elevator stopped.

Kyle, my doorman, hailed a cab for us from the lobby and off we went. I try not to drive anywhere I might have to go back and fetch my car if things turn nasty. That’s the joy of public transportation, right?

Neither of us spoke as the driver took us to the north side of town. The best place for us to go was the clubbing district, simply because we could mingle without calling attention to anyone who would talk to us. So, clubbing we went despite the fact I hated meat markets. I knew that Ben was left handed, so his version of his sword was on the opposite side as mine, which meant in a fight, I’d have to force myself to stay clear of him. I prayed it wouldn’t come to that, but who knew when you’re dealing with revolutionaries?

The Devil’s Playground had a line around the block. I had the cab drop us at the door. There was some heckling in the line when Ben got out of the cab. He made a show of offering his hand to help me out and the heckling died quickly enough as I stepped into the strobing light from the doorway. I guess my reputation preceded me. As a rule, it was a shifter club and enough of them knew me by sight to respect me. Funny thing was, Ben was more likely to kill them off than I was. The difference between us was I’d do it out of spite and he’d wait to be sent. Well, put that way, maybe I was the scarier half of our pair.

Very few mortals could withstand the level of energy put off by a group of shifters in mass. Though not as heady as angel magic, it was still potent, especially when combined with the pulsing beat that made the sidewalk jump under my feet. It was going to be a wild night. I hoped I was better at bluffing than the last time I’d played poker. Ben had cleaned my clock and there was a hell of a lot more at stake than my penny jar.

We walked up to the door and the large wolf crossed his arms over his chest.

“Club’s full, ma’am.”

“There’s always room for one more.” I smiled and he didn’t budge.

“There’s two of you.”

“Okay, so a pair, then.”

“Business or pleasure?” The question came from behind the doorman and I had to skip to the side to peer around him. I blinked at the man standing there. The wolf wore a suit that was tailored to the lines of his body to display maximum appeal. The colors were muted blues and that made his eyes shine against the dark hair. It was longer than I liked on a man, but it suited the sharp angles of his face. My, oh my. I’d never met a British wolf.

“Pleasure.” I let the purr enter in my voice and matched it with a totally different kind of smile. Ben frowned and looked at me like he’d never seen me before.

“Let them pass, Bruno.”

Bruno
? I very nearly asked if that was his real name, but figured I’d not rock the boat since I’d gotten what I wanted.

“Thank you.”

The wolf let his gaze warm as we stepped around the doorman, who made no move to step aside. I put a little extra sway to my hips and the wolf noticed. The possibilities raced across his face, but his gaze was all business when it flickered back to my face.

“I don’t suppose you would consider checking your jackets?”

I so love a man with an accent. He crossed his arms on his chest when I winked at him.

“Not a chance. Consider it evening the playing field.”

“It was certainly worth a try. Do enjoy yourself, Ms. Morrison. Mr. Cameron.” He acknowledged Ben with an amused inclination of his head. “Try not to kill anyone tonight. It discourages business.”

“We’ll do our best.”

He melted into the crowd with a sensuous glide that would have meant a hell of a lot more if last night hadn’t happened. The music blasted around us and the bodies were packed on the dance floor so tightly it was a mass of writhing flesh pulsing to the savage beat of the music. I wondered how they could hear themselves think. I envied them the freedom to abandon themselves to it. Tonight, I had better things to do than stress over something as trivial as jealousy over the joys of the living.

The Playground was set up with two bars on the side walls and tables against the far wall. There were private rooms in the back. I knew it by reputation. This was the first time I’d ever come in. I usually tried to avoid mass exposure to magic. It’s a lot easier to pretend I’m only another mortal with a unique job that way. I can dream, too.

By unspoken agreement, Ben headed to the bar on the left and I took the right. To get to it, I had to pass on the edge of the dance floor. I found myself surrounded by bodies thrashing to the music. Hands reached out and pulled me deeper in the fold. I somehow found myself with a man pressed against my back, his hands snug on my hips as he fit me against him.

“Slumming, tonight?”

The voice was familiar and I turned to stare into familiar amber eyes. Craig, my favorite bartender from Down the Hatch.

“Depends.” I laughed up at him and gave myself up to his lead. “You want to be my alibi?”

“I want to be a lot of things for you.” The purring suggestion in his tone immediately put my back up.

He laughed at me as he spun me around. Pressed up against him hip to hip, I realized he wasn’t joking about wanting things. Alarm flashed through me as I slid my hands up his chest and thumped him lightly.

“Down, boy. I don’t know you nearly well enough for that.”

I was playing with fire. The magic pulsing around me was my excuse, but it was flimsy even for me. Part of me wondered how oblivious I’d been to the opposite sex if I’d let Foras practically set up residence in my apartment without realizing his intent. The other part reminded me I had come in here to flirt my way into whatever facts I could unearth about the pending shifter revolution. I knew how far I’d go to get the pieces to the puzzle and it certainly wasn’t
that
far, no matter how sexy he was.

“Allow a humble cat a little fantasy. It’ll help me be more authentic.” He dropped his face down to nuzzle my neck. It tickled and I pulled away, laughing softly.