CHAPTER 6

 

 

Eve frowned as the Harley rounded the corner of her street and pulled over to the curb several houses up from her own. Her dad would be dozing on the couch now, her mother upstairs in bed reading a romance novel, and her little sister chatting on her private phone line instead of sleeping. It was home and she loved it, but she didn’t want to go there now. The thought of being separated from the man in front of her made her feel panicky.

“Did we have to come here right away?” she asked, regretting answering honestly when he’d asked for directions.

As he turned off the engine, she laced her fingers together to keep him close. He was so warm, so solid, so big. Nothing like the boys she went to school with.

He gently pried her fingers open. “Yes, it’s better for you, angel.”

“Can’t we go somewhere else? It’s still early.”

“No.”

“Why? Why did you come to night if you didn’t want to hang out with me?”

She felt him sigh. “I don’t ‘hang out,’ and even if I did, I couldn’t hang out with you.”

“Because of my age?” God, she was so sick of being treated like a kid.

“Among other reasons.”

His head turned slightly and the glimpse of his profile, even under the weak illumination of the street-lights, took her breath away. Her heart thudded in an elevated rhythm, her breathing was quick and shallow. His lean hips were cradled between her spread thighs, her breasts pressed to his back. She knew he felt some of the pull she did or he wouldn’t have been waiting for her to night.

But she wanted to prove it, so Eve shimmied her torso, rubbing her erect nipples against him.

His breath hissed out between clenched teeth. “Get off the bike.”

The tone of his voice brooked no argument so she dismounted with a moue. “What’s your name?”

There was a long silence while he stared at her with that hot, intense stare. She could tell he was debating whether to tell her or not. Finally, he said, “Alec Cain.”

Eve nodded and adjusted the strap of her bag. “Thanks for the ride, Alec.”

She set off toward her house and a moment later the hog rumbled to life. Though the urge to look back was nearly overwhelming, her pride was stronger.

She knew if he felt anything like she did when they were together, he would be back.

 

 

Eve rested her right hand on the tile and stood with head bent beneath the pummeling water spray of her shower.

Seven days. Seven days of her life gone.

She knew something drastic had happened to her during that short time. The brands on her left arm were completely healed and settled into something that resembled a tribal tattoo. Exactly like Alec’s. After nearly a week without food and very little to drink, she should be weak and dehydrated. She was neither. Instead she felt like a million bucks, her foot tapping impatiently on the stone shower floor because she couldn’t contain all of the restless energy inside her.

Shutting off the tap, Eve grabbed the fresh towel she’d set atop the lid of her hamper. She dried her skin quickly, then wrapped her wet hair into a turban and padded out to the bedroom.

There was no way to ignore the naked man sprawled facedown across her bed. Alec had chosen the white sheets, a selection that set butterflies loose in her stomach. It made her bed look like a cloud. His dark masculinity upon that backdrop made him look like a fallen angel.

She would never forget the night she lost her virginity. He’d lain beneath her like a wicked fantasy upon white sheets, urging her on with hoarsely voiced encouragements.

Sighing, her gaze moved from his face down the muscular expanse of his back to the dimples just above his perfect ass.

“Have mercy,” she whispered, repeating the words he’d used the night before.

Eve tore her gaze away and looked around the room, noting the washcloths on her mahogany nightstand. She imagined what the last week must have been like for him and the intimacy involved in caring for her. The man she couldn’t trust to stick around at all had been dependable in her most dire hours. What was the sense in that?

Her jaw clenched. Alec knew exactly what had happened to her a week ago. Then he’d done the exact same thing to her last night. Because of him and the winged mystery man, she was altered. Physically. Mentally. In every way. She could feel the Change like a narcotic slipping through her veins.

Pivoting on her heel, Eve snatched up the short silk robe that hung on the back of the bedroom door and left the room. She went to the kitchen for much-needed food and coffee, knowing she was going to need plenty of both for the confrontation to come.

 Alec watched Evangeline Hollis leave the high school parking lot, crossing Euclid Street to reach the Circle K con ve nience store. His gaze drank in every nuance of her figure—the long, lithe legs, slight but luscious curves, golden California tan, and hair of long black silk. She walked with three other girls, but she didn’t fit in. Not because she was Asian, but because she was above them, beyond them. Every delectable inch of her body was ripe with sexual promise and a confidence he admired.

At times he cursed the sudden urge he’d had to grab a bottle of water from the con ve nience store the day he first saw her. If he’d kept on riding, he wouldn’t be in this predicament. But he knew fate and coincidence were mortal concepts. A divine plan was at work, and somehow this angel fit into his. Unfortunately for her.

Wanting to protect her, Alec had fought the compulsion to meet her and fled via Interstate 5 on his way to San Diego. Another city in an endless string of cities he visited in the course of his nomadic life. His bike roared past 1313 Harbor Boulevard: Disneyland—The Happiest Place on Earth.

Then he realized the source of the pull he felt toward her. When she’d mouthed “Hi” with those glossy red lips, he’d felt the first stirrings of connection, something he hadn’t experienced in so long he had almost forgotten what it felt like.

Why her? he despaired. She’s so young. Too young. Centuries younger than he was.

But Alec knew the answer. She was his forbidden fruit. Set out to tempt him with what he could never have. One taste and Eve would be his, but the price she’d pay would destroy them both.

Yet, despite knowing the consequences, Alec had found himself exiting the freeway and backtracking to her. Now, two weeks later, he watched her from the shadow of a large tree and ached for the feel of her arching beneath him.

One taste. He was starved for it.

He couldn’t forget the feel of her breasts against his back, her curious fingertips drifting across his stomach, the sound of her voice coaxing, Can’t we go somewhere?

Yes, he’d wanted to say. Let’s go and never come back.

Temptation. God’s most oft-used test.

But Alec wasn’t going to fail this one. He was leaving today if it killed him. He’d come to see her one last time, then he would go, finding strength in the fact that he’d resisted his own needs in favor of hers.

Alec was about to turn away, finally prepared to get on his hog and leave her behind, when Eve paused on the corner, her head turning in his direction. He stilled. Waiting. Wondering if she saw him.

She arched a brow, staring. Then she blew him a mocking kiss and flipped him off, before turning on her heel and sauntering away.

Eat your heart out, her actions said.

Taunting him. Tempting him. Not understanding that he was afraid for her, not himself. She would pay the price for his infraction. His punishment would come from knowing that he was the cause of hers.

His jaw clenched so tight his teeth ground together.

Sliding his sunglasses back on, he walked to his bike and hit the road.

 Pausing on the threshold between the living room and the hallway, Alec carefully studied the set of Eve’s shoulders. She was clad in a blood-red, knee-length silk kimono robe. Her black hair tumbled halfway down her back, the thick strands swaying with the salt-tinged breeze drifting through the open balcony door.

She looked relaxed, her hip leaning into the jamb of the sliding glass door, her hands filled with a steaming cup of coffee as she stared at the ocean view. But he knew her senses were alert, her hearing more acute, her sense of smell inhumanly accurate. When she reached full strength, her speed and stamina would make Olympic athletes weep in envy . . . if she ever moved slowly enough that they could see her. She was a hunter now, a predator.

Tightening the towel he had wrapped around his waist, Alec crossed the vast space, admiring how well she’d done for herself. She had a gleaming new Chrysler 300 in her garage downstairs and she was so close to the beach that her living room balcony hung over the sand.

She was going to hate him for ruining her perfect life.

“Good morning, angel.”

Eve spun to face him. Despite hours of hard sex, she looked none the worse for wear. Her dark eyes, almond shaped and framed by thick sooty lashes, were clear and bright. She would heal with remarkable speed now. At least on the outside. As for the inside . . .

He ran a hand through his damp hair. Would she understand when he explained? And even if she did, would it mitigate the fact that he was the reason this had happened to her?

She held up a hand, halting his advance when he was a few feet away. “What am I now?”

“You’re a Mark.” He spoke calmly, while inside he felt far from it. “You’re stronger, faster—”

“Better, stronger, faster?” Her laughter was harsh. “I’m the fucking Bionic Woman? What the hell was that fever I had?”

Alec crossed his arms over his bare chest and decided to take the high road. She had every right to be pissed and confused. “Punishment. Women’s sexuality has been used against them since my mom ate the forbidden fruit. Why do you think childbirth is so painful?”

“Are you insane? What does childbirth have to do with me?” She made a slashing gesture with her hand. “On second thought, don’t tell me. Just explain what I’m being punished for.”

“For tempting me.”

“I haven’t seen you in ten damn years!” she snapped. “You got your rocks off and left.”

Eve had never been able to hide anything from him. She was hurt. The knowledge tightened his throat and made him speak gruffly. “I love you.”

A visible shudder moved through her. She reached out and gripped the door frame. “Screw you.”

“Evangeline—”

“Go to hell.”

“My job is to send demons back there. Now it’s your job, too.”

“You’re nuts. You need help.” She jerked her chin toward the door. “There are lots of shrinks out there. Go find one. I’ll even let you take the Yellow Pages with you. For old time’s sake.”

“Did he show you his wings, angel?” Alec stepped closer. “Did he spread them wide? Intimidate you with them?”

Her fingers gripping the jamb were white, as were the edges of her lips.

“I bet he made a great show out of the marking, didn’t he? How did he say it?” He deepened his voice, then growled, “Bear the Mark of Cain!”

The coffee cup fell from her fingers and shattered on the hardwood floor, coffee exploding outward in a wide splatter. Her knees buckled and Alec lunged forward, catching her.

He carried her to the sofa and sat, cradling her in his lap. Tucking Eve’s head under his chin, he rocked her, taking comfort from her embrace even as he gave the same to her.

“What about you tempting me?” she accused, her breath gusting across his throat. “How was I supposed to resist you? A girl my age . . . a guy like you—”

A soft sob escaped her. Alec thrust his hand into her hair and held her tight against him.

That night haunted him. He’d rented a suite, bought every beautifully scented flower he could find at the florist’s, and lit the room with a profusion of candles. He took her virginity on white satin sheets covered in rose petals.

“I couldn’t have done anything differently,” he said softly.

“You knew you weren’t going to stay before you seduced me.”

He spoke with his lips pressed to the crown of her head. “I tried to spare you any suffering by leaving. I hoped that if we separated, you could still have the same future you would have had before you met me.”

Eve struggled out of his embrace, fighting him with such fervor she fell on the floor. “You’re an asshole.” Rising to her knees, she slapped him.

Alec clenched his jaw and turned the other cheek.

She cursed and pushed to her feet, her robe askew. He stood with her, securing his towel while facing her head on.

“Spare me any suffering,” she scoffed, glaring at him. “That’s lame, Alec. You have to do better than that.”

“What do you want me to say?”

She ran both hands through her hair and growled. “Something that makes sense. Something sincere and believable.”

“I’m sorry, angel.”

Pausing midstep, Eve gaped at him. “That’s it? You’re sorry?”

“Would it be better to say that I would do it again?”

She looked away. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Look at me like that.”

“You love me.” Alec smiled wryly.

They stared at each other across the few feet that separated them.

“Hate to burst your bubble,” she said grimly, “but I have more important things in my life than you. You’re expendable.”

“Actually, I’m not, but we’ll get to that later. In the meantime, you can’t ignore what happened last night.”

“It doesn’t mean what you think it means.” She walked past him to the kitchen.

He followed. “It means we’re in a lot of shit. It also means getting you out of this mess just got a hell of a lot more complicated.”

She grabbed two mugs from her cabinet and changed the subject. “You want to explain the winged man?”

“Yes, brother, would you like to explain me?”

Eve turned at the sound of the voice she would never forget. He strode in from the balcony as if he owned the place. The man who’d screwed her into unconsciousness in the stairwell. His smile was sensual and slightly cruel, and it made her shiver, not entirely with fear.

Alec snarled and vaulted across the room with a ferocity and speed that frightened her, hitting his brother in the midsection with a brutal tackle. The ensuing scuffle was far from brotherly tussling. It was a fight to the death, and the sounds and sights of the battle did something strange to her. Made her mark burn, made her pulse race. The scent of blood in the air caused a physical reaction that she likened to blood lust. A rough growl rumbled up from her chest.

Alec lifted his brother into the air like a WWE wrestler and smashed him onto her glass-topped coffee table, destroying it. A moment later, he finished off the job by braining his brother with her Waterford crystal candy bowl.

The sickening crunch of a crushing skull should have horrified her, should have made her vomit, and she was in fact stumbling toward her sink to do just that when Alec disappeared.

Vanished into thin air.

One moment he was pushing to his feet, his bare body sheened with sweat and high-velocity blood spatter. The next he was gone.

Eve paused, unblinking, her body’s natural response seized by shock. Her gaze dropped to the dead man on the floor.

Then she spun to the sink and wanted to retch, but her body wouldn’t cooperate.

“Oh my god,” she gasped, hanging on to the curved granite edge to remain standing. As her mark sizzled within her skin, a sharp sound escaped from her throat.

“Yeah, that’s where he went,” came a dry voice from the living room. The corpse on the floor rose to its feet, its disfigured head restoring before her very eyes, the dent slowly filling like a balloon. Wings sprouted from the man’s back and he shook them out, testing each side with a quick flap before retracting them.

“Cain never learns,” he said, winking at her, once again looking like the Armani-clad businessman from Gadara Tower.

“I’m insane,” she gasped. “Certifiable.”

Alec’s brother laughed. “Don’t get your pan ties in a twist, babe. He’ll be back, and in one piece, too.”

“You’re dead,” Eve muttered, “and I’m going to pass out.”

“You’re too healthy for that. All the physical reactions you used to have to stress won’t happen anymore.”

What the hell are you?”

He smiled, the arrogant curve of his lips a faint echo of Alec’s.

Brothers.

She could see it now. All the hints of Alec that had drawn her to him the other day were Alec. His blood. His genes. His traits. But all the warmth and love that shone in Alec’s dark eyes were absent from this man’s. His gaze was filled simply with mischief and male appreciation.

Somehow that was easier to bear right now.

“I’m the guy who fucked you into three screaming orgasms, babe.”

“I see asshole runs in your family.” The full reality of talking to a stranger she’d screwed in a public place, on camera, a stranger who happened to be Alec’s brother, and had wings, and had been a corpse a minute ago, hit her hard and she leaned heavily on her countertop. “I could use a good bout of unconsciousness right about now.”

“Reed,” he said more softly, his leer fading into something more sincere. “My name is Reed, Evangeline.”

“What did you do to me?”

“Did Alec tell you that you’re marked now?” Reed settled onto a barstool and picked an apple from the fruit bowl. “Damned to hunt the scourge of the earth and make the world safer for everyone?”

“I got the damned part. Who’s doing the damning is a bit murky.”

“Let’s just say you should reconsider being an agnostic.”

Eve turned on the faucet and splashed water over her face. “Christ . . . Shit!” she hissed, as her mark burned.

He grinned. “You’re getting warmer.”

“Ha-ha.” Forcing herself to act normal, she retrieved one of the mugs she’d set out earlier and filled it with steaming coffee. “Why now? It’s been ten years.”

“The wheels of justice turn just as slowly up there as they do down here.”

“How does Alec fit into all of this?” She shot a worried glance over her shoulder. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. It’s not the first time he’s killed me. As for how he fits . . .” Reed shrugged. “He could have spared you if he’d kept his dick in his pants.”

Grabbing creamer out of the fridge, Eve poured a liberal splash into her mug. “I understand that part. Is he under some sort of vow of celibacy?” She liked the thought of that.

Reed laughed. “That’s rich.”

Scowling, she returned the creamer to its spot in the fridge door and shut it with more force than necessary.

“Sweetheart, your name may be Eve, but in this lusty tale, you play the apple. ‘Look, but don’t touch.’” Reed took at hearty bite of the Red Delicious in his hand.

“That’s sick. Who tortures people like that?”

“Free will,” he said, chewing with obvious relish. “You always get a choice, but sometimes it’s obvious which choice you’re supposed to make. If you decide to do your own thing, you pay the consequences.” Reed licked his lips. “If Alec had made the right choice, you’d be married now with two kids. Happy as a clam.”

Eve stared into her coffee and wondered what that life would have been like.

“So what’s the mark for?” she asked finally.

Studying Reed over the rim of her mug, Eve noted that his hair was much shorter than Alec’s, his lips thinner, the air about him more intense. Unlike Alec’s grungy attire, Reed’s garments were perfectly tailored. Today he sported fitted gray slacks and a black dress shirt, worn open at the collar and rolled up at the sleeves.

“Well, the mark has several uses. It originally put you in line for a hearing. The court docket is full and it’s important to get penciled in as soon as possible.”

“A hearing?”

“Everyone gets a hearing, babe.” His smile affected her; there was no getting around it. Fact was, it wasn’t just his similarities to Alec that were attractive. “Alec’s contribution to the mark waived the hearing and acts as somewhat of a plea bargain. Instead of arguing your case, you get to earn your indulgences in the field.”

“Why doesn’t that sound as if he did me a favor?”

Reed shrugged. “Depends on how you look at it. It was the only way to guarantee that he would be with you all the time. If you’d gone to trial, you would have been assigned to whichever position was next in the queue that you were best qualified for. Not all positions require mentors and not all positions are in the field.” His gaze narrowed as he considered her. “This way, he’s certain to be with you.”

“And what am I supposed to do in the field?”

“Hunt demons, feral fey, rogue interdimensional beings, warlocks, and various other nasties. You’re going to have to work for absolution just as Alec has been doing for centuries.”

“Centuries?” She was in lust with a man who was centuries old? Eve set her coffee down before she dropped it again. “He’s immortal?”

“Almost. Marks heal quickly, so it takes a lot to kill one. There’s no time limit on how long you have to prove your worth, and the whole ‘sevenfold vengeance’ protection has a way of scaring off most hazards to your health.”

“Sevenfold vengeance?”

“It’s mentioned in the book of Genesis. ‘And the Lord said unto him, therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.’ You’ve got the mark. You get the protection.”

“How bad is that? The sevenfold stuff.”

“Whatever the demon does to the Mark, they get the same in return. Seven times over.”

Eve’s brows rose. “That could be bad, I take it.”

“Usually so. As I said, it works as a deterrent most of the time. Only the most evil, wretched, and insane creatures don’t care.”

“Lovely.”

He stood and rounded the kitchen island. There was no mistaking the change in his focus.

She lifted her chin. He caged her in with the counter at her back. “In addition to learning how to kill and dealing with a fear of all things evil, you’ve got Alec to manage, and your feelings about what happened to you because of his lust.” He held up the half-eaten apple between them. “Then there are the apples.”

She arched a brow, hoping to hide how her body responded to his nearness. Her senses remembered him—his smell, the power and heat of his large frame, the near brutality of his passion. The orgasms he’d wrung from her body.

“The apples?” she asked softly, focusing on his lips as they curved into a feral smile.

Reed ran the bitten side of the apple from the hollow of her throat down to her cleavage. Shivering, Eve reached behind her and gripped the edge of the counter. He lowered his head slowly, watching her, giving her time to pull away. His tongue touched her skin and slid up the trail he’d made in a long, slow glide. His teeth nipped at her chin, then he moved to take her mouth. She turned her head away.

His warm chuckle filled the electrically charged air between them. Then he changed tactics, sliding his hand into her robe and cupping her breast. As his fingers found her nipple and pinched roughly, his tongue slid along the shell of her ear. “Apples, baby. Temptations. The exercising of your free will.”

Reed’s hips pressed against hers, his knees bending so that the hard ridge of his cock notched into the softness of her sex. He thrust gently, nudging her. She gasped, but kept her hands on the counter. Her body was so tightly strung the slightest provocation had her ready to tear of her clothes. Anytime. Anywhere.

“I wondered,” he breathed, his lips to her ear, “what you had that twisted Cain up in knots.” His other hand cupped her ass and urged her to rock into him as he tugged and rolled her nipple, sending shockwaves down to the aching flesh between her legs. “Now I know.”

“Back off.”

His tongue thrust into her ear and her knees buckled. “Hottest, tightest fuck I’ve ever had. Your slick pussy sucking on my cock. And those sounds you make . . . those little whimpers . . .” He growled. “I want to take you right now. Hard and deep. Pound my dick into you and watch you come until you can’t take any more.” His hand on her ass slid lower, lifting her leg to anchor it onto his hip. His thrusts grew bolder, more fervent, his chest rising and falling with his harsh breathing. “You’re a predator now, Eve. And predators like to fuck.”

“Back off!” Eve’s hands went to his shoulders and pushed. He flew across the room and landed in a heap on her living room rug.

“Oh my god,” she breathed. The damn mark seared her skin anew and made her dizzy.

Reed threw his head back and laughed, rising to his feet with an easy grace. “See? You’re beginning to catch on already.”

He reached down and adjusted himself, drawing her attention to the obvious wet spot on his pants where she’d been rubbing against him. “Watch out for the apples, babe.”

With a rakish wink, he disappeared—vanished—just as Alec had, and a moment later Alec was back. Still naked, but minus the blood, his handsome face marred by a fierce scowl.

Eve picked up the apple and threw it at him.