Wicked Kiss

“I’ll live. But you...” His gaze moved over my face, his brows tight together. “You’re not seriously hurt.”

“No. But Cassandra is.”

He swore under his breath. Then, with a last searching look, he pushed up off the ground and went to Cassandra’s side.

It was so quick I’d barely had a chance to let the tantalizing scent of his soul affect me. I wished I could say that after what had happened with the gray it didn’t bother me, but it had. My hunger surged forward. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to push it back.

“Can you fix her?” Bishop’s words to Zach were tight. Roth, Zach and Bishop gathered in a circle around Cassandra.

I stayed where I was, a safe distance away, watching tensely.

“I think so.” Zach gently rolled Cassandra over onto her stomach.

I’d experienced something extremely similar nearly two weeks ago when a searchlight had led me to Roth. When he’d been “reborn” after the ritual, he’d immediately sensed I was a gray. And he’d been sent here to kill grays. He quickly and efficiently broke my neck. I’d been only moments away from death when Zach managed to heal me. And I swear, when an angel heals you, it’s as if nothing ever happened. Better than that, really. My neck had honestly never felt so good. Still did. He was like a Heaven-sent chiropractor.

“Cassandra, can you hear us?” Bishop asked, touching her shoulder gently.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Hold still and let Zach help you.”

“All right. Go ahead.” Her pain-filled eyes narrowed. “And hurry up.”

I couldn’t help but smile shakily at that. The angel was very bossy and it didn’t matter what the situation was. I wondered if all host angels were the same.

Zach pushed her sweater up farther to reveal more of her winged-tattoo-like imprint, identical to Bishop’s and the other angels’. Then he placed his hands on Cassandra’s spine and closed his eyes. His hands began to glow white. Cassandra cried out, and every muscle in my body tensed in sympathy.

I remembered that this felt worse before it felt better—like fire burning straight through your flesh and into your bones.

Finally, Zach returned her sweater to its regular position and helped her to her feet. She wavered unsteadily for a moment, but then got her balance.

“You’re next,” Zach said, before he quickly worked to heal Bishop’s broken shoulder and facial cuts and scrapes.

This was close. Too close. That gray had wanted to crush him into dust right in front of me.

Cassandra looked at Zach. “Thank you.” Then at Bishop. “Both of you.”

Roth cleared his throat. She flicked a glance at him.

“I saved you, sweetheart,” he told her flatly. “You almost got sucked into the Hollow.”

Her expression tightened, but she finally nodded. “Thank you, Roth.”

“Yeah, whatever.” He laughed. “I saved an angel’s ass. Can’t believe it. Good thing you’ve got a nice ass.”

Her cheeks turned red before she looked at me. “I apologize for failing you.”

I stared at her, stunned. “Failing me? He knocked you out cold.”

“It’s unacceptable.” She shook her head, looking angry at herself. “I should have expected—”

“Expected something like that?” Bishop said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re not omniscient. You didn’t know. That was different than anything we’ve ever been faced with before.”

“It was horrible.” She let out a shaky sigh and let Bishop put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him.

Despite everything we’d just experienced, the sight made my face start to burn. I fought hard not to let my inner flare of jealousy show on the surface. “He knew where Stephen was.”

Bishop’s gaze flicked to mine. “Did you want us to let him live?”

My attention brushed against the dead girl nearby and my throat closed. “No. He was a monster. But I—I don’t understand why he was that strong.”

He let go of Cassandra to come stand right in front of me. I studied the ground, feeling his gaze on me, before I finally looked up to meet it. He raised his hand as if to touch me, but then his hand dropped to his side, clenching into a fist. “I haven’t seen anything like that before. Feeding too much...it must make them very strong just before it destroys their minds.”

“Maybe he was about to change,” Roth said. “Maybe this was the last gasp of strength before he lost himself completely.”

“I’m glad Cassandra will be staying with you,” Bishop said. “She can keep you safe.”

“I’ll do my very best,” Cassandra said softly.

She hadn’t exactly kept me safe a minute ago—or herself, for that matter. That gray would have easily dragged me out of here if Bishop hadn’t shown up. But I couldn’t hold it against her. That gray’s strength had been a surprise to all of us.

“Go home. Get some rest,” Bishop said to me, then turned to Cassandra. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

She nodded. “Again, thank you for your assistance. I thought we were on our own.”

“Bishop tends to stalk from a discreet distance,” I said. “You’ll hardly notice him, really.”

His gaze snapped to mine and a smile tugged at his lips. “I’m not stalking you. Never have.”

The smile helped warm me. “Watching from a distance. Secretly observing my every move. I think you might need a dictionary, angel.”

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

My cheeks heated again, for a completely different reason this time. “Thank you.”

Finally, with effort, I tore my gaze from his and began walking away. Cassandra caught up to me a block later. We exchanged a look, and I couldn’t help but notice her expression and mood were much graver than they had been when we’d left the church.

“You okay?” I asked.

She just nodded, keeping her eyes on the path ahead of us.

Even for an angel, being broken and then healed again had to be a traumatic experience. I’d planned to dislike her forever, especially due to her immediate connection with Bishop, but I found I couldn’t after what had happened.

I wasn’t saying I liked her, but despising her for being perfect, blonde and beautiful wasn’t a good enough reason for absolute and immediate dismissal.

I wasn’t positive, but I was pretty sure Bishop followed us back to my house at a discreet distance.

I’d only been kidding before about him being my stalker.