Eve of Chaos (14 page)

Her hands went
to her hips. “What the hell did I go through training for?”

“Why do you
think you have a mentor?” he shot back. “You can’t learn everything you need to
know in seven weeks. You’re not up to a fight like this yet, Eve, and I can’t do
what needs to be done when I’m worried about you.”

Cain.
Sabrael’s voice throbbed through his brain with the
unalloyed power of a seraph.
You must speak with me.

Alec was
physically jolted by the violence with which the darkness inside him recoiled
from Sabrael.
Not a good time,
he snapped.

You owe me.
Have you forgotten so quickly?

Have you
forgotten that I told you I’d get to you when I get to you?

Eve pressed on,
unaware of the silent exchange. “So assign me to another mentor.”

Alec’s first
urge was to hit her, which scared the shit out of him. He clasped his hands
behind his back. “No.”

“Why not? If
you’re too busy to do your job, you should assign me to someone else.”

Fury battered
his control. How had Raguel managed it? Alec was exhausted by the constant
struggle.

“You’re mine,
angel,” he said harshly. “Even if you don’t act like it.”

“This is
business we’re talking about.” Her chin lifted. “Raguel threatened to reassign
me, so I know it’s possible. The mark system has a backup plan for everything.”

“I’ll back you
up.” He stalked forward. He felt himself move as if on autopilot, his mind
disconnected from the seething emotions that drove his actions. “Against a
wall. Nail you right to it.”

Another couple
of feet and she’d be cornered. Trapped. Nowhere to run..

Eve held her
ground. “You sound like your brother”.

Alec’s brow
arched. “You spit that out as if you don’t want him. And we both know that you
do.”

Impatient, he
shifted across the distance to her, catching her ponytail in a fist and a belt
loop with his fingers. The loop ripped free, the tearing noise sparking a wave
of heat between them.

“Alec.
. .“
Her voice was breathy and tremulous. He wanted it
throaty and hoarse. Wanted her nails in his back and her sweat on his skin.

He closed his
eyes and breathed deeply, relishing the feel of her slender body trembling
against his. He felt the Infernals in the firm tapping into his lust and fury.
He cut them off and heard the echoes of their protesting cries. Weakened by the
loss of their power, Alec sucked the energy he needed from Eve, taking her
mouth with a desperation that crawled over his skin.

She gasped her
breath into his lungs, her lithe frame stiff at first, then a surging warmth
against him. Her

lush breasts
pressed into his chest, her fingers tangled in his shirt, her legs intertwined
with his.

Eve bit his lip.
“Is this what you want? To take me down fighting?”

The taste of
blood hardened his cock until it ached. He shook her. “I don’t give a shit how
I have you. I just want you to stop jerking me around and give up the goods.”

Her hand fisted
in his hair and yanked. “Who the fuck are you? Because you sure as hell aren’t
Alec Cain.”

Shaking
violently, he felt like a drunk in need of booze. The vestiges of Eve’s Novium
were leaching into his system, spurring his dark needs further. He changed
tactics.

“Come on,
angel,” he coaxed. “You know you want it as bad as I do. You know how good it
is between us. How hard you come when I’m fucking you.
. .
until you’re begging me to stop..

Her dark eyes
were fever-bright, her lips slick and swollen. “You’re pushing me like Robert,”
she said scornfully. “Remember him? My ex from high school who wanted to pop
the cherry I saved for you?”

“Eve—” Bloodlust
surged at the memory of the cocky blond kid who’d tried to hard-sell Eve into a
screw in the back of a Mustang. Alec had known then that he couldn’t allow
anyone else to have her.

Don’t let the
thing inside you have her.

His grip ripped
her jeans further. A second more and there would be nothing left.

She yanked his
head down to hers, her mouth slanting across his, wet and hot. Fueled by anger
and determination, the kiss punished him so thoroughly his throat clenched tight
against it. He hated her like this, hated himself for making her like this.

I’m sorry,
angel.
..
sorry..

She changed at
the sound of his voice. Gentled. A low moan vibrated in her chest, a sound of
longing and surrender. The convulsive flexing of her fingers at his nape and
the feel of her hand sliding up beneath his shirt conveyed a wealth of feeling.
Her tongue pushed past his lips, licking deep and slow. Savoring. She loved him
too much to stay mad at him.

And the part of
him that had loved her before the ascension knew if he didn’t get her away from
his personal demons, they would break her.

He twisted his
head away, gasping.
He
didn’t want her in rushed brutality. He wanted
her slow and long. Soft and pliant. It was the
thing
inside him that wanted
to turn what they had into something... wrong.

“Alec.” Eve
pressed her forehead to his. “Something isn’t right with you. Isn’t right
in
you. I can feel it.”

Take her,
the voices urged.

“I need to
fuck,” he said coldly. Deliberately. “Take your clothes off before I rip them
off.”

She pushed away.
The pain in her eyes made him desperate to take the words back. He didn’t.

“Alec?”

He ripped open
the button fly of his jeans, freeing his cock. “On your knees. I want your
mouth first.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m going to
fuck
you
instead.”

Her arms wrapped
around her torso. She backed away a step at a time. He forcibly restrained
himself from stalking her further.

A tear slipped
down her cheek. “It’s like there are two people inside you. The Alec I know,
and a monster.”

“You’re starting
to bore me, Eve.” His mark burned at the lie.

“You’re starting
to scare me.”

Alec struggled
to remain upright, wracked by a pain in his chest that threatened to double him
over. But she didn’t seem to see it. No, she saw only the darkness inside him
that wanted to do things to her Alec couldn’t allow.

“I changed my
mind.” He rebuttoned the fly of his jeans with slow, leisurely movements.

Her gaze was
wary, as if she was considering running. He hoped she didn’t. He wasn’t sure he
could fight the urge to hunt her down.

“I’ve decided to
accept your Dear John speech after all.”

Her gasp was
audible, as if he’d struck her. “What?” he queried snidely. “Didn’t you mean
it?” Alec turned his back to her, walking around her desk to put something
substantial between them. “That’s one of your problems, Eve. You’re a tease.
You were fun while we were fucking, but now—”

She reached out
to Abel and an instant later was gone, shifted away by his brother before he
could say more. Alec leaped over the desk, unable to fight the fury at her
loss.

An unseen force
restrained his pursuit. His feet were rooted to the carpeted floor, causing him
to nearly topple when he attempted to lunge.

Sabrael’s amused
voice spoke behind him. “You broke her heart with laudable precision. You
always did cut to the quick?”

Alec stumbled as
he was freed. He pivoted, flinching from a blinding brightness that put the sun
to shame. Blinking rapidly, he engaged the thick layer of corneal lubrication
that enabled him to see through the seraph’s glow to the man within. Sabrael
sat at Eve’s desk, his six wings tucked away, his feet resting atop the edge of
her desk. The wicked spikes that lined the outside edges of his black leather
boots glinted in the glare of his luminescence. The brutal footwear was a stark
contrast to the white, one- shouldered robe he wore. The visual dichotomy was a
physical manifestation of the angel’s temperament. Outwardly a model of his
station, Sabrael hid a razor’s edge of cruelty.

“I’m busy,
Sabrael. You’ll have to wait in line” The seraph’s eyes filled with the purest,
bluest of flames and a hint of laughter that made Alec’s hackles rise. “Relax.
I am not here to cash in my chips, Cain. I am here on behalf of your mother.”

“No.” Alec shook
his head, anticipating the question. “Not now?”

“You keep
delaying her. She is displeased.”

 
Alec snorted. “Haven’t you noticed the world’s
gone to shit? It’s not safe?”

“Gabriel disagrees”
Sabrael’s smile was both beautiful and frightening. “He is weary of her
complaints, so you have a week to prepare for her. Besides, you have a home
now. Surely this visit will be less hazardous than when you were roaming?”

“You’re pissing
me off.” The seraphim regularly withheld information from God, but the extent
of their subterfuge never failed to astound. “Tell Jehovah what’s going on down
here and he’ll settle her. He won’t risk her, you know that.”

Sabrael crossed
his massive arms. “You have everything under control, do you not? If you are
incapable of the task you requested, simply let me know and I will relieve you
of the burden.”

Jaw clenching,
Alec fought the urge to attack. With a seraph, it would be suicidal. “I’ve got
a handle on things.”

“Excellent. Then
there should be no problem with your mother visiting.” Sabrael brushed at his
immaculate robe, as if he were not intensely focused on Alec like a hawk with
its prey in sight. “Does Evangeline know that this promotion is what you wanted?
Did you tell her that?”

“Does it matter
now?”

Sabrael laughed
softly. “I suppose not.”

“Sara was with
Abel for a long time,” Alec said with a shrug, while inside, his discomposure
grew. “Relationships aren’t impossible.”

Yes, he’d
suspected he would lose his ability to love Eve—if only subconsciously—but he’d
planned on her leaving him first. He’d intended for her to be mortal again and
moved on with her life when his advancement came. The loss of his ability to
love her would have been welcome then. How else would he survive her loss?

But Eve wouldn’t
understand. She would see only that his love for her had taken a back seat to
his ambition.

“Sarakiel
toyed
with Abel,” Sabrael argued, “and Abel used her in return. God created us to
connect physically by design. But sex does not a true partnership make.”

“I really don’t
care about Abel or our anatomy.”

“And now, you do
not care about Evangeline either. Life must be much simpler for you.”

“Go away,” Alec
dismissed. “You’re annoying me.”

The seraph burst
from the chair like a rocket. In a flaming trail of wings, leather, and spikes,
he kicked Alec in the chest and ripped through to the other side. The gaping,
smoldering hole Sabrael wrought was so wide it nearly severed Alec’s torso in
half.

Dropping to his
knees with an agonized scream, Alec toppled to the floor, his cheek skinned by
the harsh pile of the carpet.

You forget
yourself,
the seraph roared.

In torment, Alec
tapped into the power of his beast and found the strength to extend a middle
finger and flip Sabrael off.

There was a
moment of terrible silence, when his pained gasps were the only sounds to fill
the eerie quiet. Then Sabrael laughed—laughed-—and hauled Alec to his feet,
restoring him.

“You amuse me,
Cain.” The seraph brushed away Alec’s tears with tender swipes of his thumbs.
“Because I like you, I will not tell your precious Evangeline about your choice
of ascension over her. Your secret is safe with me.”

Alec slapped the
scorching hands away. “Leave Eve out of this.”

The seraph
hovered over him with a broad smile. “Might I suggest you purchase new linens
for your guest room? Something floral, perhaps? Your mother does love gardens.”

As swiftly as
he’d come, the seraph was gone.

Alec began to
pace, his mind working judiciously. The seraph clearly needed something else to
occupy him. But what?

Then there was
Eve.

The time had
passed when he could have laid everything out on the table for her. Now he had
to find a way to get his shit together. He refused to believe that his brother
had been right all those years ago, when he’d shouted the words that had goaded
Alec to kill him.

The darkness in
him smiled at the memory and his lips curved in a mirroring movement before he
caught himself.

Who the fuck was
running the show in his body?

He inhaled and
exhaled, restoring a semblance of his usual equanimity.