Avenging Angel (The Fallen #4)(57)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Then he saw the bastard who’d hurt her. Saw his face—and everything stopped for him.

Standing there, smiling, holding the bloody knife—no, lifting that f**king knife to his mouth and licking the blood away—that ass**le was Cody.

Cody smiled, and his teeth were stained with her blood. “You were right. It is so easy to get addicted. Especially when the blood is so sweet.”

Tanner roared his fury. Marna was trying to rise. Her hands pushed against the dirty brick wall, and her body shook.

Tanner leapt forward. Brother or no brother, Cody had just signed his own death warrant. I didn’t want to believe it.

He should have believed it.

Tanner knew just how much evil was in their bloodline. I should have believed it.

Not a punishment angel. Their killer was just a twisted prick of a demon.

My brother.

Cody turned and raced away. He laughed as he fled into the cracks that passed for alleyways. The panther rushed to Marna’s side. His head pushed against her shoulder. He couldn’t comfort her like this. Couldn’t hold her. Dammit.

Her hand lifted. Rubbed against his head. “It’s . . . okay. ” Her voice was weak, but her gaze was strong. “This won’t . . . stop me for long.”

A knife wound to the heart couldn’t kill her, but it could hurt her. It had.

I’ll make him pay.

Cody had set him up. Left a trail of blood for him to follow and all the while, Cody had been hunting them. Waiting for his moment to attack.

Now it’s my moment.

He rubbed his head against her shoulder once more. His brother’s laughter drifted on the wind. So close. He couldn’t let him get away. Wouldn’t.

Time to make sure Cody never hurt Marna again.

He spun away from her and leapt into the air. He’d have Cody on the ground before his brother ever had a chance to scream.

My only family. He’d always thought Cody had escaped the curse that seemed to mark them.

Why hadn’t he seen the evil before? Why?

Marna rose slowly and kept the heel of her palm pressed against her chest. That knife wound had hurt. Burned her with a white-hot agony.

And Tanner had roared with such fury. She hadn’t seen her attacker, but she’d recognized that voice.

Cody.

She sucked in a breath. The hot ache in her chest had begun to ease. Now she just needed to force her legs to move so that she could follow Tanner. She wouldn’t let him face this nightmare alone.

She wouldn’t let him be the one to kill Cody.

Her hands fisted. The demon had come after her. Taken her blood. Laughed while she’d fallen into the dirt and grime.

Power began to lick through her. That power gave her the strength to stand upright. To put one foot in front of the other and run.

Rage could fuel her so well, but would it be enough power to kill? Maybe.

She was about to find out.

Tanner tracked the bastard. He followed that scent of ash and animal, and he rounded the last tight turn in the dark, knowing that his brother’s death was at hand.

He flew through the air, his jaws open, ready to rip and tear.

His brother was on the ground. Blood surrounded him. Cody saw him coming toward him and hope lit his eyes.

Hope? He’d give the guy hope. Tanner attacked. In one lunge, he had his teeth over Cody’s throat. Death would be fast. He could give his brother that much.

Cody took her blood. Stabbed her. Hurt her.

“Wh-what are you doin’, bro?” Cody whispered. Tanner hadn’t bitten him yet. Not yet. “H-help me . . .”

The scent of blood was so strong. Tanner pulled back and stared down at his brother. A knife was in Cody’s hand. And his brother . . . aw, f**k, his brother’s stomach looked like it had been hacked open.

Had he done that to himself? Was Cody really that far gone?

The panther inhaled deeply.

The blood on that knife . . .

It wasn’t Marna’s blood. It was only Cody’s. And his brother was on the ground, barely moving because his wounds were so severe. But he’d been laughing just moments before, hadn’t he?

“I . . . f-found . . . th-the other . . . f-freak,” Cody whispered and blood dripped from his mouth.

As the panther, Tanner’s sense of smell was far more acute than it was in his human form. As he inhaled again, he realized there was no trace of Marna’s blood on Cody. There should have been. He’d watched Cody stab her with his own eyes.

Now he was supposed to kill him.

Footsteps thundered toward them. Tanner looked up and saw Marna stumble around the corner. Her hair flew out around her. Her eyes—had they ever looked so dark before?

She saw him, saw Cody, and her face hardened with fury even as she put a hand to her chest.

He could see the blood on her shirt.

“F-found him,” Cody whispered again. “G-got to me . . . wearing b-bastard’s face.”

What bastard? Tanner couldn’t ask right then. Sometimes, being in the panther’s body sucked. He leapt off his brother and tried to catch another scent in the air. Someone else had to be there, someone else—

But the only other scents were older.

Ash and blood.

Marna began to stalk toward Cody. Tanner leapt between them, positioning his body.

Marna froze, and her lips parted in surprise. “Tanner, what are you doing?” She’d sure healed fast. The attack would have killed most folks. All humans—and most supernaturals he knew wouldn’t be walking around so soon after taking a knife to the heart.

He hadn’t even known she could heal this fast.

Her eyes were almost pure black, he could see that, even in the darkness. Sam hadn’t been lying. The rage was building inside of her. Hell, if someone had just shoved a knife into him, maybe he’d be feeling the rage, too.

But it wasn’t Cody.

The panther snarled, trying to tell her that.

Marna’s eyes widened. “You’re protecting him? After what he did to me?”

Not Cody.

Screw this. He had to shift back. Had to change so he could make her understand. He let the burning transformation sweep over him. Barely heard the crunch and pop of his bones. He needed to speak. The man had to take over. He had to—

Mid-shift, when he was most vulnerable, that was when the bullet hit. It came hurtling toward him and thudded into his chest. One hit. Then another.

Silver. He could feel the hot scorching inside of his flesh.

Another thud. A lancing pain hit his knee and Tanner fell.

The shift kept burning through him, but it had slowed now, thanks to that silver. The one firing on him knew exactly what he was doing. He knows all my weaknesses.