Avenging Angel (The Fallen #4)(65)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Especially since he was healed now.

I did that.

For once, he hadn’t destroyed or killed. He’d saved someone. How the hell was that for a change?

“Thanks to you,” Cody said. “I’m most definitely alive.”

Tanner stepped back and studied his brother. There was no sign of an injury that he could see. Hell, the guy didn’t even look pale. He’d been moments away from dying—I felt the cold touch of Death, that bastard, coming too close—but Cody was as good as new now.

Maybe even better than new.

“All my life . . .” Tanner gave a quick laugh. When was the last time he’d laughed? “I thought I was just a killer. I never knew I could—”

Cody’s lips firmed. “It’s the blood,” he said again.

Tanner blinked. Then he rubbed a hand over his face. How had he gotten back up to the bedroom? He remembered the glow from his fingers. Marna’s voice, telling him to stop.

He hadn’t stopped. She’d stopped him.

Cody cleared his throat. “I told you, angel blood can amplify a demon’s powers. It . . . looks like that same amplification is true for all supernaturals.”

Tanner’s gaze narrowed.

“Because you took Marna’s blood, you tapped into the dormant genetics your mother passed to you.”

Marna had helped him to become this way?

“I don’t know how long the changes will last. Probably until the blood in you gets diluted, but since you just got a fresh supply—”

Tanner held up one hand. “Wait, I just got a what?”

“You’ve got to understand how dangerous this is. Why you can’t heal again.” Cody’s voice and face were grim as he said, “When you heal, you give your own life force. If you give away too much, you’ll be the one who dies. That’s how . . .” He glanced away and rubbed a hand over his face. His shoulders were tense as he muttered, “I never told you. I didn’t want you to hate me.”

Now what the hell was the guy rambling about? Cody was alive. Tanner was alive. He could freaking heal. Shouldn’t they be doing some celebrating?

Cody lowered his hand. “You tried so hard to protect me, but there was one day you weren’t there.” Cody glanced back at him. “I should have told you. Years ago. I know. It’s just that you were the only family that ever mattered to me. I couldn’t . . .”

Tanner’s heart began to beat faster. He didn’t like this, and the punch in his gut told him that dislike was about to get one hell of a lot worse. “Told me what?”

Silence. Cody swallowed and his gaze kept holding Tanner’s. When had those lines appeared on Cody’s face? When had he stopped being the kid that Tanner protected and turned into the demon who stood before him?

Then Cody spoke. “One day, you were gone—off training with Brandt—and our father came at me.” His hand lifted to his chest. “He drove his claws into my heart, and he left me to die.”

“What?” And his brother had neglected to tell him this damn important fact? “You almost died?”

“But . . .” A rasp of breath, then, “Your mother was there. Katherine found me.” Cody swallowed and still held Tanner’s stare. “Her hands were glowing, and she put them right on my chest. My whole body seemed to pulse with power when she touched me, and Katherine kept telling me, ‘It’s gonna be all right.’ ”

Tanner could barely remember his mother. Only glimpses. Flashes. The impression of someone good.

She loved me. He’d held tight to that one truth. Always.

“But helping me made her weak.” Cody’s voice broke. “Just like helping me today made you weak.”

“I don’t feel weak.” He felt stronger than ever before.

Cody shook his head. “That’s only because your angel gave you blood. Without her, you’d still be in a coma.”

He stiffened.

“There wasn’t an angel around to help your mother. There was only our father. He found us. Saw what she’d done, and when he attacked, Katherine was too weak to fight back.” Pain whispered beneath his words. “And I was too scared. I stood there, and I watched her die.” A stark confession.

Tanner felt as if his own heart had been clawed out then. He remembered coming back in and seeing the shifters carrying his mother’s body away. He’d screamed and punched at them.

But she’d already been gone.

“If Marna hadn’t given you blood today, you would’ve been too damn weak to protect yourself. You have to understand what’s going on.” Now Cody’s words came faster. “I know you think this new power is some kind of gift. That it makes you better because it came from her.” Cody shook his head. “But it doesn’t. It makes you weak. Vulnerable. Just like it made Katherine weak. And you’ve got to promise never to use it again.”

“Did she . . .” Tanner stopped, cleared his throat. His mother had been gone so long. So why did he hurt so much? “Did my mother say anything . . . ?” Hell, why was he even asking?

The floor creaked behind him. Tanner looked over and found Marna standing in the doorway. She’d been there, of course, the whole time. Her scent had come to him like a soothing touch the minute she’d stepped into the doorway.

“She said your name.” Cody brushed past him. “It was the last thing she said.”

She loved me.

Cody was beside Marna now. He stood near her, but didn’t touch her. “I’m sorry.” Shame lurked in his words. “If I’d been stronger . . .”

Then his mother wouldn’t have died? “He never kept his women around too long.” Forever hadn’t been a concept their father understood. Since he hadn’t been the sharing sort, he viewed death as the only option for getting rid of his unwanted mates.

The bastard really had been born without a soul. And to think, most supernaturals believed shifters had two souls. Those of beasts and men.

Maybe he only got the soul of the beast. Maybe that was why his father had only known fury and violence.

Shoulders hunched and steps slow, Cody crept from the room. After a moment, Marna came inside and quietly closed the door. “You scared me,” she said.

He didn’t move toward her. Tanner felt raw inside. Dangerous.

My mother died for Cody.

“Do you blame him, for her death?”

Tanner shook his head. She was always trying to save the pack. “She died when I was seven. He was only four then.” Just four, and he’d taken claws to the heart. “Saving others . . . that’s who she was.”