Avenging Angel (24 page)

He’d take what she gave him—and they’d both burn with pleasure.

His claws dug deeper. Her tongue licked over him.

Tanner’s eyes squeezed closed. Her mouth . . . Marna was one
fast
learner. But he didn’t want this to be just about him. “Stop,” he growled out, “before I come.”

Another lick. Another silken caress of lips and tongue, but then she pulled back. His eyes opened.

“I like the way you taste,” she whispered.

He lunged off the bed. Tumbled her back onto the mattress. In one move, Tanner parted her legs and drove into her in a thrust so deep they both shuddered.

He withdrew. Thrust again. Her legs wrapped around him, and her hips arched. Harder. Faster. Their pants filled the air. His orgasm pushed down on him. So close.

Her first.
The thought that he was the first man to know her sweet flesh still staggered him. The first, the only.

He pushed into her again.
Again
. She was wet and hot, and he took her breast into his mouth. Licked. Sucked.

She gasped his name. Her sex clenched around him. Almost there. Almost.

He drove into her once more. Felt the climax that shook her whole body. When she opened her mouth to cry out, he caught the sound with his own lips.

Then he came. So long and hard that his body felt hollowed out and empty when he was done. Pleasure. So intense that it left him wondering . . .

Nothing had ever been this good. No one else ever would be.

He was so fucked.

His claws had retracted. He lifted his hand and brushed back the hair from her cheek. Her lashes rose as she stared at him. Hell, he had to be crushing her. Tanner eased his cock from her silken sheath, hating to take his body from hers, and it was right then that he realized—

His heart stopped. Shifters didn’t generally have to worry about condoms. They couldn’t catch the diseases humans spread and as for pregnancy—well, most shifters
wanted
to be able to have kids. Only they couldn’t have a child with just anyone. Their partner had to be a perfect genetic match-up. One strong enough to carry a shifter child.

One strong enough to be a . . .
mate.

Like Marna was.

“I’m sorry.” He couldn’t look at her eyes. He pulled her back up to the head of the bed. Arranged her on the pillows and made sure to tuck the covers around her.

But she laughed. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. Trust me, Tanner, I think I was the rough one, not you.” Her little nails had dug into his back, and her legs had squeezed so perfectly.

He liked it rough.

He shook his head. She didn’t understand. “I didn’t . . . use anything.” Not
any
of the times he’d been with her.

Fucking blind.
That’s what he’d been. Desperate. Crazy or—

His jaw clenched. Or maybe he’d been trying to hedge his bets. Had he done that? Unconsciously? Had the beast wanted a chance to take her—
all of her?

“Use anything?” she repeated and Tanner forced himself to meet her stare. Her eyes widened. “You mean—”

“I mean you could be pregnant right now.” Angels could get pregnant, just like any other fertile being. Since his mother had been an angel, Brandt had certainly been proof of that.

It didn’t happen often, so maybe they’d have luck on their side, but it
could
happen. “I’ll get condoms,” he said. “We’ll be safe from now on.” He wouldn’t make this mistake again.

She simply stared back at him. Uh, yeah, why wasn’t she freaking out on him? He’d just told her she could have a shifter hybrid in her belly right then. And she was just . . . staring at him.

“A child?” She bit her lower lip and tilted her head to the right. “I’ve never thought about having someone of my own like that.”

Well, it wasn’t like the hypothetical kid would
just
be hers. He’d never walk away from his child. “I wouldn’t be like my father.” His voice came out rough, gravelly. Tanner cleared his throat and tried again. “I promise, if something . . . if we have . . .” Could he screw this up more? Probably not. He exhaled. “I would never hurt him.” She had to believe that. He would
never
hurt any child he had.

Voice soft, she said, “I never thought you would.”

What?

“You’ve never hurt me. Why would you hurt your baby?”

Because he was the product of one screwed-up family tree. Because he was violent inside. Dangerous. “I
wouldn’t.
” He’d sooner cut off his own hands than ever lay one on a child. No matter what else happened in this world, he’d never hurt an innocent.

He could still hear his own cries in his nightmares. It had taken the child he’d been a while to learn that the tears only made his father hit more. Hit harder.

He took another deep breath and just pulled in more of her scent. Marna would never hurt a kid. She’d love the child. Protect him. Always keep him safe.

What the hell?
Was he starting to picture her carrying his kid now? “It might not happen.” He rolled away from her. Headed to the desk of drawers near the wall and found an extra pair of jeans inside. Kali, that doctor with the dark brown eyes and sad smile, had told him that she kept extra clothes upstairs for her patients.

He’d count himself as a patient then.

He glanced back at Marna. “I’ll be careful from here on out.” Shouldn’t she be yelling at him? Telling him how he’d messed things up for her? It wasn’t like she could actually want to be saddled with his kid.

Hybrids weren’t exactly the easiest of the supernaturals to raise. They both knew how the last shifter and angel mix had turned out. Brandt had been more devil than savior. “You can yell if you want,” he offered cautiously.

Her brows rose. “Why?”

Because I fucked up. Because I didn’t take good enough care of you.
“Because I put you at risk! I could have gotten you pregnant.”

She shrugged.
Shrugged.

She might just make him lose his mind.

Then she said, “I think I’d like to have a baby.” Her words almost broke him.

Careful now, he asked, “A baby . . . or
my
baby?” Because if any other dumbass came around her . . .

She might want a child with another angel. A pureblood.
And Bastion had sure been sniffing around her.

Bastion could screw off.

Tanner took a nice, long count to five. The red faded from his vision. He could actually stay sane. He could. “I didn’t mean—”

“Yours.”

The panther roared inside, pride filling him. Tanner advanced toward her. “Marna, I—”

Footsteps raced up the stairs. Heavy. Hard. Tanner’s head whipped up and around to the door just as a fist pounded on the wood. “Kali needs you downstairs, shifter!” Riley yelled.
“Now!”

Marna jumped from the bed. Her back was to Tanner, and he glimpsed her wounds. He frowned a moment. The red scars looked like they’d risen higher, and when he’d touched them before, the ridges had actually felt more solid, too. He hadn’t really thought much about it then because he’d been too lost in the best orgasm of his life, but—

“Your brother’s dying!” Riley shouted.

He forgot about her scars and leapt for the door.

M
arna raced behind Tanner as he hurried down the stairs. When he’d yanked open the bedroom door, she’d immediately conjured her clothes. Being naked in front of Riley wasn’t an option she was in the mood to consider.

She only wanted to be naked with Tanner. For Tanner.

He leapt over the last few stairs and darted toward the back room. Marna wasn’t sure what she expected—maybe a makeshift operating room like Cody had once had at his place in the swamp—but inside the tiny room, she only saw a bed. A wall of surgical instruments. And a line of refrigerators that hummed.

She took a breath and caught the heavy scent of blood.

“Usually vamps are the only ones who come to see Kali.” Riley was at her side. “We figured out fast that we needed one of our own to help us when things got desperate.”

The small woman with the dark eyes and fragile beauty—she was a vamp? The lady’s hands were currently covered in blood because she had her fingers shoved over Cody’s bleeding wounds.

“The sutures didn’t hold. The bleeding’s too intense!” The woman—Kali—glanced up, and Marna clearly saw the fear on her face.

Cody’s eyes were open. They looked faded, tired, but his gaze found Tanner’s. “I-it’s . . . okay.” His words were a bare whisper.

“The hell it is!” Tanner was at his side instantly. “We can fix you, Cody.
We can fix you.
Just hold on and—”

Cody’s body started to shake.

Marna stepped forward. “Give him my blood.” It had worked before, with Tanner. It would work again.

Kali looked at her. “I tried giving him a transfusion already. It didn’t—”

“You didn’t try my blood.” Marna held out her arm. “Take my blood. Give it to him.”

Kali frowned at her. The woman managed to look angry, desperate, and hopeful all at once. “And your blood’s special because—”

“It just fuckin’ is,” was Riley’s response as he took what actually looked like a protective stride toward Marna. “Now stop asking questions. Take the blood, and give it to the demon.”

“N-no,” Cody’s whisper.

Marna looked over at him. Tanner had put his hands on his brother’s chest, and she knew he was trying to stop the blood. Trying, but it wasn’t going to work. His fingers were just getting soaked in blood.

Kali reached for a needle and syringe. “You the right type?”

Humans had types. Angels didn’t. “I’m the only type you need.”

Kali’s brow rose, but she didn’t ask any more questions. She just said, “Then I’m gonna rig this thing because we don’t have time to waste. Your veins to his, and if he dies . . .” Her breath rushed out. “Then at least we tried.”

Marna wondered if the others could smell the light scent of flowers that had drifted into the room. Death was close.

“N-no.”
Cody began to thrash on the narrow bed. “Don’t w-want . . .”

“You want to live, don’t you?” Tanner snapped at him. “Then you let us help you.”

Cody shook his head. “W-won’t take her . . . bl-blood. ”

Kali hesitated.

Tanner swallowed and stared down at his brother. Just looking at Tanner’s face hurt Marna then, and she rubbed at the ache in her chest. An ache that seemed centered right over her heart.

Voice quiet, Tanner said, “If you don’t take her blood, you’ll die. Are you really gonna make me watch you die?”

Lines of pain bracketed Cody’s mouth. “If . . . t-take it . . .” Every word seemed to bring him more agony, but he kept struggling to speak. “Go back to . . . wh-what I was . . . l-like . . .”

“You’ll never be that way again! I promise. I can help you. I can—”

“A-addic . . . ted . . .” was Cody’s hushed whisper. “L-lost.”

Marna lifted her hands and stared down at the faint, blue outline of the veins at her wrists. Someone who didn’t want her blood? Now that was a change.

“I’m not letting you die.” Tanner was adamant. Fierce. The way she liked him.

Blood dripped from Cody’s lips. “Pl . . . please . . .” His whisper was almost painful to hear. “One t-time . . . let mme . . . do . . .” His body jerked. “S-something . . . right.”

“You’ve always done the right thing!” Tanner yelled back. Yells and whispers. So opposite, but both so desperate. So sad. “You were the good one. The one who had a chance. We both know I’m screwed up. That I’ve got the bastard’s darkness in me.”

Marna frowned. Tanner didn’t have darkness inside of him. He was good. Kind.

Kali and Riley just watched the brothers and didn’t speak, and Marna found she had no words to say, either.

Another tremor shook Cody.
“Please . . .”

Tanner’s hands were still on his chest. “What the hell am I supposed to do without you?”

“L-love . . . her.”

The words were so garbled Marna wasn’t sure if she’d heard correctly. Her gaze dropped to Cody’s body. His stomach . . . how much pain he must feel. How much suffering. Why hadn’t a death angel come for him yet? If Cody wasn’t going to take her blood, why did he have to suffer?

“Why?” The whisper was hers, but then she noticed . . .

Something was happening to Tanner’s hands. A faint glow appeared around his fingers. Frowning, she stepped closer. She’d never seen anything like that before, and in her very long lifetime, she thought for sure that she’d seen everything. “Tanner?”

“What the hell?” Riley’s voice. He’d seen it, too.

Kali’s gaze flew back to her patient. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to make this bastard live! If he doesn’t take the blood, he’ll—”

“No.” Marna cut through his words. She was almost close enough to touch Tanner now. Only she was afraid to touch Tanner. That light . . . “What are you doing with your hands?”

Tanner stared at her, face tense; then he looked down at his hands, resting on Cody’s wounds. At the fingers with their faint white light.

“You’re a healer.” Kali’s voice was relieved. “Jeez, man, you should have said that right away. I thought you were a shifter—”

“I am.” He was still staring at his glowing fingertips.

Cody wasn’t jerking any longer. His eyes had closed. Were his wounds trying to close, too? It looked like less blood was pouring from him, but maybe she was just hoping too much.

Kali leaned in closer and stared at Cody’s wounds. “Then how the hell are you doing this?”

“I don’t know.” The light began to dim.

Cody’s body trembled.

“Don’t stop!” Marna realized she’d yelled and cleared her throat. “Your mother, Tanner . . . your mother was a healer.”

His hands weren’t glowing any longer. He stared at his fingers and clenched his fists. “But I’m just a killer.”

No, he was so much more.

He sucked in a deep breath. “I told you, I didn’t get any of her power. I’ve never been able to—”

Marna grabbed him and yanked him back around to face her. “Just because you haven’t before, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t using that power now.” Who knew what had happened. Maybe he’d just gotten desperate enough to unlock a magic buried deep inside himself. She’d sure heard of wilder things in her time. His mother
had
been a healer, and maybe Tanner hadn’t realized it, but she’d passed on her gift to him. “You’ve got your father’s beast inside, but you’ve also got part of her in there, too.”

He stared back at her. She could see that he wanted to hope but he was holding back. Too many years of facing the darkness alone?

He wasn’t alone anymore. “You can do this,” Marna told him. “Just
try,
Tanner. Try for me. Try for Cody.” If it didn’t work, she’d shove her blood down that demon’s throat. Marna wouldn’t stand by helplessly while Tanner suffered.

Losing his brother would make her shifter suffer. She wouldn’t allow that. No one was hurting him any longer. Not while she was there.

It was time someone started to protect Tanner.

The ridges on her shoulder blades seemed to burn and itch again, but Marna ignored them. Right then, Tanner was all that she could think about.

“Put your hands back on him.” Kali’s voice. Sharp.

Tanner stared at Marna a moment longer; then he put his hands over Cody’s wounds. “Nothing’s happening.” Fury ripped through his words.

“Because you’re not making it happen.” Kali’s eyes were blazing with dark heat. “I’ve seen a healer work before. I’ve been walking this earth for three hundred years and been patching up the wounded for most of that time. You really think you’re the first to come my way?”

She barely looked twenty-one. Vampires . . . so tricky. And . . . Marna would have once thought . . .
evil
.

Once. But Riley was different. This Kali, she was different, too. Not mistakes as some of the angels claimed. There was far, far more to them.

Hope. Passion. Life.

“You’ve got to pull the power up from inside.” Kali put her hands on top of Tanner’s. “You have to want him to live more than you want anything else. You have to take your power . . .” Her gaze dropped back to Cody. “And give it to him.”

Jaw clenching, Tanner stared down at his brother. Cody wasn’t moving now. Barely breathing. “I’m . . . trying,” Tanner gritted. “Nothing’s happening.”

Fighting to keep her voice calm, Marna told him, “You can do this.” But if he didn’t do it in about the next thirty seconds, she’d make—

A faint glow appeared around Tanner’s fingers.

“Sonofabitch. ”
Riley’s stunned voice.

But Tanner didn’t look his way. He stared at his hands, so did Marna, and she watched as, very slowly, Cody’s wounds began to heal. What had been slashed now slipped back together, mending, bonding, and it was one of the most amazing things she’d ever seen.

Then she felt Tanner’s body tremble against hers. Her gaze flew to his face. He was pale—no,
white
and sweat had beaded his upper lip. “Tanner?”

He didn’t answer her.

Then she understood, too late.

You have to take your power.
That’s what Kali had said. Take it—

But if he gave Cody everything, then what would be left?

Cody’s breath was coming easily now, the wounds almost closed. He could survive them now.

“Stop,” Marna told Tanner. But he didn’t. He just kept pouring his power right into his brother.

“Stop!” This time, Marna didn’t wait for Tanner to obey. She shoved him away from that bed, and he stumbled back a few feet. His sluggish movements told her just how weak he’d become.

She didn’t like him this way. She wanted him strong. He fell to the floor. His eyes began to sag closed.

Cody was fine, but what about Tanner? Marna lifted her arm toward the vampire. “Get your needle ready.” Because she was going to make sure Tanner was back to one hundred percent strength and power.

It was her turn to take care of him.

 

“It’s the blood.”

Tanner heard the words, muffled at first, but they pushed through his consciousness, and his eyes opened.

He was on a bed. A bed that still carried Marna’s scent, but she wasn’t around.

His brother sat in a chair just a few feet away, watching him.

Tanner leapt up. “You’re alive!” He ran to his brother and yanked him out of his chair. The bear hug he gave the guy could have crushed bones, but, hey, Cody was a demon, he could stand a little pain.

Especially since he was healed now.

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 . . .”