Eve was so stunned it took her a moment to reply. “And here I thought only the devil traded dreams for souls.”
“Who do you think taught him everything he knows?” He lifted the lid of a wooden box on his desktop and withdrew a cigar. “All that you will need has been placed in your condominium.”
“You had someone in my house?” Her foot tapped rapidly on the carpet. “I don’t suppose your affiliation with my homeowners’ association is a coincidence?”
“There is no such thing as coincidence, Ms. Hollis.”
Alec caught her elbow. “We’re done here, then.”
“Not so fast,” she muttered. “I want that tape.”
“And I want world peace,” Gadara replied. “I would also like to smoke this cigar, but my body is a temple. We do not always get what we want.”
“We’ll see about that.” Eve smiled grimly and headed toward the elevator.
“Cain.”
A shiver moved through her at the sound of Alec’s name spoken in that cultured voice. The infamous Cain. Everyone knew his story. But having met both brothers, she knew there was far more to the tale than the few brief paragraphs mentioned in the canonized bible.
Alec paused. “Yes?”
“I have been authorized to credit you for every vanquishing, in consideration of your added responsibility as Ms. Hollis’s mentor. Double the indulgences should cut your service in half, if you play your cards right.”
The terrible stillness that gripped Alec alarmed Eve. She set her hand lightly on his hip. He caught and held it tightly.
“This isn’t a game,” he bit out.
“A turn of phrase,” Gadara said. “Nothing more.”
“Alec?” Eve murmured when he continued to stare, unmoving.
He shook his head as if in disgust, then continued to the elevator, pulling her with him.
When the doors closed behind them, Eve linked her fingers with his. She opened her mouth to speak, then her gaze lifted to the camera in the corner. She held her tongue until they exited the building.
The moment they breathed smog instead of Mark emanations, Eve blurted, “Double the indulgences.” She fought an inconvenient urge to laugh hysterically. “He’s bribing you.”
“It’s not going to work.”
“It has to be tempting.”
“Angel.” His tone was as sharp as the look he gave her. “It’s not going to work. Period.”
“You called him a kingpin. Like the mafia?”
“You heard him and saw how he works. They’re all like that. We always get a choice, but that doesn’t mean the options are equal or favorable.”
“So the picture he presented of seven head honchos working harmoniously together was crap?”
“I’d say they work together about as well as Democrats and Republicans.” He unfastened the passenger helmet from the back of his bike, then freed her hair of its ponytail. “And they’re just as politically minded.”
“Lovely.”
After settling the helmet on her head, Alec adjusted the strap beneath her chin. He kissed the tip of her nose. “Those in favor get bigger perks.”
“Whatever he has against you is personal.” She wasn’t asking a question. “Because of me, you’ve played right into his hands.”
Alec mounted the bike. Eve hopped on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “The only person who’s got their hands on me is you,” he said over the rumbling of the engine.
“You’ll have to come up with a better explanation than that,” she shouted.
“I know.” He rolled the hog back, his powerful thighs flexing against hers. “But not here.”
They roared out of the parking lot.
As Reed stepped onto the roof of Gadara Tower, he slipped his shades over his eyes and took in the majestic view. A helicopter waited on the nearby heliport, its blades still and shining in the late afternoon sun. A sliver of ocean was visible from this vantage point and the reflection of sunlight on nearby building windows made the sunny day even brighter. A breeze ruffled his hair, caressed his nape, and filled his nostrils with air untainted by the stench of Infernals.
“Abel.”
His head turned to find Raguel exiting the stairwell to the rooftop. The man was dressed for the tropics with a straw hat on his head and leather sandals on his feet. An unlit cigar hung between his lips and his stride was elegantly unhurried.
“Raguel.” Reed extended his hand and it was clasped in a firm, warm hold.
The archangel pulled the cigar free and said, “You were right. Cain had yet to explain to Ms. Hollis.”
Pushing his hands into his trouser pockets, Reed smiled. Eve had been brought up to speed, which meant life was about to get a lot more interesting. “Excellent. When does the next training rotation start?”
“
When
she begins training depends on your brother. He has begun an investigation into a tengu infestation at one of my developing properties. It is a concern to me, so I have asked him to see the investigation through.”
“What does that have to do with Eve?”
“Since he refuses to rely on you for Ms. Hollis’s care while he proceeds, we will have to wait for them to finish.”
“
Them?
You expect Eve to help him in the field?”
“Cain refused to have it any other way.”
“That isn’t Cain’s decision to make.”
“No. It was mine.”
Reed paused midstep. Raguel continued a few steps before he realized he was alone. He turned around.
“You
assigned
Eve?” Reed was startled more by the roiling emotions he felt than by the blatant deviation from protocol. “Without consulting me?”
Eve was a member of Raguel’s firm, yes, but assigning her to a mission was a prerogative that fell squarely and solely within Reed’s purview. He liked rules. Perhaps even relished them. It was easier to exceed expectations when one knew what those expectations were. And with Eve, his position as her handler was his sole stanchion in a dynamic of two. He was wedging his way in as the third wheel and he wasn’t going to give up his grip without a fight.
Raguel shrugged. “A bit presumptuous, perhaps, but I knew you would agree.”
“I don’t.”
“Oh?” Raguel’s brows rose. “What better way to teach your brother to work within the system?”
“What about Eve?”
“What about her?”
“Don’t be dense,” Reed bit out. “With Cain’s scent all over her, she needs to be at the top of her game, not dangling from the bottom rung.”
Rocking back on his heels, Raguel grinned. “You say that with such venom, as if the thought of your brother with Ms. Hollis is offensive to you.”
“Ridiculous,” Reed scoffed. “This has nothing to do with Cain and everything to do with my responsibility as Eve’s handler. I don’t like to lose Marks.”
“This has everything to do with Cain and nothing to do with Ms. Hollis,” Raguel countered, gesturing to the helicopter pilot with an impatient wave of his hand. “She is a means to an end. Her purpose is to act as a stick to prod your brother into line.”
Reed’s fists clenched within his pockets. “Did that come from above? Or from you?”
“It came from common sense.” The helicopter’s engine whined into motion, its blades whistling through the air in a rapidly increasing tempo. “Cain is a hazard if he does not learn to toe the line.”
“He’s incorrigible. You think you can succeed where Jehovah hasn’t? Your head’s getting too big.”
“Not at all.” Raguel smiled. “You are simply underestimating Ms. Hollis and her effect on your brother.”
“You’re thinking of her as a woman, not as a Mark.”
“So are you.”
Reed ignored the jibe. “I’m pulling her off the mission. She needs to be properly trained.”
“You do that, and I will transfer Ms. Hollis to another firm and handler.”
“Bullshit. You wouldn’t pass Cain over for something so insignificant.”
“Are you willing to gamble on that?” Raguel yelled, his voice carrying on the wind created by the revolving blades. “He might be less trouble screwing up another firm.”
“Screwing up? He has a 100 percent success rate.”
“Not for much longer if he disregards you as handler and manages Ms. Hollis by himself. One of them will be killed. As high profile as he is, the loss of him or his Mark under my watch would ruin centuries of prestige. I will not allow it.”
Reed’s jaw tightened. “You can’t expect me to follow the rules if you don’t.”
“The three of you will be the death of either me or yourselves.” Raguel stepped closer until only an inch or two separated them. “Whatever interest you have in Ms. Hollis, I suggest you keep it strictly professional. You have been given an unassailable position of power over your brother through Ms. Hollis. Keeping them together should be your priority. Now, I have to get to the airport to catch my flight. If you still have reservations when I return, we can discuss it further at that time.”
“She might be dead by then.”
“If that is God’s will.” Clutching his hat to his head, Raguel ran the distance to the chopper and climbed in.
God’s will. Reed spit the bile out of his mouth. God’s hand was far from this, separated from the mechanics by layers of seraphim, hashmallim, and angels. For some time now, Reed had begun to wonder if there was a lesson to be learned in the distance between Jehovah and the world. Perhaps it was to remind them that they couldn’t hack it on their own. He tried to tell himself that the purpose was edifying—the harder they worked, the more they would appreciate the fruit of their labors. But truly, machinations like this always tested his faith.
“Damn you, Cain.”
Once again his brother was disrupting the order of things, and Reed was expected to bend and adjust to make it work.
As the helicopter lifted into the air, Reed’s mind sifted through the moves available to him with the same fury with which the wind whipped through his hair. He wanted another round with Eve, but making that move could push Cain completely out of the picture and without Cain, Reed would lose his chance to achieve his ambitions.
He couldn’t let that happen. This was his best opportunity to further his long-held position that he was ready for advancement to archangel.
Reed knew, without any doubt, that he could manage a firm and manage it well. The world’s population had grown exponentially. The existing seven firms were overtaxed, understaffed, and the archangels heading them were overappreciated because of it. They lusted for God’s approval and infighting was rampant. Expansion was needed and Reed was determined to step into play when it happened.
Fucking Eve was hot as hell, but the pleasure was fleeting. If he kept his dick away from her, he could enjoy the extended satisfaction of governing something that Cain thought belonged solely to him.
He shouldn’t be conflicted at all. There was no contest between the two options—Eve or the realization of all his goals.
“Eve,” he growled, running his hands through his hair.
She was as helpless and vulnerable as a field mouse and Infernals were circling her like ravenous hawks. Hell,
he
was circling her.
Beware of the apples.
He should have foreseen how this would turn out when she gave him that scorching look in the lobby that first day.
Shit.
Reed spun on his heel and left the roof.
Alec pulled to a stop at a red light and balanced his bike with one leg on the ground. Because of Raguel’s thirst for God’s approval, Alec had known it would be risky to keep Eve close to home, but he never thought Raguel would risk her deliberately. If he’d even suspected that as a possibility, he would have requested a different firm. Antarctica, perhaps. Or Australia.
His knuckles whitened on the handlebars. He was being leashed by the one thing that he gave a damn about, which left him cornered, trapped between a disapproving God, an antagonistic brother, and an overly ambitious archangel who would do anything to achieve his aims. And Eve. Sassy, sexy Eve was the glue holding it all together.
Raguel assumed Alec wanted to shed the mark and return to a normal life. That was his biggest miscalculation. He thought the lure of double indulgences and the freedom they implied would be irresistible. He didn’t understand that Alec had one skill, one talent—killing. Alec could no more turn his back on that and live a “normal” life, than he could stop loving Evangeline Hollis. But his ambition to head his own firm was a secret no one knew. He kept it close to his heart, hidden until the day he could present it as more than a pipe dream.
Eve.
Despite the volatility of his thoughts, nothing could fully distract him from the feel of her soft, warm body wrapped around his back. She was so delicate and fragile. He would have to train her himself for now, a solution that was less than perfect. He’d worked alone for so long. He had no idea where to begin, what to focus on, or . . . anything. He was completely clueless.
Eve tapped him on the thigh and shouted to be heard over the rumbling of the engine. “Go home. I want to check on my mom.”