My gaze lingers on her lips, and something uncomfortable stirs inside me.
Desire.
Fucking hell.
Curling my lips back in a silent snarl, I shove the feeling down as deep as I can get it. I’m not my brother Sawyer, ruled by lust and carnal cravings. Desire is a distraction, a flash of color outside the ring that draws your focus and leaves you open to attack.
It’s the kind of thing that makes you stupid. Gets you killed.
The kind of thing that breaks you.
My hands form fists again, anger boiling up from deep inside me. My wrath feeds off of other people’s rage, but also off of their fear. When I had the angel pinned beneath me, her wings splayed prettily behind her and her body writhing in the skimpy little pajamas she was wearing, she was definitely afraid.
But the scent of her fear didn’t spur on my battle lust like it normally does. The sight of her terrified brown eyes didn’t ignite my predator’s instincts to lunge in for the kill.
Instead, I wanted to… protect her.
I don’t understand it, and I don’t fucking like it. This angel is dangerous, and it’s not just because of the secrets she’s harboring. If we allow her to stay with us, to keep working with us as we try to close that damn portal, she’ll bring nothing but trouble to my brothers and me.
There’s nothing keeping me here. I don’t owe her shit. I could walk away from all of this, go back to fighting in the ring, and let my brothers fuck themselves if they want to.
I didn’t take the favor she offered because I refuse to bargain with a goddamn angel, no matter how useful it might be to have her owe me down the line.
I have no reason to stay.
But despite all of that, I can’t quite bring myself to walk away.
Not from my brothers. Not from the mystery surrounding the sinkhole and the portal. And not from the soft little angel sleeping in front of me, so small and innocent it feels like I could ruin her with a single touch.
Would she break under my touch?
Or would she come alive?
The urge to reach out and trace a finger over the curve of her cheek nearly overwhelms me, but instead, I spin on my heel and stride out of the room, cursing all angels under my breath.
“Are you sure this is where he is?” Trinity asks, her eyes widening as we all step out of Beckett’s car.
We’re in a shady part of New York City, an area I know well, and although I’m a little amused by the scandalized look on her face, I’m annoyed by it too.
“What’s the matter, your highness?” I grate. “You too good for a place like this?”
Her mocha skin flushes a little, and a little line appears between her brows. That seems to happen when she’s pissed.
“I didn’t say that,” she shoots back, a little burst of anger flaring out from her. I inhale it like a drug. It’s sweet, just like she is, but there’s a bite of something sharper at the back of it, like candy with a hint of cayenne in it. It’s fuckin’ addicting, and I have to resist the urge to keep poking at her just to get another hit of her anger.
“It’s okay, Trin,” Remi says reassuringly, ever the peacekeeper. “We’ll be with you the whole time. And it’s not the kind of place where people will get violent—not like the fight ring. It’s a pleasure den, so the whole point is to keep people… pleased. Okay?”
Goddammit. His euphemism makes me want to punch him. Just because she’s an angel, we’re not allowed to say the word “fucking” around her? Because that’s what people are doing inside this place. They’re fucking, and all the variations thereof.
“Hurry the fuck up,” I mutter, just to prove a point. I’m not cleaning up my damn language just because we’ve got an angel in our midst. “My source told me she saw Henrik heading inside about an hour ago. We need to get inside and find him before he slips out one of the back exits.”
Trinity surprises me by picking up her pace, her shoulders squaring a little as we all approach the nondescript brick facade of the building. The proprietors keep the place tightly under wraps especially since it’s a pleasure den for supernaturals. They don’t want humans poking their noses where they don’t belong and getting an eyeful of a gargoyle getting it on with a sprite.
Beckett pushes the door open, and the bouncer standing inside gives us a nod, immediately recognizing that none of us are quite human. His gaze lingers on the angel with a mix of suspicion and appreciation, trailing down her body as he cocks his head.
I step forward, anger rushing through me like a flash fire. The beefy man jerks, holding his hands up.
“Hey, man. As long as she’s not human, it’s all good,” he mutters, then jerks his head down the hall. “If y’all need a room, talk to the matron up front.”
Trinity lets out a little squeak, and I clench my jaw as my cock twitches inexplicably.
We make our way past the bouncer, but instead of going to seek out the madam, I turn back to face the others. “We should split up. This place is big, with multiple levels and subsections for different kinds of kinks and shit. I don’t know what the hell Henrik is into, so he could be anywhere. We’ll cover more ground quicker if we separate.”
The angel makes another little noise, and Beckett glances over at her. “We’re not leaving you on your own, angel. You’ll stick with one of us.”
I shoot him a hard look. The fucker might claim this is just because he doesn’t trust Trinity, but that’s not the truth—or at least, not all of it.
He’s protective of her.
Possessive of her.
“Oh, okay.” She sounds relieved as she looks around at the four of us. “I guess I’ll go with Phoenix then?”
Nix rolls his eyes and Remi looks slightly disappointed, like he was hoping she would pick him. I’m not surprised she chose one of those two fuckheads though—in the car, she sat between the two of them in the back seat, and I’ve noticed that she often ends up sandwiched between them, like that’s the place she feels safest.
It makes sense. Remi can make anyone let their guard down, and Nix is too lazy to ever seem like a real threat. So of course she’d gravitate toward the two men who intimidate her the least.
That doesn’t explain the sharp jab of jealousy that pierces my chest, or the rush of anger that follows it though.
Fuckin’ hell.
Phoenix looks torn between smugness that the angel picked him and annoyance that he might have to actually do the job we came here for now. As Trinity steps closer to him, I shove down every emotion besides my fury and turn on my heel, stalking down the hallway.
I hope like hell I’m the one who finds Henrik first.
I need to take out my rage on someone.
Chapter Seventeen
Trinity
Right now, I’m pretty glad that Phoenix is Sloth, because otherwise I have the feeling that he wouldn’t be nearly so laid back about getting stuck with me. His general annoyed demeanor says it all.
As if I wasn’t already uncomfortable enough in this place.
It’s not that I think sex is… wrong, exactly. And it’s not like I’m completely naive. I’ve watched some R-rated movies in my day, I’ll have you know.