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  Just outside the entrance, Adam came to a sudden stop. He turned to face her, his face taking on an expression of gravity she rarely saw from him. “In all seriousness, Ruby, be careful.”

  Whoa… For the first time it struck her how worried he was about her. He knew just as well as she did that falling for a Fallen would put her in even more danger than she already was.

  “Hey.” She reached out and gave him a teasing punch to the arm. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to angels, remember?”

  In fact, she was the only surviving member of the group with real life experience when it came to angels. Even though Adam’s father had been one, he’d never known him. Hadn’t even realized he was nephilim, in fact, until she’d told him. Though Adam’s essence wasn’t nearly as strong as her father’s, it had been unmistakable to her enhanced senses.

  Adam’s solemn expression eased just a fraction. “You’re right.”

  “Aren’t I always?” With those last joking words, she turned and strode through the entranceway leading into the recreation room. The tightness that had tickled her ribs ever since the Fallen had come around grew stronger. Ruby searched the room, her gaze automatically traveling past the group of five rebels who had gathered there for the morning’s lesson, until she made eye contact with Jason. As she’d expected, he and Nate had arrived. Someone had lent them shirts to wear—thank God—but that did nothing to ease the stark sensuality of their presence. Her breath whooshed from her lungs.

  No wonder the angels were able to take over our world so easily.

  Just one look at them and a person longed to do anything they wished, to give anything just for a chance to earn their good graces.

  In short, they were the perfect weapon against mankind.

  Ruby took a deep, fortifying breath and purposefully strode toward the two Fallen. When Jason stepped forward just a fraction, she figured that was her cue to address him. Averting her gaze from the hint of muscle rippling under the tight, black shirt he wore, she said, “I see you’ve met some of our crew.” Turning, she nodded to each of the residents in turn. “That’s Curly there.”

  Curly, a scrappy teenager, rubbed his mop of dark brown curls and gave the Fallen a cheeky grin. “Can you guess how I came by my nickname?”

  When Jason only chuckled, she moved on. “That’s Susan.”

  The petite female, just a year or two younger than her and Adam, stepped forward with a wicked smile. “Don’t let my size fool you. I could kick both your asses.”

  She could, too, if any human could do it. The woman was a born fighter.

  Ruby pointed to the three remaining men, ranging in age from mid twenties to thirty-five. “And those big lugs are Robbie, Adam, and Rick.”

  Rick was the oldest of their group, but he didn’t have any qualms about taking orders from a twenty-six-year-old woman. He was the strong, silent type, the perfect strongman, and that was why Ruby loved him.

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Jason said.

  When Nate echoed his words, Ruby turned finally to Adam, who remained by her side. “And last but certainly not least, this is Adam, my second-in-command.”

  Adam gave the two Fallen a respectful nod, but his body was lined with tension. And from the look on Jason’s face, he hadn’t missed it. Still, the angel returned a pleasant greeting.

  “Nephilim,” Nate said conversationally.

  When Adam stiffened, a scowl on his face, she quickly changed the subject. “I thought I’d have Adam run the training today, and we can hang back and observe.”

  Jason exchanged a long, deep glance with Nate before turning to her. “Nate will remain with the group while we observe.”

  An undercurrent of tension accompanied his words, racking her body with a slight chill. What’s that all about?

  But she didn’t question it aloud. Something told her she didn’t particularly want to know the answer.

  “Come on.” Ruby started toward the far end of the room, where they’d built a raised platform with five chairs on it for observation. She took a seat in the middle chair, and a moment later, Jason joined her. The heat from his body curled toward her right side as he sat down in the chair right next to hers. She shifted in place, unnerved by the cacophony of sensations his proximity aroused.

  When they’d first built the platform, her only thought had been to create an out of the way space where they could watch and call out pointers to the trainees. In order to give the others more space to move around, they’d placed the seats as close together as possible. Well, she was regretting that now. He was too close. Too big. Too alive.

  Hell, my mother didn’t stand a chance.

  Cassiel must have seemed this larger than life force to her, like a bright, beaming star who’d deigned to come down to the earth. And if Susan’s reaction to Nate’s closeness was any indicator, she’d have been helpless to resist.

  Though Susan was clearly trying her best to focus on Adam, who walked back and forth, addressing the small group with their customary pre-training pep talk, her eyes kept wandering to Nate. It was out of the ordinary for a woman who normally couldn’t take her gaze off Adam. Her crush on him was as legendary as his crush on Ruby’s mother had been.

  Jason’s gaze wandered down her body, making her spine go straight. When she started to question exactly where he was looking, he said, “Nice necklace.”

  “Oh.” She self-consciously grabbed hold of the angel-wing pendant swinging from the long gold chain around her neck. “Thanks. It was a gift from my—”

  “Father,” he finished, lips curving. “I figured.”

  Of course he had. Fighting back the warmth rushing to her cheeks, she returned her gaze to the figures in the center of the room.

  “She’ll grow somewhat accustomed in time,” Jason murmured, his soft voice caressing her ear drums and sparking an involuntary shiver of desire.

  “What?” When she followed his gaze to Susan, it became obvious that he’d read her earlier thoughts.

  What else can he tell just by looking at me?

  That was such an uncomfortable thought that she just shook it off.

  “You mean the glamour of standing next to an angel is going to wear off eventually?”

  He chuckled at her incredulous tone, his incredible green eyes locking with hers. “Not quite, but she’ll learn to handle it better.”

  When his lips slowly curved into a smile, she realized she’d gotten lost in his stare.

  Oh lord, kill me now.

  Maybe Adam had had a point. It wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d thought, dealing with these Fallen. At least not without having to constantly stop herself from giving into the urge to jump them.

  Okay, him.

  Clearing her throat, she trained her gaze back on the group, and focused on providing Jason with information. “We’ve got eighteen rebels total, myself and Adam included, so we conduct three training sessions per day. Five to six of us per session.”

  “Impressive,” he said, and from the tone of his voice, she knew he meant it. “How did this come to pass, the training?”

  A smile quirked her lips at the memory. “After my mother recruited some of the gang and they built rooms down here, she recognized how restless they were becoming. Realized that they needed something to do, some hope of the future to believe in. So she started the training sessions, mostly as a way for them to burn off steam. But over the years, as the Consortium grew more powerful, she began to take it more seriously.”

  “She sensed what was coming.”

  Ruby nodded. “I think she knew there would ultimately be some sort of confrontation. That or…an extinction event.”

  “She was an intelligent woman, then.”

  When Jason’s hand reached out to briefly close over hers, she froze from the sudden shock of his touch. Tendrils of electric current wound up her arm, concentrating in her chest and sending shock waves of residual energy down to her loins. She
took a shaky breath, thankful that her heavy flannel shirt camouflaged the way her nipples had just beaded into tight little buds, and inched her hand out of harm’s way. Jason said nothing, but she sensed a sliver of amusement drifting off him, along with other, more base emotions: hunger, pride…and lust. An almost overpowering aura of lust.

  Shuddering, she fought to calm the frantic pacing of her heart. While she’d always been thankful for her ability to tell what others were feeling, right now she wished otherwise. Knowing that the angel wanted her…it was far too mind-boggling a thought.

  Distract him.

  Following that instinctive urge, she motioned toward the center of the room, where Adam was in the process of demonstrating a maneuver to Nate. “Check this out. I’d love to know whether it would be effective against angels.”

  The weight of Jason’s gaze fell on her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him break into a slow grin, amusement now pouring from him in waves. “As you wish, Ruby.”

  Damn, she thought when her body immediately softened in response to his smile. I’m in a shitload of trouble.

  Chapter Four

  His body alive with the feel of the alluring nephilim beside him, Jason did his best to concentrate on the training session, but that was next to impossible. Not when Ruby sat so close by, her sweetly scented skin practically humming with confused arousal.

  Mine.

  The spot where his wings grew out of his back tingled, his wings aching to let loose of their confines. Hell, every part of him ached right now. He’d forgotten how intense the desire to mate could be. It was this very intensity that had led Nate to back away when they’d squared off last night after being led to a spare room in which a pilfered bunk bed had been placed.

  She’s mine, Jason had announced the moment the door had closed shut, leaving the two of them alone.

  After Nate had stiffened and muttered, I bed to differ, Jason had feared they would come to blows. But once the instinctive urge to protect a potential mate had died down a bit, they’d been able to sit down and calmly rationalize their feelings. In the end, Nate had conceded that Jason’s call to Ruby was stronger than his.

  Damn right it is.

  Now that he’d found her, he wasn’t about to let her go.

  Except that meant he had to convince her to take a chance on him, and everything about her body language told him that was something she didn’t want to do.

  Well, I’ve faced worse odds before. And he was still alive to tell the tale.

  When Adam backed away from one of the men he’d been sparring with and called out some words of encouragement to the group, Jason realized the session was over. Damn, he should have paid better attention.

  Ruby’s unusual, tea-colored eyes sparked with expression as she turned her gaze to him for the first time since they’d taken a seat. “What do you think?”

  “Impressive,” he answered truthfully. The fact that these humans had bothered training at all spoke to a strength and sense of purpose within each one of them.

  One of her delicate brows arched. “No pointers?”

  He chuckled at her dry tone. “Maybe one or two.” Despite their admitted skills, her group had one big weakness. They were human.

  Only once he’d heard Adam’s voice did he realize the man had joined them without him even noticing. So much for his superhuman skills. They seemed to be pretty much worthless when she was around.

  “You wanna go over some of our maneuvers, Ruby?”

  When Jason directed his gaze to Adam, he was surprised to note the thinly veiled animosity on his face. Clearly the man didn’t like him spending any time with Ruby. Well, that was too bad, because if he got his way, he and Ruby would be spending a lot of time together from now on.

  Before Ruby could respond to Adam’s question, Nate stepped up behind the man and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Actually, I was hoping you could introduce me to the members of your group I haven’t met yet. I’d like to get a feel for their collective personalities, to see what we’re working with here.”

  Adam’s face contorted into a frown, but when he glanced at Ruby and she gave him an almost imperceptible nod, his shoulders slumped. “Most of the others are probably in the mess hall eating breakfast right about now,” he said listlessly. “I’ll show you the way.”

  Jason threw Nate a look of gratitude as he turned to maneuver Adam toward the exit. No matter their disagreement from the night before, he knew Nate would always have his back. That was what made him such a good friend.

  Tension and uncertainty radiated off Ruby’s figure as she watched the two of them leave, making Jason painfully aware this would be the first time the two of them were alone together. Primitive lust rose within him, and the urge to quash the distance between them became almost unbearable.

  Calm down, he admonished himself. She might not realize it, but she could sense his feelings. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away with the intensity of his emotions.

  “Come on.” He rose to his feet and she gave a startled jump. Clearly he wasn’t the only one on edge right now. He forced himself to walk to the center of the room before turning back to face her.

  Puzzlement shone on her features as she rose to follow. “What are we doing?”

  “Going over some defensive maneuvers.” Which meant they’d have to make contact with each other.

  A myriad of expressions crossed her face as she apparently came to the same conclusion, but finally she took several hesitant steps toward him. He tried not to notice the snug fit of her jeans over her curvy thighs or the way her green shirt pulled taut over her breasts. Not to mention the lock of fiery red hair that had escaped the confines of her ponytail and now curled over her shoulder, intertwining with her gold necklace and highlighting one of those very pert breasts. Gods, the woman was alluring as all hell.

  Absentmindedly tucking the stray stand of hair behind her ear, she faced him head-on. He grinned, but gave her no further warning before striking out toward her with his right fist. She emitted a soft sound of surprise and, as he’d expected, expertly moved to block his hit. When he shot his left fist out in response, she blocked that too.

  “Your instincts are sharp,” he told her.

  One of her brows arched and she gave him a surprise jab to the chest that was light enough for him to realize she meant it to be that way. “Years of fighting.”

  The little bit he’d seen of Adam’s training session assured him she’d be just as quick and handy with a variety of weapons in hand. No guns—those had all been confiscated and destroyed when the angels had taken command of Earth—but hand her a dagger, sword, or even a stick, and he had no doubt she’d make good use of it.

  “You’re good. Really good.” And he meant every word of it. “But how do you react to something like this?”

  Before she could respond, he lifted his hand in the air. One sliver of energy was all it took to freeze her vocal chords and paralyze her body. She gazed at him, immobilized, with only the turbulence rolling around in her eyes to indicate her frustration.

  “Unfair, I know,” he said softly. “But you can’t expect the angels to fight fair once they know you aim to destroy them. This is all it’ll take for them to have you at their mercy.”

  Ruby made a sound deep in her throat that manifested itself as nothing more than a grunt. Sensing her rising tide of anger, Jason gave another flick of his hand to release her seized muscles. “You should know that the average angel wouldn’t be able to hold you in such a position for more than a minute or so, but then, a minute is a long time to be debilitated.”

  The flicker of her eyes was his only warning before she struck, grabbing his right arm and yanking him toward her at the same time she aimed a strategic kick to the side of his knee. Caught off guard, he collapsed onto the ground and she followed, efficiently straddling his waist while pressing an arm hard against his throat. The weight of her pendant smacked hard against his chest.

  All his brea
th fled his body in one long, hard exhale. The heat from Ruby’s body pressed in around his sides, stealing any additional breath from his lungs.

  “Whoa,” he murmured. “Didn’t quite expect that.”

  “Clearly.” Her voice held a note of satisfaction as she reared back slightly so their eyes made contact. The moment their gazes locked, something heavy and electric sparked the air between them. Her soft and floral scent deepened to a hint of musk. Her essence calling to him. She felt it too, though undoubtedly she didn’t recognize it. Her soft tea-colored eyes darkened to a fiery brown, and the muscles of her thighs tightened around his sides.

  Take her. Claim her. Make her yours, everything within him urged. Only the pure force of his will, and the instinctive knowledge that she didn’t want to be claimed, held him back. But that wouldn’t last for long. Soon, she would be his.

  Sooner than you think, Ruby.

  *****

  Jason’s aura enveloped her like a lit furnace, heating her skin and triggering an unexplainable yearning deep within her gut. Her gaze locked with his penetrating green eyes, and she found herself unable to look away.

  Holy hell. So this was what pure, potent lust felt like. Ribbons of energy unfurled from his body, wafting toward her and tightening her nipples into taut buds. The thermal sweater that had only moments before shielded her from the damp coolness of their underground lair now stifled her heated skin, making her long to tear it off.

  Whoa, wait a second here. This wasn’t her. It was just her body responding to his angelic essence.

  But when she tried to pull away, she found she couldn’t. He was just too warm, too irresistible.

  “This isn’t real,” she murmured.

  The blaze in Jason’s green eyes softened just a tad, as if he well understood her confusion and inner turmoil. In a low, deep voice, he asked, “What is real?”

  “My home is real,” she countered, fighting the urge to scoot her hips a bit lower, to alleviate the tremors that racked her body beneath the heavy cloth of her jeans. “My gang is real.”

  “And so am I,” he said softly.