The panther jumped back to his feet just as a big, white wolf burst into the room.
"Two of you?" Simon taunted. "How is that fair?"
The panther and wolf both launched at him. They all went down, crashing onto the floor as fangs and claws flew out.
Rose heaved against the bands. She broke two of them and slid her body out of the others, hauling herself up to freedom. She jumped off the table just as Simon heaved the wolf off him.
But he didn"t escape from Julian. The panther locked his powerful jaws around Simon"s neck. He bent down and she knew- Simon"s body jerked and went still.
She knew Julian had just severed the top of Simon"s spinal cord, the way he"d told her that his kind attacked. But after that terrible bite, the panther didn"t let Simon go. His head turned and his powerful teeth raked open Simon"s throat, sending a spray of blood into the air.
"Please, please say the panther is with you." The witch called out. "I need you to say that right now, vamp."
She took a step forward and pain burned through her chest. "He"s...with me. So is the wolf."
And the wolf was rising right then. Stalking toward Simon and the panther but...
The panther swung his head toward Rose. She tried to smile at him, but it was hard considering she"d just nearly had her heart ripped out and Julian was covered in a dead man"s blood.
The muse yelled, "We need to hurry here! Get us out, now! We don"t have long before he"s back!"
Back? No, not again. No way. The guy"s head was barely attached to his body.
The panther"s bones began to pop and snap. The wolf was already shifting, too.
"Get us out!" The muse jerked against her bars. "Hurry!"
Julian rose to his feet, once more in the form of a man. Rose ran to him, ignoring the blood on her, on him, and she threw herself against him. She held him tight, her body shuddering.
"I never, ever liked your plan," he rasped.
She hugged him harder. "We found them." She wouldn"t explain just how close she"d come to losing her heart, not right then.
"How the h.e.l.l do I get the cells open?" Rayce"s voice blasted.
"You need his index finger...get the index finger from Simon"s right hand," the witch yelled back. "And the code is 1031. Halloween...because the d.i.c.k thought that was some kind of awesome joke. But hurry, before he rises."
Julian stiffened. "Rises?"
Rose and Julian both whirled to look at Simon. He hadn"t moved. His body was still splayed on the blood covered floor and his head was-yes, um, barely there. He didn"t look like he was rising.
"He doesn"t have a heart," Rose whispered. "He cut it out. I don"t...how did he even live without a heart?"
But Julian swore. "f.u.c.k. Sounds like he made a deal with someone..."
A deal?
And then understanding dawned. Of course, of course. A human must have made a deal to keep living that way. Humans couldn"t work that kind of magic, not on their own.
But Luke Thorne would never make a deal with humans.
So that meant... "Where"s Leo?" Rose asked, her voice sharp.
The ceiling fell in on them. Just gave way as something-someone-came crashing through it. Julian grabbed Rose, yanking her out of the way of the falling debris and shielding her with his body. And Rayce-he covered the angel who was still on the floor.
Dust and wood, metal and stone-they kept tumbling down.
"Where"s the angel?" Leo"s bellow. Because it had been Leo who"d come crashing through that ceiling.
And if anyone had made a deal with Simon Lorne, Rose knew it must have been Leo.
Chapter Seventeen.
Julian straightened. He and Rose turned to face the so-called Lord of the Light.
"This c.r.a.p is why I said hurry!" The muse yanked against her bars. "Because trouble just keeps coming."
Leo glanced around, not appearing even a little concerned that two women were still caged-and that a seemingly dead man was on the floor, with most of his neck gone.
Rayce rose. The angel looked at up at him. Tears were on her cheeks.
"Dammit, why are shifters always naked?" Leo waved his hand and jeans appeared on both Julian and Rayce.
Julian growled. "You b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You did this."
Leo marched toward Rayce and the angel. "Gave you clothes? Yes, I did, you"re welcome."
But Julian ran forward and grabbed Leo"s arm. He swung the guy to face him. "You made a deal with Simon. Didn"t you? You gave him some kind of power?"
"Get your hand off me. Panther, you don"t want to p.i.s.s me off."
"He had Rose on his table! Her blood was on his hands! You came to me, saying that some being called the Collector was after her. You said I had to protect her. You said I had to find him and stop him...so you could get your angel back." Fury shook each word.
Rayce moved closer to the angel. She hadn"t spoken. Her head was down. She seemed to be staring at the feathers on the floor around her.
"You said you couldn"t see the Collector"s location." Julian"s voice thundered out. "That he was using magic to block you."
"Maybe the witch was helping him," Leo said flatly as he inclined his head toward the cells and the witch who watched the scene with wide eyes. "Now, last warning, let go of me."
Julian didn"t let him go. "I think Simon may have been getting a lot of help-"
The witch immediately denied, "It wasn"t from me!" Then she shouted, "a.s.sholes, will someone open the cell? He will come back. He got too much power from her wings."
They needed to get out of those cells. Rose bounded to the body. She grabbed the fallen knife-the same knife that Simon had shoved into her chest-and she cut off his index finger. Then she ran to the witch"s cell. She used the finger and she typed in the code. The door opened with a click.
"Thank you," the witch whispered. "I owe you."
"Get out of here," Rose said back. "You don"t owe me a d.a.m.n thing. Get to your family. Go."
The witch looked over at Simon"s body. "Fire."
Fire?
"Burn that b.a.s.t.a.r.d to dust."
Then she was rushing past Rose and heading through the open doorway.
"Uh, h.e.l.lo!" The muse"s voice rang out. "Don"t forget about me! Right here...a helpless muse. Not a bad girl, not really, just someone who wants the h.e.l.l out!"
Rose hurried toward her cell. She used the finger and typed in the code as fast as she could. When the cell sprang open, the muse grabbed her and held tight. "I adore you. We are officially best friends forever." The muse squeezed her hard enough to take the breath from Rose. "But now I"m gone. And you"ll never see me again." She turned and ran away.
Rose dropped the finger. She backed away from the cells. Her gaze flew to Julian and Leo-they were still glaring at each other with a dark and twisted fury.
"You helped Simon, didn"t you?" Julian blasted. "You made some kind of deal with him. Did you give him power? Why? Why the h.e.l.l would you ever do that? Why-"
Leo drove his fist into Julian"s jaw, but Julian didn"t let him go. Julian"s claws burst out and he raked them over Leo"s chest. Blood soaked the Lord of the Light.
Julian"s face had gone feral with rage. "He was going to kill Rose! Why did you help him? Why did you lie to me? Why-"
"You told him about the wings." The angel"s voice was quiet, soft, and sad as it cut through Julian"s roar. "I know that you did, Leo. You told him about the power in the wings. That the feathers can give life, can give strength, can give magic. Because there is no other form of pure power that can match an angel"s wings."
Leo flinched. "Lila..."
"You made a deal with him." Her breath whispered out. "You gave him feathers, didn"t you? My feathers. And he wanted more and more so he took me."
Leo broke free of Julian and lunged toward her, but Rayce stepped into his path, blocking him before he could touch the angel. "It wasn"t like that."
"Then what was it like?" Julian demanded. "Explain it to me because I just don"t get it."
Rose risked a fast glance at Simon. Was it her imagination or was that terrible wound in his neck closing? "Julian..." The witch had said fire. And when she and Simon had gotten in that wreck, Simon had actually seemed panicked when he"d been trapped in the SUV. Because he"d feared burning? Flames had been erupting from the back of the vehicle.
Where the h.e.l.l was fire when she needed it?
"His wife was murdered," Leo said. "Killed by a shifter-sliced apart while Simon watched. He wanted justice. He begged for it every night and so I thought...I might give it to him."
Rose rocked back on her heels.
"You made him your a.s.sa.s.sin," Rayce said. His gaze darted to Julian, then away.
But Leo had turned to fully face Julian. "Not so different from my brother after all, am I? I got tired of waiting for Luke to deliver justice. I had a human who wanted vengeance-vengeance he deserved. So, yes, maybe I gave him a few feathers. You don"t send a lamb out to slaughter wolves without giving the lamb some weapons."
"He wasn"t a lamb," the angel whispered. "And you aren"t G.o.d. You don"t get to decide who lives and dies."
Leo"s face hardened. "He went after monsters-killers who tortured, raped and abused. He put them down but...problems arose. He wanted a new deal." He laughed. "I"m like Luke, and you Julian...you"re just like Simon."
"No, he isn"t," Rose snapped.
"Simon wanted his beloved Helene back. He would do anything to get her. Just like you, Julian. Weren"t you ready to do anything to get Rose back?"
Julian"s gaze jerked to her.
"Love," Leo spat. "It can make everyone weak."
Rose grabbed Julian"s hand. "Or it can make you stronger."
But Leo shook his head. "I didn"t agree to that particular deal, but Simon had learned too much already. He thought he could bring Helene back on his own...I told him it would be impossible to get the things he needed for a spell of that magnitude-"
"But he got them," the angel said, her voice a bit stronger. "He got me. I understand it all now."
Leo stiffened. "I came for you. I found you, Lila. You can go back to your old life now." He reached for her. "We"re leaving this place, and you"ll forget everything soon."
"I"m not going anywhere with you." She backed closer to Rayce.
Rayce growled. "You heard the lady."
"No!" Leo shouted. "That isn"t part of the deal. The angel comes with me!" He glared at Rayce, then at Julian. "Panther, you want the deal we made finished, then you tell your wolf to back off. You want your happy ending-you give the angel to me now. If you make me fight you both, the deal is f.u.c.king off."
The angel-Lila-grabbed Rayce"s arm. "I can"t go back. I feel too much...it will...it will break me. I can"t go back to nothing." Her body shuddered. "Please, don"t send me back."
Rayce"s face softened as he stared down at her.
"Wolf, you do not want to get in my way," Leo warned. "This fight isn"t yours."
Rayce"s head snapped up. He bared his teeth. "It is now."
Rose"s gaze flew back to Simon. Her breath whooshed out. "He"s coming back!" While they were d.i.c.king around and talking, the guy was regenerating right in front of them. "Where the h.e.l.l can we get fire?"
"Fire?" Julian repeated. "I"ll just take his f.u.c.king head. I won"t leave a d.a.m.n tendon connecting him this time."
And he leapt on Simon.
His claws flashed.
Simon"s body jerked once more. His head rolled.
Julian looked up, chest heaving. "Easy enough." Blood dripped from his fingers.
Leo sidled next to Rose. "See what he is? Not even in panther form, but he"s still a beast. A monster."
She bared her fangs. "So am I! Now get the h.e.l.l out of here before you see just how evil I can be!"