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“No time,” Diego said. “We need to move now.”
Joelle staggered to her feet, bare thighs and knees coated in what appeared to be dried blood. Metal clinked against metal when she moved. “I can’t leave without—”
Alexei grabbed her before she fell to the floor and eased her to the mattress. Heavy cuffs circled her ankles, attached to chains. Hatred flared in him for whomever had put her in leg irons, and he fought to keep the rage out of his expression and voice. “Are you willing to risk your safety and ours to get whatever it is you want from this archives?”
“Yes.” The sunshine steel in her tone despite the sadness in her gaze, the way she lifted her chin. Yeah, he’d lived with a pain-bringer sister and goblin princess cousin long enough to know better than argue with that kind of stubbornness. He needed to forget abouthisJoelle long enough to rescue this one, whoever she might be.
“Fine, we’ll make the stop, but you have three minutes tops, and if things go sideways, you leave without a fight, understood?” He didn’t want to think about what he might have to do if she refused.
“Agreed.”
Thank the gods. “Don’t move.” He gripped the chains that linked the cuffs around her ankles. “And don’t scream.” Searching for the keys would take too long, but revealing his supernatural strength held its own risk—one he would have to take. He yanked hard until the chains popped free of the cuffs, leaving only links dangling with an eerieclink-clink.
She didn’t make a sound, didn’t ask questions, and didn’t seem shocked at his ability. Most humans or even magic-born would have panicked by now. Not her. No, she watched him with open curiosity.
“Let’s go,” Diego whisper-yelled.
“In a minute.” The same need to protect that had crowded him when he’d met a little girl making snow angels in the park? It roared through him. He could analyze that reaction later, after they were safe. Holstering his sidearm, Alexei stripped out of his ballistic vest and jacket.
“What’s the holdup?” Diego asked.
With their target hurt and damn near naked, Alexei wanted to growl at the man to stay the hell away from her. TheI will end youlook he gave the witch made Diego step back and raise his hands as if in surrender.
He cursed. What had gotten into him? Alexei Maronov, demon prince and underworld boss of Southern California’s largest less-than-legal import business and weapons trade, didn’t do undisciplined bullshit. He always maintained control. Or he had for his entire life until his Joelle had stared at him with her big magical eyes and—
No. His brain screamed a possibility that he wanted to dismiss, but the possessive craziness that had come over him? The clawing need of his inner demon to defend her, to care for her, to claim her?
No, no, no.
This woman could not behisJoelle, his fated mate.
Could she?
ChapterTwo
Alexei struggled with the realization that their designated target might behisJoelle. This tiny, abused woman who gave off angelic sweetness and martyred devotion to her brother without any concern for herself. As he strapped his protective vest on her and wrapped her in his coat, each brush of his fingers against her skin sent sizzling sparks of attraction through him. His coat reached her thighs, trailing as long as her thick hair, and he had to roll up the sleeves to uncover her hands.
She was so fragile and frail. His world would crush her.
He glanced at her bare feet, the protective need nagging at him. If the fates had reunited him with his obsession in this fucked up rescue, they had a sick sense of humor. Still, he would watch over her until he could get some answers if that would keep his demon side settled. “No way you’re walking through this compound without shoes.” Who knew what glass might lurk in the junk littering the halls?
“How will we escape if I can’t walk?” She sounded so matter-of-fact, not scared like she should be. No, she simply assessed him as though he might be a complicated math problem.As his Joelle had.
“I’ll carry you, but I’ll need my hands if the enemy comes at us, so you’ll ride on my back.”
Diego interrupted. “I can take her.”
“Absolutely not,” Alexei said, his demon side ready to fight the witch. “She stays with me.”
“Well,okaythen.” The sniper clipped his words.
He must’ve had the good sense not to argue, but Joelle didn’t complain either, which struck Alexei as odd when his own sister would’ve smacked him if he had presumed to tell her what to do.
“Can you dim your magic lights until we’re clear?” he asked, waiting for the smack as he gestured toward the gorgeous glow of symbols he’d never come across in his study of texts detailing shifter, demon, and witch history.
Her glow faded completely, leaving behind partially healed skin and the evidence of how she’d suffered. “Done.” She made it sound easy—as though she hadn’t completely transformed her look with a thought. Whatever magic she slung might be as powerful as his family’s, but they weren’t witch or demon powers. So what could she be? Could she cast an illusion powerful enough to fool his demon side? What about her name being the same? He had too many questions and no time for answers.
Stooping down, he helped her onto his back. A shiver of rightness ran along his spine as she wrapped her arms and legs tight around him. She lay her cheek against his back at the spot between his shoulder blades where his wings connected, only a shirt keeping her skin from touching his there. In an instant, his magic settled.
