Fury battered his control. How had Raguel managed it? Alec was exhausted by the constant struggle.

“You’re mine, angel,” he said harshly. “Even if you don’t act like it.”

“This is business we’re talking about.” Her chin lifted. “Raguel threatened to reassign me, so I know it’s possible. The mark system has a backup plan for everything.”

“I’ll back you up.” He stalked forward. He felt himself move as if on autopilot, his mind disconnected from the seething emotions that drove his actions. “Against a wall. Nail you right to it.”

Another couple of feet and she’d be cornered. Trapped. Nowhere to run..

Eve held her ground. “You sound like your brother”.

Alec’s brow arched. “You spit that out as if you don’t want him. And we both know that you do.”

Impatient, he shifted across the distance to her, catching her ponytail in a fist and a belt loop with his fingers. The loop ripped free, the tearing noise sparking a wave of heat between them.

“Alec. . .“ Her voice was breathy and tremulous. He wanted it throaty and hoarse. Wanted her nails in his back and her sweat on his skin.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, relishing the feel of her slender body trembling against his. He felt the Infernals in the firm tapping into his lust and fury. He cut them off and heard the echoes of their protesting cries. Weakened by the loss of their power, Alec sucked the energy he needed from Eve, taking her mouth with a desperation that crawled over his skin.

She gasped her breath into his lungs, her lithe frame stiff at first, then a surging warmth against him. Her

lush breasts pressed into his chest, her fingers tangled in his shirt, her legs intertwined with his.

Eve bit his lip. “Is this what you want? To take me down fighting?”

The taste of blood hardened his cock until it ached. He shook her. “I don’t give a shit how I have you. I just want you to stop jerking me around and give up the goods.”

Her hand fisted in his hair and yanked. “Who the fuck are you? Because you sure as hell aren’t Alec Cain.”

Shaking violently, he felt like a drunk in need of booze. The vestiges of Eve’s Novium were leaching into his system, spurring his dark needs further. He changed tactics.

“Come on, angel,” he coaxed. “You know you want it as bad as I do. You know how good it is between us. How hard you come when I’m fucking you. . . until you’re begging me to stop..

Her dark eyes were fever-bright, her lips slick and swollen. “You’re pushing me like Robert,” she said scornfully. “Remember him? My ex from high school who wanted to pop the cherry I saved for you?”

“Eve—” Bloodlust surged at the memory of the cocky blond kid who’d tried to hard-sell Eve into a screw in the back of a Mustang. Alec had known then that he couldn’t allow anyone else to have her.

Don’t let the thing inside you have her.

His grip ripped her jeans further. A second more and there would be nothing left.

She yanked his head down to hers, her mouth slanting across his, wet and hot. Fueled by anger and determination, the kiss punished him so thoroughly his throat clenched tight against it. He hated her like this, hated himself for making her like this.

I’m sorry, angel. .. sorry..

She changed at the sound of his voice. Gentled. A low moan vibrated in her chest, a sound of longing and surrender. The convulsive flexing of her fingers at his nape and the feel of her hand sliding up beneath his shirt conveyed a wealth of feeling. Her tongue pushed past his lips, licking deep and slow. Savoring. She loved him too much to stay mad at him.

And the part of him that had loved her before the ascension knew if he didn’t get her away from his personal demons, they would break her.

He twisted his head away, gasping. He didn’t want her in rushed brutality. He wanted her slow and long. Soft and pliant. It was the thing inside him that wanted to turn what they had into something... wrong.

“Alec.” Eve pressed her forehead to his. “Something isn’t right with you. Isn’t right in you. I can feel it.”

Take her, the voices urged.

“I need to fuck,” he said coldly. Deliberately. “Take your clothes off before I rip them off.”

She pushed away. The pain in her eyes made him desperate to take the words back. He didn’t.

“Alec?”

He ripped open the button fly of his jeans, freeing his cock. “On your knees. I want your mouth first.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m going to fuck you instead.”

Her arms wrapped around her torso. She backed away a step at a time. He forcibly restrained himself from stalking her further.

A tear slipped down her cheek. “It’s like there are two people inside you. The Alec I know, and a monster.”

“You’re starting to bore me, Eve.” His mark burned at the lie.

“You’re starting to scare me.”

Alec struggled to remain upright, wracked by a pain in his chest that threatened to double him over. But she didn’t seem to see it. No, she saw only the darkness inside him that wanted to do things to her Alec couldn’t allow.

“I changed my mind.” He rebuttoned the fly of his jeans with slow, leisurely movements.

Her gaze was wary, as if she was considering running. He hoped she didn’t. He wasn’t sure he could fight the urge to hunt her down.

“I’ve decided to accept your Dear John speech after all.”

Her gasp was audible, as if he’d struck her. “What?” he queried snidely. “Didn’t you mean it?” Alec turned his back to her, walking around her desk to put something substantial between them. “That’s one of your problems, Eve. You’re a tease. You were fun while we were fucking, but now—”

She reached out to Abel and an instant later was gone, shifted away by his brother before he could say more. Alec leaped over the desk, unable to fight the fury at her loss.

An unseen force restrained his pursuit. His feet were rooted to the carpeted floor, causing him to nearly topple when he attempted to lunge.

Sabrael’s amused voice spoke behind him. “You broke her heart with laudable precision. You always did cut to the quick?”

Alec stumbled as he was freed. He pivoted, flinching from a blinding brightness that put the sun to shame. Blinking rapidly, he engaged the thick layer of corneal lubrication that enabled him to see through the seraph’s glow to the man within. Sabrael sat at Eve’s desk, his six wings tucked away, his feet resting atop the edge of her desk. The wicked spikes that lined the outside edges of his black leather boots glinted in the glare of his luminescence. The brutal footwear was a stark contrast to the white, one- shouldered robe he wore. The visual dichotomy was a physical manifestation of the angel’s temperament. Outwardly a model of his station, Sabrael hid a razor’s edge of cruelty.

“I’m busy, Sabrael. You’ll have to wait in line” The seraph’s eyes filled with the purest, bluest of flames and a hint of laughter that made Alec’s hackles rise. “Relax. I am not here to cash in my chips, Cain. I am here on behalf of your mother.”

“No.” Alec shook his head, anticipating the question. “Not now?”

“You keep delaying her. She is displeased.”

Alec snorted. “Haven’t you noticed the world’s gone to shit? It’s not safe?”

“Gabriel disagrees” Sabrael’s smile was both beautiful and frightening. “He is weary of her complaints, so you have a week to prepare for her. Besides, you have a home now. Surely this visit will be less hazardous than when you were roaming?”

“You’re pissing me off.” The seraphim regularly withheld information from God, but the extent of their subterfuge never failed to astound. “Tell Jehovah what’s going on down here and he’ll settle her. He won’t risk her, you know that.”

Sabrael crossed his massive arms. “You have everything under control, do you not? If you are incapable of the task you requested, simply let me know and I will relieve you of the burden.”

Jaw clenching, Alec fought the urge to attack. With a seraph, it would be suicidal. “I’ve got a handle on things.”

“Excellent. Then there should be no problem with your mother visiting.” Sabrael brushed at his immaculate robe, as if he were not intensely focused on Alec like a hawk with its prey in sight. “Does Evangeline know that this promotion is what you wanted? Did you tell her that?”

“Does it matter now?”

Sabrael laughed softly. “I suppose not.”

“Sara was with Abel for a long time,” Alec said with a shrug, while inside, his discomposure grew. “Relationships aren’t impossible.”

Yes, he’d suspected he would lose his ability to love Eve—if only subconsciously—but he’d planned on her leaving him first. He’d intended for her to be mortal again and moved on with her life when his advancement came. The loss of his ability to love her would have been welcome then. How else would he survive her loss?

But Eve wouldn’t understand. She would see only that his love for her had taken a back seat to his ambition.

“Sarakiel toyed with Abel,” Sabrael argued, “and Abel used her in return. God created us to connect physically by design. But sex does not a true partnership make.”

“I really don’t care about Abel or our anatomy.”

“And now, you do not care about Evangeline either. Life must be much simpler for you.”

“Go away,” Alec dismissed. “You’re annoying me.”

The seraph burst from the chair like a rocket. In a flaming trail of wings, leather, and spikes, he kicked Alec in the chest and ripped through to the other side. The gaping, smoldering hole Sabrael wrought was so wide it nearly severed Alec’s torso in half.

Dropping to his knees with an agonized scream, Alec toppled to the floor, his cheek skinned by the harsh pile of the carpet.