FORBIDDEN

She hurried her footsteps down the alley. This was not part of the plan. Something grabbed her foot. A bottle, a branch, or a hand – either way she found herself flat on the pavement, cheek to the ground, face to foot with a very large, very black, boot.

Anita Miller’s breath shuddered in her chest. The raw flesh on her hands burned as she pushed up. Behind her, the presence had stopped. Its pursuit stalled by whatever wore that boot.

Pulse pounding through her, she trailed her eyes up the leather-clad muscular legs and a heavily-muscled chest. What she’d seen so far didn’t ease the fear clenching her stomach.

The presence shifted, edging closer. She shot to her feet and met crystalline gray eyes in a face that was savagely beautiful framed by black hair. Dark wings rose behind the creature with the black boots. She sucked in her breath. For a moment, she forgot what was going on.

With her movement, the presence closed in. She’d only caught a glimpse of the thing that had chased her, but she had seen the red glowing eyes. This angel-like being in front of her seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Those haunting gray eyes shifted from her to look at the presence behind her. She took quick stock of her situation: her knee ached, her hands were scraped, and she was pretty sure the fluid running down her leg wasn’t water. She moved to duck around the angel.

A hand gripped her wrist. Shocked, she looked up. The angel didn’t look at her. She tugged at her wrist, but he wouldn’t let go. The alley opened back up to another street several feet behind the angel. If he’d let her go, he could take care of the presence while she got away.

“Let me go,” she said under her breath.

“Yes,” the presence hissed behind her, flowing over her like ice cold water. “Let her go. She’s mine. I saw her first.”

She slowly turned so that she could face the presence that had made her run until her lungs burned and her side ached.

Red eyes peered out of a monster she had no name for. It towered over her by at least two feet. The angel was only about a half foot taller than her. The creature’s spinally legs and long arms had scars circling the flesh. Its body wasn’t as buff as the angel holding her, but it had a wiry strength. The face though... The nightmares in her childhood couldn’t come close to the reality of its face.

Deep-lined scars and burn marks ravaged the flesh on the creature’s head. What hair there was rose from patches of unmarred flesh. The matted hair fell against the skin and stuck there. She stepped closer to the angel and hid her eyes. The creature’s image didn’t dissipate from her mind.

“Please don’t let me go.” She’d rather face whatever this angel had in mind than that beast.

“Sammuel told you not to hunt the girl.” His sensuous voice resonated through her, but the words made her pull away. He didn’t release her.

“I only wanted to play.” The creature sounded like a whiny kid. The churning returned to her stomach. They knew each other, and they were hunting her.

She stepped back and pulled at her wrist again. Another form came into focus. The blonde man had white wings and white robes. The other two didn’t seem to notice him. When his green eyes met hers, he appeared shocked.

“Help me. Please, help me,” she shouted at the white angel.

“Xaphan, leave here.” The dark angel tugged her close and looked around warily. “We may have a visitor.”

“Please, you can see me. I know you can.” She continued to plead with the light angel as the mutilated creature disappeared.

“He’ll not help you, little one.” The dark angel’s face tilted down toward her.

“Please.” She tried again to make the white angel look at her. She didn’t want to die. She hadn’t even begun to live. Escaping from a relationship that had dead-end written all over it, she just wanted to live now.

“You can yell at him all you want, but angels don’t interfere with daemon business.” His voice was rich and soothing, even though the words made no sense.

This had to be a dream. She’d just been chased several blocks by God only knows what, only to be rescued and captured by a dark-winged angel, and ignored by a white-winged angel. Definitely not how she’d planned to start her first night of freedom.

The white-winged angel stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. He stared at a point beyond her. The dark-winged one was right. She was still on her own here.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Anita raised her eyes to the dark-winged angel.

“That’s good, Witness. You may call me Dagon.”

Shivers of fear rippled over her spine. Something dark had raced across his face so fast she’d almost missed it.

He yanked on her wrist. She fell against him as her knee gave out. Her hands screamed with pain as they came into contact with his hard chest.

“The only thing I want is you.”

Click here to read chapter two.