behind the door, the scraping grew more frenzied.
“The animal mutilations,” Eve whispered.
“Right.”
“We have to get them out of there.”
“Yes.” Alec dusted off his hands.
They hurried to the door. Grabbing the levered handle, Alec pulled, but the portal didn’t budge. Whining could now be heard clearly from inside.
Eve set her hands over his and tugged with him. The door gave way with explosive violence, sending them to their backs on the floor. Nothing ran out in eagerness for freedom.
Alec leaped to his feet, then pulled her to hers, pushing her behind him.
“I’ve suddenly got a bad feeling about why there’s no lock on the door,” Eve muttered.
“You should.”
Before she fully registered the source of the voice behind her, Eve was lifted and tossed like a rag doll against the kiln. She fell to the floor in an agonized pile. The lights inside the small room blazed to life, revealing a space crawling with tengu.
“Fuck!” Alec said, just before they yanked him inside and slammed the door shut.
Eve gained her hands and knees, lurching forward to help him. She was grabbed by the scruff of her neck and hauled upward. She blinked, finding herself staring into the face of the young wolf.
He didn’t smell. He bore no designs. That was all Eve could register before he drew his fist back and knocked her out.
CHAPTER 19
Alec was on the wrong side of an ass kicking.
Backed into a corner, he was barely managing to keep the horde of tengu from overtaking him. There were at least two dozen of them, built of stone and giggling maniacally. Some swung from the shelves, others danced on the fringes, still others hopped from foot to foot and punched with their fists like miniboxers.
With sharp kicks, Alec kept most of them at bay, but the sheer number of them and their crushing weight were beginning to take their toll. It didn’t help that he was scared shitless about Eve. He’d heard the force with which she struck the kiln. Even with her ability to heal rapidly, a full-body blow like that was devastating. She was untrained and completely on her own.
A tengu swinging from the ceiling kicked at the space between Alec’s shoulders.
“Oomph!” He fell to his knees, groaning.
The tengu laughed and danced with greater frenzy.
“Cain! Cain!” they sang.
Alec glared and pushed to his feet, grabbing the closest tengu and bashing it into one of its brethren. They both shattered. The others recoiled to the walls with a collective gasp.
“Who’s next?” he growled.
They hesitated, wavering. Tengu were more mischievous than malicious. They weren’t combatants by nature and an implied threat to their lives was enough to send them scurrying for safety. Alec took the opportunity presented to him and lunged toward the door. As if he’d shattered the fear that held them still, they leaped toward him as a single mass, a ton of writhing stone bearing down on him.
They’re going to crush me.
Steeling himself for the inevitable, Alec was startled by the sudden burst of power that flowed into him. It originated in his diaphragm, then exploded outward like a supernova, burning through his veins.
He recognized the cause immediately: there was a group of Marks in the area.
Alec hit the door with his shoulder and broke it completely from its hinges. Riding atop the slab, he skid along the cement floor like a body boarder skimming across water. The tengu raced out of the room after him . . .
Then the lights came on.
Alec kept sliding parallel to the lengthy kiln. The marauding tengu paused. The momentum of those bringing up the rear was halted abruptly by those in the front who’d frozen in their tracks. They crashed into each other like a freeway pileup.
A cowboy-booted foot halted Alec’s ride with jarring force. He looked up.
“Mariel.”
The pretty redhead smiled. “Hello, Cain. Having fun?”
He sat up. Mariel held out a hand to help him to his feet. Behind her stood a team of several black-clad Marks, male and female. They were fully armed with 9 mm pistols strapped to their thighs—the personal guards of an archangel. They took a unified step forward. The tengu tripped over themselves scrambling back into their little room.
“Eve?” he asked, looking around the space.
“She’s not with you?”
“No. She was attacked.” Dear God. “I was delayed in there.” Alec jerked his chin toward the corner where a few of the Marks were restoring the door to its space and securing it by moving the pallet truck in front of it. He breathed deeply, hoping