“Adrian’s getting a taste of his own medicine now,” she said hoarsely, thinking of the Sentinel’s beautiful crimson-tipped wings. Those ruby bands of honor were the bloodstains that marked him as the first being ever to draw the blood of an angel. “I hope it goes down like acid.”
He withdrew the aviator shades he had slung over his col ar and put them on. “There are very few people I admire more than Adrian.”
“He’s a hypocritical asshat. A total douche for breaking the very rules he busted our asses over.”
“Wasn’t his decision to punish you, and it isn’t his decision to not be punished himself. That order has to come from the Creator, right? If you break a law in front of a cop and the cop doesn’t arrest you, whose fault is it that you don’t get punished?”
“So? He could at least show a little remorse. A little guilt. Something. He’s completely unrepentant.”
“Something I admire him for.”
“You would.”
“To me an asshat is a guy who’d f**k around, angst about it, then f**k around again as if angsting about it absolved him in some twisted way.
Adrian owns his mistakes and he owns his feelings for Lindsay, which is just what you did when you gave up your wings without a fight. I think he’d do the same thing, if the punishment comes his way. He certainly wouldn’t make excuses, because he’s not making any now.”
Frowning, Vash stared across the hood at the expanse of flat nothingness that hugged the stretch of Nevada highway they traveled on. Resenting Adrian was one of her tenets. She wasn’t prepared to lose it alongside losing her hatred of every single lycan in existence. One truce was enough for now. “Shut up.”
She didn’t look at him, but she suspected he was smiling. Smug bastard.
“Our exit,” he said, and she pul ed off.
“This works.”
Vash looked at him. “Just like that? First place we see and you’re done.”
He glanced around the vast open space again and shrugged. It had been the distribution center for a smal import company that hadn’t survived the economic downturn. The exterior was marked by loading bay doors and the interior by soaring ceilings that suspended moving cranes on elaborate tracks. Skylights flooded the space with il umination, dissipating any possibility of feeling closed in. “It has everything you say it needs. No point in wasting the day looking at more of the same. Besides, you liked this one best, and it’s your dime we’re dropping.”
It didn’t bother him to take the handout and it didn’t shake his confidence, which she grudgingly admired. “I didn’t say I liked this one best.”
He shot her a look.
“Okay, then.” She pul ed out her iPhone and cal ed Syre’s assistant, Raven, to complete the sale. Then she speed dialed Raze. “Hey,” she said when he answered. “You win. And…I didn’t cheat.”
“Ha! Be there in ten.”
She ended the cal and met Elijah’s gaze, explaining, “He was sure you’d go with my choice.”
Amusement warmed his eyes. There’d be no repudiations from him, no defensiveness, even though it could be easy for her to say he was so used to fol owing commands that he was easily led. His poise and self-possession stirred her admiration. And her desire. There was nothing so attractive as a powerful, handsome, and self-assured man.
God. What the hel was the matter with her?
She needed to eat. That was it. She hadn’t fed in days, and hunger was making her vulnerable to Elijah’s appeal and making it too easy to forget what he was.
Trying to get her mind off it, she texted Salem to make sure he was en route with the busload of lycans Stephan had been tasked with rounding up. Assured that everything was on track, she took a moment to make sure the Alpha was on track, too.
“Are you al right?” she asked him. “About yesterday.”
“No.” His face shuttered. “But I’l survive.”
“You handled the announcement wel last night. I meant to tel you that.” But she had been distracted by aggravation with the fawning lycan who’d patched him up. Not that she’d ever admit it.
He stared at her a minute. “Thanks. And thanks for the pep talk.”
“No problem.” Suddenly feeling awkward, she gestured toward her Jeep. “Help me unload before Raze arrives.”
They were just finishing up when the sound of a helicopter approaching signaled Raze’s arrival. He landed smoothly in the empty parking lot and cut the engine. The remote location of the property spoke to the ambition of the previous owners—they could’ve expanded indefinitely as business grew. Instead, the rising cost of fuel and weak retail traffic in stores had led to a short sale. Their loss was now her gain.