Wanted Angel - Sadie Moss Page 0,58

axis.

His arm slides around my back, his large hand sliding up between my shoulder blades as I arch backward slightly, tilting my head up to give him more of my lips. He smells like money and expensive whiskey, and the feel of his hard body pressed against mine makes my head spin a little.

When we finally break apart, I expect his eyes to shutter. I expect him to pull the mask back down over his face. But instead, he just watches me, his fingers still wrapped lightly around my wrist.

He’s not closing himself off.

So I won’t either.

I square my shoulders, taking a deep breath before letting it out. Then I say the words I’ve been dying to tell them for a while now.

“I love you all. I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about anyone. I can’t lose you. And that’s why you can’t keep fighting Anderson and Salinas. We have to stop.”

Chapter Eighteen

Ryland

It takes a lot to surprise me.

I pride myself on being able to read people, to predict what they’re going to say and do and to calculate my own moves accordingly.

It’s why I’m such a damn good lawyer.

The moment Trinity stepped into my office with Beckett, I knew there was more to her story than she was telling him. I called her out and got her to admit that she was on a mission to redeem my brothers and me. So her revelation in Isaac’s basement earlier was hardly a shock to me.

This, though?

This is.

My brothers have all gone utterly silent, staring at the fierce little angel who stands in our midst.

I can still taste her on my lips. The small kiss she pressed to my cheek wasn’t enough, and I couldn’t stop myself from pulling her closer and taking what I wanted—what I’ve wanted for so long.

My fingers are still wrapped around her wrist. We’re standing mere feet away from each other as she gazes at me and my brothers with earnest, wide eyes.

She wants to… give up.

Of all the things I’ve come to expect from Trinity, giving up has never been one of them. I’ve seen her fight, I’ve seen her work tirelessly. I’ve seen her enthusiasm and dedication to what she thinks is right shine so brightly that its light infused my brothers too. She got us all on board with her plan to stand against the demons assaulting Earth through nothing more than pure stubbornness and determination.

And now she wants to quit.

No. That’s not it. She wants us to quit.

She wants to face the combined threat of a high angel and a powerful demon on her own rather than risk our existences.

Because she loves us.

“Trin,” Remi says slowly, taking a step forward. His blue-green eyes shine softly, and I’m not surprised he was the first of us to speak. Beckett and I may be the de facto leaders of our group, but he’s always been the peacekeeper—the voice of reason and care. “We can’t just quit. Now more than ever, we have to keep fighting.”

“Yeah.” Ford’s voice is like gravel, and I can almost hear his pulse picking up at the mention of a fight. “Those fuckers think they can just overtake Earth? They think they can turn it into another Hell? Because that’s what it fuckin’ will be. They’ll decimate humans. Go after supernaturals. They’ll try to kill us, because they know Earth is our territory. We have to fuckin’ defend it.”

“I’m a lover, not a fighter,” Sawyer adds, “and even I think Ford’s right on this one.”

Knight signs his agreement, nodding emphatically as he does, and even though Trinity hasn’t learned all of his hand signals yet, I know she picks up enough of his meaning to understand what he’s getting at. A look of panic flares on her face, and she takes a step back, pulling out of my suddenly lax grip and spinning around to look from one man to the next.

“I care about Earth too! I love it, more than I ever thought possible when I was cast down from Heaven. But an Earth without you all in it?” Her eyes shine with tears, and she brushes them away angrily, a stubborn glint coming into her eyes. “I don’t want to live there. I can’t live there. So please, let me do this on my own.”

“Sugar pie, we don’t know that stopping Salinas and Anderson will redeem us all,” Nix puts in, shoving his hands into his pockets as he cocks his head. “I mean, it’s