Chapter 15

I couldn't helpbut glance at them.

"Aren't you that angel?" one of them asked.

My steps faltered, but Levi kept going, dragging me with him.

"Yeah, the one who killed her entire team," a second one said. "I'm sure it's her."

I turned to them now, appalled. Where had they heard that? I thought only the angels knew about it.

"It is you, isn't it?" the third one asked, closing in.

Levi jerked me forward but stopped three steps later as two other supernaturals stood in the way.

"Gentleman," he started, turning in a circle. "You're mistaken. This angel here has been my pet for many years now and?—"

"Stop the bullshit," a vampire said as he joined the group. Another handful of supernaturals came up the stairs. "Hand that angel over."

Now, more guests looked up from the nightclub, wondering what was happening or recognizing me. Which didn't make sense. How did they know about that day? How did they know what I looked like?

"When I say, we run," Levi whispered, so low, I hoped no vampire or wolf shifter or fae had heard it. I gave him a slight nod. "Sure," Levi said, nonchalant. "Just take myangel." He threw his hand out and a wave of darkfire rippled from around us, pushing the supernaturals within ten yards from us back. "Now!"

Holding my hand, Levi ran up the stairs and I ran with him. The two males who had been in our way stumbled back because of Levi's magic, but as soon as we ran past them, they started after us.

Levi disoriented the two bouncers standing by the double doors, pushed them down the stairs, and locked the doors. "It won't hold for long."

We kept on running, but slowed down once we reached the top of the club. It was more crowded now than when we first arrived.

As we walked by the booths, Levi swiped a leather jacket with a hood and handed it to me. I put it on and pulled the hood over my head to hide my hair. I knew half of the supernaturals here could sense me, but my hair was advertisement enough.

We were halfway to the door when the music stopped. A voice rang out through the speakers. "There's an angel in our midst. Find her!"

Instantly, a dozen supernaturals turned around us.

"Fuck." Levi repeated the same magic from before, but a little stronger, taking people down in a fifteen yard radius. That rippled like dominoes, and more people went down.

Levi and I rushed to the entrance while we were attacked left and right. A tiger shifter lunged at me, its claws poised to swipe at me, but Levi sent a bolt of darkfire to his chest. The shifter landed on a group of witches, who were preparing to hit us.

Then a vampire zoomed into me, holding my shoulder and pulling me back. I elbowed him hard in the chest, but that only made him laugh. Levi threw a bolt of darkfire toward him, making him stagger back a few steps.

Next, a trio of bear shifters stood by the doors.

I prepared to fight them, raising my fists, but Levi was faster. He produced stakes made of darkfire and threw them at their chests, piercing their hearts.

More supernaturals made their way to us, but Levi was able to thwart them with his magic. By the time we burst through the door to the outside, Levi and I were panting. Shouts let us know it wasn't the end yet. Hand in hand, we ran to the opposite side from the hotel, lest we guided them right to where we were hiding.

Thankfully, at this time of the night, Las Vegas's streets were full of tourists and we weaved easily through them. Levi pushed me inside a casino, where he ditched his suit jacket and found me a beige jacket from a chair and a forgotten black baseball hat on a slot machine. I twisted my hair into a bun and hid it under the hat.

When someone opened an "employees only" labeled door, Levi pushed through. "Hey!" the person yelled. "You can't—" Levi zapped his darkfire at the guy and he went down, unconscious.

We ran down the hallway, dodging other employees who shouted we shouldn't be there, until we found an exit door and ran into a back alley. We reached the street and stole a Mercedes from a valet. The guy shouted at us and was definitely calling the police.

"It's fine," Levi told me from behind the wheel. "We'll ditch it in a few blocks."

And we did. We parked the car in an underground garage. After I ditched the beige jacket for a jeans one, and put a black scarf over my hair, Levi and I took the tram the opposite way, toward our hotel.

Carefully, we spied around every corner of the street until we made it to our hotel room.

The moment Levi closed the door, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

We had made it. We were safe, back in the hotel room.

But then my adrenaline hit one last high note as a barrage of other feelings filled me. We hadn't made it.

Everything had gone wrong.

I wasn't one step closer to my wings.

I turned to Levi. "That went well!" I paced in front of him as if the floor was on fire. "The entire place was out to get me the moment we stepped in there. Lars didn't seem interested from the beginning. We didn't secure a meeting with Duncan, the supernaturals in there recognized me, they attacked us, and we had to fight our way out." I halted in front of him. "Oh, wait, you had to fight while I acted like a damsel in distress because I don't have my magic! And it seems I won't have my wings anytime soon either!"

"Listen, sweetheart?—"

"You listen!" I jabbed my finger at him. "Why the hell did you quit the negotiations so soon? You could have swayed the man. With your charms and powers, I know you could. And then?—"

He loomed over me, almost an entire head taller and as wide as a boulder. "He wanted to buy you."

I let out a hollow chuckle. "That was a lie, a tease."

"It wasn't."

"What?"

"I know he deals in supernatural trafficking, and he's fond of angels."

My mouth fell open. No, it couldn't be. Wait, we were discussing that right now. I was still livid and needed to scream this energy out. "That was beside the point. Who cared if he was serious? You still could have talked him into that meeting."

He stared at me, stoic.

Where was that naughty grin when I needed it? If he was his irritable charming self, I could continue jabbing him, and I would feel better.

I poked on his shoulder. "Come on, say something!"

"You don't want to hear me right now, sweetheart."

"Why not?"

His jaw ticked. "Just drop it."

"I won't." I poked him again. He didn't budge, and let out a long exhale. I poked him again and he closed his eyes. "Fine!" I barked. "If you won't flirt with me or yell back or let me scream this rage away, then I need to burn it off another way." I walked around him.

Levi caught my arm in his big hand. "Where are you going?"

"I need to fight."

"Do you know where to find a cage fight here?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How do you know about that?" If I was not mistaken, I had never told him about how I made my living.

"You said you need to fight. I assumed that's what you mean."

Right. "Well, this is Las Vegas. There has to be a fight club somewhere around here and I bet it isn't hard to find." Maybe it would be difficult to secure a match for myself, but probably just getting out of here, walking around searching for the place, and then finding it would be enough to calm me down.

"What the fuck? You're serious?"

"Of course I am. Unless you want to fight me." I raised my fists. "Come on. I bet you can whip my ass, but you can take it slow and let me get some hits in."

Again, he stared at me as if I was weird.

I rolled my eyes at him. "If I can't find a fight club, then I'll go out for a run." I turned back to the door, but then realized my outfit. "I better change?—"

"You can't go out, sweetheart."

I placed my hands on my waist. "Says who?"

"We just ran from a club full of supernaturals who were ready to kill you. I bet most of them are still out looking for us. Do you really want to risk meeting them out there?"

Shit, I had not thought of that.

Then fighting with him it was. I kicked my shoes off, walked to the center of the room, pushed the coffee table from the sitting room back, turned to him, and lifted my fists.

"I can't run in here and I can't fight myself." I bounced from side to side. He let out a groan. "Come on, big baddie. Fight me. No magic, though."

"Sweetheart, I won't fight you."

I grabbed a small decorative pillow from the couch and threw it at him. "Fight me." He didn't move. I grabbed another one and threw it at him. "Fight me, or I'll start throwing heavier things." I eyed the decorative vases and knickknacks over the table and counters.

I picked up a small ceramic bowl from the side table and threw it at him. It nicked his shoulder.

Levi let out a hiss.

At first, he didn't do anything else, and I thought I would have to land the first real hit to make him hit me back, but then he ran at me.

Not really expecting it, I froze for a second, and that cost me.

Levi rammed into my middle, pulled me up over his shoulder, and then let me drop on the soft couch. I pushed against him, but he caught my wrists in his hands and secured them above my head. Before I could kick him, he straddled me with his massive body.

I jerked but could barely move an inch.

I stopped, thinking he would let me go so we could have a real fight, but he didn't move. I tugged on my arms; I tried twisting my hips.

"What are you doing?" I jerked some more, trying to get free.

"You want to burn your rage off, sweetheart, then do it. I'll hold you while you thrash and scream like an animal."

I stared at him, appalled. "What?"

He didn't say or do anything. I pulled on my arm, tried lifting my hips, kicking my legs, but it didn't make any difference.

What it did was increase the friction between his body and mine and that certainly reminded me of what had happened in the club. The way we danced together, his possessive hands in mine, his lips on my neck, his breathless whispers in my ear.

Heat spread over my body and I purposely rolled my hips up, knowing I would rub against him, creating more friction.

Levi's brow furrowed. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

"There's another way you can help me burn this rage, this energy off," I said, my voice husky, unrecognizable.

The blue in his eyes became dark steel as he stared down at me. His jaw ticked and popped; his neck tensed. "You're talking nonsense."

It was like a bucket of freezing water being thrown on my head. What the hell had I suggested? Was I out of my mind? And worse … he had rejected me.

Was I that unappealing to him? I didn't think I was the prettiest female out there, but I knew I wasn't on the ugly list either. He had called me pretty a few times, and even said I looked stunning earlier this evening. At the club, had it all been pretend? He hadn't felt anything like I did.

My body deflated and I jerked against him, this time careful not to rub my hips on his. "Forget I said anything," I muttered, suddenly embarrassed.

When he didn't let me go, I stopped moving and turned my face, so I was looking at the side of the couch.

Then one of his hands slid from my wrist, around my shoulder, to my rib cage, just underneath my breast. Levi shifted his body over mine, so he wasn't straddling me, but he was perfectly positioned, his hard-on pressed against the apex of my thighs.

He leaned into me, stared into my eyes, and said with a growl, "Just remember you asked for it."

Then he crashed into me.