5. Evangeline

Istepped into my condo feeling exhausted after spending the entire day chasing my next mark around the city. The man was constantly on the move and rarely alone. Finding the right place to kill him without any witnesses was going to be difficult. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t smell them until the door closed, and I took a few steps. The unmistakable scent of brimstone permeated my senses. I wasn’t sure if they were still here, but I wasn’t taking my chances. I turned back toward the door to get the hell out of dodge when Rylan materialized in a cloud of black smoke in front of me to block my path.

I quickly turned to escape off my balcony when the other one with him yesterday appeared to block my escape. Son of a bitch. If I was still an angel, I could have just poofed my way out of here; unfortunately, I didn’t retain those powers. Before I could figure out a plan c, Rylan wrapped his arms around me from behind, pinning my arms to my side.

“We just want to talk, angel,” he said in my ear, the gravel of his voice sending a tingle down my spine.

“I thought I made myself clear yesterday,” I replied as I struggled against him, “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Then you can listen while we talk,” he replied.

His pal strutted toward me with a crooked smile. “We didn’t get the chance for proper introductions,” he said, holding out his hand, “My name is Kase.”

I pointedly looked down at my pinned arms and then back to him. “I’d shake your hand, but I can’t right now,” I replied. “My name is Evangeline Faithe.”

“Beautiful,” he murmured. Was he talking about me or my name? “Both,” he replied to my unspoken question. When my eyebrows pinched together in confusion, his grin grew wider. “Consider it mate’s intuition.”

“Mate?” I asked.

“You’re our mate,” he replied like he was telling me he liked eggs.

“I’m an angel,” I replied. “Angels don’t have mates.”

“You were an angel,” he corrected as he turned and waved his hand for us to follow. Rylan lifted my feet off the ground and followed behind him to my living room. As he did, I wondered why I wasn’t fighting harder. I had wings and a sword. Surely, I could escape two hellhounds again, so why wasn’t I trying? He sat me on the couch between him and Kase, and while he wasn’t holding me in place anymore, their hands on my thighs served as a reminder that escaping wouldn’t be easy.

“Let me just start by saying that we are so sorry that we caused your fall, Evangeline,” Kase said.

“If we had known ahead of time that you were an angel, things would have gone much differently that night,” Rylan continued.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I replied. “On some level, I knew what I was doing, but thanks to Zabiza, I couldn’t find it within myself to care. Now, can we get back to this mate business?”

“You’re our mate,” Rylan said. “We knew from the moment we saw you at the bar, but we had no idea you were an angel.”

“I am, or was, an angel. We don’t have mates,” I said again.

“Apparently, you can, and in this case, you do,” Kase replied. “Us. And Jett, he’s not himself right now, so he couldn’t be here with us today.”

What kind of fucked up bullshit was this? How could I be the mate to a pack of hellhounds? I was an angel! “Could you guys have the wrong girl? Maybe your wires got crossed somewhere,” I suggested.

“It’s you,” Rylan growled. “We’re certain of it.”

“Why don’t I feel it then?” I challenged.

“Look at me,” Kase demanded softly.

I turned toward him and met his eyes confidently. I wouldn’t shy away from him and wouldn’t be bullied or pressured into an improbable relationship.

Kase held my gaze with his reddish-orange eyes as he shifted closer. He lifted my hand, placed it on his chest, and then put his large hand on mine. “You don’t feel anything here?” he asked. “A pulling sensation like something is tugging you closer to me?”

My mind drifted back to the pinching sensation I had felt before around them, and a wall I hadn’t realized I had erected came crashing down, and I flinched away from Kase’s hand as the sensation slammed into me.

“It’s more of a pinching feeling,” I admitted.

His eyes shined brighter at my words. “So you do feel something,” he replied softly. “Hold on to that feeling.” Kase leaned forward slowly, and my heart raced as his lips brushed against mine. “Can you still feel it?” he whispered.

I nodded and licked my lips out of habit. When I did, the tip of my tongue slid along Kase’s bottom lip briefly, and his eyes closed as he groaned.

“You have no fucking idea how badly I need you,” he growled before erasing the space between us. His kiss was possessive and claiming, and all I could do was cling to him as he showed me just how hungry he was for me. I don’t know if he pulled me into his lap or if I climbed into it on my own, but when his erection pressed against my core, my moan shocked me back to reality. I sprung from his lap and put several feet between me and the hellhounds on my couch.

“No,” I said louder than necessary. “You’re hellhounds. You can’t be my mates. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s just lust, maybe something leftover from whatever Zabiza did to me.”

Kase opened his mouth to respond, but Rylan cut him off. “I know this is a bit of a shock for you. It was also a shock to us when we found out you were an angel. We will leave you alone and give you time and space to process this.”

“We will?” Kase asked.

Rylan looked reproachfully at him before returning his soft gaze to me. “Could we take you to dinner tomorrow?”

I chewed my lip nervously. I wasn’t sure what a day to think was going to do, but if it meant getting them out of my condo right now, I’d take it. “Sure. We can get dinner tomorrow,” I replied.

“Wonderful. Is seven good for you? We’ll pick you up,” Rylan replied.

“Seven is fine,” I agreed.

“Wonderful.” Rylan approached me slowly. “There’s just one more thing I need to do,” he said, quickly wrapping his arm around my waist and sweeping me into his arms. His lips crashed to mine for a scorching kiss. When he pulled away, I wouldn’t have been surprised if smoke was coming from our bodies. “Sorry, that was driving me crazy.”

He didn’t look a damned bit sorry, and he flashed me a cocky smirk. It took me a minute to realize it was because I was still clinging to him. I shook my head and took several giant steps back. “Right. You’ve both given me something to think about,” I said.

Kase rose from the couch with a perplexed look on his face. “We will see you tomorrow, Evangeline Faithe,” he said. I ignored what my name rolling off his tongue did to my insides, but as Kase inhaled and his eyes sharpened, I knew ignoring it didn’t make it go away. He stepped closer to me, leaving just enough space between us so that our bodies barely brushed against each other. He brushed my cheek with the back of his hand and then tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “I’m a patient man, Evangeline; I can wait a little longer. I wonder how long you can wait. How long until you give into your body’s demands and let me worship every inch of it like you deserve?”

My knees nearly buckled from his words, and the pinching sensation transformed into a pulling one, tugging me toward him. “I’m an angel,” I replied, my voice husky. “I’m accustomed to ignoring my desires.”

Kase chuckled as he leaned his head down toward my neck, and a suspiciously dog-like tongue slid from my shoulder to my ear. “You keep forgetting, baby. You aren’t an angel anymore. You’re allowed to get a little dirty now.”

“A sin is still a sin,” I replied. I rolled my eyes at my self-righteousness as if I had a leg to stand on.

Kase just chuckled again as he nipped my earlobe with his sharp teeth, making me yelp. “A little sin can be fun, you’ll see.” He stepped back before I could figure out how to respond, and with winks, he and Rylan disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

I stood rooted to the floor for several more minutes after they left, trying to understand what had happened. Could I be their mate? The pull I felt toward them had dulled slightly with their absence, but if I concentrated on it too hard, it came back in full force. I couldn’t deny that their explanation for it had merit. I did feel a connection to them, even now. My explanation that it was a leftover symptom of Zabiza’s spell was bullshit, and we all knew it.

Did I want to be their mate? That was the more pressing question. I wasn’t entirely up to date on my knowledge of mates, but I was confident that there was a choice. I could choose not to be their mate. The very idea made my chest burn, which finally got me moving toward my bedroom. I needed to wash the hellhounds off of me to think straight.

I turned on the shower and adjusted the water temperature before stripping out of my clothes. I needed to do laundry tonight. I tossed my clothes into the hamper and then bent to grab my clothes from yesterday. Where the fuck were my panties? Instantly, I knew exactly where they had gone. Damn hounds! Knowing that one of them had stolen my panties sent a fresh wave of heat and desire through my body, and I made the water temperature cooler before stepping under the stream of water. I had a feeling there would be more cold showers in my future before all of this was figured out.

When I finished my shower, I pulled on my fluffy purple robe, grabbed the hamper, and padded barefoot to the laundry room. I started the washer and went into the kitchen to open a bottle of wine and start dinner. I had a lot to think about, but I refused to do so until I had made myself a nice dinner. I decided on penne vodka, and I was halfway through my second glass of wine when the sauce was simmering lightly, and the penne had a few minutes left to boil.

That was when I saw a black envelope with vibrant red ink that almost glowed against the black paper. Where the fuck had that come from? Assuming Rylan or Kase had left it there without me realizing it, I picked up the envelope and saw that my name was scrawled across it. Did they come back when I was in the shower? They hadn’t known my name before I got home and found them in my house. I pulled the black sheet of paper with the same vibrant lettering out of the envelope and leaned against the counter with my wine to read what it said. I nearly dropped my glass of wine as I read through the invitation.