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I’d taken one look at the figure materializing in the glow, realized that she wasn’t yet wearing her human form, and jerked Duca out of there. But I knew he’d already seen too much. The Glow. The traveler materializing out of thin air.
I didn’t know how long he’d been in there, but I couldn’t ignore the possibility that he’d seen even more than that. Our house was the main hub in modern-day New York City, which meant any traveler coming to this area of the country was using it for their descent from the angelic city of Twana. We had Angels appearing once, twice, even three times an hour, depending on how many missions HQ was running.
If Duca had been in there for long, he could have seen more than one Angel arriving or leaving. Enough to tell him that the Angelis were either hiding something very big… or not at all who they had said they were.
Probably both.
Someone skipped into the hall ahead of us and I shuffled backward, running right into Duca. I stumbled, but his arms came around me and held me up, then pulled me back into the shadows like we’d agreed on it already. And just like that, I had the feel of him in my blood again. The electricity of his touch setting me on fire. The hint of his breath against my neck. The overwhelming need to push back into his body.
Gods, what was happening to me? What was this magic whenever he touched me? I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, and my mind was screaming at me to turn in his arms and look into his eyes, seeking…
What? What did my body want? And what did this man have to do with it?
Either way, I didn’t have time or space to consider it. Two partygoers were in the hall between us and the door now, laughing and leaning against each other as they came down the hall. I shrank further back into the shadows, pressing myself against Duca. These people didn’t know who we were, I reminded myself. They were just guests. They weren’t working for the enemy.
But I’d also thought Mattias, Valentine, and Antony were who they claimed to be.
The demon fire in Antony’s eyes had proved that my senses weren’t as sharp on that point as they needed to be. Which meant I couldn’t trust anyone.
“Where are we going?” Duca suddenly whispered against my ear.
I shivered as his breath ran down my neck, setting me aflame. “To the door,” I forced myself to answer, nodding at the opening behind the guests.
“Right.”
And he stepped out from behind me, took my hand, and strode confidently toward the couple like he had every right to be there. He nodded to them as we passed, and to my surprise they gave him only a passing glance, as if he didn’t matter to them. What was he doing? He had no idea how dangerous this situation was, or what would happen to him if he was caught.
But of course he didn’t, I realized. He was a human, and therefore not privy to the information I had at my fingertips. Even my information was sketchy. I knew only a few things: Duca’s name, first, and that my mission was to save him. I need to either get him to safety or see him through some coming confrontation. Make sure he lived. He was important to the world in some way and my agency had identified him as someone who needed to survive a coming battle.
That was it. I didn’t know what the battle was or when it would happen. If my agency had taken an interest in him, it meant that he was destined to live, but that someone would attempt to change that destiny, and would therefore change the thread of history.
Duca de la Roca was important to the continued survival of the world, and my agency wanted him kept alive.
The demon masquerading as Antony would have other plans.
My mission, already difficult, had become even more complicated the moment the demon exposed himself.
Once we were past the partygoers, I surged ahead, making for the door out of the house. I didn’t know if Mattias and Valentine were who they said they were or not, but I couldn’t take the chance of them finding us. They’d already pulled me away from Duca once, for unknown reasons. And if they were with Antony, and were demons as well…
They’d kill him.
Or kidnap him, which might be even worse.
I got to the door and burst through it into the snowy garden, taking a deep gulp of bitterly cold air. Thank God. I was a warmth lover and never went out into the snow if I could help it. Especially in a thin party dress. This was the last place the others would look for me. Which would give us time to come up with a plan. I hoped.
I didn’t know much about this city, but I knew the enemy had invaded my house. Shape-shifting demons were posing as at least one of my friends, and that meant I couldn’t trust any of them. I’d already known I had to accomplish this mission on my own. My superiors had told me as much. Now I knew I couldn’t even count on the others as backup/
The only ally I had was Duca de la Roca. And he didn’t even know what I was.
Chapter 9
duca
I followed closely after the girl, hoping to hell she knew what she was doing. She’d gone through the door and into the garden like she had a plan, which was better than I had. I wasn’t even sure what the fucking problem was, honestly. She’d grabbed me out of the room with the spotlight like I’d seen some top-secret machine or something and had then freaked out in the hall like we were about to get caught by someone for...
For what? The glow in that room? Okay, that had been weird. And if it meant the Angelis were involved in human trafficking, which seemed likely, they would probably be displeased if someone else found out about it.
But how did this girl think she was going to protect me from that?
