He licked at the back of her knee. She shivered. “I wouldn’t care if all the archangels were here. I’m going to get my fill.”

Hurry up, damn you. She sounded winded in his thoughts, which told him how hot for it she was. Hot for him.

He pushed his hands beneath her buttocks. I’m going to do everything to you. Everything. As he lifted her to his mouth, her back bowed. I’m going to push so deep into you that you’ll miss me when I’m not there.

Her legs fell open, offering herself to him. His first lick was slow and soft. Deliberately teasing. She was slick and burning with need, writhing within his grasp.

She keened softly as he pierced her hard and fast. Don’t stop.. . don’t stop...

A quick flutter over her, then he stiffened his tongue and worked the tiny bundle of nerves at the apex, relishing her throaty pleas for more. Don’t stop...

He groaned and ground his hips into the mattress, knowing that he had to get her off now, fearing that he was too far gone to be able to bring her to orgasm later. He was spurred by the knowledge that this was Eve, the woman he wanted for reasons unrelated to sex. Now she was right where he wanted her—spread and willing, mewling with helpless pleasure. They were in the moment together, connected body and mind. He hadn’t known he was alone—an angel who stood apart—until he wasn’t alone any longer.

Reed grew more fervent, fueled by gratitude and an odd.. . joy. Afraid to be too rough with her, he siphoned the surfeit of lust through Eve and out to

Cain, where it could be disbursed to the others in the firm. The tactic bought him some control, allowing him to be gentle with her as he hadn’t been before.

Eve climaxed with her hands fisted in her comforter, her thighs shaking, the tender pink flesh beneath his lips spasming with a greed that might equal his own.

He rose to his knees, grasping her legs when they threatened to fall to the bed. He wiped his wet mouth against a perfect calf and the feel of her skin stirred the need he’d denied for months. Denied for her.

“My turn,” he bit out, shifting both of her legs to one shoulder and taking himself in hand.

Pliant and drowsy-eyed, she touched his thigh with gentle fingers. He froze, wondering if she’d changed her mind now that the Novium was appeased, and whether he could stop if she had.

The look on Reed’s face made Eve’s eyes sting with unshed tears. The hand gripping her ankles was flexing convulsively and his throat worked as if he wanted to speak, but couldn’t.

“I want you,” she whispered. Inside me.. . with me.

Take me, then. He lunged forward with a snarl.

Her resultant cry was both pained and pleasured. She had forgotten how he felt inside her, so thick and long, nearly too much. Before she could catch her breath, he launched into a pounding rhythm, surging into her with a force that shoved her into the headboard. Placing her hands above her head, she pushed back when he pumped, shoving him so deep it ached in just the way she needed.

Today, she was as greedy for him as he’d always been for her. He was raw, without artifice, with none of the steely control Alec usually displayed. Reed climaxed immediately and unabashedly—his head thrown back, his neck taut, his abdomen rippling with working muscles. He roared as he came, his wings bursting free in an explosion of white, his thighs straining as he took his pleasure in her willing body.

Eventually he slowed, his chest heaving. He spread her legs, wrapping them around his hips and settling over her. His mouth moved over her face, kissing her, his gusting breaths a separate caress over her damp skin. One arm slid beneath her shoulder, anchoring her. The other hand cupped her breast, kneading. Beneath her calves, she felt his steely buttocks clench and release as he propelled himself into her. Slow, steady, and deep.

Reed—the ferocious one, a man known for his penchant for rough sex—was making love to her. The relief and. . . joy of being connected to someone brought tears to her eyes, but she blinked them back.

“Mmm. . .“ He purred like a contented panther. A drop of sweat dripped from his brow to her cheek and he licked it away, then nuzzled against her. “That was worth waiting for.”

His luxuriant, leisurely thrusts made her moan and arch upward. “Reed,” she gasped, shivering into a violent orgasm beneath him.

His smile held a hint of male triumph. His eyes were dark and intent, his biceps flexing as he rolled her nipple between talented fingertips. Against the backdrop of white feathers, Reed’s skin was golden, glistening with a fine sheen of perspiration that told her just how aroused she’d made him.

He pressed his lips to hers and whispered, “Now we can get started.”

***

Alec stood before the wall of windows in his office and ran an agitated hand through his sweat-soaked hair. The air smelled of sex and fury, as did his skin. His shirt was torn and wet. He yanked it over his head and tossed it aside, then shoved down the boxer briefs he’d lowered only enough to free his erection.

His stomach roiled and he found himself wishing he could vomit. He felt violated, as if he’d raped his own body.

Want you inside me. . . with me. Eve’s breathless voice combined with the dark ones in his head to goad him into an act he regretted more than the first time he’d killed his brother.

He could barely stomach looking at the woman sprawled on the floor behind him, knowing he’d betrayed Eve with her. Izzie had started out by goading him, spurring his lust and anger, relishing his single- minded focus on rutting. She might have thought it similar to the way he’d been with her before.

That changed as the darkness overtook him. He’d merely been the vessel used to carry out the act and at some point, she realized that. Surprise had hit her first, then fear, followed by anger. In the end, the pleasure overwhelmed the rest, but Alec doubted she would seek him out for sex again. He prayed to God that he would be able to resist her if she did.

I have to gain control of whatever the ascension awakened in me.

Naked, he moved to where Izzie lay sleeping and bent to pick her up. She whimpered and rolled away from him, exhausted by the demands made on her body. He had the strength of an archangel and the needs of a multitude of voices in his head. For all intents and purposes, she’d been fucked by a dozen insatiable appetites. Her clothes were in tatters, her eye makeup and lipstick smeared.

Alec deposited her gently on the black leather sofa that rested against one wall, then moved to the bathroom and the shower that waited there. He’d practically lived in this office after his promotion. Knowing immediately that something was wrong with him, he had been determined to keep away from Eve. But the thought of her with Abel—or any another man—had been unbearable. He’d given in to the need to see her. He didn’t have to be in love with her to want to keep her. Affection, admiration, respect, and desire... some marriages had far less.

Want you..

He was so exhausted that even Eve’s voice couldn’t rouse him, but he felt a soft humming in his gut that signaled an eventual recharge. He had to get out of the tower and away from the other Marks who made him so powerful.

What have I done?

As the scorching water beat down upon his head and the odor of sweat and sex dissipated in the steam, Alec placed his hand against the cool tile and stared at the water swirling down the drain. Just like his life—and his relationship with Eve.

The things he’d said to her. . . Now that he could think clearly, he knew the full extent of what he had done. His intentions had been right, but the approach was hideously wrong.

He thought of Izzie’s exhaustion and his own stamina. He winced. While he didn’t like the means, he was grateful the thing in him hadn’t used Eve that way.

Cleaned and dressed in new clothes, Alec moved back into the main part of his office and collected Izzie. He shifted to her apartment and tucked her into bed.

He loathed himself in the brief moments that he hovered over her unmoving form. She had started out a willing participant and he’d pleasured her well, but too much of anything was too much. He’d been rougher with her than he had ever been with another female in his life.

He was exhausted when he shifted back to the hallway outside of Hank’s office. So tired that knocking on the door was a chore, but an invitation was the only way to breach the occultist’s inner sanctum. As it had earlier in the day when he’d come with Eve and the tengu, the door opened without tangible assistance and Alec entered the shadowy space.

“Took you long enough,” Hank rasped, appearing out of the shadows in the familiar crone guise before altering into a voluptuous and lovely red-haired female. Alec used to wonder if the haggard witch guise was really a glamour at all, but later decided it was just a quirk. A ritual Hank performed to get in the mood to work his—or her—magic.

“Sorry?’ The simple word was incapable of relating the full depth of Alec’s remorse.

Hank came to a stop just a few inches away. “You look like shit?’

He felt like it, too. “What have you got for me?”

“Some advice?’ Hank crossed her arms beneath an ample bosom. “End whatever sort of relationship you have with Eve. You are weakening each other at a time when you both need to be the strongest.”

“I’ve already broken it off with her.”

“Ah. . .“ Hank studied him with narrowed eyes. “You seem more affected by the loss than you should be as an archangel.”

Alec almost snapped back—his temper was still sharp—but the last couple of hours had afforded him

just enough control to fight the impulse. “What do you know about the ascension to archangel?”

“I know I’ve always believed that archangels were born, not made.”

Hank turned and gestured for Alec to follow. As they moved, a circle of light, like a spotlight, moved with them. Alec got the sense that the room extended infinitely beyond the shadows, which wasn’t possible according to the limitations of mortal structures. But he’d learned to just accept that Hank was a demon of unknown power and origins, and to appreciate the fact that the Infernal was on his side and not on Sammael’s.