Unchained

Chapter Twenty-four

Lily had hopped on the metro and rode it to the Gallery. She made it that far without breaking down or calling Julian, but once she stepped inside her apartment, she had dialed him. He had answered on the second ring. All she could ask was if he could come by her apartment. He hung up without responding, and she felt a chill race down her spine and the air behind her stirred.

Whirling, she found Julian standing before her. Startled, she clutched her throat. “I’ll never get used to you doing that.”

He pulled her against him and kissed her. “What’s wrong?”

She bit down on her lip. Calling him was probably foolish, since he was the main reason she’d been suspended, but who else could she go to? “I’ve kind of had one of those days…”

His gaze fell upon her arm as he guided her to the couch. “Why is your arm bruised?” He grabbed her hand, holding up her arm.

“Long story,” she murmured, “but not the problem, Julian.”

He didn’t seem to like her answer. “What’s happened?”

She hoped she hadn’t interrupted anything important. God only knows what his day actually consisted of, but she told him everything that had gone on that day.

He listened quietly and didn’t pass over any of the important stuff. When she got to the point of Nathaniel demanding that she answer whether or not they had slept together, his lips thinned to a tight line.

“I’ve been suspended from hunting and given restricted access to the Sanctuary. Apparently, I’m supposed to feel lucky I wasn’t locked up in one of the cells, and that I am still allowed to train.” She forced a laugh. “Lucky me.”

His entire body stiffened. “Let me get this straight. They’ve suspended you because of your relationship with me, and they suspect you of betraying the Sanctuary?”

“Yes.” She smoothed her hand down the cushion.

“Did they at least give you an option of not seeing me to avoid suspension?”

Odd question. “Kinda…they asked if I would, but my answer didn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t be suspended.”

“Well…how did you answer?”

“Um, I said they couldn’t tell me who I could see.” She felt his gaze on her as she stared at her hands. “I lost my temper, and the way Nathaniel was yelling at me…” She trailed off as she felt his fingers curve around her lowered chin, turning her head toward his. “What?”

“I’m surprised you admitted it. That is the second time you have risked yourself for me.”

She shrugged self-consciously. She wanted to tell him she thought he was worth it but couldn’t work up the nerve to do so.

“You could have told them you wouldn’t see me. That probably would have gotten you out of the suspension and back into their good graces, but you chose not to.”

She stared into his bright eyes. “Yeah, I chose not to.”

He seemed to think about something for a second but then kissed her softly. “You risked everything for me. I’m…honored.”

She felt herself flush again as her eyes darted away from his. “It is what it is.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “So what do you do now?”

“I don’t know. Find out who is betraying them, clear my name, and all that stuff.”

“You’re kidding, right?” he asked, a small smile playing over his lips. “We could leave. You know that. They’ve turned against you, Lily.”

She winced at the reminder. “Julian, I have to find out who is betraying them, and not just to clear my name. Someone is betraying them, and they’re not even looking anymore.”

“So?” he demanded. “Let them dig their own graves. It should no longer be your concern.”

“It is my concern.”

“Why?” Julian stood, prowling the length of her living room like a caged animal. “Why would you even care, Lily? You can’t tell me you aren’t hurt by Nathaniel or how quickly all of them turned on you.”

She understood his anger, but it was for her benefit. “It does hurt, especially Nathaniel, but I can’t turn my back on them because they have.”

He knelt before her, capturing her hands. “Lily, my offer still stands. I could take you away from this. To islands so beautiful the hurt Nathaniel has given you would fade away as soon as you laid eyes upon them.” He brought her hands to his lips. “Let me take you away.”

Once again the offer was tempting, and even more so now than before. She shook her head again. “Julian, they are my friends—my family. Someone is betraying them, and it’s only going to get worse. I have to help them.”

He kissed her hands once more before he released them. “You’re so pigheaded.” He smiled at her sour look. “But my offer always stands. All you have to do is let me know.”

“Okay.”

“If you won’t let me take you away, then you have to let me help you. Who are the likely suspects?”

She launched into a tirade about Micah, telling him about the stuff she’d read in his personnel file and how he was snooping around Nathaniel’s office. Julian actually seemed to agree with her, especially after he realized Micah was the “little shit” from the other night.

“No one else seemed to find any of this suspicious?” he asked.

“Only Luke, but he’s outnumbered.” She pushed at her hair. Suddenly, something occurred to her, and she turned toward Julian. “Do you know who it is?”

He met her stare and didn’t hesitate. “No.”

“You wouldn’t lie about this, would you?” she asked. “Because if you know, it would really help me out, and if you didn’t tell me, I would be pissed.” And she meant it, too.

“It’s not like we hang around in large groups, gossiping about what the other is doing. I do pick up information from time to time, because some do frequent my bars quite regularly,” he told her. “And even if I did, what help would it be? They wouldn’t believe you if it came from me.”

She sighed, disappointed. Figured it wouldn’t be that easy. “I need to find out who Micah is working with.”

Julian was silent for a moment but then smiled. “What we need to do is find some minions and make them talk.”

She arched a brow. “You think I haven’t already tried that?”

His smile spread. “But you haven’t had me with you. I have…ways of making people talk.”

No doubt. Picking up on what he was suggesting, she stood. “You want to go hunting with me?”

“Actually, I was suggesting I go find Micah and make him talk,” he said. “Or I could just take care of him.”

Her mouth dropped open. “No. No, Julian. You killing him, and I know that’s what you plan, will not help me. And stop grinning like you’d enjoy it.”

He didn’t stop grinning. “I would.”

Lily folded her arms.

“Okay. If that doesn’t suit you, then I could go hunting with you.”

The idea was insane. And a little bit laughable. A Fallen hunting minions to make them talk. She ran her hands down her face. If they were caught together by any of the Nephilim, she knew her Contract would be breached. “This is risky.”

“It is.” He turned away, staring out the window. “You know what I prefer, but if you’re insistent upon discovering this traitor, you will not do so alone.”

Mulling it over, she glanced at the wall clock. “I don’t usually start hunting—”

“Until after nine, I know.” He faced her. “The time frame works out perfectly.”

“It does?”

He crossed the room, dipping his head to her neck. His lips brushed over her skin, causing her to shiver. “That gives us just enough time.”

She placed her hands on his chest. “Weren’t you doing something when I called?”

“I was at my club in Bethesda.” He snaked an arm around her waist. “But they’ll live without me.”

Already, she felt her insides tightening, a pool of heat gathering in her core. Her body had absolutely no sense of priority. But the minions wouldn’t come out until later tonight…

Then he caught her earlobe between his teeth and tugged. Her breath came out in small gasps until he let go, his hands splayed across her lower back.

“I need to…I need to shower first. I’m sweaty.” Somehow her brain still registered that she’d been training half the day.

“I can help you with that.” He scooped her up, smiling when she laughed. Heading through her apartment, he stopped once to kiss her and then again to help her get out of her workout clothes. “It’s probably a good thing you won’t take me up on my offer.”

“Why’s that?” She tugged his shirt over his head, then moved on to his pants.

“Because I’d never get anything done.” He stepped out of his pants, standing gloriously nude in her front of her. “All I’d want to do is worship your body all day.”

She walked backward into the bathroom, stopping when she hit the sink. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Leaning around her, he reached into the shower stall and turned on the water. Steam quickly filled the bathroom. When he straightened, he tucked his hair back. The look he gave her was curiously intimate.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes. “Flattery will get you laid.”

“I sure hope so.” He dipped his head to her breast, drawing her nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue and teeth. The way he devoured her breast and then the other drove her crazy. Tight coils sprang low in her belly as she watched him worship her body.

When they did move into the shower, Julian was more interested in tasting every part of her than he was with helping her wash. Not that she minded. Her legs were literally shaking when he knelt and peered up at her through thick lashes.

She placed her hand on his cheek. Her chest swelled with a powerful foreign emotion as her eyes locked with his. He lowered his mouth to her sex, making a long, deep swipe with his tongue. She didn’t even have time to catch her breath before he did it again. His tongue swirled and stabbed, turning her insides to mush as she clasped the back of his head, greedily rocking against him. Then he sealed his mouth over her clit and sucked hard. There was nothing but white-hot pleasure as her orgasm rocked through her. Lily’s knees buckled, and he caught her as he stood and entered her with one quick thrust.

Maybe this was wrong–everyone besides her believed so–but as her head lulled back and he took her the closest to Heaven she’d ever been, she decided this kind of wrong was so right for her.

Hunting with Julian was kind of weird.

This was the second night in a row they took to the streets, and she still hadn’t gotten used to doing this with him. Like she said, it was weird.

Weird because it was like hunting with Luke, with the exception that she couldn’t stop looking at Julian and remembering what it felt like to have his mouth on her, his fingers in her, the way he kissed her… She cleared her throat, focusing on the humans crowding the street near the Verizon Center. Her cheeks felt hot.

But then she gazed at him again.

God, he was beautiful. She always thought he was, but she never really grasped just how beautiful he truly was. Out here, with the moonlight and the weak flicker of streetlamps, his cheekbones seemed more pronounced, his hair softer, and the indent above his upper lip more lickable.

All around them, people passed her over to stare at him. Male, female, the young and old stared at him. It was more than his looks, she quickly realized. He had this confident swagger that begged people to get out of his way.

She sighed, shaking out her shoulders. They’d been at this for four hours without a deadhead or minion in sight. Last night had been a bust, too. Other than the two deadheads and a minion who practically pissed himself the moment Julian touched him, they hadn’t made any headway. The only thing she accomplished thus far was making herself horny. “Where in the hell are they?”

He tucked his hair back, eyes scanning the crowd as they rounded the avenue. “You do this every night? Walking around until you hear a deadhead?”

“Pretty much.” She shoved her hands into her cargo pants, catching two girls in their early twenties checking out Julian and whispering. A grin played across her lips. “It’s usually busier than this, especially on a Saturday night.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” He smiled. “Hungry?”

“Always.”

They stopped at a late-night eatery and hung out there for a little while. She made sure to pay attention to her Nephilim radar. Exchanging stories while they ate, she was amazed by how comfortable she was with him doing normal things—human things.

It was like a date—a weird, twisted date that would probably end with them killing something, but that was splitting hairs.

Afterward, when they headed back out into the musky night, she smelled rain in the air. Julian clasped her hand, and her heart exploded with ecstasy. How many times had she seen humans doing this, or Nephilim who hadn’t accepted the Contract? Too many times for her to count, and never once had she thought it would be her doing something so mundanely beautiful.

Overcome by the normalcy of holding his hand, she tugged him off the sidewalk and inside a dark parking garage.

“What?” Surprise colored his words.

Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed into him while still holding his hand. She kissed him like she’d never kissed him before. Her lips bruised from the intensity, but Julian was all about it. He swept his free arm around her, growling against her parted lips.

“You have no idea what you’ve started,” he warned in a low voice. “I will take you right here, inches from the sidewalk.”

She started to tell him that she was completely down with that, but then she heard the eerie whining of a soul…and felt the shiver that accompanied a minion. It was so close, so unmistakable, that it shocked her to immobility for a second. This was what they needed—a deadhead and the minion that had coaxed the soul into the human.

Score.

Julian’s hand squeezed hers as he tipped his head back. “They’re right up there, aren’t they?”

“Yeah,” she said. She wiggled out of his embrace, pulled her hand free, and released her blades. “Really odd timing.”

“Yes.”

She knew he was thinking the same thing. There were no such things as coincidences. Together, they started toward the ramp that led upstairs. Her eyes flickered over the shadows as they passed an unmanned security booth. She had a feeling she knew where the guard was.

The awareness increased, like an invisible finger trailing down her spine. She caught Julian’s brilliant gaze and nodded.

He glided in front of her and then simply disappeared. Show off. She rolled her eyes and broke into a light-footed run. Rounding the sixth ramp, she vaulted over the cement wall and landed in a crouch.

And she found the guard.

He stood beside a Mercedes, staring down at his dark uniform. A funny smile twisted his lips as he tugged on the material. The first thing a deadhead did when it came to was check out its clothes. It cracked her up. She laughed.

The deadhead jerked in her direction. He tipped his head to the side. “Nephilim.”

Straightening, she wiggled her fingers. “Hello. Nice night, huh? Mind telling me where your buddy is? I really don’t feel like looking for him.”

Actually, that was what Julian was doing. Popping in and out, tracking down the minion. It was still here; the tingling at the base of her neck told her so.

The security guard rushed her, and the adrenaline of the battle swept through her. Almost as good as sex, but not quite. She planted her booted foot in the deadhead’s chest, knocking him back several feet and to the ground.

The deadhead sprang up, letting out an inhuman growl. Lightning streaked across the sky. Seconds later, thunder crashed and echoed through the garage. Summer storms—Lily loved them.

When he came at her again, she spun around and grabbed him by the shoulder, preparing to deliver a deathblow. Another shiver, much more acute and potent, exploded along her nerves.

Fallen.

Several things happened next. Over the deadhead’s shoulder, the minion rushed down the lane. There was a flash of bright light, and then there was Julian, cutting the minion off with a mean clothesline. The minion hit the ground with a grunt, momentarily stunned.

Julian whirled around. “Lily!”

She dipped and kicked, taking the legs out from underneath the deadhead just as the air stirred unnaturally around her. Her heart stuttered as she leaped to her feet, twisting around.

Not even a few feet in front of her was Baal. “Hello, darling. Miss me?”