“Quicker than me. You can shift to the garage. I have to drive both ways.”

“You sure?”

“Sure.” Her gaze narrowed on the wriggling cement buttocks. “If it acts up, I’ll spank it.”

“Lucky tengu.”

With a wink, he shifted away.

CHAPTER 5

Less than half an hour later, Eve and Alec were exiting the elevators on the lobby level of Olivet Place with the tengu tucked under Alec’s arm. To mortal eyes the little beast appeared as rigid as its stone imitators, but it was in fact wriggling madly.

“Keep it up,” Eve warned, “and we’ll drop you to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and you’ll have to hike back.”

The tengu gasped, then stilled.

“Where are you going with that?” the mortal guard asked, but the Mark next to him touched his arm and shook his head.

“You won’t miss him,” Eve said, waving good-bye.

“Trust me.”

They stepped outside. She moved directly to the Harley and pulled her Oakley shades out of the leather pouch on the gas tank. “Where’s the car?”

“Around the corner.”

She gestured ahead with a wave of her hand. “I’ll follow you.”

Alec took the lead, shortening his long-legged stride to keep her close. Eve walked behind him and slightly to the left, allowing the tengu to be carried along the curb and away from other pedestrians. Her nose wrinkled as the scent of rotting soul roiled in the wind. She held her breath, but a hard bump to her shoulder by a passing pedestrian knocked her back and made her turn her head. She caught the culprit leering back at her. With fangs. His face was covered in writhing black details and his eyes glowed laser-green. With a chopping motion of his hand, he mouthed, Head will roll.

Despite an inner shiver, Eve flipped him the bird... and crashed into something rock solid.

“Watch it,” Alec bit out.

When she looked up at him to explain, she found him staring down the fleeing vampire with the look of death. Coming from Cain of Infamy, it scared even Eve. Then his head turned, raking their surroundings with an examining gaze. She followed suit and froze. Infernals littered the sidewalks in unusually high concentration for the area, far more than had been present when they’d arrived. Having the headquarters of the North American firm here in Orange County discouraged Infernals from playing in the vicinity, but apparently not today.

Alec’s growing fury filtered through her, chilling her with his cold aggression. A low, resonant snarl rumbled up from his chest and throbbed outward, visibly pushing every demon back. The power he exuded was dizzying for Eve, who felt it like a phantom limb. An archangel’s power alone would be too much for her, but Alec’s outburst contained an iciness that seized her lungs.

Alec...

The surge ebbed. She reached out to the nearby light post and sucked in deep breaths. That had been an act of possession and claiming, like a dog pissing on a hydrant. And every Infernal within a half-mile radius got the message loud and clear.

Eve studied Alec closely, slightly frightened by the look of mayhem in his dark eyes. “What the hell was that?”

“We need to get you out of here.” He gripped her elbow and pulled her down the adjacent street.

The weight of dozens of eyes goaded her into faster steps. She had to jog to keep up, but it wasn’t a struggle. Several feet away from her Chrysler 300, Alec hit the trunk release on the remote. He put the tengu in the back and tossed the keys to her. “Wait until I bring the bike around, and we’ll head back together.”

She nodded.

He shifted away. A moment later she heard the Harley rumble to life around the corner.

Eve closed the trunk, revealing a man standing directly beside her car. She jumped back with a squeak.

“Yeesh.” She shook her head. “You scared me, Father.”

“Sorry.” Father Riesgo’s smiling green eyes softened his rugged features. He looked so out of place in the priest’s collar that it almost had the look of a costume. Frankly, he looked more renegade than missionary. His cheek was marred by a knife scar and his dark hair was overlong and slicked back in a short tail. Just shy of six feet and built like a tank, Riesgo wasn’t handsome, but he was very charismatic and singularly compelling.

“How are you, Ms. Hollis?”

“I’m good.” Thumping came from Eve smacked her hand down on it.

Riesgo frowned. “What was wthat?”

“What was what?”

“That noise.”

“I didn’t hear anything.” She glanced around war: ily, noting how the Infernals held back. Maybe due to Alec’s unspoken threat, maybe due to the presence of a priest. “So. . . how are you?”

His gaze lifted from the trunk to meet hers. “Better now that I’ve seen you.”

For some men, that would have been a pickup line. With Riesgo, it was her soul that interested him, not the package it came in.

“Have you been reading the Bible I gave you?” he asked.

“I did. Thank you. I’ve been meaning to bring it back to you, but work has been crazy lately.”

“Do you have any questions?”

Alec could melt wax with his voice, but Riesgo was no slouch in the alluring department. His voice bore the deep sultriness of a phone sex operator. Not that she’d ever called a sex line, but she imagined that’s what the men who worked them would sound like. Eve wondered if he was aware of how many women attended mass at St. Mary’s just to hear him talk with that suave Spanish accent.

“No questions,” she replied, listening to the rumble of the Harley fade as Alec circled the other side of the block.

“And you don’t want to keep it for future reference?”

More pounding came from the trunk.

“No thanks,” she said, careful not to raise her voice even though it was competing with the noise from the tengu. “I have a good memory.”

“What is in your trunk, Ms. Hollis?” he shouted.

“Excuse me?” Her car was beginning to rock and she pushed down harder on the trunk with her super- strength to keep it still.

He leaned closer. “What. Is. That. Noise ?“ “I don’t hear anything.”

A dark brow arched. Reaching out, his long fingers caught the keys held in her free hand and tugged them free of her grip. Not that she offered much resistance. She was too shocked by the way he took over. How could a man so clearly commanding in nature become a Catholic priest?

With his foreann, he pushed her back from the car. When it began to bounce violently, he shot her a challenging glance.

“You’re pushy, Father.”

Riesgo hit the trunk release and it popped open. The tengu froze. The car settled. With one hand on the lip of the trunk lid and the other holding the keys at his side, he stared down at what was a gargoyle statue to his eyes.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

The tengu’s head shook violently.

“It’s cute.” Riesgo glanced at her. The tengu stuck his tongue out behind the priest’s back. “What’s the matter with your car?”

“Nothing. Runs like a dream. I recommend the 300 to everyone.”

Alec’s Harley rumbled to a stop beside them. From behind the shield of her sunglasses, her eyes ate him up as if he was dessert. Which was a fairly apt description, now that she thought of it. He’d hooked her the same way ten years ago. A hottie on a Harley.

He cut the engine and smiled at Riesgo. “Father.”

The two men shook hands.

“You might want to take Ms. Hollis’s car to the dealership,” Riesgo suggested. “Her rear shocks are bad.”

Alec looked at Eve who jerked her chin toward the open trunk.

“I think it’s due for regular maintenance,” Alec conceded with a big smile, his teeth white against his tanned skin.

Riesgo turned back to Eve and held out the keys. “I look forward to seeing you again.”

Beyond his shoulder, she saw the proliferation of demons lying in wait. “Be careful on the way back to the church, Father.”

After another long look into the trunk, he shook his head and closed it again. With a wave, Eve hurried to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel. Alec shot off ahead of her and she pulled out behind him. The tengu began kicking the backseat.

“Dumping him in the ocean is a great idea,” Reed drawled from the passenger seat.

Eve swerved like a drunk. “Damn it! Don’t startle me like that!”

“You’re jumpy,” She felt his gaze move along the side of her face.

“Hell is breaking loose. Literally. I have good cause.”

His hand settled on her knee. The warmth seeped through the worn denim and into the flesh beneath. I won’t let anything happen to you.

In the enclosed confines of her car, the scent that was distinctly Reed’s filled her nostrils—leather and starch, a hint of spice and heated male skin. Comforted by his proximity, she set one hand atop his and squeezed.

The tengu continued to bounce around in the trunk of her car.

“If you dent my car,” she yelled over her shoulder, “you’ll really piss me off!”

The intensity of the blows reduced, but the frequency didn’t slow.

Alec passed through Brookhurst, confirming that he was headed for Gadara Tower. That worked for her. She didn’t want the tengu in her house for any reason. The damn things were bad luck.

Sensing Reed’s disquiet, she asked, “What’s troubling you?”

“I’ve been looking into our Nix problem.”

“Oh?”

“It’s been two months since you blew him up, but there have been no new reports of murders with his calling card—until this past week.”

“Maybe the police have kept it under wraps. They do that sometimes.”

His fingers linked with hers, then he moved their joined hands to his thigh. “You watch too much television. And quit feeling guilty for touching me.”