“But we’re looking to capture, not kil , right?”

“Right. I just want you to know how to protect yourself if it comes to that.”

He caught her gently by the elbow as she got closer. “I wish you wouldn’t worry about me. It’l distract you when you need to be on your game.”

Her dark head cocked to the side. He really had beautiful cheekbones. They were even more striking now that they weren’t hol owed out. And his clothes, the black T-shirt and urban camouflage pants that matched what she wore, fit him better by the hour.

Trevor’s lips quirked on one side. “What do you see when you’re looking at me like that?”

“A very stubborn man.”

He laughed and she absorbed the sound deep inside her. “I’ve been cal ed that before. It must be true.”

“It’s good to hear you laugh, Trevor.”

“It’s you,” he said simply, the pad of his thumb stroking the sensitive inner curve of her elbow. “I feel okay when you’re around. I feel good.”

The simple touch reverberated through her. She pul ed away, needing to catch her breath. “I have to check on the infirmary and see how the subjects are doing.”

“I’l come with you.” He stood, towering over her.

“You don’t have to—”

“I don’t like being alone,” he said softly, a terrible sadness drifting through his beautiful eyes. “And I don’t like being far from you.”

The ache in her chest blossomed like a stain, spreading through her. She thought she should stem it somehow, retreat, but she couldn’t seem to find the Will . They’d gain distance from each other soon enough when she sent him to the archangel Raguel. Perhaps she should stop worrying so much and just enjoy him while she could.

She grabbed his hand in her own. “Come on, then.”

* * *

He was cruising a shopping mal for vampires.

Trevor stayed rigidly focused on the insanity of that thought in order to keep his panic at bay. The sheer volume of noise in the cavernous space felt like it was pressing against him from all sides. The barrage of smel s and people had his heart racing and his palms damp.

He hadn’t considered that he’d be thrust into such a teeming public place. He hadn’t been prepared, although he doubted that any level of preparation would’ve been sufficient to put him at ease. After a year of darkness and suppression of sound, the deluge of sensation was too much. A passing teenage girl bumped into him, and he flinched.

“Watch it,” she snapped, as if the contact had been his fault instead of hers. Then she raked him with a glance that turned from irritated to interested. “Oh, hi.”

Trevor rushed toward the nearest exit. He stumbled past Il Fornaio and shoved through a door to the outside, gulping in a much-needed lungful of cool night air. He walked several steps from the building, setting his hands on his denim-clad hips and taking deep, calming breaths.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, hating his weakness and craving Siobhán. If only she’d been able to play the role with him. Walk with him hand in hand. Look into the shop windows with him, lean against him, be with him. She kept him on an even keel, just by being near. But she’d blow his cover, she said, because vampires could scent what she was.

Gathering his composure, Trevor was turning to head back into the mal when the cel phone in his pocket rang. He pul ed it out and answered.

“That’s enough for one night,” Siobhán said. “We’ll hit it again tomorrow.”

“No, I’m okay. It’s only been what . . . an hour? That’s not long enough.”

“We can’t be too obvious. You’ve left your scent at a half dozen public places tonight. Trust me, the bait’s been set. We’ll close the trap tomorrow or the next day.”

“But you’re in a hurry.” And he was letting her down. “I can hold on for another hour or two.”

“This was never going to happen overnight. Head back and We’ll talk about it.”

“Siobhán—”

“Please, Trevor.”

He shoved a hand through his hair, which had grown at least two inches since he’d first woken up on Siobhán’s couch. Somehow, he knew his hair growth was like a countdown. It was indicative of his body’s rapid healing and resurgence. At the rate he was going, he’d be back to his old self in just a day or two, and he wondered what would happen then. There were no lycans with her and there were no “mortals” either. Where were the others she must’ve saved over the years? Did she wipe their memories and send them back out in the world, none the wiser of her existence or the existence of angels, period?

He didn’t want that, couldn’t even begin to think about it.

“Okay,” he said with a sigh. “I’l head back.”

“Thank you.” Her voice was soft. “I’l see you soon.”

* * *

Trevor paced the length of an unfamiliar living room, his mind going over every single action taken since he’d been rescued.

“You should sleep,” Siobhán said from her seat at a smal computer alcove in the apartment’s kitchen.

“I’m not tired.”

“That’s my blood talking. But if you lie down for just a few minutes, you’d lose consciousness and get some rest. You need it.”

He brushed her off with a distracted wave of his hand. They were in the apartment of a guy named Brian Kramer. Brian had been waiting for them at the airstrip in Seattle, and he’d given Trevor a change of clothes and the keys to his car. He’d given Siobhán the keys to a van and explained to Trevor, “By staying at my place, it’l look like we’re roommates to any vamps who might fol ow you.”

“Doesn’t that make you bait, too?” Trevor had asked.

“I won’t be here.” Then Brian had grabbed a suitcase and left in a cab.

Trevor stopped moving and crossed his arms. He stared at Siobhán. “Is Brian an angel?”

Her head lifted. “What? No.”

“A lycan?”

“No.”

He took a deep breath. “Is he a mortal you’ve saved in the past?”

“No. I’ve never met Brian Kramer before tonight. He works for someone I know. Someone I’l be introducing you to eventual y.” She frowned and pushed back from the desk. “What’s wrong?”

He watched her cross over to him, her movements fluid and graceful. She wore jeans and a blue sweater that matched her eyes. She looked young and all -too human when dressed in civilian clothes.

The three other angels who’d accompanied them to Seattle—Malachai, Carriden, and Daniela—had gone hunting, leaving them alone.

Siobhán and Malachai had argued about which one of them would stay behind and babysit, but she wouldn’t back down. Trevor didn’t know if that was because she wanted to be with him or because she knew of the terrible anxiety he suffered when they were separated for too long.

“I’m just trying to figure out the logistics here,” he said gruffly. “You were able to arrange this undercover scenario pretty quickly and thoroughly.”

“There’s a complicated structure of angels here on earth, Trevor. It would only confuse you to try to explain it all at once. Suffice it to say, Brian Kramer works under another angel for another purpose, and I was able to cal in a favor.”