“Gave me blood? How?”

“Transfusion. It’s the quickest, most efficient way.”

“I have your blood in my veins, Siobhán?” Something fierce swept over his features.

The door opened behind them and Aurelia came in. The other Sentinel eyed Trevor with blatant curiosity.

“Hel o, Siobhán and friend,” she greeted, in her sweet sing-song voice. Aurelia could truly sing like only an angel can. Her hair flowed to her waist, the thick curls a unique color named “strawberry blond” by some mortals. She studied Trevor with the universal y blue eyes of all Sentinel angels. “I’m Aurelia. And you are?”

He gave a brief nod and introduced himself.“Lovely to meet you, Trevor. You appear to be healing well .”

Siobhán knew the others would be watching Trevor careful y. Adrian wouldn’t be happy with her for bringing a mortal to her lab, and none of the other Sentinels wanted his disapproval to spil over onto them.

“Thanks to Siobhán,” he said, shooting her a quick look of such heated gratitude it made her hands curl into loose fists. “Are you human, Aurelia? Or an angel, like Siobhán?”

In answer, Aurelia released her wings, exposing the colors that had always reminded Siobhán of a tropical sunset—a melding of oranges, yel ows, and reds.

“Very pretty,” Trevor said, taking the revealing of another “mythical creature” with laudable aplomb.

Stil , Siobhán felt a twinge at his admiration of the other Sentinel, one she couldn’t identify because she’d never felt it before. “Aurelia, can you make a food run for Trevor?”

“Yes, of course. I could use a bit of time out of the infirmary.”

“What would you like?” she prodded him again.

His face scrunched a little as he thought about it, which she found endearing. “How about a big bucket of fried chicken, coleslaw, corn on the cob, cornbread muffins, and the biggest soda they’ve got. Plus dessert. Whatever they have. I have a sweet tooth.”

Aurelia’s brows lifted. “Hungry much?”

“It’s been a year since I ate. I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Okay.” She headed toward the door. “I’l be back in a bit.”

Siobhán met Trevor’s gaze when he turned to look at her. “Do you want me to explain what I’m working on while she’s gone?”

“Absolutely.” He fol owed close behind her as she moved over to the infirmary monitors on the far wal . “By the way, your wings are way prettier than hers.”

He couldn’t see it, but Siobhán smiled.

Chapter 5

Trevor bent closer to the color monitors and rapped his knuckle against the frame of the LCD screen. “Is that some vampire thing that they show up in black and white? Like being invisible in front of mirrors?” It was weird looking at bright crimson intravenous lines plugged into grayscale bodies.

“And why are you wasting good blood on them?”

“First off, they’re really that color—total y gray from head to toe. Not all vampires look like that. Most of them pass for mortals. These guys, and two gals, are infected with a disease.”

He glanced over to where Siobhán sat perched on a metal barstool with her hands on her knees, looking adorably serious and crazily sexy.

Crazy because she was an angel, for chrissakes. Angels weren’t meant to be sex objects. He was pretty damn certain that even putting “angel” and “sex” in the same sentence was a major sin on his part.

“Second,” she went on, “I’m not trying to save their asses. I’m trying to save mine and those of my fellow Sentinel angels. My blood healed you, because it heals mortals. It also, unfortunately, heals these guys. They haven’t figured it out yet, but they Will . When they do, we need to have a viable cure in hand to hold them off. We’re severely outnumbered. If they started hunting us, it’d be bad news. Not just for us, but for everyone on the planet.

We keep the vampires in check.”

“In check?” His arms crossed. “Do you mean cul ing?”

“We hunt the rogues, yes. The ones that pose the biggest danger to mortals.” She shook her head, sending the sleek black ends of her bob sliding along her jaw. “I know you’re thinking we should just let them all die from the il ness. But they’d wipe out the mortal population before they ran out of food.”

“Why not just kil them all , like you did the other night?”

“Wel . . .” She told him a story about two hundred Watcher angels fal ing into trouble and turning into vampires. “We can’t take out the Fal en, but we—”

“Why not?” he interjected.

“Their punishment is to live with what they’ve become.”

He snorted. “It’s not much of a punishment when they’re having a damn good time!”

“The vampires who kept you captive weren’t the Fal en. They were minions, Trevor, humans who were turned into vampires by the Fal en. We can take the minions down, and we do, but since the source of vampirism is the Fal en, it’s very much like addressing the symptoms but not the disease.”

“So everything that happened to me . . . all started because some angels f**ked up somehow? I’m just col ateral damage?”

Her gaze lowered. “I’m sorry, Trevor.”

“Don’t ever apologize to me,” he said gently, going to her. He caught her hands and squeezed, marveling at how delicate they were when he knew she could kick some serious ass.

“Siobhán.” The emotions that swamped him when he touched her . . . gratitude and guilt, affection and awe, reverence and raw need. But through all of that, one thing remained vital y clear—it felt right to touch her. As if he’d been waiting his whole life to do so.

And she felt some of it, he was sure. It was there in the soft catch of her breath, the parting of her lips, the confusion that fil ed her beautiful eyes.

“Trevor, you’ve been through a terrible ordeal,” she said in a low, hesitant voice. “It’s natural to feel somewhat confused about me—”

“That doesn’t explain what you’re feeling in return.”

“I don’t experience emotions like you do. We weren’t created that way.”

He cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing over her cheekbones. “You feel something for me, Siobhán. You know it. I know it.”

The door opened behind him and she yanked away guiltily.

“Okay, so here’s—” Aurelia’s voice tapered off. “Is everything all right, Siobhán?”

He turned away and headed toward Aurelia, giving Siobhán a chance to pul herself together. “That smel s awesome,” he said, making sure he kept Aurelia’s attention on him. “Let’s hope I remember how to eat.”

“I’m sure it’l come back to you,” she said drily. “Mortals do seem to love eating.”

“It’s one of the simple pleasures of life.”

She pul ed up a barstool beside him as he began unpacking the large plastic bag fil ed with food. “What are some of the others?”

“Wel , that’s different for everyone. Gender plays a role, too.” He pul ed the lid off the bucket of chicken and pul ed out a drumstick, swal owing as his mouth watered. “For men, I’d say food, competitive sports, and sex rank at the top of the list.”