Page 123 of She Haunts Me Still

“We’re not,” she whispers. “We’re not, we’renot—”

“Think about it.” His nose brushes hers. “You and me—we’re tied to one another. Tethered. Forever changed in parallel ways by the angel’s influence. We can take care of each other.” A dark smile plays on his lips as he ghosts his fingers over the bite marks, watching them swell beneath his touch. “Look at your body, ready for me to drink from you again,” he says, entranced. Eyes flickering somewhere between green and onyx. “So fucking beautiful.”

He curves his hand around her throat, mapping the slope of her chin. Tears of rage spill over her lashes, and Ezra tilts his head. The color continues to drain from his irises, like something is fighting for control inside him.

“I hate it when you cry.” He tightens his grip, and she gasps at the rush of dark heat that nearly blinds her. “Whycan’t you understand? I can protect you. Forever. If you let me.”

Lightning flashes inside her, conjuring another vision. But this time, Mallory only sees herself, standing alongside Ezra in a liminal space of black and gold. She’s dressed in a flowing gown of black lace, red ribbons woven into her hair. His jewel-toned eyes flicker against scarlet flames as they lace their hands together with matching rings on their fingers. Swirls and slashes, symbols of angels. The images swim behind Mallory’s eyelids, beckoning, while Ezra’s fingers dance along her throat, coaxing her. Claiming her.It could be like this,something inside her seems to whisper.

It would be so easy to say yes.

But when Mallory meets his eyes—fully black now, entirely inhuman—it’s clear the vision was only meant to distract her.Seduceher. The angel would never allow them to be together freely like that. Not when it needs her heart. The realization hits her, swift and hard. She has only seconds.

Which slips, rapidly, into an understanding that she’s already too late.

It happens all at once. Mallory lunges with the knife, but Ezra snatches it first. Fangs poking through his smile, he runs his tongue up the length of the bloodstained blade before hurling it to the floor. With a growl, he rips open her Juliet nightgown and presses his mouth right above her left breast.

Over her heart.

Ezra sinks his fangs into her flesh and Mallory cries out at the white-hot pain, spine twisting. Blood trickles the length of her torso, and he laps at it, returning his teeth to the fresh wounds. Digging them in farther. Like he might gnawstraight through bone. Her eyes widen and widen. A choking sound corkscrews from her lips.

It’ll be over soon.It’ll be over—

Her head lolls. The pain starts to blur with infuriating pleasure. His hips flush against hers. A talon-tipped hand running the length of her body, greedily grasping at every curve. The room spins. Distantly, she’s aware of the way she’s about to be torn apart, drained, devoured. Maybe it’s time to let go. If she lets him consume her, Saskia will be safe.

And just before her world spills into darkness, she thinks of Lily.

Lily, eyes opal with rage.

Lily, choking out the scraps of a warning Mallory didn’t understand until now.

Burn.

It.

Not her heart. Theangel.

Mallory’s eyes pop open. She twists her neck, gaze landing on the table of altar candles.

Lashing out with her boot as hard as she can, her heel connects with the table. The structure doesn’t tip but it wobbles, sending several candles to the floor, metallic holders clanging. Ezra rears back, mouth covered in blood, and Mallory staggers to her feet.

With strength she didn’t know she had, she leans into the heavy table and pushes it over. Dozens of lit candles spill off the side, and she leaps away before they crash to the ground.

In mere seconds, flames begin licking the pews, the steps, the altar. Blue gold soars in front of them, snaking along the floor.

“Jules—why did you—?” Ezra’s voice—hisrealvoice—spills into a string of curse words as flames kiss the edge of his cloak. He rips it off, stomping the fabric with his boots.

Mallory flies toward the entrance. She coughs as thick smoke rises from a burning Bible at her feet. The fire is quick, orange-tipped fingers reaching up the walls, setting the entire chapel ablaze. She sprints faster, ash stinging her lungs.

And a searing pain erupts at the back of her head as Ezra grabs her by her hair.

“No. Let go—”

Ezra’s growl is rough in her ear as he hauls her to the side. “Move!”

A cluster of burning wood clatters to the ground, right where she had just been standing. Her breath freezes on her lips. A minute ago, he tried to kill her. And now—

“Get out,” he rasps, shoving her around the burning debris.