“How convenient.”
He wasn’t bothered by my scorn. I suspected he’d had enough of it heaped on him over the centuries to become immune. It wasn’t as if he cared what I thought. It wasn’t as if I mattered to him beyond a means to the end of saving the world.
If I wasn’t involved in this mess—if I hadn’t been literally screwed for the greater good—I might think him heroic. But I was involved, and what I thought was that he was a manipulative asshole.
“Take it back,” I said.
“No.”
“I don’t want any of your abilities.”
“I don’t care.”
We went silent. What else was there to say?
“Do you know who my parents are?” I blurted.
He blinked, once, slowly. “Why would I?”
“I got my abilities from somewhere, I just figured…”
“That you were a breed? Or perhaps they were?”
I shrugged.
“Could be. I’m afraid I don’t know.”
“Who would?”
He looked away, then quickly back. “I don’t know that either.”
Was he lying? Who could tell? Certainly not me.
I got back to business. According to Sawyer, I should now be able to do what Ruthie had—know the Nephilim’s human face, understand what they were so that I could give orders to kill them. I should receive this information… on a wing and a prayer? I wasn’t sure.
“Will I hear a voice from God?” He cut me a quick, disgusted glance. “I’m serious. How does this work?”
“Close your eyes.” I did. “Now, open,” he whispered.
Images of the last time he’d said that word tumbled through my mind. His mouth on my breast, his tongue against me, his body deep inside, pushing, pulsing, making me— My eyes snapped open. Sawyer stood too close, body aligned to mine. I could feel his erection, straining toward me through several layers of clothing. For an instant I swayed forward, brushing us together. My breath caught, my body tightened. His pupils dilated, the black driving out every vestige of gray.
“What did you see?” he asked.
I needed to break the connection, but that would only prove to him how much he affected me. So I stayed right where I was.
“Nothing.”
His palms cupped the curve of my waist, pulling our lower bodies into alignment. “Maybe we need to try again.”
He flexed his hips, sparks flared at the edge of my vision. My head began to drop back; his mouth began to descend. All I had to do was let him…
I brought my knee up. He countered the move easily. Although his preternatural speed was supposedly only available in animal form, he was unnaturally quick as a human.
He still held my waist. Our faces were so close our breath mingled. “Don’t touch me.” I lifted his hands, stepped out of his embrace, then dropped them as if they were crawling with lice.
He continued to watch me, his eyes still spookily black despite the blazing light of the sun.
“I want to leave New Mexico,” I said. “Today.”
“Until you can do what you’re supposed to be doing, you’ll stay right here.”
“You already did your thing.” Me. “And I’m still blocked.”
“They say the sixth time’s the charm.”
“Tough. Find another way. You can’t sleep with everyone who comes here for help.”
“I can’t?”
I narrowed my eyes. His face gave nothing away; it never did, and I wondered— Was that why Jimmy hated him so?
I jerked my mind from the thought, and turned away, but Sawyer followed. “Ruthie gave her life so we could win this war.”
“She gave nothing; her life was taken from her.”
“I don’t think so. Ruthie would have known her time was coming. Being Ruthie, she would have known exactly how and when. She could have prevented it if she’d wanted to.”
I spun back around. “Why didn’t she?”
“Her death was a declaration of war.”
“The prophesy,” I murmured. “The final battle.”
“Yes. But in dying she made a declaration of her own. It was a great joke, really.”
“Yeah, I was laughing my ass off when I found her in a puddle of her own blood.”
His lips tightened, but he went on. “The leader of the darkness thought he was making us weaker by taking our leader, but instead he made us stronger.”
“How so?”
“By dying, Ruthie became eternal. She guides us through you. And you’ll become more powerful than she could ever have been.”
I didn’t feel powerful. I felt, again, like a failure. However, this time, failing wouldn’t just get my partner killed; failing would probably end the world as we knew it. But, hey, no pressure.
I took one step away from Sawyer, needing space, a little time, only to freeze at the sound that swirled around the clearing.
The furious hiss of a rattlesnake.
I looked down. One was coiled near enough to strike. Where had it come from?