Demon Fire (The Angel Fire Book 3), Marie Johnston [books suggested by bill gates TXT] 📗

to get in—or out.” She glared at Sandeen with the last part.

Boone’s mouth flattened. Would he sleep on the floor instead? She’d hate to drive him out of another bed.

“We’ll get you both new names,” Harlowe continued. “If anyone asks, you two will be a happily married couple caring for your aging mother. I don’t care whose mother it is but you’d better have your story straight before a horde of demons attacks the house.”

“Then why’d we come here?” Boone shoved his hand through his hair, leaving chunks standing in all directions. “Couldn’t we be overridden with overzealous cult followers from that club you mentioned?”

“As long as you don’t break your cover, and as long as Sandeen doesn’t roll over on you, you’ll be fine.”

“Nice, warrior,” Sandeen muttered. “Throw me on the subway tracks.”

Harlowe ignored him. “You two stay happily married, work from home—pick your own careers—and order in groceries and food. Make up the backstory between the three of you. The rest of the team is going to clean up the mess at Alma’s house. Make sure she has a home to go back to and that an APB hasn’t been put out on her.”

“Who all knows we’re here?” Sierra asked. Boone put his hands on his hips, his expression intent on the answer.

Anger glowed in Harlowe’s eyes. “That’s our business.”

Sierra shook her head. “Not anymore.” Like it or not, she was a part of this and she wasn’t going to be a sitting duck. “Stede got to me. You think any of you are exempt?”

Urban chose this moment of all times to speak up. “We aren’t hiding anything that can be used against us. What did they have on you again?”

Sierra clenched her jaw and stared at him.

“That’s what I thought. Want me to tell Director Richter ‘hi’ since we’re talking to you again?”

She deserved Urban’s wrath. All of it. But it wasn’t going to help keep those around her from becoming collateral damage. “I sent the message for the humans put in danger by the demon’s plans. I have nothing to do with those plans and I’m not helping them. You’ll be the first to know if any try to contact me again.” She thought about skipping the next part, but she went for it because it was the truth. “Or if any corrupt angels approach me.”

“Oh, the kitty has claws.” Sandeen rubbed his hands together, but it was more like a therapeutic massage for aching joints than glee.

“Enough.” Harlowe’s disapproving frown was aimed at her. “We all know there’s corruption in Numen. Care to throw that in our face again while we’re risking our wings helping you?”

Singed from the censure in Harlowe’s tone, Sierra wanted to track down Andy by herself and make him pay for ruining her blissful fall. “Whatever. I’m tired. What bedroom do you want me in? Never mind. I’ll pick the smallest.” She was probably lucky to get a bed.

“These bones are tired too. I’m hitting the hay.” Sandeen took his bag from Urban and patted his hand.

Urban snatched it away and sneered. “Don’t touch me, demon.”

Sandeen grinned at Harlowe as he shuffled toward the hallway nook beyond the stairs. “Wanna tuck me in, Lowe?”

“Go fuck yourself,” Harlowe said.

“It’s weird in this body. Trust me.” Sandeen disappeared into his room.

Harlowe murmured to Urban, “You get to be the first one on watch. I can’t stand him.”

“He’s a demon,” Urban said as if that explained everything. It didn’t. Because Sierra had a hard time hating Sandeen. She was grateful he took some of the animosity off of her.

Sierra used the distraction to start for the stairs. The warriors didn’t have any more to say to her.

Harlowe addressed Boone. “We’ll get supplies delivered tomorrow. Toiletries, clothing, electronics. Dionna has it all arranged.”

Sierra wanted to ask how Dionna was doing. What about Bronx and Jagger? They wouldn’t tell her. They didn’t trust her. And Sierra didn’t care to think about Jagger or that she was pregnant with his half-sibling.

How the hell had this happened? She’d rather not think about the pregnancy at all right now.

She trudged up the stairs. The top floor had a landing and three doors. The bathroom door gaped open. One bedroom was over the garage and the other on top of the room Sandeen would be in.

She chose the one over the garage instead of determining which was smaller. If they hated her that much, they could kick her out. She was going for the door when a brush of heat swept up her back. Boone had come up the stairs. The man was stealthy. She’d thought the cabin swallowed the sound, but in this big, open house, he was as silent as he’d been in the woods.

He didn’t say anything as she entered the bedroom. A bed with two nightstands and a dresser. Nothing on the walls. Had this house been staged for selling and her team had bought it and all the belongings?

It was what she would’ve done.

Boone stepped in behind her and shut the door.

“Don’t tell them about the baby.” She hadn’t confirmed it to him until now, but since she would’ve gone months before she realized her “condition,” she figured he hadn’t needed to see the double lines.

He didn’t reply.

She crossed to the edge of the bed and sat. “The father was a bad choice.” She’d told Boone a lot today, but none of it had been the important stuff.

“The Stede you mentioned?”

She shook her head, her stomach roiling. “No.” She let out a scornful laugh. “Worse than him.” Her shoulders sagged. “Such a bad decision. But I never thought it would lead to this. Angels don’t have a lot of kids. Mates can be together for centuries before they have kids.”

“Right.” He rounded to the other side of the bed. The mattress dipped as he took a seat, their backs to each other. “Depending on how long this takes, they’re going to notice eventually.”

“I know.”

“You should have prenatal vitamins. Doctor visits.”

Was there a book for what