Chapter 1

(Harper’s POV)

The angel blade glowed as I reached for it. I pulled it from the hilt on my thigh and spun, slicing the now fully lit up blade through the two vamps that were closing in on me. They barely had time to recognise that their time was up before the light left their eyes and their demon blood burnt them up from the inside.

I looked around to see Marcus was mid-fight with another vampire and Alex was defending the survivors, a couple of girls, probably only sixteen. At the far end of the room, I saw Elias as he slowly advanced on what we gathered was the leader of this particular corrupt clan. I was about to aid Alex with the survivors when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement. A vamp was sneaking up on Elias and he was too engrossed in the one in front of him to notice the threat at his back. 

I sighed before taking aim and throwing the blade in my hand at the sneaky little shit. Everything in the room slowed down as I focused on the no longer glowing blade as it sailed through the air towards my target. I set off after it and, using a table for leverage, I flipped over the top of the vampire and caught the blade just as it landed home. It immediately glowed to life again, and I took a second to enjoy the shocked look on the vamp’s face before I sliced up through his body like, well, a hot knife in butter. 

“What the…” Elias spun round as the blood hit his back. He relaxed when he saw it was now me at his back, and he grinned. I grinned back, but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived, as I saw the leader vampire that Elias had been interrogating, using the distraction to his advantage. He advanced on an unknowing Elias, his fangs bared and aiming for Elias’ throat. I screamed at Elias, but knew that he wouldn’t react in time. I rushed the lethal vampire and plunged the blade into his abdomen just as his fangs grazed Elias. He immediately fell back and screamed, his demon blood reacting to the angel blade. The blade died down again as it left my grip and the vampire clumsily attempted to remove it. I pushed past Elias and pulled out a standard blade from another holster and sliced it through the vamp’s throat. 

“Enjoy hell,” I said as his hand clutched his throat. I took hold of the hilt of my angel blade and it glowed right up again, igniting more screams from the bastard in front of me. 

I stood up and pulled my blade free and wiped the blood on the leg of my jeans and turned to face Elias with a smile. I was met with a furious look.

“Dammit, Harper,” he exclaimed, “I was getting important information from him.” He turned towards the door of the room and stalked off in a mood. I shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes.

“You’re welcome,” I called after him and was met with a growl as he disappeared down a hallway. 

I looked around to see both Marcus and Alex grinning at me.

“Oops,” Marcus said with a grin and a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, “Someone is in trouble with the boss again.” I snorted.

“He ain’t my boss,” I said and then grinned. “He won’t stay mad for long. I have my ways.” I winked, and Marcus shook his head with a laugh. I turned to Alex, who was trying to keep a straight face as two terrified girls clung to him.

“Wanna get those girls out of here?” I asked and sent each of them a smile, although I suspected I was one of the scary things in their eyes. Alex nodded and began to slowly guide the girls out of the room. 

“Come on ladies,” he whispered to them, “You’re safe now, I promise.” 

I saw the flat cap that Elias had taken to wearing recently on the floor and bent to pick it up. I sighed and looked around the carnage in the room. There must have been eight, maybe ten vampires in here. All dead now, of course. This was the part I didn’t like, the cleanup. It was okay when I worked for the Council, a governing organisation for the supernatural community. They had a cleanup department for this kind of shit. Unfortunately, since I hadn’t set foot in any of the Council places in the last six months, I was pretty sure they would tell me to fuck off if I asked for assistance. Plus add that this was technically an unsanctioned kill, I would likely be seeing the inside of a cell instead of being thanked for taking down yet another Circle unit. 

I smiled sweetly at Marcus and looked around the room again. He laughed and shook his head.

“Yeah yeah,” he said, “I’m on cleanup duty, I know.” I grinned and winked.

“Good boy,” I said, and he growled in response. I laughed and headed out to the front of the house where I knew Elias would be arguing with himself, or more his demon, to be exact. He seemed to have been able to communicate better with the monster in his head, since he had discovered exactly what it was. Although he was very open about not being happy about it. I knew his demon blood side gave him a lot of upset, since it was the demon blooded supernaturals that he had been trying to take down since his sister had been taken and killed, and his birth pack decimated by a Circle attack. 

That was one reason I didn’t trust the Council right now. They had not only unknowingly had several hundred of these demon bloods infiltrating the organisation but also had one of the Circle’s prominent associates in a high level role. Nathaniel Bethrinton, Council Elder and my former mentor, was actively using the Council resources and warriors to aid the Circle in growing stronger and taking out threats to the Circle. There was very little we knew about the Circle as an organisation. Our initial belief was that they were a supernatural criminal organisation that dealt with drugs, guns and humans, or more specifically supernaturals. There was a high price for a supernatural girl, whether she was a werewolf or vampire with faster healing abilities, meaning they could take more punishments than your average human or the faeries, some of whose blood was said to have hallucinogenic properties. 

It was only six months ago that, despite Elias hunting the Circle for years, that we found out that their reach and end goal was much more nefarious. The Circle comprised supernaturals who were also inhabited by demons. They weren’t full demons, but the product of one of the four demon bloodlines, in sentient form. The primary aim was to open one of the gateways that separated hell from earth and stopped the demons in true form, spilling out and reigning terror and all that apocalyptic shit on the poor, unsuspecting humans. We still didn’t know how they planned to open the gateways. One theory was that by tipping the scales of balance to evil with their corruption. But really, we were clueless. 

Which was why Elias was pissed off at me right now. His intent, when we went into the units we found, was to gather more intel on the inner workings of the Circle organisation. And I think, in part, to find out more about himself. It wasn’t that the supernaturals infused with the demon blood were born evil or anything. Elias had unknowingly fought his demon side his whole life. The demon side took over the host body and often pushed the more human side, for lack of a better word, into the dark depths of the subconscious mind. But for some reason, Elias’ demon was less concerned about taking over him and more about protecting him. Especially since we completed the mate bond six months ago.

“Well, if you helped out and gave up some of your secrets, we wouldn’t need to put ourselves in such dangerous situations, would we?” Elias snapped. He was arguing with his demon side, and I could tell he was extra stressed, since that was the only time he spoke out loud to the demon and not in his head.

“Don’t you get involved,” he scoffed. “You are hardly unbiased when it comes to her.” Oh good, I was guessing the “her” in question was me. I sighed and headed over to him. He looked up as I reached him and glared at me for a second before dropping his head in his hands and rubbing his temple. 

“What did you want me to do?” I asked, “let the dick bite you?” Elias looked back up at me and glared. 

“No, of course not,” he snapped, “But we aren’t going to get anywhere if you keep killing everyone.” I met his glare with my own. Fine, next time I would let him be vampire juice. See how much information he could get when he was dead. 

I turned my back on him and stalked away, further into the gardens of the rundown mansion of where we had found the nest. 

“Harper,” he called after me, but I didn’t stop. I worked hard these last six months, taking down this scum. I was still figuring out what being a warrior of the Divine Order meant. I knew I looked like I took to it easily, but I still had questions. My knowledge amounted to that I could fight faster and better and when I touched my angel blade, it glowed and neutralised those with demon blood, turning their own blood against them. I didn’t have an angel sitting on my shoulder. It didn’t work that way for us. We were the angel not separate from it. 

I heard Elias coming after me and quickened my step as I rounded the corner of the building. I knew he would catch up, and seconds later, I felt his hand on my arm. He spun me around and pushed me against the side of the building. He pushed his body up against mine and buried his head into the crook of my neck. I felt the sparks of the mate bond as he took his time inhaling my scent. I knew he was doing it to calm himself down, but I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around his neck and pull him in closer. His resulting growl vibrated through my body, right to my core, causing me to gasp as a shiver ran through me.

Elias looked up at me and his eyes were unfocused and flashing between the gold of his wolf, the black of his demon and the inky blue of his own. All three had a carnal hunger to them that made me both excited and a little scared. He looked at my lips seconds before crashing his to mine, his tongue already pushing for access. I opened up and allowed myself to be devoured by his lust and need. I felt his hands sliding down my body before hooking under my thighs and lifting me. I wrapped my legs around him and immediately felt he was hard. He pushed me hard against the wall again and grinded into me. I let a moan slip from my mouth and he growled in response. I knew by the guttural sound from his throat exactly who was in control and pushed away from him. His grip tightened as I broke contact from the kiss, and a shiver of fear ran through me, even though I knew I was safe. 

I wasn’t sure whether it was the scent of fear or the push, but he loosened his grip and I could see his eyes again. Even though I expected the black bottomless pit, it still spiked my fear and my heart jumped. He growled again. The demon didn’t like that I was unsettled around him. It wasn’t his fault, but despite the angel side of me acting as a calming effect for him, my mind still saw the enemy. 

“Hey you,” I said, attempting to keep the tremor from my voice. He growled in response. “Can you bring Elias back to me, please?” He growled again, but the black bled from his eyes and soon the blue was back, although with a sorrow in them. Elias leaned his temple against mine and let out a side sad sigh. 

“He’s getting harder to control,” he whispered. “He keeps saying that he needs to protect you.”

“Me!” I exclaimed, my eyes widening, and Elias nodded. 

“He keeps saying that we should have left you alone, and you are now in danger,” he sighed. “He wants me to let him take primary control, especially when dealing with the Circle. I won’t let him, Harper. You’re mine, not his.” I sighed. I knew Elias was struggling with the demon, but never knew it was to this extent. The demon’s primary focus was to take control of the host body in the demon bloods, and part of me thought that Elias’ demon was different. He had protected me more than once. Once from Elias himself. But maybe we should be more cautious. You couldn’t know whether or not his intentions were innocent. We needed more information on them, but my stubbornness was probably hindering us more than I would have liked. Maybe I would have to swallow that particular fear pill and finally take Drake’s calls.

“Erm, guys?” I looked up to see Marcus trying to be discreet as he peeked around the corner. 

“What is it, Marcus?” Elias growled as I unwrapped myself from around him. 

“Well, we have company,” he said, obviously nervous. I tsked at Elias. He could be extra grumpy sometimes. 

“Company?” he asked, his eyes narrowing. Marcus looked behind him again and then back at us. 

“It’s okay Marcus,” I said, saving his discomfort, “we’re coming.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the stupid flat cap that I had picked up from the floor. 

“Here, old man,” I said, putting it on his head and he grinned. He knew I wasn’t a fan. I turned to head around to the front of the building again and yelped as Elias slapped my ass.

“I’ll show you, old man,” he said with a mischievous grin. Marcus rolled his eyes as we walked past him.

“Geez, it’s like working with teenagers,” he said and I laughed.

“You feeling lonely, Marcus?” I asked with a wink, “You need to get laid or something.” I leaned up and kissed his cheek. Elias immediately growled, and I rolled my eyes while Marcus stepped back.

“Hey, that was her, not me,” he said, before turning and storming past me. “Bloody gonna get me killed one of these days,” he grumbled, and I laughed again. I felt Elias’ hand slip into mine and we headed around the corner. 

The first thing I noticed were a bunch of warriors in standard black uniform going in and out of the house. I furrowed my eyebrows.

“What the hell?” I exclaimed. Who were these jerks? Then I recognised one of them and knew where they were from.

“Greg?” I called and my former teacher and warrior for the Midnight Moon pack looked over and grinned. “What the hell are you doing here?” 

“I brought him,” I turned to the voice behind me and squealed when I saw Tommy, my uncle and Alpha of the Midnight Moon pack standing behind me. I pulled him into a tight hug.

“Oh my goddess,” I exclaimed, “What are you doing here?” I pulled back to grin at him. He shook hands with Elias and then turned to me with a sombre look.

“We’ve been called to attend a mandatory meeting at the Council,” he said.

Oh shit, this wasn’t good.