Stranger at the Hell Gate Read Online Free

her into scouting?"
    "Too much of a liability. But maybe we can borrow that crystal of hers."
    "Not you. What would be the point?"
    "Duh. Ionis, maybe. He's the only one who's ever seen Acheron."
    "Uh, he's your twin, Jagger."
    Jagger clenched his jaw and spoke through his teeth, the words a hiss. "How many times do I have to remind you? He looks nothing like me."
    "As long as you insist on that, I won't worry about you." The phone rang and Enzo turned back to the desk. "It's when you stop that means we're in trouble."

ANGELS
    At the week's end, the agent finally got Jagger to take a job. Sonya suspected her offering to pay for dinner had something to do with his sudden change of heart. Although he was only gone three hours at best, she spent every minute in worry, waiting for his return.
    Realizing she wasn't afraid for herself only made the anxiety worse. If anything happened to Jagger, she'd never learn the reason she'd been sent to find him.
    To pass the time, she went upstairs and cleaned the apartment, wiping away cobwebs and scrubbing the thick layers of dust off every surface. The busy work occupied her hands and stilled her mind—she'd never been one to sit idly by when there was a task at hand.
    There wasn't a lot of furniture in the apartment; only a bed and a heavy wardrobe remained. Perhaps everything that could be carried off and sold had been.
    Or destroyed. There were a lot of wood shards up there.
    Inside the wardrobe, she'd found extra linens. Their dry dusty smell told her this was where her current bedding had come from. After pounding the mattress clean, she dressed the bed and cracked a window to let the room breathe.
    She surveyed her work. Surely he wouldn't mind her staying up here. He probably wanted his couch back.
    By the time she'd finished, she heard his boot step on the stoop outside. She nearly tripped on the stairs on her way down. Sonya paused in the doorway. "You're back."
    "You're still alive." He glanced at her. "That's good."
    She sat down on the couch and watched him draw his sword and lay it on the desk. With a roll of his shoulders, he shrugged off his coat, revealing the scraped leather harness he wore over his bare chest. When he turned to throw his jacket onto the desk, the light slid across his skin, picking out every scar and imperfection.
    She couldn't ignore those marks. Her mother had been a healer, and she was her mother's daughter.
    Jagger dropped onto the cushion next to her and leaned to loosen his boot straps. A long thin ridge arched over his shoulder blade. Without thinking, she traced it with a hesitant finger.
    He flinched beneath her touch but didn't move away.
    "These scars are like a road map," she whispered. "How many terrible places have you been?"
    He straightened but didn't look at her. "All of them."
    The darkness in his voice was cold and drowning-deep. It called to her the way a child would cry for help. She wasn't accustomed to hearing him use such a tone.
    "And did you go alone?"
    "Every step of the way." Jagger pushed to his feet and strode to the desk where his weapons still lay. He pulled each gun free from its holster, flicked open the chamber, and shook out the ammo into a brass goblet. "My line of work doesn't run group rates."
    She remained on the couch and watched him through her Seraph eyes. His back was streaked with a myriad of silvered lines, each injury and scar glowing. The glow ranged from pale pink to sullen red depending on its degree of freshness. She'd never seen so much damage on a single living being. "But…you don't work all the time, do you?"
    "The day Hell takes a day off, so will I."
    "That's a hard way to live."
    "It's a hard life. So what? Everyone has their cross to bear. I just tend to do a lot of killing with mine."
    His causal blasphemy struck a discord within her but she didn't let it show. She knew he didn't mean to insult her. "Turn around, please?"
    He turned his head. "Why?"
    "I want to see you." She stood and braced