Binding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys of the Underworld Book 3) by Mallory Crowe Page A

his.
    At the sudden intense pain in his right shoulder, he held back a groan of pain. Without taking a second longer to think, he wrapped his arms around Muriel the best he could with the cuffs and lifted her out of the wreckage.
    As soon as his head emerged from the now busted window, more bullets rained down on them. He shielded Muriel with his body, but knew he wasn’t a good enough shield. He needed shelter.
    Running was their best bet, giving their attackers a moving target. Holding her close to his chest, he took off as fast as his demon speed would allow in his injured state but quickly realized that there was no cover. Just fields.
    “Drop the girl and you can live,” said the same asshole from behind him.
    More gunshots; this time one hit him in his thigh. Muriel cried out in pain and he knew she felt the same pain as him. Apparently it was enough pain to wake her. Fresh anger filled him and he knew his eyes glowed with fire. “Fuck off,” he screamed back, not sure and not caring whether his pursuers could hear him.
    He didn’t even know how many there were. There had been two in the cruiser chasing them, the telekinetic who had totaled Muriel’s car, and at least one other driver who had contributed to the roadblock.
    Another bullet went through his knee, and his weight crashed to the hard earth. He landed on his good knee, Muriel still clutched close to his chest. He tried in vain to push himself up through the pain, but it was no use. The bullet had torn through something that was apparently necessary for standing.
    One look at Muriel’s tense expression and he knew that the same agony he felt shot through her as well. They were surrounded and immobile. In other words, they were dead.
    As he heard them approach, he gripped Muriel tighter. Her eyes revealed her pain, but her face remained calm. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as guilt flickered behind her lashes.
    He was amazed. He had single-handedly destroyed her chances of becoming an angel ever again and he had done it with a smile. She should feel completely justified at his pain. She should revel in it, not regret it.
    “I’m not.” He had to admit, if her face was the last thing he ever saw, his death wouldn’t be half bad.
    “Drop the girl and step away,” said the man again.
    Muriel’s eyes widened. “Samuel,” she whispered. Then louder, “Samuel! Don’t shoot!”
    Samuel? Fuck.
    “Muriel, are you okay? Has the demon hurt you?” asked Samuel.
    “Don’t shoot him anymore!” She spoke loudly, but Kier could feel the toll that the effort put on her.
    “Lower your weapon,” Samuel said to his partners.
    Kier shuffled his weight around to face the infamous Samuel.
    He didn’t know much about the man. He had never cared enough about the apocalypse to find out more than the basics that every demon knew. It was prophesied that Samuel must live to prevent the premature apocalypse, and before finding out about his supernatural destiny, Samuel had been a high-level black-ops agent for the government. A lost soul from Purgatory was sent to watch over him after the prophecy was first revealed; after protecting him for the summer, she fell in love with him and now they fought against the apocalypse and Azazel together.
    Oh, and the small fact that Muriel had gladly given up her wings for him.
    That irked him more than he would’ve liked to admit. Was the lost soul the only one who had developed feelings for this Samuel? Had Muriel’s feelings for him clouded even an angel’s judgment?
    Like Kier, Samuel was tall, with dark hair and brown eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. Samuel was loaded with muscle that came from a rigorous and brutal workout regimen. His skin was a light bronze, a combination from various ethnicities and lots of sunlight. If needed, he could pass as Arabic, Latino, or African-American. Ideal for a former spy and mercenary.
    “Why can’t you stand? Did the demon do something to you?”
    He was really