Read Finale for Free Online Page A

all yours,” I told Vee. “I’m going to finish running.”
    “What about Dante? He’ll feel like the third wheel,” she said.
    “It’ll be good for him, trust me.”
    “Where’s the fire, Grey?” Scott called out, and to my dismay, he and Dante started jogging over.
    “I’m training,” I shot back. “I’m thinking about . . . trying out for track.”
    “Track doesn’t start until spring,” Vee reminded me.
    Hang it all.
    “Uh-oh, heart rate’s dropping,” I yelled at Scott. And on that note, I took off running in the opposite direction.
    I heard Scott on the trail behind me. A minute later, he snagged the strap of my tank top, tugging on it playfully. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”
    I turned to face him. “What does it look like?”
    “It looks like you and Vee came over to see me under the pretense of running.”
    I gave his shoulder a congratulatory pat. “Good work, ace.”
    “So why are you running away? And why does Vee smell like a perfume factory?”
    I stayed quiet, letting him figure it out.
    “Ah,” he said at last.
    I spread my hands. “My work here is done.”
    “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not sure I’m ready to hang out with Vee all day. She’s pretty . . . intense.”
    Before I could give him the sage advice, “Fake it till you make it,” Dante pulled up beside me.
    “A word with you?” he asked.
    “Oh boy,” I said under my breath.
    “That’s my cue to go,” Scott said, and to my discouragement, he trotted away, leaving me alone with Dante.
    “Can you run and talk at the same time?” I asked Dante, thinking I’d prefer not to have to look him in the eye while he rehashed his thoughts on our jury-rigged relationship.
Plus, it spoke volumes about just how into this conversation I was.
    By way of answer, Dante picked up his pace, jogging beside me.
    “Glad to see you out running,” he said.
    “And why’s that?” I panted, shoving some loose hairs off my sweat-soaked face. “You get a thrill out of seeing me a complete mess?”
    “That, and it’s good training for what I have in store for you.”
    “You have something in store for me? Why do I get the feeling I don’t want to hear more?”
    “You may be Nephilim now, Nora, but you’re at a disadvantage. Unlike naturally conceived Nephilim, you don’t have the advantage of extreme height, and you aren’t as
physically powerful.”
    “I’m a lot stronger than you think,” I argued.
    “Stronger than you
were
. But not as strong as a female Nephil. You have the same body you did when you were human, and while it was adequate back then, it’s not enough to
compete now. Your frame is too slender. Compared to me, you’re abysmally short. And your muscle tone is pathetic.”
    “Now that’s flattery.”
    “I could tell you what I think you want to hear, instead of what you need to hear, but would I really be your friend then?”
    “Why do you think you need to tell me any of this?”
    “You’re not prepared to fight. You don’t stand a chance against a fallen angel. It’s as simple as that.”
    “I’m confused. Why do I need to fight? I thought I made it clear repeatedly yesterday that there isn’t going to be a war. I’m leading the Nephilim to peace.” And
keeping the archangels off my back. Patch and I had decided unequivocally that enraged Nephilim made a better enemy than the all-powerful archangels. It was evident that Dante wanted to go into
battle, but we disagreed. And as leader of the Nephilim army, the decision was ultimately mine. I felt like Dante was undermining me, and I didn’t like it one bit.
    He stopped, catching me by the wrist so he could look straight at me. “You can’t control everything that happens from here on out,” he said quietly, and a chill of foreboding
slipped through me like I’d swallowed an ice cube. “I know you think I’ve got it out for you, but I promised Hank I’d look after you. I’ll tell you one thing. If war