"I'm too on edge to sleep."
"I can't imagine why," he said dryly.
"Shall I make you a list?"
"No need."
She heaved a faint sigh. "We are truly screwed, aren't we?"
There was a momentary pause, as if he were carefully considering his words.
"I'm not sure I would put it quite in those words, but the attack on the witches has made our task more difficult."
"Who would do such a thing?"
"That is the question." His tone held a lethal edge, revealing he was not nearly so composed as he would have her believe. "A demon could not have passed through the barrier, and yet a human could never have caused such destruction."
She shuddered in horror. "God no, it was gruesome."
"Unless…"
"Unless what?"
"A human who worshipped the Prince might have been capable of summoning a great deal of power."
Abby didn't bother to hide her shock. She had never even considered the idea that it could be anything but a monster that could attack with such savagery.
"A human?"
He stiffened at her obvious surprise. 'You believe only demons capable of evil?"
The rasp in his voice brought her gaze to his tight expression.
"No," she said softly. "I am well acquainted with the evil people are capable of."
He grimaced ruefully. "I'm sorry. I don't like mysteries."
"I've discovered I don't much care for them myself," she muttered, reluctantly forcing herself to consider the horrors that had been dogging them for the past days. "Do you think the same person who attacked the witches killed Selena?"
"I just don't know."
Abby gave a humorless chuckle. "Well, we've nicely determined that we're not Nancy Drew and Hercule Poirot."
"No." She felt him stroke his cheek over her hair, his lips briefly pressing against her temple. "I'm not much of a champion, am I, my sweet?"
She tilted back her head to glare at his ridiculous words. "Don't say that. If it wasn't for you, I would be dead by now."
His lips twisted at her fierce defense. "Instead you're hiding in a cave, no closer to being rid of the Phoenix than when you started."
He shifted, his movement tugging her even more firmly against his hard body. Her heart skipped, kicked, and lodged somewhere near her throat.
Don't think about it, Abby, she sternly told herself. Don't think about those slender, skillful fingers skimming over your bare skin. Or those lips nuzzling at sensitive places. Or your legs wrapped about his waist as he…
Oh hell.
She melted against his hardness, her eyes darkening with the awareness that she was tired of battling.
"I thought you promised that being with you would make this cave a paradise?"