through the veil, and I wasn’t the same Muse either, which made this kiss new, real, and so damn good. The kiss gave me hope that maybe—just maybe—everything was going to be okay.
He pulled away all too soon. His hand released from my hair, but the other hand still trapped me against him. He trailed the backs of his fingers down my face. I blinked and watched diamond dust sparkle in his eyes. How could he be so beautiful, so tender, after everything he’d been through? Did he see hope between us too? His hand settled gently at my neck, and his thumb brushed softly over my pulse. He hesitated there. Neither of us seemed particularly inclined to move. I found my breathing matched his: exhale and inhale. Did the racing beat of my heart match his too? Invisible threads of energy wove around us, his and mine. I swallowed hard, fighting the urge to pull him into a kiss that wouldn’t be so easily stopped. He rested his forehead against mine, and for a moment, neither of us cared to talk or move. Perhaps he knew as well as I did that this—us, whatever it was—wouldn’t end well. A twitch jolted through him, just a little skip of energy, but even that tiny quiver snagged on my demon and tugged, almost yanking her out of my control. My teeth clamped closed, and a groan escaped my control. He was too powerful, too much for my fragile mind. I couldn’t dampen the demon down while he stood close enough to ravage. She was a creature of lust and fire, a being fuelled by passion for the kill, for wanton destruction, and she was hungry for Stefan. What would it be like, to have him as a demon? The two of us, ice and fire, elements entangled, fighting, repelled, and yet drawn together. The cool burn of his glittering demon skin against the raw heat of my lava-veined flesh? Would it hurt? No. I knew, somehow, that pleasure and pain were interpretations of the same sensations. It would be demon.
He brushed a thumb across his lower lip, snagging my attention to the spot I wanted to tear kisses from. His blue-eyed gaze flicked up, sending shivers through me. Adam was right about one thing. Demons had it simple, and mine wanted Stefan, right there, on the hood of the car. Was he having the same internal argument with his demon? He licked his lower lip, and it took every ounce of control I had not to pounce. I searched his eyes for permission, saw his lips curl into a smile. No, he didn’t argue with his demon. His demon got what it wanted. The smile was permission enough.
“Lesser demons, twelve o’clock,” he said, voice coarse.
Adrenalin doused my lust and poured steel into my limbs. Senses suddenly on full alert, I reached inside my mind and used the demon part of me to pinpoint our unexpected audience. Three shadows of displaced energy moved behind me. One in particular throbbed with chaos energy. The fine hairs on the back of my neck lifted, human senses sending out physical alarms. The demons weren’t meant to be there, not meant to be part of this world. Demon urges muddied human thoughts; Kill them. Burn their flesh. Destroy them. Take them, and then take him, the Winter King.
Stefan brushed his lips against mine and sent a sparking jolt through me. My demon surged. His gentle touch in the storm of chaos whisked my thoughts into a frenzy. I hooked my arms around his neck and dragged him down. Screw gentle. Screw the demons. I tore into the kiss. Our elements flared bright and hot, tingling across my skin. He slid his hands down the curve of my back, over my ass, and pulled me hard against him. My breath caught. A heady mix of nerves, excitement, fear, and lust pooled molten warmth in my belly and lower. Oh, sweet hell, I’d never experienced a madness like it. I might gladly have sated the boiling need in front of our demon audience had I not heard the familiar click of obsidian claws on concrete. Hellhound? A thunderous growl rumbled the walls and startled half a dozen car alarms.
Stefan pulled back, surfacing from the madness of hunger. “I’ve got this.” He swept me aside, and in no more than two strides, had summoned a lance of ice twice his height. He strode toward the handful of demons, face