“Maybe this is Lucifer’s way of having something to hold over me,” she murmured under her breath. How better to get her to attempt to kill Maccus than to threaten her sister.
Kayley might be in danger right this second because of the way she’d defied him earlier.
“I want to go. To the gallery showing.” She had to view the art for herself in person, see her sister with her own two eyes.
“Starts at six. We have time to kill between now and then.” He lowered the lid of the laptop and then hooked his palm behind her neck, drawing her closer.
“Tell me about the tattoos.” She wanted some show of trust from him, needed some kind of connection beyond the sexual attraction that simmered between them, ready to boil over at a moment’s notice.
“Is that your price?”
Even expecting them, his words were a blow to what was left of her heart. The ache in her chest almost swallowed her whole.
“No matter what I was ordered to do, I’m no whore. I had sex with you because I wanted you.” It was important that he understood that.
He released her and dragged his fingers through his hair. His jaw tightened, and a muscle beneath his eye twitched. “I figured out how to do it when I was in Hell. Weapons were in short supply, and I couldn’t afford to lose what I had.” He held his hand up, and a five-pointed star appeared. He whipped his hand toward the wall, embedding the blade deep.
The fact he told her eased some of the overwhelming pain inside her.
“There was also the problem of getting them back once I was done,” he continued. She didn’t see him make any kind of motion, but the star was back in his hand. He caressed one of the edges before it disappeared.
“It’s amazing what you can learn when you have to.” The shadows from the corners of the room reached out to him, blocking the light filtering in through the windows. “But you’d understand that, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” she agreed. She was all too familiar with what it was like to be thrust into the unknown. Had he been scared when he’d fallen from Heaven? As an angel, he would have had skills she couldn’t even dream of. “So you didn’t have that ability before? The fall, I mean?” She was pushing her luck but couldn’t stop herself. He fascinated her as a man and a warrior.
The shadows grew deeper, and the room temperature plummeted. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, but it didn’t help. The frigid air sought her out, sliding beneath her clothes to her bare skin.
He came toward her, bringing the darkness with him, and cupped her face between his big hands. The heat she associated with him was no longer there. This was the creature that had fought his way out of Hell.
“I had a flaming sword. All angels do.” He rubbed his thumbs over her cheekbones. His touch almost burned, not with heat but with ice. “It disappeared when I entered Hell. But I used what I learned and adapted.”
All the light in the room was sucked into the dark vortex surrounding him. She would have been terrified if she’d been alone. Being with him gave her a false sense of courage.
Demons, she could fight. Lucifer, she could resist. But this man touched the very core of her, luring her into his darkness.
“Maccus?” She had no idea what she was asking. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The air in the room stirred. He cursed and lowered his head. When their lips met, the icy coating on them melted in a surge of warmth.
Sensing the worst of the storm had passed, she leaned into him but kept her hands by her sides, not willing to risk riling the darkness again.
His tongue slid over hers, pushing passion in its wake. Her life was precarious at best, but this… This was worth fighting for. Maybe it was nothing more than sex to him, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t truly believe that. He’d given her