Though I doubted it would do much to wash the stain that was Hunter's ever-tightening grip from my skin.
A half hour later – freshly showered and wearing a dress that didn't remind me of Jak – I sat on the end of the bed and said, "So where the hell do we go from here?"
Azriel shrugged. He'd resumed what had become a normal position for him in my bedroom – when he wasn't actually in my bed, that is – by my window, and the pale moonlight gave his warm skin a cool, silver sheen. "The one clear lead we have is Lauren Macintyre. Perhaps it is time we talked to her."
"She's not likely to give us anything —"
"She doesn't have to," he cut in. "It is key related, so I can force her to talk."
"That's presuming we can find her." I pushed to my feet, walked over to the wardrobe, and slipped on a pair of red leather flats. Not my shoe of choice normally, but I had no idea how long I was going to be on my feet, so heels weren't really practical. "Lauren seemed to have most of her possessions at her place on the Gold Coast, so why don't we head there first?"
He nodded and held out a hand. I placed mine in his, and let him tug me close, smiling as I stared into the mismatched blue of his eyes. "Do you really have to hold me this close when you transport me? Or does it stem more from desire?"
Amusement touched his lips – lips I really wanted to be kissing right now. Only a huge amount of self-control, and the knowledge that time was ticking away for Mirri, stopped me from doing so. That, and the fact that one kiss was never going to be enough.
"I had to be with you, follow you, twenty-four hours a day, and yet every rule said I could not touch you. Not in the way I wanted." His energy began to surge around us. "Holding you like this stopped me going crazy, without breaking the rules."
Which he ended up breaking anyway. Not that I was complaining. "No wonder you were so against me becoming Aedh. It wasn't concern for my strength at all."
"It certainly was," he refuted, voice offended but his smile growing. "It just wasn't the entire reason."
I laughed just as he swept us into energy. But the sound quickly died as we reappeared in Lauren Macintyre's pristine white living room.
Because I found myself staring directly into a pair of bloodshot blue eyes.
And they didn't belong to anything human.
Chapter 6
Demon, I thought, then found myself thrown out of the way. I hit the polished floorboards with a grunt, but rolled back to my feet and drew Amaya.