Talon cursed under his breath. Acheron was right. She was inside him in a way no one had been inside of him in centuries.
No matter what he tried, he couldn't get her out of his mind.
Over and over, he could feel her. Feel her body under his, her breath on his skin. Hear the sound of her soft Southern drawl whispering in his ear.
And when she had touched him...
It was like a song from heaven.
The physical comfort and companionship she'd given him this afternoon had touched him profoundly.
He'd felt welcomed in a way that wasn't sexual.
What had she done to him? Why after all these centuries had a woman crept inside his feelings?
His thoughts?
Even more frustrating, he knew if he were human, he'd be with her now.
You're not human.
He didn't need the reminder. All too well, he knew what he was. He liked what he was. There was a special kind of satisfaction that came with his job.
And yet...
"Speirr? What are you doing?"
He tensed at Ceara's voice coming out of the darkness and at the fact that someone had caught him doing something he shouldn't be doing.
"Nothing."
She appeared beside him. Her shimmering face smiled knowingly.
He let out a disgusted breath. Why did he bother trying to hide anything from the ones who could see straight into his thoughts?
"Yeah, okay," he admitted reluctantly, "so I wanted to check up on her and see how she's doing."
"She's fine."
"And that really irritates me." The words were out before he realized it.
Ceara laughed at that. "You were expecting her to be sad?"
"Of course. She should at least have had a moment or two of regret or something."
Ceara clucked her tongue. "Poor Speirr. You found the only woman alive who doesn't think you hung the moon and the stars."
He rolled his eyes at her. "So maybe I'm being a little arrogant..." She arched a brow and he corrected himself. "So I'm being a lot arrogant, but damn, I can't get her out of my thoughts. How can she feel nothing?"
"I didn't say she felt nothing, I only said she's not sad."
"So she did feel something for me?"
"If you like, I could do more investigating."
"Nae," Talon said quickly. The last thing he wanted was for Ceara to find out what he and Sunshine had been doing all afternoon.
Ceara was naive and he wanted to keep her that way.