Alexion arched a brow. "What's wrong with my speech?"
She led the way into her living room. "Well, I think it was the 'or else' part that lost us Tyrell. Have you ever noticed that Dark-Hunters aren't exactly the 'or else' kind of guys? They're the kind who will do the opposite of what you want or bust a gut trying. They'll doom themselves just to spite you because you told them not to."
He frowned. "What would you have me say to them? 'Hi, I'm here to be your friend? Let's sit, have a cup of coffee, and chat?'"
She laughed at that image. Yeah, Alexion was definitely not the type to sit and "chat."
Then again, neither were the others. For the most part, the Dark-Hunters were beer-drinking, bar-brawling kind of men. They were far more likely to slug it out than talk.
"No," she said, sobering. "But you could try to be nicer to them."
That familiar droll look came over his face. "I don't need to be nicer to them. I just need to feel them out to see what side of the fence they're going to fall on. The only ones we need to worry about are the ones who are undecided. Tyrell may yet come around."
"I don't know. He had some very creative use of the language as he told you to go blow."
"Then again, he might be a tough sell."
She shook her head at him as she went upstairs to the media room to find Xirena asleep on the couch. There was no sign of Keller.
Danger pulled the cell phone out of her pocket and called him only to discover that he'd left a couple of hours ago and gone home to bed.
"Sorry to wake you. I was just worried. Night, Keller."
He wished her good night, then hung up.
Alexion moved to stand behind her. He leaned down ever so slightly so that he could just inhale her scent of magnolias and woman. His body jerked and fired in reaction, but then he tended to keep an erection in her presence. Everything about her fired his hormones.
And it wasn't just because he was horny.
There was more to his attraction to her than that. He liked her. But more than that, he respected her. She was an intelligent, courageous woman.
In short, she was a gem.
She stepped back, into his embrace, and leaned her head against his shoulder so that she could look up at him. Her eyes were dark and searching. Something in that look tore through him, making his heart pound.
Was she his savior or his downfall?
The thought of that terrified him. But she had made him live again when nothing else had. She had reawakened his emotions, made him care...
Most of all she'd made him crave.
In more than nine thousand years nothing had ever come so close to making him feel human. There were times when he was around her when he swore he could almost taste again. He wanted her to distract him.
Most of all, he wanted her to touch him.
He placed his hand against her cheek before he dipped his head down to kiss her. She moaned deep in her throat and sank her hand in his hair as she turned in his arms.
Alexion growled at the sweetness of her kiss as his heart raced out of control. Breaking away, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his bed.
He shouldn't be doing this again. Everything was going completely wrong with this mission and yet she made it all bearable. Somehow it didn't seem so bad with her here.
Danger sighed as he laid her down on the bed, then joined her. What was it about him that made her sizzle? Tonight had been a disaster, in more ways than one, and yet here with him it was okay.
It didn't make sense. She just wanted to be held by him, to have him chase away the entire world until there was nothing but the two of them. She'd never felt like this before.
She rose up to capture his lips as he began unbuttoning her shirt. He kneaded her breast with his hand, slow and gently. She nuzzled her cheek to his, loving the way his whiskers pricked her skin. It sent chills through her.
Unable to stand it, she jerked his turtleneck over his head so that she could run her hands over the taut muscles. She wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed him tight.