He moved so quickly that she barely saw him before he had grabbed his shirt from the towel rack.
"Ash," she said, reaching for the tube again. "I can help you smear that. "
His face blank, he shrugged his shirt on. "It's okay. I don't like for people to touch me."
She was dying to know what'd happened to him, but due to his demeanor and the aura of "don't mess with me or I'll kill you" that he wore wrapped around him like a tight glove, she refrained from asking.
There was something extremely powerful and at the same time highly vulnerable about him. More than that, he oozed an unnatural wave of primal sex. He was completely compelling, captivating. And a part of her actually wanted to touch him.
He sidestepped her as if he knew her thoughts and was made extremely uncomfortable by them.
As he started for the door, she stopped him. "Ash?"
"What?"
"How do you punish a Dark-Hunter who breaks the rules?"
He scowled at her. "Depends on the rule and the circumstances. You have something in mind?"
She clenched her hand into a fist, afraid that he might see her palm and the telltale marking there. "No. I was just wondering."
"I see." Once again, he started to leave, then paused in the doorway. His eerie silver eyes burned into her. "But you know something, Susan... I personally don't believe anyone should be punished because they want to share their life with someone." His gaze turned empty as if he were thinking of something from his past. "No one should have to pay for love in flesh or in blood."
And with that, he left her alone to think about what he'd said.
Ravyn was right. Acheron was one spooky man. And it made her wonder what price he must have paid to hold that view.
As she reached for a washcloth, she heard Ash knocking on the door across the hall.
"Hey," he said to Ravyn in that strange lilting accent of his. "I just wanted to let you know that I have to leave now."
"You just got here."
"I know. I told you that my time here was extremely limited. But don't worry. I'll be back in a few days."
"Don't worry?" Ravyn asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why would I worry? We only have humans and Daimons dropping out of the sky to murder us. Nothing to fret about at all."
"Yeah, well, it could be worse."
"How so?"
"You could be mated to a human."
Susan's stomach hit the floor at those words. Her eyes wide, she moved to the door and cracked it open to see Acheron heading down the hall while Ravyn watched after him with his face stern.
She quickly closed the distance between them and waited until Ash had vanished out of sight. "Do you think he knows?" she whispered.
"I have no idea."
Her heart hammering, she looked back down the hallway to make sure Ash was really gone. He was, but those words lingered and left them both unsettled.
So much so in fact that when Ravyn's phone rang two seconds later, it actually made her jump.
Ravyn scowled as he saw Cael's number. Given their earlier words, he was rather amazed to have his friend calling him so soon again.
He flipped the phone open. "Yeah?"
"Hey, Rave. We have a serious problem."