name on his lips made my heart quicken. I was treading dangerously close to the point of losing control.
“Let her go,” I breathed.
“No, I told you I’m sticking with—” Nathalie started.
“Leave me,” I commanded her. “Your goal is to live. Do that. I’ll be fine.”
She paused, her brown eyes flicking between me and the demon.
It wasn’t completely altruistic why I was ordering her to leave. In truth, I had a feeling my other side would be surfacing very soon, and when it did—I didn’t want her seeing it. On the off chance we managed to kill or evade him, she couldn’t know what I was.
Which meant she needed to leave. Because if I got out of here, I didn’t want to kill her.
“Will you?” she asked, and I mean really asked. I could tell that she wasn’t looking for a surface answer. She wasn’t seeking escape, though. I didn’t understand it. I’d held her hostage, and yet she wanted to work with me. I threatened to kill her, yet she didn’t take the first chance to run. Either she put far greater confidence in my own abilities than she should have, or she was operating on some fucked-up version of loyalty.
Either way, I needed her gone.
“Yes.” I honestly didn’t know whether it was a lie or the truth. Somehow, I didn’t think the demon wanted to kill me, but I had a feeling what he planned was so much worse.
Nathalie swallowed once and walked away.
When I heard the door close behind her, tension thickened. It was nearly tangible in the way it wrapped around me. My heart rate was nearing its climax.
I was dangerously close to coming undone.
And not in the good way.
“I couldn’t find her. Now I know why. She was in the circle that called me, and yet here she is now with you . . .” His voice trailed off, as dark and deep as it was horribly lovely.
I should have shot myself right there, but I didn’t.
His footsteps were silent as he came to stand before me.
To my credit, I didn’t gasp in surprise, though I was utterly shocked to see him in a suit of all things. His dark hair was pulled back. His brands hidden beneath the tight fabric.
Silver eyes watched me. The world could have burned, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t look away.
“You went after them,” I said. “The coven. Why?”
The demon stepped forward and lifted a land, brushing a strand of my honey-colored hair from my face. Black fire shone in his eyes. The same as before.
“You wanted one alive.”
“What did that have to do with anything?” I asked.
“I needed to know why.”
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
My chest was squeezing painfully tight trying to contain my rapidly beating heart. His eyes dropped, and I had a feeling it had nothing to do with my tits.
The demon cocked his head.
“Do you?”
“Do I what?” he asked softly.
“Know why?”
He dragged his gaze back up my body, and it could have been his hands touching me for the way my skin set aflame. I almost worried that very real flames had broken out for a moment, but not quite. Not yet.
My heart still hadn’t stopped.
“I do.”
Those two words, they were my undoing.
I took a step back, and he took one forward.
My ribs ached as the beating organ in my chest reached a fever pitch.
I lifted my pistol to shoot and unload my entire magazine in his chest, but a hand closed around the barrel, crushing it instantly. My grip faltered, and he used the chance to fling the useless weapon aside.
I took another step back. He took another forward.
My back touched the wall.
Cornered. He had me cornered.
“Why do you want me?” I demanded.
A cruel grin twisted his lips. “Does it matter?” he asked, repeating himself from the first time we’d met.
“Yes.”
“Liar,” he growled. “You’d fear me no matter what I tell you. You hate me for what I am.”
He reached for me with the same hand that easily crumpled a metal gun like paper. Fingers wrapped around my throat. Warm. Calloused. Immensely powerful. Magic invaded my pores with every touch.
“Does that matter?” I asked, repeating his own words back to him. “That I hate you for what you are?”
There was amusement in his gaze as he uttered, “Yes.”
His face loomed closer. He leaned into me, and something feather soft skimmed my jaw. He stiffened.
Another growl left him, though for the life of me, I had no idea what I’d done.
“Who touched you?” he asked, his voice hardly human.