She looked at him in disbelief. Distress filled her eyes. “You don’t understand. I’ve done a terrible thing.” Tension quivered in her voice and she turned her face away. “I’ve proved I belong here.”
Chapter Six
She had not wanted for any of this to happen. She had not wanted to fight demons. The one she carried inside her was battle enough. All she’d wanted was to find Creed and safety and to rid the world of Justice and be free.
Her independence was far more dubious here than in the mortal world. The amulet her father had given her mother throbbed where it rested against the bare skin above her heart. Whether she liked it or not, she had a connection to him that was gaining in strength. She could not lure him as she had the others. He was one demon she could not fight. She rubbed her arms. He had said if she survived the night he might have a use for her.
But the night was not over yet.
While nothing in Blade’s expression gave away what he was thinking, whatever it was, it could not be flattering. She watched him as he stared at the tops of the cliffs, monitoring for danger while giving her time to recover, pretending he was unaware of the desire for him that she could not seem to get under control. She was almost as puzzled by that as he.
But not quite.
He was too hard to be beautiful. His face, all sharp angles and dark, shadowed planes, could best be described as ruthless. He wore his black hair with no-nonsense severity, pulled back and restrained with a leather tie so that the stark lines of his cheekbones were more pronounced. Yet her artist’s fingers itched to explore the evenness of those harsh features. She saw such richness and depth in those intelligent, black-coffee eyes. She caught his thoughts and emotions in rare, brief, unguarded moments when something surprised him, and knew there was so much more to him. Her demon clawed with impatience to be near him. To touch him. To possess him.
And he hated demons.
“I’m not a demon,” she said out loud.
Blade’s flat expression did not change. “I never said you were.”
He could not help but think it though—she was sure of it. She sighed. Exhaustion settled in, and her leg throbbed, still angry and swollen when she looked down at her puncture wound. A place to hide—from everything—would be more than welcome right now.
“We should get moving,” she said. “Find a place to rest for a bit.”
He nodded and followed her through the murky light and broken terrain to a small cave she knew well. She eased into a small fracture in the rock, its edges expanding when she pushed against them and contracting once she passed through. Blade shouldered his way in behind her.
The interior of the cave was open and roomy and glowed with the same blue-green light as the rest of the demon world. Raven collapsed on the soft, dry, sandy floor as Blade explored the deeper recesses of the cave. She had to turn in order to keep him in her line of sight. He hunched his shoulders where the ceiling narrowed, his broad frame filling the shrinking space. Caged energy coiled around him.
He was putting distance between them, as aware of her as she was of him. Never had she reacted to a man in this way, as if she could not get enough of him, could not breathe if he was not near.
“What are you doing?” she asked, hoping to distract herself.
Blade looked up from his studious examination of the pliant walls. “How much longer do you think we’ll be stranded here?”
“Until the night is over, or I wake up,” she said. This was her demon’s domain. When she slept, or hallucinated as she did now, she had less control over its natural instincts to bring her here.
Blade frowned. “Can we be sure that when you do, I’ll still be with you?”
Raven had not considered any alternate possibility. Guilt assailed her. Despite how he had fought them, and no matter how deep he buried it, she had felt his fear of demons. He would not survive here without her for long. She had begged him not to abandon her, and he had not, and she could not abandon him either. She tried to think of some solution.
“We were touching when the demon world called me,” she said.
A subtle shift in the dark depths of his eyes told her he recognized the danger she could cause and he did not want to touch her again. After what she had done to the demons she could hardly blame him. But she could not leave him here. She would never forgive herself.
She braced a hand on the wall and levered awkwardly to her feet, hampered by her aching leg. He made no move to help her, although his body tensed as if prepared to do so if necessary.
She smoothed her tattered dress over her hips and limped to stand in front of him. Compared to her, he seemed a giant. She had to tilt her chin in order to read his face, and therefore his emotions, with greater accuracy, but she did not try to touch him.
That move would have to be his.
“The mortal world and this boundary are two distinct places,” she said. “Both are real, but I can’t guarantee that what happens in one remains true in the other. I won’t apologize to anyone for what I am,” she added. “I didn’t plan my birth. I didn’t choose my parents. I will, however, own any decisions I make and the consequences of them. I asked you not to leave me alone, and for that, I accept full responsibility for you being here. I’m trying to ensure I don’t leave you behind. You can either face your fears and take my hand and increase our odds for success, or you can take your chances without me. That decision is yours.”
Curiosity entered his gaze as well as desire—hot, but carefully contained. Anticipation she could not suppress licked up the insides of her thighs. The man was complex, exciting. Attractive, in spite of that thick layer of harshness—or perhaps because of it.
“Do you think I’m afraid to touch you because you’re half demon?” Blade asked her, his voice dangerously soft. “Or to have you touch me?” She stood too close to him, becoming caught in the tangle of his conflicting emotions, and could not back away. Need spiked through her. He dipped his head so that his breath feathered her neck and ear, sending eager shivers curling through her core. He reached out to stroke a light palm down her hip, then drew her against him so that her face rested against his chest. “After you warned me not to show fear in this place?”
No, he was not afraid. A different, more intense emotion caused the hesitation she sensed—desire. Need. The male, mortal scent of him left her light-headed. Her demon could not help but react with pleasure at the blinding certainty that she could have him if she wanted him.
And she did. But she did not want him to think she had somehow claimed him against his will. That accusation had been leveled against her too many times in the past.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the beat of his heart beneath her cheek, a steady, reassuring vibration of sound that spoke of strength and confidence, until her own heart rate returned to normal and her demon had calmed.
“You don’t frighten me,” Blade said, his words rumbling through her.
She did not dare speak. Her own emotions remained too chaotic. Instead, she withdrew an arm from around his waist to slide her palm down his forearm until she touched his hand. She laced her fingers through his, his fist swallowing hers. His other hand pressed at the small of her back, continuing to hold her to him.
His head, slightly bent over hers, encouraged her to stretch to the tips of her toes and drop a kiss at the corner of his mouth. He shifted his face so that her kiss encountered his lips.
Shivers of desire snaked through her abdomen at the heat of the connection between them. The tight knot in her stomach slowly unclenched as the chaos of uncertainty inside her settled to breathless anticipation.