My heart skipped a beat. “Yet you would tell me those details?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I want you.”
I forced myself to take a deep breath, because that dipping and rolling feeling in my stomach had increased a hundred-fold. “Why do you want me so much?”
He inhaled, leaning closer.
I backed up even more, knowing that if he touched me at this very moment, I would succumb to the heat sliding through my veins.
“Because I do.”
I did my best to maintain an even expression, but that crestfallen feeling engulfed me again. It was the mate instinct, one hundred percent. It was the only reason he wanted me.
It is what it is.
Swallowing down my growing disappointment, I asked, “And what price do I have to pay to learn the whole story? And I mean all of it. I want to know what you are and how you ended up here in a pack that despises you, and how your father impregnated a female demon, and how a sorcerer’s magic came to be inside you.” I licked my lips, and the hunter’s gaze fell to my mouth. A golden glow lit his eyes. “How much will that cost me? For you to share all of that? For me to know everything?”
His heated gaze grew. “That would definitely require me fucking you.”
I slugged him in the shoulder just as he let out a deep laugh. He caught my wrist, his eyes darkening. “Have I ever told you how much I love your violent side?”
I stuttered. He’d seriously just used the L word. Granted he hadn’t said he loved me, but he still used the word. I quickly brushed those thoughts off. It was the mate instinct talking again. “You just told me that I have to prostitute myself for information so, of course, I’m going to hit you.”
“I was kidding about you having to fuck me. I only said that because I knew it would elicit your”—his lips curved in delight—“more aggressive tendencies, and I do so enjoy it when you hit me.”
“You’re deranged.”
“Perhaps, but what I’m not is a paying customer. When you finally let me bed you—and you will—it won’t be because I forced it from you. Instead, it will be because you’ll be begging me to slide inside you. And I’ll have you so wet, and so hot, that you won’t be able to live another moment without me filling you.” His voice dropped, his words turning husky.
My chest tightened, my breath catching. Just hearing him describe that, even hint at what it could be like between us . . . Gods.
His nostrils flared. “Even now, I can tell how much you want it, which makes me even more frustrated that you’re fighting this so much.”
“We’re getting off topic,” I said breathlessly.
“Perhaps, but you have to admit, this is a much more tantalizing subject and one I’d much rather be discussing.”
“I disagree.” I cleared my throat and tamped firmly down on the ache in my belly. “Now, back to what we were talking about . . .” Gods, my voice was still breathy. “What are your new terms? For you to tell me everything about you, what do you want from me?”
He watched me for a long moment, his gaze never wavering. That golden glow was still there, his wolf in his eyes. “I want you in my bed every night.”
Every. Night.
Holy fucking tuna fish.
I cleared my throat again, determined to make this a clear business arrangement and nothing more. “Every night for how long?”
“For the remainder of our time here.”
“And after we leave here that deal ends?”
Something flashed in his eyes, but it disappeared too quickly for me to decipher it. “Yes.”
“Just to be clear, we won’t be having sex. We will be sleeping beside each other every night and nothing more, and this will only be while we’re staying here in Canada with your pack?”
His lips tugged up. “Have you made many fairy bargains?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because if you haven’t, you’d be quite good at it.”
I shook my head but had to smother a laugh. Everyone knew how binding fairy bargains were. The less specific ones tended to get the supernaturals who’d agreed to them in a world of shit.
He held up a finger. “Also, to be clear, there’s no reason we can’t have sex, but like I said earlier, I won’t be forcing anything on you.”
I took another long inhale, feeling more than ever that I was making a deal with the devil. But as much as the hunter’s demon side ruled him at times, I’d seen enough of him to know that he wasn’t such a snake as to renege on our arrangement. He truly wouldn’t force anything from me, but I also knew he’d be all over me in a second if I let him, which meant I had to be the strong one.
Surely, I could do that.
“Fine,” I said briskly. “We’ll sleep in the same bed every night while we’re here, but sleeping and sleeping only. And if I want to put pillows or a big blanket between us to create a barrier, then I can. I reserve the right to do that.”
He frowned, studying me. “No pillows. Or blankets between us.”
My nostrils flared.
A smile slid across his face.
I opened my mouth to snap at him, but he beat me to it. “I know, I know. I’m gloating again, but that’s only because I know that I have you. You really want to know what I am, and I really want you in my bed with nothing keeping your body from mine. So now the question is, how much do you want to know? Because I’m not budging. Every night. In my bed. No barriers. And then I’ll tell you everything.” He studied me, triumph building in his gaze. “You’re going to agree. I can see it.”
Irritation washed through me, but so did liquid desire. It shot to my core at the thought of sleeping with the hunter. His large body. His smooth skin. His hot muscles.
His nostrils flared again. He’d obviously detected my arousal. Damn him.
“Okay, fine. You win. Now stop being a demon-wolf and just tell me the damn story,” I snapped.
He chuckled, the sound deep and rich, before he settled back, his hands splaying behind him as he leaned across the mat. Against my better judgment, I let my gaze dip.
His rounded shoulders bulged, and his pecs looked like smooth slabs of stone. And his abs. Lord almighty, the man gave washboard a whole new meaning.
The hunter was a freaking work of art. A dark angel sent from the black underworld. He was here to test my patience and inflame my senses.
Huffing, I looked away and called upon my practical side, willing myself to maintain control and not do something foolish. I could only hope that I didn’t lose my head. “All right, I’m listening. Now spill it.”
He grinned, an all-out Cheshire Cat grin. “I was an infant when my father discovered that he’d birthed a child to a female demon. He didn’t even know about me until I was six weeks old.”
All thoughts of desire and the hunter in my bed vanished. “You lived with your demon mother in the underworld until you were six weeks old?”
“I did.”
“And you survived. She didn’t eat you or kill you, obviously.”
“She didn’t, but I have a feeling that would have changed if my father hadn’t found me.” His expression didn’t falter, but I couldn’t help but wonder if knowing that hurt.
“And you don’t remember her at all since you were so young?”
“Correct.”