Those tales of demons had frightened her back thenand that was when she'd considered them simple fictionbut she hadn't let them keep her up at night or stop her from enjoying life. Because of her grandmother. When her parents would have coddled her because of her nightmares, Grandma Mallory had helped her find a core of strength so Danika wouldn't one day fall under the pressure as she had done. She'd taught Danika how to fight the evil inside her head. How to win.
And it had workeduntil Reyes and his friends had entered her life. Now, she was that frightened little girl again. Sadly, there would be no more deluding herself into thinking those bedtime stories had been make-believe. Her grandmother had seen things. Ugly things, evil things. Real things.
"What other stories did she relay to you?" Reyes asked.
"If I tell you, will you help me find herherbody? Help me give her a proper burial?"
"Yes. If she is dead. I still think there's a good chance she's alive."
Don't you dare start to hope. You just admitted Hope is a demon. Danika allowed the stories to occupy every available space in her mind, sorting through them, trying to pull the most important facts front and center. How much time passed, she didn't know. But when she focused, Reyes was sitting in a chair directly across from herclose enough to touchpatiently and silently waiting.
"Did you know there were more demons than there were immortal warriors?" she found herself asking softly. "Without the box, some had to be placed inside the prisoners of Tartarus. Demons like Fear. Loneliness. Greed."
Only for a moment did he appear disbelieving. He worried two fingers over his jaw. "Were any placed inside the Titans?" he asked, but the question was not for her. Clearly, he was thinking aloud. "They were prisoners at that time. Of course, there were hundreds of other immortals locked away during any given decade, so" He shook his head. "No. No, this isn't possible. Had this happened, I would have known."
"Maybe your demon didn't know. It was locked inside a tiny, dark box. And I doubt your gods tell you everything. Besides, all I know is what I was told. Believe it or don't believe it. I don't care."
"But how could your grandmother know these things" He stopped, sucked in a breath. "She was like you, was she not? She had visions?"
Danika nodded sadly. "We've been haunted by demons our entire lives." She helped me deal with mine, but I failed to save her from hers. I should have stayed with her, guarded her.
That dark skin Danika so loved to touch slowly paled. "This isthis is too much to absorb," Reyes said. "More demons? More possessed warriors?" He shook his head, scrubbed a hand down his face. "Do you know what this means?"
"That you have to slice my throat now?" The question was devoid of sentiment.
He tsked. "I told you. I will not hurt you. Not now, not ever." Then, "Danika, this means we have been intertwined since the beginning."
There was awe in his tone. Reverence. His meaning, however, escaped her. "The beginning of what?" she asked, suddenly so tired she could barely hold up her head. After all the self-defense and combat lessons I took, I couldn't save the woman who watched me every summer, played hide-and-seek with me in the woods and taught me how to ride a bike. Was she looking down from heaven, ashamed? Was she now at peace with the angels they'd both seen in their dreams?
Reyes cleared his throat. "We have been intertwined since the beginning of my creation, I think."
That would mean fate had played a role in both their lives, and right now Danika didn't want to consider fate.
"The grandmother who told you of Hope, she is the one" His voice trailed off, as if he feared broaching the topic again.
"Yes. She is the one Aeron" sweet Jesus, saying it was hard "killed." There'll be no more stories from her. Danika squeezed her eyelids tightly closed, blocking the tears forming there. As soon as I get my strength back, Aeron is mine.
Gentle fingers smoothed over her brow, along the curve of her nose.
She shivered, surprised by the warmth and comfort seeping from his skin into hers. How could she sit here, letting a demon touch her like this? Letting a demonPainconsole her? "Tell me about the warrior who houses Hope." She would give the information to Stefano, no hesitation. It wouldn't be a betrayal to Reyes to feed Hunters data about a man he despised.
One of Reyes's brows arched. "Why?"
"To distract me. I don't want to think about myI just don't want to think anymore."
Again Reyes reached out, gently hooked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Galen and I were friends once. Soldiers in Zeus's elite army. I didn't yet know that he was the kind of man who would smile to your face but stab you the moment your back was turned."
"Where is he now?"
"I know not. After the possession, he disappeared." Reyes leaned down and kissed her cheek, the brush of his mouth soft and gentle. "Is there anything I can get you? Anything you need?"
"I'm going to destroy your friend, Reyes." The admission sprang from her, unstoppable. "Aeron. I know I told you I wouldn't, but"
He sighed, weary. "All I ask is that you think about your actions. Aeron is stronger than you. He is immortal, you are mortal. You could probably hurt him, but most likely he will not die. He can hurt you, and you will crumble."
"He has to sleep. I don't mind taking his head while he sleeps. Or" Slowly she faced him, lids cracking, parting. The room receded, the warrior becoming her only focus. "You're as strong as he is. You've defeated him before. He came for me, but you stopped him."
As she spoke, a curtain of unease fell over Reyes's harsh features.
"Kill him for me," she beseeched.
"Danika"
"Kill him, and I'll do anything you want. I'll cut you as many times as you need."
"Danika," he said again. In the three syllables it had taken to utter her name, she'd heard a war being waged. He was fighting himself.
Twice she'd watched him exchange blows with Aeron, but never had she seen such a look of torture on his face. A lump formed in her throat, and she swallowed it, felt it settle deep in her stomach. Still, she didn't take back her request.
"As I said, your grandmother might be alive. Why won't you consider the possibility?"
"Aeron remembers her bloody body." What's more, the Hunters had seen Aeron carry an unconscious woman away. Not that she could admit that little tidbit.
"But Aeron did not recall rendering the deathblow. Warrior that he is, he would not forget something like that. That has to mean that when he left her, she was still breathing."
Maybepossibilitywhat if
"In the morning, I will take you to your sister and your mother and perhaps you can locate your grandmother. Tonight, I will have Torin huntUh, damn. Find them. Torin will find them for you."
Danika stiffened, every muscle suddenly humming with tension. "Will he hurt them? If he hurts them, I'll"
"No, no. You have my word. No harm shall befall them."
She believed him. Stupid of her, but she did. She had no other lifeline at the moment.
"No matter what, we will find your grandmother, as well. You will know, one way or another, what happened to her."
No matter what. One way or another. Ominous phrases. And yet, the second stirring of hated hope did spark to life. Maybepossibilitywhat ifthe phrases once again swept through her mind. It was human nature to wish for the best, she supposed, and too hard to believe otherwise without solid proof. She hadn't seen her grandmother's body; as Reyes had reminded her, Aeron had said he thought he'd killed her, not that he truly had.
Grandma Mallory could be alive.
The numbness encasing her began to melt, leaving flickers of relief. "I'd rather leave tonight," she said. "Aeron knows where they are. Make him tell."
"I tried. Twice. But do you really want to continually remind him that they're out there? When he craves their deaths? Torin can do this, I have no doubt. He just needs time."
She clasped his wrist and peered up at him, wanting to kiss him and push him away at the same time. To hug him and hit him. "Thank you."
"You are so lovely," he whispered. Then he shook his head, as if he couldn't believe he'd uttered those words and needed to clear his thoughts. "In the cell you said you paint to purge yourself of your nightmares. Why don't you paint tonight? Perhaps it will soothe you."
Do not soften. You are already too close to the edge. "You just want another glimpse inside my head."
"Can I not want both your comfort and the knowledge you possess of the gods?"
She released him, feeling bereft, and shrugged. "I would need the proper supplies." There was a bloom of excitement in her chest at the thought of holding a brush. She'd never thought to paint again.
Twin pink circles suddenly colored Reyes's cheeks, and he cleared his throat. He straightened, looking away from her. "II already have everything you will need."
Danika studied his profile. His nose was a shade longer than the other warriors', very aristocratic. His lashes were thick and curled up toward his brows. His jaw jutted stubbornly. "What do you mean?"
"I visited your home. I had your purse, your address, and after you left, I could not stay away. I traveled to your home, saw your supplies and bought some for the fortress. Just in case." The admission croaked from him. "Will you use them?"
Just in case what? "IMaybe." He'd been inside her home? What had he thought of her small and cluttered house? Loved? Hated? And why did the image of him surrounded by her things feel soright?
Reyes didn't try to pressure her. He simply nodded as if he understood her reluctance. "I need to leave for a little while, talk with Torin. Will you be all right on your own?"
She wasn't sure she would be all right ever again, but she said, "Yes. Of course."
Reyes faced her, leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. Hers parted automatically, welcoming him inside. The hot length of his tongue pressed forward, slowly, tenderly, giving comfort rather than passion. She accepted, too raw to resist.
"Angel," he breathed.
Her arms wound around his neck of their own accord, holding him close. Perhaps she would hold on forever. Here, right now, there was no pain or loss or what if, only a strong man who scared her demons away.
His fingers settled on her waist, and he pulled her as close to him as he could get her. Her legs parted to allow him the final contact, placing hardness to softness. A gasp left her as a jolt of pure desire speared her, chasing away her fatigue.
She remembered how he'd kissed her this morning and experienced no real pleasure. Until she'd hurt him. He'd even told her that he could not really feel without a sting, a bite or a scratch.
Even though this kiss represented the passing of his strength to her, she wanted him to like it. She told herself she wanted him to like it so that he would continue to protect her. That if the time came, he would choose her over Aeron and slay the man. She told herself it was because if Reyes desired her, he would not renege on his word. He would take her to her family in the morning.
Sadly, she knew she lied.
Deep down, she wanted him, desired him madly, and had from the first. She'd been a captive here and had found herself face-to-face with him after he stormed into the room she'd been locked in, demanding a healer for Ashlyn. It had seemed as though a match were being struck inside her chest, lighting everything on fire. Burning and blistering. Every man she'd ever dated, every man she'd ever kissed, and the two men she'd slept with over the years had faded from her mind as if they'd never existed.
So odd. Besides her dreams and her secret paintings, she'd never been a fanciful girl. Oh, she believed in loveher parents might have divorced when she was just starting her teens, and her dad might have taken off and begun another family, forgetting the one he already had, but she did believe. Her grandparents had loved each other madly, only parting for death.
And while Danika had never experienced the emotion herself, she'd always been content to wait, not to rush out and force it as so many of her friends had done. She had lived as if there would always be a tomorrow, as if the here and now were of no significance. As if the future meant more than the present.
Everything had changed after the kidnapping. Her entire world had crumbled and as she'd slowly rebuilt the pieces of her life, she'd realized a future was not guaranteed. Here and now mattered. Nothing else.
Right now, she had Reyes.
She would have to hurt him to make him like her. Before, watching him cut himself, she hadn't thought herself capable of such a deed. Now"I want to," she said, only realizing she'd spoken aloud when the words echoed in her ears.
He nipped at her bottom lip. "What? What do you want?" His fingers tightened on her hips, digging into the bone.
"You." She had trouble catching her breath.
The fine lines around his eyes softened. "You don't know what you're asking for, angel."
"Show me, then."
"No." He meshed their lips back together and his tongue rolled over and under hers, his addicting flavor a drug to her starved senses.
How long since she'd been held like this? How long since she'd stopped running and simply experienced?
"We have to stop soon."
"What?" Her arms tightened around him. "No!"
"Must." His fingers wrapped around her wrists, gripping firmly, branding her. He moved her arms away from his body, and then he dared to release her.
Her eyelids flickered open. He was sweating, his lips compressed in a thin slash. His breathing was uneven. Lines of tension bracketed his beautiful dark eyeseyes alive with a thousand different needs, needs he would not allow her to meet.
He wanted her this time, it seemed, but she hadn't hurt him. He'd said such a thing was impossible. What did that mean?
"You don't need a man pawing you right now." One step, two, he backed away.
She flattened her palms against her thighs, nails digging deep. "You weren't pawing me."
"But I wanted to."