If he wasn’t feeling so much pain at the moment, he’d be very amused. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
She shrugged. “I guess I didn’t want you to get cocky.”
“No pun intended.”
“So what I’m saying is out of all the things you should feel guilty about—” Her smile widened. “The act of possessing me isn’t one of them. Even though you and I can’t, well, can’t be together like that physically, every day I do get just a taste.”
“Just a taste.” He drew close enough to back her up against the railing. He stroked her hair to the side and whispered into her ear, “And is that all you need?”
She inhaled sharply. “It’s going to have to be, isn’t it?”
The hot line of her body pressed against his was almost enough to take his pain away. Or, possibly, make it worse.
This news was just too delicious. He could feel her warm breath against his lips. She didn’t pull away as he edged even closer to her.
Just a taste. . he needed it so badly. .
Leena cleared her throat loudly from behind him. Darrak hadn’t even noticed that she’d opened the door.
“Okay, gruesome,” Leena snapped. “Get away from her. Eden, you are so damn lucky I’m here, but really. A little self-control goes a long way.”
Eden bit her bottom lip. “Right. Uh, thanks Leena. I don’t know what I was. . um, what I was thinking.” She shook her head, averting her gaze from Darrak’s as she brushed past him and went back into the apartment.
Darrak followed, glowering at the shifter, who smiled sweetly back at him as she closed the door.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
With amusement, Darrak watched the horror return to her eyes as he changed to black smoke in front of her a little quicker than he normally would. She shifted to her cat form again, hissed, and scurried away from his noncorporeal form.
It was important to enjoy the small things in life.
Eden had sat down on the sofa. Even with her admission, she still eyed him warily as he approached.
“It doesn’t change anything between us, you know,” she warned.
No, she was right about that. No matter what the act of possession felt like for her, it didn’t change the fact that he was draining her of her life’s energy every time he did this.
However, this time he did notice the slight arch to her back as he possessed her, her breasts straining against the thin material of her blouse. The soft gasp from her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut.
It made him strangely happy.
But the happy feeling didn’t last long. His next thought managed to destroy it.
Selina’s spell. The one that would imbue Eden with more powerful and soul-damaging black magic every time they were together sexually.
They didn’t have to actually have sex to trigger the spell, did they?
The spell was triggered every single day at sunset when he possessed her.
Darrak had been unusually quiet since sunset. But chatty or not, Eden had to take the next step.
“I want to ask you something,” she said. She hadn’t left the apartment all evening. She didn’t know where to go at the moment, so she stayed in and tried to watch TV as she waited for the right time to broach this subject with Darrak.
Leena had disappeared into the bedroom and was currently sleeping under her bed. Eden wasn’t sure why the shapeshifter was being so unsocial that evening.
“What?” he asked.
“What do you think Theo has planned for that black diamond of his?” she asked, trying to sound casual. Theo hadn’t come out and admitted in front of her that he planned to destroy Lucifer with it. But that was what he was going to do. And she’d been recruited as a double agent to help stop him.
It was like the rerun of
Darrak hesitated. “I’m not sure.”
“You don’t sound sure about not being sure. Are you sure you’re not sure?”
“Sure. Theo does his own thing. He always has.”
She curled her legs up under her on the sofa and pulled a cushion onto her lap, hugging it to her chest. “So you don’t even question him?”
“I guess not.”
He was keeping things from her. Then again, she was keeping things from him, too, but that was for his own good.
She could call Darrak by his full demon name,
As much power as that gave her, it felt incredibly wrong to take his free will away like that.
Eden used to think money made the world go around. After a lifetime of scraping by and a mother who either won big or lost big at the casinos, Eden was used to slim times. But now she knew it wasn’t really money that made the difference. It was
And, hell, money still helped. Even a black witch had to feed herself.
Darrak broke the silence after a minute. “You need to forget about that diamond.”
“I can’t.”
“Trust me, it would be better if you did.”
“I want it,” she said as calmly as she could.
“Pardon me?”
She grabbed the remote control and flicked off the television. “I want the angelheart.”
A long moment of silence hung between them. “It’s a bit too big to make a fetching necklace for you. And, really, what would you wear it with?”
“I don’t want it as jewelry.”
“Then why do you want it?”
She stood up and paced back and forth anxiously. “Because I don’t trust Theo, and I know he’s going to do something stupid with it. If he doesn’t have it anymore, no stupid can occur.”
“Theo’s not stupid.”
“I guess we have differing opinions on the subject.”
“Seems like. If you want the angelheart, maybe you should ask Theo for it the next time you see him.”
She hissed out a breath. “He’ll say no to me.”
“Wear that blue dress of yours and he might change his mind.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”
“I don’t know about that,” Darrak said slowly. “Theo did fall for a human once before.”
That was surprising. Theo had been in love? “What happened to her?”
Darrak paused. “She died a horrific death and her soul was consumed by hellfire.”
Her stomach lurched. “Why am I not surprised?”
“That’s typically what happens when humans get involved with demons,” he said pointedly.
She snorted. “Is that a promise or a threat?”
“Just an observation. But back to the angelheart. . you need to forget it.”
“Can you get it for me?” She held her breath as she waited for his answer.
“And why would I want to do that?” he said evenly.
“You need a reason other than ‘pretty please’?”
“Afraid so.”
