The Darkest Pleasure

would one day see her in what he chose.

Her features were so delicate. She could have fallen straight from the heavens and he would not have been surprised. Small, pert nose, rounded cherub cheeks. Ruby-red lips that glistened.

As always, the sight of her caused his chest to ache. Pain loved it, loved the ache and the ensuing hollow sensation in the pit of his stomach. Reyes smiled wryly. Perhaps he would simply gaze upon Danika for the rest of her too-short human life. His demon would always be sated.

At the thought of her death, the ache became a throb.

'Well?' she said.

What had she asked him? He replayed their entire conversation in his mind. Oh, yes. Aeron. Reyes's secret enjoyment. He'd had good intentions before Pain took over. 'I have hurt him many times. He owed me.'

'No.' Danika shook her head. 'That's not why you did it.'

He frowned. No way in hell could she guess the truth. 'Then why?'

'You wanted answers. For me. And you thought that was the only way to get them.'

All right, maybe she could. Until now, she had only believed the worst about him. Was she…could she possibly be softening toward him?

'Are you and Aeron still friends?' There was a hard edge to her tone this time. So much for softening.

'Yes. We are.' He hoped. He loved Aeron. He did. Danika, though…He still wasn't sure how he felt about her or what, exactly, she meant to him. Only that she did mean something she shouldn't, and he couldn't stop the emotions she pulled out of him.

Can't have her.

'Stop,' she said stiffly, and turned away from him. She stared up at the ceiling.

His brows furrowed in confusion. 'Stop what?'

'I don't know. That gleam in your eyes when you look at me, it…distresses me.'

'I cannot help myself.'

A pause. 'There can be nothing between us, Reyes.' There at the end, her voice cracked.

'I know.'

She wrapped her arms around herself. 'What am I doing here?'

'I could not leave you with the Hunters.' Truth.

'Maybe you should have.'

In that moment, he knew beyond any doubt the Hunters had asked her to act as Bait. His stomach rolled into several hard knots, each beating against the other. He would have to remain alert with her. Always alert. Not reveal anything that could hurt his friends. He would have to watch her, make sure she didn't try and sneak those bastards inside the fortress or tell them where the warriors were headed. And why.

But he couldn't let her go. He couldn't kill her, even though it was the smart thing to do. Even though his friends would demand it if they learned the truth. They suspected, otherwise Sabin wouldn't have entered Reyes's room to question her.

How much danger was Reyes placing them in by letting her live? Did it matter to him? I am such a fool. Perhaps he did love her.

Pain laughed giddily at the thought, for love brought its own brand of torment. Lots and lots of torment. In the heart, the soul. Both causing a physical ache too intense to be relieved.

Reyes scowled. 'Do not mention the Hunters to my friends,' he commanded tightly.

She laughed. Unlike Pain's, it was not out of giddiness. Strain echoed in the undertones of that forced amusement. 'I couldn't, even if I wanted to.'

'And why is that?'

'They left.'

His confusion morphed into anger, and he jolted to his feet. The stone was cold against his skin. He stalked to his closet. 'When?'

'This morning.'

'Everyone?'

'Except the one named Torin. Maybe a few others. I can't keep your friends straight.'

Pausing in the door frame, Reyes pinched the bridge of his nose. Once he would have been furious at being left behind. Now, what he felt for Danika was even stronger than his desire to find dimOuniak.

'They came for you. When they saw you were still recovering, they told me to deliver a message.'

A muscle ticked below each of his eyes as he pivoted and faced her. 'Well? Deliver it.'

Danika raised her chin. It was an action of defiance and one he'd noted she performed often, ready to take on the world. 'The one called Sabin said to tell you to stop acting like a pussy and do your duty. What's in Rome? Someone mentioned a temple.'

Reyes ignored her question and glanced down at himself to hide the glint of fury he knew must be shining in his eyes. His weapons were no longer strapped to his ankles and thighs, but he still wore his jeans. They were unfastened. While he liked the thought of Danika undressing him, he did not like the notion that she could have taken his weapons.

He hated that he had slept like the dead. She could have done anything at all—might have done everything— and he wouldn't have known. Frowning, he hastily snapped the jeans and turned back to his closet. He withdrew the velvet-lined cache of guns and knives, saw that was in order, nothing out of place. Good. He wouldn't have to frisk her.

'I didn't steal from you,' she said sharply.

'All right.' Not that he believed her. He palmed one of each weapon, then checked the gun's chamber. Loaded. He'd have to be more careful now that Danika was living with him. He couldn't keep his weapons at the ready. His frown deepened as he stored the semiautomatic at his back and faced her.

She was watching him warily, her features as pale as a snow queen's might be. The ache returned to his chest, and he bit the inside of his cheek. The gods should be punished for endowing one person with so much beauty.

'Headed somewhere?' she asked.

'Maybe.' His gaze roved over the walls. Two daggers were missing, though she'd taken great pains to cover her tracks by shifting the angle of the weapons that had once surrounded them.

He didn't blame her, wouldn't take them from her. He was surprisingly…aroused by the thought of this woman being armed. Idiot. She probably wanted his blood spilled all over the floor, pooling between the stones.

He shivered at the thought. She would have to stab him to spill his blood, and gods knew how good that would feel. If she wanted you dead, she could have cut off your head last night.

'Why didn't you run from me while you had the chance?' he asked.

She slapped a hand over her forehead and fell against the pillows. 'I don't know. I'm a moron.'

'Why didn't you hurt me?'

'Again, I don't know. Okay? You're the goddamn enemy. I should be able to cut your throat, no problem. I've trained for it, you know?'

He blinked. 'For cutting my throat?'

'Yes. I've taken classes. Not just self-defense, but classes that teach you how to take down your enemy and get away with it.' She brushed a piece of lint from her leg. 'I will never be helpless again.'

I helped destroy her innocence, and I didn't even have to touch her. Shameful.

Reyes leaned his shoulder against the closet's frame. 'Do not be too upset with yourself. Perhaps you could not bring yourself to hurt an unconscious man. That is an honorable thing.'

'Yes, but you aren't a man.'

No, he wasn't. He was a demon, and the reminder stung. Enough to prompt the next words to tumble out of his mouth. 'I am awake. Try now.'

'Fuck you,' she snapped.

'Try.'