“Just stay calm,” he said, even though this wasn’t exactly a calm situation.
They were standing on the roof of someone’s home in the middle of the night. He wasn’t quite sure what the situation called for, but it damn sure wasn’t calm.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
No, that wasn’t the right answer. He didn’t want her. He only wanted to save her.
“You don’t know me.”
She had a point there. All Steele knew was that she was in danger and for him, that was enough. The small technicality that said he was the one who’d brought the danger to her was something he was still grappling with.
“We can fix that. But first we’ve got to get you out of here.” He moved closer, walking as if his two-hundred-and-thirty-nine-pound body was made to be trampling on top of somebody’s house.
Her movement was quick, and like a blur on the wind she turned. Her right arm was raised, knife in hand.
“‘We’ don’t have to do anything,” she snapped. “I’m going to walk away and you’re going to stop following me.”
There were a few things he could do at this moment—wrestle the knife away from her, toss her over his shoulder and get them out of here before someone looked out their window and saw them, use his magick to put her to sleep and carry her to safety, or leave her to do her business because this wasn’t the scene from his dream. Meaning this wasn’t the night for her to die. In his dream she was on a rooftop, but her hair was out and flowing in the breeze. Her clothes weren’t all black, but blue jeans and a purple top. The fact that he’d memorized every nuance of that dream didn’t disturb him as much as the eager stirring of his beast.
He opted for none of the available options, but instead pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans to show her he wasn’t a threat.
“You can put the knife down, I’m not here to hurt you. To the contrary, I’m trying to help.” Because as the Dream Reaper, he was the one with the power to lead the Reaper directly to her. Steele wasn’t going to do that. Even though he’d never shirked his duty before. His job as a Dream Reaper was to use his magick to seek out those preternaturals who had an inordinate amount of power that could possibly be used to shift the balance of good and evil on any of the realms. The Reaper would then take those souls and dispose of them on the Spirit Realm. But this woman was just a human with no power. So either his magick was off for being led to her in the first place, or the Reaper’s was out of whack, because it wasn’t possible that she was meant to be on the Reaper’s collection list.
She tilted her head, lips lifted upward into a smirk, a look that definitely shouldn’t have struck him as sexy, but the quick punch of lust to his gut said otherwise.
“You’re an enforcer who’s sworn to uphold the law and protect the citizens of Burgess, but I don’t trust you or any of the rest of your kind. So, I won’t be putting this down, but I will be leaving here alone.”
Her voice was a smoky rasp that appealed to him just as much as the smirk on her face. Even through his sunglasses he could see her as clearly as if it were daylight. Drakon magick worked a thousand times better at night.
“I’m not an enforcer. If I were, I’d have arrested your ass last week when you stole from the safe in that jeweler’s back office.”
Only a flicker of shock appeared in her eyes—whiskey-brown eyes with natural long curling lashes—before she stepped to him.
“I don’t know what you want or why you’ve been tailing me, but this ends here and now!”
She still held the knife as if she were ready to stab him at any second, and since he’d seen her do just that to someone else as recently as last night, he wasn’t inclined to take any chances. With a quick movement he gripped her wrist, squeezing so that her fingers would flex and she’d drop the knife, but that didn’t happen. Instead, she reached with her free hand and slapped it over the fingers that gripped the blade. He watched her arms rise over her head and saw as she slowly began to bring the knife downward. If he did nothing it would sink into his chest. Steele didn’t feel like dying tonight or being so wounded he’d need more than human medicine to save his life.
He used his other hand, as well, grabbing both her wrists. She resisted, using more strength than he’d realized she had, but he could take her, there was no doubt in his mind. Not until bright streaks of lightning cracked through the night sky. First one streak and then another and another, until it looked as if the entire sky would break apart. Gusts of wind came faster and stronger to the point where both their legs trembled with the attempt to stay upright and not tumble to the ground.
He half expected the sky to open and torrential rain to pour down on them, but that hadn’t been in the weather forecast he’d reluctantly watched on TV when he was wide awake this morning.
“Let go of me!” she screamed. But instead of trying to get away from him, it felt as if she was attempting to match his strength.
The tighter he held her, the firmer she stood, still trying to bring that knife down into his chest. Steele released her wrists and moved fast to wrap his arms around her waist instead. He was going to do the toss over the shoulder and if she stabbed him in the back so be it, at least she’d be safe, but
