She glanced down at his lap.
“That’s not the logical part,” he said.
“Clearly.” She climbed off his lap and gave them both some distance, dragging her fingers through her hair, trying to shake off the effects being so close to him had on her. She grabbed the glass of juice and drained it, then set it down and turned back to him. “I thought you wanted to wake the sleeping demon.”
“Not that way. If your sexual attraction to me makes the demon take front and center, then we should probably-”
“Yes. I understand.” She stood.
“Isabelle.” He grasped her wrist, holding her there.
She looked down at him, equal parts embarrassed and still needy for something she obviously wasn’t going to have. “It’s okay, really. I’m hungry. I’m going to fix us some breakfast.”
He let go of her and she went into the kitchen, needing distance. “I’ll help you.”
She stopped, turned. “Please don’t. I need some space, Dalton.”
“Okay. I’ll go take a shower, then.”
“You do that.”
She turned her back to him and opened the refrigerator, not exhaling until she heard the bathroom door close. She shuddered out a sigh, blinking back the hot sting of tears that broke through and slid down her cheeks despite her best efforts to force them back. She wrapped her arms around herself when she discovered she was shaking.
“Well, you took that rejection well, Izzy.” She shook her head and began cracking eggs into a bowl, needing to keep her hands busy.
Dalton was right. Being together would have been a really bad idea. She had no clue what even happened to her when she fell under one of those weird spells. And if she was going to be with Dalton again, she’d definitely want to be in the present, so she could remember.
All things considered, there were too many strikes against them.
But oh, it would have been so, so good.
Dalton stood under the cool water, hoping it would chill the heat in his body.
Eventually he turned the shower off, realizing he was still on fire. Cold water hadn’t helped. Not that he’d expected it to. From the time he leaned over Isabelle’s bed and shook her out of her restless sleep, he’d known it was going to be tough to remain in this house with her.
Not impossible, but damned hard.
Just like his condition most of the time around her. Pathetic, really. One would think he could control his libido after all these years, but just being around her, listening to the sound of her voice, looking into her mesmerizing eyes, and he was hard as granite and ready to throw her down and bury his cock inside her.
And he’d wager that’s just what the demon part of her was hoping for. Her demon side had a goal: temptation. And he wasn’t going to fall for it. He was the one who had to remain strong, because if he gave in, he wasn’t sure what would happen.
He’d wanted to test the demon side of her, and maybe that had been a bad idea. She really seemed to crave affection of any kind. But was that Isabelle, or the demon?
Maybe he shouldn’t think of her as two entities. After all, she was both human and demon. The confused human Isabelle and the seductive demon were one and the same. He needed to remember that. His goal was to integrate them, not destroy one of them. She could learn to live with and control the demon side of herself, just as Derek and Nic-the other hunters who were part demon-had done.
The key was in figuring out how, because even though he’d like Isabelle to be just like Derek and Nic, she wasn’t. Her demon side was a hell of a lot different from theirs. It was stronger, and the Sons of Darkness knew it. He was going to have to tread lightly, and think before he made any moves.
Which wasn’t easy when living with a beautiful seductress who wanted to have sex with you. A man could only be noble for so long.
He groaned and got dressed, staring at himself in the mirror. It was times like this he missed Lou and the other hunters. Lou would have advice for him, could tell him what to do. How easy would it be to just pick up a phone and call him. He really would like to talk to someone.
Maybe he could get Lou on the phone. He could rewire a disposable cell with an untraceable number, figure out the Realm’s reaction, and at the same time get Lou’s advice on what to do about Isabelle.
Risky, but worth it. He needed to find out if he was walking down the right path with her.
Because the wrong choice could lead to both his and Isabelle’s destruction.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Your twenty-four hours are almost up, Mandy.”
Michael cast an impatient look in her direction. Mandy ignored him. They’d spent the past twenty-four hours without sleep, barely eating. Instead, they’d scoured the city, searching for any sign of demons. So far, they’d found nothing. They’d been downtown, to the beach, had even driven around the suburbs. Michael had used his tracking system while Mandy drove.
“They aren’t going to appear on your super-secret decoder map there if they aren’t hiding out underground. I told you, the guy I saw wore a business suit. He walked in the sunlight. He didn’t appear different from any other human walking the streets downtown.”
Michael didn’t look up from the infrared sensors and whatever gadgetry the Realm had them using. “You just keep driving and let me worry about the technology.”
She shook her head. “Whatever. But there’s got to be a better way to do this. I say we hang out near the alley where I first saw the guy. It’s nearly the same time we were here yesterday. I might be able to pick him up again.”
“Drive over that way and see if you can spot him,” Michael said.
They were only two streets away. Mandy turned and headed in that direction, parking on the street this time. She got out and fed the parking meter, then climbed back in the car and waited, convinced she was going to see him again.
Michael kept his head down and scanned his laptop.
“Anything?” she asked.
“No. I don’t think I’m going to see anything on the scans here.” He looked up at her. “There’s nothing to see. There are no demons here, Mandy.”
“You want me to be wrong.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I do. But not for the reasons you think.”
“I understand.” She really did. She wished she hadn’t seen it, hoped it was an illusion. But she knew what she’d seen. It was real. She stared out the window.
And spotted him. She blinked, looked again, needing to be sure.
She grasped Michael’s wrist. “There he is!”
“Where?”
“Navy blue suit, pale blue shirt, red tie. He’s just crossing the street at a pretty hefty clip, at the light.” Mandy had her hand on the door handle, her backpack crushed in her hand.
“All right. Let’s cut him off.”
She slid her comm unit into her ear and slammed the car door shut. Michael climbed out on his side and met her on the sidewalk.
“I’m heading through the alleyway,” Michael said. “We’ll intercept him there. Stay in touch via the comm.”
She nodded and headed fast down the sidewalk, trying to appear normal, like she was late to work. Fortunately, the people she brushed by were intent on their own destinations. They were probably used to this
