by Ashur Rose
“Like what?”
“Like you’re replaying what happened between us last night. That is what you’re doing, right?”
Iain tilted his head, doing his best to ignore the ache in his cock. “I’m not hungry for food.”
“What?”
“I’m not hungry for food and I’m staring because I find you pleasant to look at.”
He heard her fork rest on the rim of the bowl. In her line of work, men must have thrown compliments at her all the time. It would explain how she easily dismissed his. “Does that mean you’re hungry for something else?”
He smiled, keeping his hands folded over the bulge in his jeans. “You could say that.”
Her tone changed. “What are you? Vampire? Some kind of shifter?”
Iain was familiar with the beings she mentioned. Though he never understood why humans glorified them. They weren’t honorable creatures. “I am diune. Part Dryg and part human.” Under his coat, his wings twitched. Shit. Her voice made his whole damn body twitch. “We Dryg are what humans deem as ‘gargoyle.’”
She fell silent.
“Does that bother you, Lilith? My otherness?”
She took up her fork again. He couldn’t see it, but he heard her tongue pass over her lips and he imagined what that must have looked like. “I’ve been running from demons for the last four years. There isn’t much that surprises me.”
He thought of the shade’s blood he read the night they’d first met and the danger it implied. “Why are they chasing you?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I thought we agreed to talk?”
She nodded. “Fair enough. And since you are paying for my meal, I’ll indulge you. But I do have a few questions of my own.”
Iain folded his arms across the table. “Ask me anything.” He just wanted to hear her speak.
“What exactly is the end game here? You obviously have intentions and I’d like to know what they are.”
“Intentions?” He mused. “My intentions are sincere, I assure you.”
She snorted. “Sincerely inappropriate, is more like it.” She forked another mouthful of noodles. “How long have you been killing demons?”
“All my life.”
“And how long has that been? I can’t get a handle on your age with the gray hairs and all.”
“I’m 300 lunar cycles old. I believe that translates to 24 years in this realm.”
“Just 300?” He detected a note of sarcasm in her voice. And damn was it sexy. “Nothing strange about that at all.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“Doesn’t matter what I believe. I’m just here for the ramen.”
The females of Earth were such hardened, suspicious beings. He didn’t mind it. He was up for a challenge. But he hoped he’d have the chance to soften her to at least the thought of him.
“Why are demons chasing you?”
“We’re back to that now?”
“If you can manage an answer, I would like to know why they are interested in you.”
Silence.
“Not that evil needs a reason to do anything, but they’re chasing me because I’m a hunter. I’m supposed to be anyway.” She waved down their waiter. “Can I have the rest of this to-go? Thanks.”
A hunter? This was the first he’d heard of it but he needed to know more. Iain adjusted in his seat. He felt their time together slipping when she placed the strap of her bag across her chest. “There’s no rush. We can stay here as long as you like. Finish your meal.”
“I don’t do well sitting in one place too long.”
“If you’re worried about the shades—”
“Is that what you call them? Shades?”
“Yes. And if you’re worried about them, I assure you there’s no safer place then with me.”
She offered a humorless chuckle. “And why is that? I hardly know you. Are you going to protect me?”
With my life, he wanted to say. But she was up from her seat, grabbing her to-go box from the front counter.
Iain dropped a handful of loose bills near the register, not bothering to count them because he never carried anything smaller than a twenty, and followed her out the door.
“Good talk,” she said before turning her back to him. She waved goodbye. “See you around.”
He knew she meant it as no more than a parting phrase, but he decided might as well let her know his intentions. “You will.”
That stopped her cold and she faced him again. “You realize that’s not going to happen. I have no intention on being with you.”
“That may be so. But when you go to the church on 12th Street, I’ll be there. When you decide to run again, expect to have me close behind.” He eased up to her, getting so close, she had to crane her neck up to see him. “I’ve got your scent on me, della, and I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
LILITH
“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU the other night?” Shelby pulled her stockings up past her calf. “I had to tell boss man you had a family emergency. Wasn’t anything to do with the big dudes in your section, was it?”
“No,” Lilith rushed to say. She tucked her borrowed shirt into her borrowed skirt and rubbed baby oil onto her legs. “And thanks for covering for me.”
“No problem. A heads up next time would be nice though.” Shelby reached in the bottom of her locker and came back up with a pair of heels. “Try these.”
Lilith caught the five-inch platforms. She was more of a three-inch heel girl but she’d have to make it work. “Thanks.”
Lilith worked her night as usual, running drinks to her tables, stocking the bar when she wasn’t in the weeds, and keeping her section happy. But her tips weren’t amounting to what she expected, and sometimes an entire table wound up not leaving a tip at all.
How would she get enough money to survive another night in the city? She leaned against the bar and pinched the bridge of her nose, sending the oncoming headache back to whatever hell it’d come from. Her options for money were so slim, she’d actually considered shaking her tits and ass on stage tonight.
“Jack and coke, please.”
She knew that voice. It chilled her blood and made her body shake with anticipation. Only one person could cause conflicting emotions like that.
She opened her eyes and took her hand away from her nose. It was Iain looking about as tempting as he had when she’d ditched him on the sidewalk. He flashed a smile that made her stomach clench. “You look like you could use a drink,” he said.
Drinking was the furthest thing from her mind when she took him in sitting there. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I made it very clear that I wasn’t letting you out of my sight.”
“Four-fifty,” said Brad, interrupting them.
Iain reached inside his pocket and slid a twenty toward Brad without looking away from Lilith. He clutched the drink. “Keep the change.”
Brad nodded, took a step back until Iain couldn’t see him and mouthed, “You okay?” at Lilith.
Lilith gave a quick nod and watched Brad go back to the register.
“That’s cute.”
Lilith looked back at Iain, seeing only her reflection in his sunglasses. “What is?”
“The bartender’s protectiveness.” He took a sip of his Jack and coke. “You’ll have to let him down easy.”
Lilith scoffed and snatched her tray from the bar and walked past him to tend to her section. She hadn’t left because she’d been annoyed with him. It was quite the opposite. Leaving was the only way to keep her lust for him at bay. But there wasn’t a move she didn’t make that wasn’t under his watchful stare. She felt his eyes following her around the club. When her shift ended, she left Iain sitting at the bar and snuck out the back door.
Considering the amount of money she’d made tonight, she’d have been better off panhandling on the street. She’d never had a shift tank so badly. It was like the whole d
amn day was cursed. Her take wasn’t even enough for a cheap motel room.
“Damn it.” If she were a crying woman, she’d be curled up in the fetal position on the sidewalk bawling her eyes out. As it was, she didn’t have the luxury to cry. She needed a place to hole up for the night. She couldn’t ask her co-workers. Most had kids or unstable living situations themselves. And quite frankly, she didn’t want them prying into her business. She needed to find a bed for the night that didn’t impose on anyone or invite unwanted questions. And preferably one not made of concrete.
She stuffed the bills inside her pocket and stepped off the curb to cross the street. She’d been thinking about a place where she could warm up her cold leftover ramen when a steely grip snatched her away from an oncoming car.
“Careful.”
The car’s horn wailed in the distance. She caught her balance and pushed her body away from a hard chest. She looked up and snatched herself from his grip. “There are laws against stalking.”
“That’s a funny way to thank the person who just saved your life.”
“I wasn’t in any real danger.” She would have risked fading before the car had hit her.
“So you were aware of the car?”
“Well.” She rolled her eyes. “No, I wasn’t.”
He smirked at her. The sexy bastard smirked at her.
She stalked off, only to see that he followed. “What’s your plan? Follow me around all night?” She hoped not. She didn’t trust herself with him.
“Or until you realize you have no place to go.”
His words caught her off guard.
“You’re homeless,” he said.
She stopped and turned on him.
“You could search all night for a place to sleep and that would be fine,” he said. “I’ve got a little time for it. Or you can come stay the night with me and spare us both a walk around the cold city.”
“I—” Her mouth fell open. His offer was so ridiculously inappropriate, her mind with blank with what to say. “You’re an insane person.” She finally managed. “You think you’ve got me figured out after a quick talk in a restaurant? I don’t know you and you don’t know me.”
“I know that your apartment’s boarded up. I know that you don’t have the money to spare on a room.” She didn’t know how he’d moved without her noticing despite watching him, but he was less than a foot from her now. “I know there’s a burn deep inside you that’s eased whenever you’re near me.”
She didn’t step away from him like she’d expected. She took him in, every inch of him, without blinking. His boldness amazed and frightened her, caused her to shiver in terror and throb with need. But he was right. She didn’t burn when around him, a fact that brought up more questions than answers. And she couldn’t deny the attraction she felt for him. It wasn’t just his looks. He had a way about him, something otherworldly that sent energy relaying through her veins. He must have known how his presence affected her.
“What are you doing to me?”
He shifted his weight, causing his leather coat to fall away from his chest. “I don’t understand?”
“This.” She gestured between their bodies. “Is that one of your powers or something? Are you influencing my feelings?”
“How would I do that?” He seemed genuinely curious.
“I don’t know. Maybe the answer’s under those dumb sunglasses you wear at night.” She snatched off his sunglasses and gasped. He stood tall in front of her, unblinking, eyes milky white from blindness.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked.
“I’m sorry.” She handed the sunglasses back to him, looking away. “I didn’t know.”
“The shades help with stares.” He wrapped them around his face. “And there is nothing you could do to me that would warrant an apology. But…”
She kept her gaze from his face, not wanting to look him in the eyes. There was no repulsion, only shame for her actions. “But?”
“If you want to make it up to me, come to my place. I require nothing of you and you’ll be safe there.” He upturned her hand, his leather glove warm against her cold skin. “We both know you have the power to leave any time you want.”
She finally took a moment to give his offer some real consideration. She didn’t know him and didn’t trust him. He could hurt her, but in all fairness, he’d had plenty of opportunities to do so already. And quite frankly, she was tired of running from him.
What was the old saying? “Persistence wears down resistance”?
She took her hand away from his and held it up toward the street. “Fine. But we’re taking a cab, which you’ll pay for. I get my own room with a door that locks. And there’s one more thing.”
“All you need do is ask.”
“I’m off limits. No touching. No accidental brushing of your body against mine. No grabbing me, even if I’m falling. ” A cab pulled up to the curb in front of her and she opened the door. “You keep your hands and your mouth to yourself. I mean it.”
He tipped his chin toward her and flashed a brilliant smile. “As you wish.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
IAIN & LILITH
She never said he couldn’t look.
The fifteen-minute-drive to his place in the warehouse district was spent drifting his eyes over the white aura of her body. When they arrived, he waited for Lilith to exit the cab. Iain paid the driver and used his gaze to persuade the cabbie not to remember the location. He’d used his gaze all night, removing himself from the minds of people in the club as he’d watched Lilith. He wasn’t proud of it, but he’d also persuaded her customers not to tip her. She was a willful woman, and he needed her desperate. It was the only way she’d come with him.
“You live…here?”
He caught the concern in her tone. “Yes. Up there.”
“This is an abandoned warehouse.”
“It suits my needs.” He realized she wasn’t moving. “My loft has been remodeled. The contractor assured me that the living space is comfortable and has all the amenities humans are accustomed to.”
“If you say so.”
She didn’t sound convinced. And for that matter, Iain wasn’t so sure either. He’d never actually seen his place. He’d hired an interior decorator and trusted her to make his space inviting. He’d only known his loft by touch and it seemed sufficient. His maid had never complained.
He watched Lilith enter the building and walk up the stairs.
“There’s a lift,” he suggested.
“I don’t do elevators.”
He nodded, depositing the interesting piece of information about her into his memory. He watched the aura of her body sway up the stairs in front of him, left to right like a seductive pendulum. He stayed two steps behind her, trying to honor his arrangement and not touch her. If he could have his way, she’d be naked on the floor, clawing at his back, right in the middle of the stairs.
“This it?”
She was in front of his door. “The key is on top of the frame.”
She moved back to let him reach for it. He came down with the key. He’d never used the front door of his loft, preferring the roof instead. The key and front door was for the maid. Unable to see how the lock worked, he fumbled around the keyhole.
Lilith cleared her throat. “Can’t find the hole?”
Iain raised the corner of his mouth and thumbed over the lock. Placing the tip of the key at the lock’s entrance, he slowly slid it in, hearing the teeth and grooves of the key rub against the walls of the lock. “I always find my way in.”
He pushed the door open and let Lilith walk inside.
Lilith gazed at the broad, industrial space. Rough-hewn planks of the floor had been finished mirror-smooth, yet the beams and rafters retained their original forms. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in streetlight, though there wasn’t much of a view. On the far side, there was a commercial kitchen complete with a marble-topped island and breakfast bar. Closer, there was a se
ating area, leather recliners and couches on an expensive oriental rug. Thinking of the dumps she’d occupied over the past few years, she sighed. “Damn, this is nice.”
“I’ll take you at your word.”
She looked at him, less concerned with how he’d heard her softly-spoken comment than she was with his shades. Hadn’t he ever seen his loft? Could he even see her at all? She bristled at the idea that in a way, the fact that he couldn’t see her, yet still felt so drawn to her, was flattering. “Just how—” Lilith hesitated, trying not to be rude.
“Blind am I?” Iain finished the question, a smile playing over his full lips. “I don’t see as you do.”
His words only succeeded in raising a dozen more questions.
“I have a peculiar kind of sight. Sentient beings all cast an aura, and these I can see as well as sense in other ways. Never had much need for vision in this realm until I met you.” Iain shrugged out of his leather jacket and flung it over one of the chairs. He had wings folded tight to his back.
Lilith made a sound, something like a gasp.
Puzzled, Iain glanced over his shoulder. “Oh. Right. Wings.”
“Yes, those.” And your body, she thought. So large and capable…so obviously lethal. The flat planes of hard muscles on his chest bunched and flexed as he moved. Lilith nearly took an involuntary step closer but suppressed the urge. She bit her bottom lip. She needed to get away from him before she did something she’d regret.
“I wanted a room?”
Iain gestured vaguely as he moved across the wide space to the kitchen. “There are a couple bed chambers, and the one with the water facilities.” He opened the stainless steel fridge. “Care for a beer?”
Bed chambers? Water facilities? Where was this guy from? Lilith looked inside the fridge and saw that beer was all there was. She’d worked slinging burgers in less well-equipped kitchens. Apparently, gargoyles—Drygs, he’d said—weren’t much on cooking but spared no expense on appliances. “Sure. Thanks.”
Iain extended a claw from his thumb and popped the caps.