The laugh originated from deep in my belly and vibrated throughout my body.
Emma’s expression warred with displeasure and confusion. “Is it really so funny that I could be the one to save you?”
I tried to control myself but the deep sonorous laughter hadn’t subsided. “No, no, you don’t understand.”
Openly irritated, Emma tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t let her.
“You so wholly surprise me and it’s the most wonderful thing I have ever known.”
She relaxed her struggle to escape my grip, but her expression remained skeptical. “I surprise you?”
My laughter had finally settled, and I felt both exhausted and supremely delighted. Perhaps it was a side effect of the drug Phillip and Regina had given me. “Emma, if someone had told me a week ago that you would come to my rescue, I would have dismissed such an idea without a second thought.” My voice became more serious and raspier from exposure to the cold damp air. “Chevalier are to protect the innocents,” my voice thickened further, with emotion, “but no one protects…”
“You,” she said, simply. Her amber eyes, luminous under the street lamps, shone with compassion.
For the first time in my existence, I felt sorry for myself. So intensely did I want Emma that I did the only thing I could to block out such a horrible indulgence as self-pity. I kissed her.
When I covered her mouth with my own, my cold body warmed as I molded her against me. She eagerly kissed me back, trying to slide her tongue past my lips though I didn’t grant her access. Clutching my shoulders, her short nails dug into my skin exciting my appetite for more, still I didn’t deepen the kiss. When I pulled back, I looked down at her trying to find the words I knew I had to say.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Emma said, her bottom lip jutting out. “I know. You’re Chevalier, and this can never happen again.” There was a lack of sincerity in her voice.
I struggled to cover a smile. She knew exactly what I had been going to say, but obviously didn’t believe this would be the last time I touched her. Part of me didn’t believe me anymore either.
Bringing myself back to more important matters, I asked, “Where is Travis? Do you still have the girl?”
She nodded. “Travis is fine. I knew if I brought him in on the rescue mission to get you, you’d pitch a fit.” She turned and began to walk us back the way she came. “Sophie was asleep when I left. We would have tried to return her to her family, but I had to come find you. I know you’re Travis’s only hope, so big picture, right?” She turned and led me back the way she came.
My chest swelled with pride. “You could be a Chevalier.”
Emma’s face wrinkled in distaste as we walked. “Nah, there are too many rules. Plus, don’t you have to be a guy to be Chevalier?”
Though I hadn’t told her as much, she once again used her intuition to find the truth. “This is true, but you still have the heart of a protector and know how to serve the mission.”
She blushed as she looked away.
“How did you find me?” I asked for the second time.
With a sidelong glance, she said, “I don’t know, I just kind of felt you. Like that game, hot or cold? I knew traveling in a certain direction that I was getting warmer, so I went with my instinct.”
This bothered me more than I could say, but it was undeniable there was some kind of bond, perhaps psychic in nature, between us. I wondered if I hadn’t been drugged recently, if my senses would have been sharp enough to feel the same thing.
“It’s similar to when we were… touching….” she trailed off. Heat curled in my belly then sunk lower as I remembered the motel. The memory of diving into her hot supple skin, kissing and sucking every inch I could find caused me to harden despite the cold.
After we’d walked two blocks, Emma took a left turn.
“What did they do to you?” she asked.
I stiffened, remembering the full extent of the danger we were now in. “Nothing, but the agents of Veritas know the Propheros is here.”
Then I remembered Emma wasn’t in danger at all anymore. I blamed my sluggish thoughts on being drugged, though her intoxicating kiss could have been cause for the lapse in thought.
“Emma, you no longer need to stay with us. With the soul eater destroyed, you can return home. You are safe to live out your life.” I hated myself for saying this out loud. I didn’t want to let her go. I wanted her by my side, though I knew it would put her in greater danger.
She didn’t speak for seventeen long steps.
“You’re wrong.”
“Wrong?”
