Lothar took his seat opposite me. “Seems like he has a lot to say. Thankfully, I can’t understand any of it.”
I chuckled. “The male always was a blowhard. He once told me that he wrestled and killed a pair of vysan single-handedly. Oh, and he likes to tell everyone that he was the one who got Lucifer’s throne back when Diemos went rogue, and we all know it was the knights. The lords sat on their hands while we were locked out and did sweet fuck all to help us.” I shook my head. “The male is delulu, seriously. I don’t know what Lucifer has planned for him, but whatever it is, it’s past due.” I selected a grape and took a sip of my wine, then glanced across the table when Lothar hadn’t said anything.
He sat back and crossed his arms, and his eyes went from red to gold and back again, doing that weird rapid switch they’d done earlier. It was as if his beast was fighting for freedom, which didn’t make any sense at all. “Are you okay?”
When he said nothing, but also didn’t look away, I rolled my eyes and made a show of selecting a slice of meat that had the perfect meat-to-fat ratio, when inside I was barely holding it together.
The silence dragged on, and I refused to be the one to fill it. I carried on eating, and he eventually did the same, but still he studied me the whole time. He wasn’t doing it to intimidate me, that wasn’t what hounds did, especially to females. It was as if he was searching for something, trying to figure something out, and that terrified the hell out of me. I tore off a piece of bread, put it in my mouth and forced myself to chew even though it suddenly tasted like sawdust. He wasn’t himself, and he was changing more with every day we’d been on this hunt. If I didn’t get away from him, and soon, I was afraid it was only a matter of time before Lothar remembered everything.
“You rolled your eyes at me before, why?” he said suddenly, breaking the silence.
I actually jumped, so deep in my own worries. “I know you have limited emotions, Lothar, but even you can’t be that dense.” The feeling of being backed into a corner, of what might happen if I didn’t do something to stop this now, had my reply coming out a lot snappier than I’d intended.
He sat forward, resting his elbows on the table. “I get it, you want me to pretend I’m perfectly fine with you giving me the brush-off, but just so you know, I absolutely am not fine.”
Heat rolled through me in a wave of anger and fear. I needed him to let this go. “This whole scorned-lover bullshit is getting old, Lothar. We fooled around a couple times, nothing more. You’ve said, more than once, it was only about getting each other off. Are you saying you want me to ignore my own feelings because of what you want? Are you saying you want me to force myself to be with you, and if I don’t, you’ll throw a tantrum and give me the silent treatment until I relent?”
His brows shot up. “That’s not what I said. And do not use the word force when it comes to you and me. I would never fucking do tha?—”
“Well, that’s the way you’re acting. I thought, if nothing else, we were friends. Obviously that only applies when you get things your way.”
He growled and reached for my hand resting on the edge of the table. I pulled it back right as someone knocked on the door. I shot to my feet, because, honestly, I didn’t trust myself alone with this male, let alone him touching me. He was my Achilles’ heel, the chink in my armor, my kryptonite, and I was afraid, even with everything I knew, that if he touched me again, if he kissed me, I wouldn’t be able to resist him.
I rushed across the room and yanked the door open. Horace blinked up at me, an odd look on his face.
I scanned him from head to oversized feet. “Is everything okay?”
He jolted a little, then nodded. “I’ve come to clear away your dishes if you’re finished?”
“We’re done, thanks.”
He hustled across the room, loaded up the tray, and headed back across the room, but before he walked out, he turned back, and it looked as though he wanted to say something.
“Horace? Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked him again.
“I want you to know, my lady, that my loyalty to Lucifer has never and will never waver.”
I smiled. “He knows that. That’s why he granted your request to come here. He rewards loyalty.”
The demon bowed his head and backed out, taking the tray with him. I didn’t shut the door after him. Instead, I held it open and turned back to Lothar. “I’d like to get some sleep now.”
“I’d like to continue our conversation,” he said, his jaw stubborn.
“Well, I wouldn’t. Please leave.”
His eyes narrowed as he stared at me from across the room. I stayed where I was, continuing to hold the door wide.
“Roxy—”
“I need you to leave,” I said again, more forcefully.
His nostrils flared, but he stood. He strode toward the door, then stopped in front of me, and I braced when he dipped his head and breathed me deep into his lungs. He growled low. No disgust on his face now, just hunger.
He made another sound, one that was utterly sexual. “We will finish this conversation later, kitten,” he said, then he swaggered out of my room and disappeared into his own.
* * *
I woke with a jolt, a rolling boom fading into the distance. Lightning flashed through my room like a strobe light, and I shoved back the covers and rushed to the window. The thunder hit again a moment later, so violent I was positive the tower rocked from the force.
