I ground my teeth, ignoring the amused looks a few of the demons threw me as they filed out.
Once the room was empty, I glowered up at the demon. “I’m tired. I don’t want to talk right now.”
He grabbed my arm as I moved to shove past him. “This conversation is necessary.”
“Don’t get handsy with me, Samael.”
He squeezed warningly. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make it clear I was pissing him off.
Ditto.
I shifted my own hand to the rowan arrow hanging from the long, thick chain beneath my lanyard.
The movement only worked because I had the element of surprise. I stepped forward, one foot behind Samael’s as I twisted, pushing him against the wall. He let out a startled laugh and pulled me against him.
Then he froze.
My arrow was positioned at his heart.
“Feel that?” I purred.
His eyes widened, but there was no fear. Just a strange kind of lust.
“Rowan wood,” he murmured. “You continue to surprise me, bounty hunter.”
“I could kill you right now.”
“I know. I find the concept strangely… arousing.”
My mouth fell open and his gaze dropped to my lips. He wasn’t lying. I could feel him hard and thick against me.
“You won’t kill me,” Samael purred. “You want me too much. Your life would be dark and cold without me.”
I pushed the arrow closer, until the tip was pressed against his skin. “My life was just fine without you.”
“Lies only annoy me, witchling.”
How the hell was I the one threatening Samael’s life, and yet he still had the upper hand?
I could feel the arrow, hard and sharp in my hand. But I couldn’t see it. It was disconcerting.
“Either kill me or kiss me, bounty hunter. Your current position is giving me a variety of interesting ideas.”
I rolled my eyes and did neither as I stepped away from him.
He moved like lightning. Within half a second his hand was over mine, trapping the rowan arrow against my body as he backed me into the wall.
“Now it’s your turn to listen to me,” he said.
“Let me go.”
“When I’m done. When I first met you, I didn’t know who you were,” he said. “My people were gathering information from the moment I bonded you. By the night of the pact with Finvarra, I had strong suspicions. Part of me hoped I was wrong, as you would almost certainly die. Another part hoped I was right, as you could free my people. I won’t apologize for my plans before I realized what you meant to me.”
My heart flipped in my chest. “I’m not asking you to.”
“Quiet.”
I ground my teeth and he narrowed his eyes at me.
