“Oh, so my ass is pretty?” Theo’s voice sounded from the doorway.
Everyone’s heads whipped in that direction. Theo leaned against the frame, arms crossed. His hair was ruffled, questionable streaks across his skin, and the tears in his jeans weren’t a style choice. My chest squeezed tight.
“Where’s Cillian?” Amelia asked the question I wanted to ask.
“He’s in a mood,” Theo said. “At least, too much of one to socialize. He’s going to head back to his chambers.”
“Big bad demon heading off to brood?” Jaffar commented. “Color me shocked.”
“I think I’m going to call it a night.” The words escaped me before I could rein them in, and I rose from my seat. Sure, the excuse was flimsy and transparent, but I needed to see him. I needed to remind myself that what happened last night hadn’t just been a fever dream. My footsteps echoed as I swept across the dining hall, not bothering with goodbyes. Theo smirked as he pushed away from the doorframe where he leaned.
“Go get him,” Theo murmured before he strode past me.
My heart lodged in my throat, but I stepped out into the corridor. Cillian’s heavy footsteps were audible from here, as he headed down the opposite way. His silhouette was clear, and I strode in his direction, unflinching.
The shadows from the hallway seeped into me, a velvet dark I was growing accustomed to. Thethump,thump,thumpin my chest was so loud I was shocked he couldn’t hear it, but I quickened my pace.
Even still, he moved faster than me from the sheer length of his strides alone.
“Didn’t think you were the type to hide,” I called out. My words echoed through the corridor, amplified even louder.
Cillian stopped.
Then he turned around.
Feral didn’t quite describe him. When he took the first steps toward me, I froze. The wildness to him had drawn me in and unnerved me from the start. Yet tonight, that was elevated. His shirt was torn, his slacks too, and the blackened streaks across his skin looked like gashes. His shoulders heaved, and his golden gaze was so intense I swallowed, an audible gulp.
He strode in my direction, step by careful step, but I didn’t dare move.
I’d called him over here, so I would face the demon whose attention I’d snared.
“You’d be safer to run tonight, pet,” he growled, his voice low, deadly. “I’m on edge.” Still, he continued, closer and closer, until we were mere feet apart. This near, his presence overwhelmed me, and yet the tug inside me finally calmed.
Cillian was back, and he was in one piece.
I licked my lips, my heart thumping out of control at this point. “Maybe I don’t want safe. I don’t want to wait any longer.”
His lips curled into a smirk that revealed his sexy-as-sin fangs, and my cock throbbed at the sight. Fuck. His presence was an accelerant to the fire begging to combust inside me. “Careful what you wish for. If I take you tonight, pet, I won’t be nice.”
My blood scorched.
“What about me made you think I wanted nice?” I responded.
His low growl simmered through the space between us, and a second later, he closed those few feet. One second I was standing staring at him, and the next he’d scooped me up in his arms.
“Then come on,” he said. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”
Chapter 16
Unlike the first time I’d headed in the direction of the West Wing, when I’d been filled with nerves, this time a different anticipation flowed through me. The easy way Cillian carried me made my head swirl, the sheer size difference between us something that had turned me on from the start. His scent of sweat, of musk, of brimstone surrounded me, and goddamn, every inhale sent a tingle through my body.
“You’re persistent, aren’t you?” he murmured. “Most run when I get like this.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” I responded. Whether it was bravery or stupidity was questionable some days, but I had a stubborn streak I’d never been cured of.
“Have you ever been with a demon before, pet?” he asked.
“I haven’t.” I delivered the truth, hoping it wouldn’t make him change his mind.
