Lynx brings his fangs unnervingly close, and a flash of something other than fear slices down my spine. A dull ache starts in my core that makes me livid beyond reason.
I’m meant to be mad at him, not wanting to jump his bones again.
“This isn’t the time for games,” he snarls, looking between me and the car he’s staring down like it’s a worthy foe.
The engine dies, and before I can respond, Lynx has me on my feet behind him, one arm out like he’s either trying to stop the car from coming at me or to keep me from running away.
This is ridiculous.
I slap his hand away and dart under his arm to block his path.
“Shut up and listen to me for two fucking minutes,” I snap, pointing at the two men dressed in blue stepping out of the cruiser, taking their sweet, merry time to look up at the decrepit manor. “Those are police officers, and unless you want to share this prison with more people, we need to get them to leave.”
He pauses, frowning in confusion in the direction of the newcomers. “It’s a carriage.”
Does he not…?
“Uh.” No? Yes? Fuck, I don’t know. That’s not important. “Tidus dug up my body, and I’m pretty sure I saw part of another person before. If those guys find limbs lying around, there’s going to be a whole swarm of cops here, and then we’re going to be stuck with people shitting on our parade on an hourly basis.”
Lynx looks from me to the men casually walking around the front of the property with their hands on their hips. “Then they die.”
“No—” I stop his advance with my whole body, practically fusing us together so there’s no universe where I’d miss the hard press of his monstrous cock against my stomach. I flush crimson from head to toe and stumble back from his downstairs demon.
He glares daggers at me like I’m at fault for everything wrong in his life, but there’s no mistaking the pink tinting his cheeks.
The faint sound of voices drifts through the air, pulling me back to the present.
“If you touch a hair on either of their heads, you’ll be fucking this up for both of us. Tidus might have left something inside, so we have to be in there to make sure there’s nothing for them to find. We need to…” I drift off, looking around for an idea. Hecannotmess this up for us. “You’ll need to talk to them.”
“And say what?” he says like I’m an idiot.
“Charm them with your sunny demeanor.”
We’re so screwed.
“I’ll just kill them.”
“Lynx,” I hiss. “That isnotan option. Just—just do as I say.”
God, I sound desperate.
Out of everything, that’s apparently the wrong thing to say because his ire multiplies tenfold.
“I have been alive forcenturies. I have seen things your pathetic human mind could never comprehend. There is no universe where the likes ofyoucould tellmewhat to do.”
I stare blankly at him and practice deep breathing before I do something stupid like knee him in the balls, and he goes and adds a couple more ghosts to keep us company.
“Right, yes, you can handle this by yourself because you have phenomenal people skills, and you definitely didn’t just call a car abeast. Pop quiz: if they ask you for your number, what does that mean?”
I didn’t miss the way he stared at the speakers and phones at the party like they were alien objects. Add in the fact that his outfit looks like it was taken from the set of a period drama, and this big scary demon doesn’t know jack shit about the modern world.
The muscle in his jaw feathers. “I’m not wasting my time with?—”
“Do us both a favor and admit that you don’t know what a phone number is, how Wi-Fi works, or how quickly they could get a SWAT team and a chopper here to hunt you down and put a bullet through your skull. So how about you shut up, get over yourself, and follow my lead, huh?”
He steps forward, closing in on my space. The shadows of the forest stretch around him, air crackling with something sinister that skitters down my spine and raises the hair on the back of my neck.
I fist my hands at my sides, forcing myself to stay put and not stumble back like my instincts are screaming at me to. He grasps my jaw in his hand, a threat and a deadly promise wrapped in one. I stop breathing when he leans down until his lips are inches away from my own.
