“Aurora—”
“Tell me,” shesnapped, herpatience worn down to a nubbin.
There was a slight hesitation, and then he said quietly,“You can’t go to the police because Drayger is under protection.”
The lights were starting to dim and darkness was closing in.“Whose protection?”
“Mine,” he said slowly.“My job is to keep Drayger safe.”
With those insane words, she welcomed the darkness.
Chapter Ten
Hawkyn caught Aurora as she slid out of the chair.Dammit, he shouldn’t have dumped so much information on her so quickly.Thedoctors at Underworld General had assured him that she was physically fine, soshe must be in shock, horrified as hell by his admission.
How could she not be?It was seriously fucked up that peoplelike Drayger, the worst people to have ever lived, had been, and would continueto be, protected from harm while decent people suffered.
Tucking her against his chest, he carried her over to thecouch, a retro velvet floral thing that didn’t look like it could hold herpetite frame, let alone his.He wondered why she favored ‘50s and ‘60s décor.
It was curious...He was hundreds of years old, and therewas no single period in history that he looked back upon with fondness.Lifesucked for humans for most of their history, and in some places, it stillsucked.Really, he liked modern times,the technology,the entertainment,the food.
The females.
In modern times, females wore fewer clothes.
Even Aurora, in calf-length gray paisley leggings and a longV-neck teal sweater that complimented her creamy skin and bright blue eyes, wasshowing more of her curvy body than the women of his youth.And a goodpercentage of his adulthood, come to think about it.
In his arms, she started to stir, and he had to fight thesudden urge to hold her close instead of putting her down.She was the firstfemale besides his sisters he’d held against his body in centuries.Even then,back when he’d thought he was human and before he was forced by Memitim rulesinto celibacy, contact with females had been purely sexual, quick fucks inalleyways and stables.
He’d been devastatingly poor, a thief when he couldn’tscrounge enough work to feed himself, but he’d been handsome and charismatic,attracting females like a magnet.Those moments, as fleeting and seedy as theywere, had been his only source of pleasure and his only escape from a life ofmisery.
“Sorry,” she rasped as he set her gently on the sofa.“Ithink I used too much energy to power the protective ward around the house.I’ll be okay in a minute.”She shifted so she was sitting up, braced on thearmrest, legs tucked beneath her.She was too pale, her eyes bloodshot, but sheradiated an inner strength Hawkyn could feel like an electric current on thesurface of his skin.“Did you really say that the bastard who tortured me andwants me dead is under your protection?”
There was no way to sugarcoat his answer.“Yes.He’s what wecall Primori, and I have a duty to keep him safe.”
“Okay,” she said, a lot more calmly than he would have ifthe situation had been reversed.“Let’s come back to why an angel would beprotecting a serial killer and focus on why that means I can’t go to thepolice.”
There was no way to sugarcoat this, either.All he had was abunch of bitter pills to swallow.He could at least offer her some water totake them with.
“You can’t go to the police because I fucked up.”He sankdown in the surprisingly comfortable aqua chair that matched precisely nothingin the house.“I interfered in the parkinglotand youblasted me instead of him, potentially changing his fate.”
Her skeptical expression would have made him laugh if they’dbeen talking about anything other than a psychopath bent on butchering her.
“Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that mean that Iwould have killed him?Sowhat’s the big deal aboutgoing to the police?Or, you know, killing him?”
“We don’t know that you would have killed him,” heexplained.“It’s possible you would have missed.Or only injured him.”It wasalso possible that Atticus was wrong and Drayger wasn’t entirely human or thathe was protected by an enchanted object or a mystical spell.“You could stillhave ended up being abducted.”
“Then why did you rescue me?”
Becauseapparentlyhe was good atcompounding mistakes.“Because I didn’t want to take the chance that youweren’t supposed to be abducted.”
She sat up a little straighter, eyes flaring the waySuzanne’s did when she was about to lay into him, and he braced himself.“Soyou’re telling me that if you hadn’t beentherebut you knew he’d taken me, youwouldn’thaverescued me?”
“Memitim can’t interfere with the actions of those we watchover.”
“You asshole!”Color flooded her cheeks and her gorgeouseyes flashed angry fire.“You would have just watched me be slowly takenapart?”
“Well, I wouldn’t havewatched...”
