“My name came up?” I interrupted her because this mattered far more than she yet understood.
“Yes, I mean… You are Wyedari Oblivion, aren’t you? Oh Goddess, did I sneak into the wrong club?!” Her adorable panic stripped her of any deception and left her wonderfully, dangerously sincere.
I felt the faint twitch of amusement stir again and briefly wondered to myself, since when did I find mortals cute enough to want to bite? And why did the sound of my name coming from her lips make me want to soothe the bite?
“Be at ease, Inanna. I am who you think I am,” I told her, and her relief was immediate and almost tangible enough to taste.
“Thank the Goddess, you nearly gave me a panic attack… My heart already nearly stopped thanks to that big brute downstairs chasing me.”
After this, the shift in me was instantaneous.Every trace of ease vanished in a second. My body responded, straightening from my relaxed position as my attention sharpened into something dangerous.
“Who chased you?” I asked, nearly growling the words.
“Well, I don’t know,” she replied with a frown as she was clearly confused by the abrupt change in me, one I matched with my own as I pushed for more information.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was downstairs and this demon, a big guy with horns, stopped and sniffed at me, I don’t know… maybe I smell like a human or something,” she explained, halting at first, words stumbling over one another. Each detail tightened something cold and volatile beneath my skin.
“You do indeed,” I said when she mentioned her scent, then pressed,
“Now what else?”
She tested me then, just a little, turning her head and sniffing herself, and my patience snapped. In three strides, I was in front of her. My hand closed around her chin, firm but controlled, tipping her face upward until she was forced to meet my gaze. I felt the tremor that ran through her at the contact and felt the way her pulse leapt beneath my fingers. Which only meant that it took far more effort than I liked to keep my grip steady.
“Quit being cute, my little Inanna, and tell me. What happened next?” Shock flared across her features, and yes,I noticed that too.
But at least she told me the rest quickly and saved part of my sanity.
“I… he… he started chasing me, and I ran up the steps to the door and, well, you know the rest.”
“Did he hurt you?” I asked, now scanning down the length of her, focusing less on savoring the sight of her sinful little body and more on what parts of it could be injured.
“No.”
“Did he touch you?”The words came out darker than intended, edged with something lethal, and I saw the moment recognition dawned in her eyes.
“It was you… with that guy who grabbed me, the one who was going to slap me… you… you did that to him,” she said, and I knew instantly she was referring to the punishment I had administered to the cretin that had dared try to hurt her.
“No one has permission to harm you,” I told her, the truth of it sharp and unforgiving.
“…To touch you.”
She retreated then, her fear spiking, and irritation flickered through me. Not at her, but at myself. I eased it back before it fractured into something I could not afford to show her.
“I… I came here for your help,” she informed me, something I already knew to be true based on what Torin had already told me.
“And you will receive it,” I stated firmly.
“But?”Ah, there was my clever little goddess.
“But everything comes with a cost, Eliza,” I stated, and her injured hand drew my attention without effort. The blood bound beneath the tissue was a vivid reminder of how fragile she truly was. Had she been one of my kind, the wound would have been nothing. Instead, it stirred a vicious blend of hunger and displeasure within me that I didn’t welcome.
She wisely stepped back again as that self-preservation kicked in. One that meant nothing to me, as I followed with a single step, reclaiming the distance. Then I felt the air between us shift.
“Costs?” she asked, fear threading through the word, no doubt cementing her regret in coming here.
“A price for my help, yes,” I murmured, lowering my voice andwrapping the warning in something softer.
