Heat rolled from him, warming the entire room. “I’m sorry, Hope.”
“Sorry for what?” She lifted her chin. “Sorry I got a bomb put in my head? Sorry you’ve been lying to me for years? Sorry you joined the Defenders, which is a group that apparently wants to kill allof my uncles?”
His silvery-blue eyes flashed to a sharp and sizzling green and then morphed back again. Vampires had tertiary colors, and his had always been green. It emerged only during high-intensity moments or extremely emotional ones. “I did what I had to do, and I never would have killed one of your uncles. Besides, only three of the Seven are your uncles.”
“They’re pretty much all my uncles,” she muttered. “Some of them are ancient and a million times removed, but I’m related to almost everybody on the Seven. You wanted todestroy them.”
He sighed, but he didn’t deny it. His phone buzzed, and he scooped it off the table near the door, reading the screen and then shooting off a couple of texts. “He can’t hide forever.” Pax tossed the phone away and zeroed his focus on her.
“You really believed everything you said the other day, didn’t you?” sheasked quietly.
“About the final ritual being stopped? Yeah, I did. I have looked at this from every single angle there is, princess, and the only way it makes sense is that the Lock is there to balance the scales for Ulric’s death. You and I both know that any ritual,anythinginvolving altering physics, demandsa high price.”
She blinked.
His gaze narrowed. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“I suspected,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense unless a sacrifice is made. I figured that was probably my life.” She expected him to commiserate with her or to vow that he’d figure something else out.
Instead, he pivoted suddenly, lifting her by the hips and slamming her against the door. “You will not accept such a fate. Do you understand me?” His voice was all the more frightening for the soft tone he used.
Heat traveled through her so quickly her ears rang, her heart thundered, and her thighs softened. What was happening? “Paxton, put me down.” Her voice emerged breathy, as if she’d been running for hours.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think people have been going along with what you want and what you think for far too long. If you were mine, there’s no way in hell you’d be wandering around demon territory right now.”
His?“Listen, Pax.” She shot both hands up to nail him beneath the jaw.
He didn’t step back. In fact, it didn’t even look like he’d felt the blow. Instead, his head lowered until his eyes were right above hers. His scent of leather and the forest wafted around them. “You’re a brat, Hope. I might adore you, but I won’t accept that.”
What did that mean? She opened her mouth to give it to him just as one of his broad hands tangled in her hair, twisted, and pulled her head back. Her breath caught in her throat, and she latched onto his shoulders for balance, feeling the muscles play beneath his shirt.Hard and fluid.
Then his firm lips were on hers.
Fire seared through her, zinging from her mouth to her breasts right to her core. Her abdomen heated, and butterflies winged in every direction. She moved into him, even though her brain told her to stop.
She moaned, and he pressed her jaw with his thumb, forcing her to open. For him. For Paxton Phoenix, who was much more dangerous than she’dever imagined.
Then he dove in, all wildfire, all danger, his tongue taking control. The growl rumbling up from his chest and into her mouth, down her throat, to her every nerve was all demon. Primal and savage.
He easily held her aloft, his free hand flexing on her hip with barely restrained power.
She’d had no idea desire could be painful.
Gasping, she pulled back, her lungs needing air. For the first time in too long, she really looked at him. His handsome face and calm demeanor masked a deadly warrior. A true predator. And right now, she was in his sights. Her body did a full roll.
His smile was quick, gone as quickly as it had arrived. It was the smile of a male in control of his environment. One prepared for violence, and one who held her easilyoff the floor.
Watching her, those green eyes a chromatic warning, he tugged the button onher jeans free.
Her eyes widened...but she didn’t stop him.
Slowly, so slowly that she could hear the seconds ticking by, he flattened his heated palm against her abdomen and caressed down, slipping his fingers into her panties. She panicked and stiffened, but then he found her.
Her mouth opened on a gasp. She was wet and ready...and so far out of her element she couldn’t think. Her hips jerked as if she’d been shocked. Desire ripped through her, pinpointed right wherehe touched her.
She let her head go back on the door. His fingers parted her, and one slipped inside, while the other rubbed against her clit. He tilted his head, watching her, learning her. Then he sped up, and she gasped, riding his fingers. As if he knew her body better than she did, he flickedher clit. Hard.
The world exploded. She shut her eyes as the orgasm tore through her, taking even her breath. She rode the waves and then slowly came down, sagging against him.
