But I do. And when the pieces all fell into place, I could not breathe from the weight of it all. I know what is coming for her. What she will try to do and what it will cost her. I will find a way to save her. I have to. What I do not know is whether she will forgive me. Or how much time we have until the end.
“Zoe. My love, wake up.” I cringe as I let my feelings for her slip through the wall surrounding my heart. As we came together for the third time in the early hours of the morning, I knew I could deny it no longer. I love her, and I always will.
If only Fate were not so cruel, conspiring to keep us apart. Even now, with Zoe naked in my bed, her lips swollen, her eyes sleepy, I can feel the distance between us growing. Once she accepts the truth of who she is, she will leave me. She will have no choice.
“Hmm?” She is still in that blissful state between asleep and awake where anything seems possible. Where one can choose to stay in their dreams just a bit longer or return to the real world.
Kissing her gently, I try to ease us both back into the world of dreams, but our phones ding simultaneously. Hers from the guest room, mine on the bedside table.
“Stay here,” I urge as I wrap my arm around her waist. “It’s the commander. We are being summoned.”
“Shouldn’t we go then?” Despite her words, she settles against me with a sigh, and I pick up my phone so we can both see the screen.
Another body turned up this morning. Corner of Castro and Pine. Get down there. Now.
“Shit,” Zoe says and sits up. “We’re out of time, Sin. He’s going to take another woman tonight.”
“I know.” Throwing the phone down on the bed, I hold her close. I need one more moment with her. One more embrace. One more kiss. “Promise me something, Zoe.”
She tips her gaze to mine, uncertainty and so much more churning in her green eyes. Concern. confusion. Maybe even…love. “What?”
“You will be careful today. Stay by my side. Do not take unnecessary risks.” Capturing her lower lip between my teeth, I bite down just hard enough for her to feel it for the rest of the day. Everything I am belongs to her. It always will.
“I’m a cop,” she says when she pulls back, her cheeks flushed. “I still am, even though I carry a different badge. My job is to take risks to protect the innocent. If I don’t, they die, and I can’t—“
“This is different,” I say sharply. “This is Thorn. Even a single risk could get you killed.”
“You’re not my keeper, Sin. You’re my…” She stares down at our linked fingers, then lets her gaze rove over my chest. “You’re my partner. But you’re also more. Something…we haven’t figured out yet.”
Say it. Please. Do not get out of this bed without remembering who you are.
“I’ll be careful.” She brushes her lips over a long scar just below my collarbone. “Because I want to figure it out. Figureusout.”
It is not enough, but at the same time, more than I could have hoped for. More than I had centuries ago. More than I may ever have again.
Zoe slides from my embrace and runs a hand through her mussed curls. “I need a shower.” Her lips curve into a smile. “I don’t suppose you’d like to join me?”
Before she can take another step, I scoop her up and cradle her to my chest. “I would like nothing more.”
* * *
Zoe
Every step is pure torture with Sin next to me. It’s like my body is completely attuned to his presence, and my swollen lower lips rub against my clit as we walk up Castro to the crime scene.
Focus, Zoe. Someone is dead, and you’re thinking about banging your demon partner again. Ridiculous. You’re a fucking cop. Act like it.
He took me twice in the shower, then made me coffee while I dressed and tried to calm myself down. On the way here, he stopped so I could get a breakfast sandwich, and now, he stays close but doesn’t touch me. I think he’s afraid if he does, we’ll be all over one another again and won’t be able to stop.
There’s something more in his blue eyes this morning, though.
Fear.
We don’t need to show our badges to the crime scene crew. They recognize us, and what I now know are magical wards that hide the street from view admit us into a private, gruesome cocoon.
The young woman’s body isn’t arranged as reverently as Jacinda’s. No. She was dumped. Quickly and without ceremony. Her arms and legs are tangled and broken, her skin scraped along elbows, knees, and her bare shoulder, and a long, thin piece of white silk is wrapped tightly around her neck.
Crouching next to her, I stare at the hollow sockets where her eyes would have been, and the all-too-familiar nausea burns its way up my throat until Sin grasps my shoulder.
