He had to be careful what he revealed.Knowledge was dangerous to Caidos.“Ironic, isn’t it?We don’t want that attraction.In fact, we despise it.”
“That’s why you stay in these ivory towers and never mingle with anyone.”
“Correct.”Sitting on a bed with a half-naked Dragon made that even more important.
“But you’ve touched me.”Her hand went to her neck, to exactly where he’d touched her at the bar.His touchhadleft an impression on her.“So how is it fair that you can touch me, but I can’t touch you?”
“Who said life was fair?Look, I won’t touch you either.That should even things out.”
He didn’t like her expression that indicated she was trying to figure him out.She was smart, this one.Her desire pulsed at him in waves, physically pulling at him before he pushed back.
She cat-walked across the bed toward him, stopping inches from where he stood.“It’s okay.You can touch me.”Her voice was husky.
“No, I can’t.”His fingers curled, fighting the need to do as she said.
“But you want to.You know how I can tell?Your eyes are shimmering the same way they did back at the bar.”She took his hand and placed it against her neck.“When you did this.”Then drew it down to rest against her collarbone.
He couldn’t breathe.Even muffled by being in full wing, desire rushed through him as it had at the bar.He’d nearly lost it then, until the pain grew too harsh.He pulled his hand back.“Don’t.I have no interest in getting involved with you.Or anyone.”He took the washcloth, still in her other hand.“I have to figure out who sent wraiths after us.We picked them up at the nightclub, which means someone’s watching us, probably has been since we left Jeremy’s apartment.”He wiped the blood—her blood—from his chest.
Lyra settled back on her heels, hands on her thighs.Hurt played over her expression and his heart.Let her think he was a shit, like most Crescents did.Those snobby, asexual Caidos who think they’re better than anyone else because they came from those closest to Luca, the highest god on the island.They also paid the biggest price for betraying him.
His wings brushed the wall.For certain skills, like healing, he had to transform to angel.Now that she was healed, he had to become human again.“Excuse me a second.”He swallowed any expression of discomfort and pulled in the energy of his wings.
She was watching in fascination.“Did you shred your shirt?”
Archer sank to the edge of the bed, fatigue gnawing at him.“It’s in tatters with your clothes in the garage.We’ll pick everything up when we leave.”Fortunately, he still had on his pants.
“It probably looks like there was a sex frenzy down there.”
And thank you for putting that particular picture in my mind…
She wrapped her arms around herself.“Those things were creepy.You said wraiths were dead Caidos.”
“If a Caido isn’t properly interred after his death, his soul becomes a wraith.”
“I hate to even say this, but could one of those wraiths we fought be Jeremy?”
Archer’s stomach tightened.“I thought about that, too.There’s no way to tell.All of a Caido’s individual features and personality are gone, everything that makes them who they are.”
“But they had a will.They definitely wanted to kill us.”
“As though they were following orders.”His gaze fell over her, remembering her fighting them.His emotions—fear, desire—pressed uncomfortably against his soul.“Do you still want to go into your memory?”
“Yes, please.Maybe if I know the note contained nothing incriminating, my brother and Ellie will forgive me.There might be a clue as to what happened to Tara, too.”
“You said the note was at your bakery.It would be optimal to go there.”
The farther away they could get from his bed the better.Because the temptation was getting to be way too much.
6
Awhole slew of emotions battered Lyra as they drove from her apartment, where she’d changed clothes.She noticed that, as she mentally ran through all the craziness of the last few hours, Archer leaned away from her.
Caidos were enigmas, but she had never bothered to care about their mystery.Until now.She had some ideas, just enough to tantalize her.One thing she knew for sure, at least as far as Archer was concerned, he wasn’t asexual.When she’d placed his hand to her throat, not only had his eyes glittered, but his body had responded, too.
So he was what?Too stuck on himself and his Caido status to deign to admit he liked her?No, it was more than that.He cared about her, even in the way he glanced over to check on her from time to time.How he’d watched over her, fought to protect her from the wraiths.
She loved the way his hand felt on her, electric and right, and that had nothing to do with his Caidoness.Damn but she wanted to touch him, too.
