Chapter 7
The pleasurein her eyes dimmed at his words, but Dagan refused to retract them. The truth had to be laid out. Her life was far more important than a few damn hours of sightseeing. People remembered faces. Shae, with her distinct copper-red hair and scar, was quitememorable.
But when she just stood there, her chin angled in that stubborn tilt he was coming to recognize, it was hard to temper his growl. “What?”
“I would use my money or credit card, but someone dragged me out of New York with nothing but the clothes on my back. You see myproblem?”
Without a word, he opened his palm and handed her his black card. “Get all youneed.”
“Handy trick that,” she muttered. “Wish I had that ability.” She whirled away and marched across to thegreengrocer.
Dagan sagged against the wall and stared blankly at the store entrance Shae had vanished through, feeling as if he’d been clocked hard in the stomach. He pulled off his shades and rubbed hiseyes.
Hell, when they—the protectors—were first sentenced to Tartarus for their failure to protect the Goddess of Life and the bloodshed and loss of innocent lives that resulted, even that disaster hadn’t shaken him as much as what Shae had unintentionally revealed. He was already neck-deep in shit with his irrational attraction to her. Butthis?
“Dagan, how do we take this loadback?”
He looked across to the greengrocer, and his gaze fixed on her beautiful face. When he’d tossed his obsidian dagger in the Ford months ago, he’d forgotten all about it. He could beckon the weapon anytime and from any place should he need it since it was intrinsically linked to him. In the kitchen, he’d summoned the thing until he was blue in his face and it hadn’t even budged on the damntable.
“Hey,Dagan?”
“What?”
She tapped her booted foot like he was wasting her time. “The groceries,dude?”
Dude?He bit back the words that wanted to escape him.I’m your godsdamnmate!
“Just leave them there,” he bit out. “I’ll see they getdelivered.”
With a shrug, she disappeared into the store then stepped out a moment later. She threw him a dark look as she crossed the street in that too-damn-short skirt and steel-toed boots. “You’re such a barbarian. There was no need tosnarl.”
Snarl—snarl? He wanted to gag her, preferably with his mouth. Instead, he clenched his jaw and watched as she marched into thepharmacy.
Hismate.
Touch her, and he would seal her destiny with his dark curse. At the image of her throat torn out, and eyes unblinking in death, horror surged through him. He rubbed his eyes as if that would clear away the reality of hislife.
Voices drifted to him. Shae stepped out of the store, a brown package in her hand, and the human pharmacist followed behind, too damnclose.
“How long will you be in the area, Shae?” heasked.
Shae?Dagan narrowed his eyes and slowly straightened from thewall.
“I’m not sure,” she murmured, pulling her gaze back from the looming mountain range surrounding the valley to look at the man. “Why?”
“If you want someone to show you around town, I’d be more than delighted to. Here…” He smiled, handing her a card. “Mynumber.”
She glanced at it, and the human’s gaze tracked leisurely overher.
A slow burn, one of utter possessiveness, edged with irritation, took hold. Yeah, he didn’t need his abilities or heightened senses to know what the dickhead wanted. Dagan strode across to her. “Let’sgo.”
She threw him a cool glance, apparently not impressed by his bark, and turned to the fucker. “Nice meeting you, Vasile.” She waved the card. “Andthanks.”
A low growl rumbled out his throat. Dagan cut the human a lethal stare—one promising a violent death. The man hastily retreated into thepharmacy.
“You’re rude,” she retorted, rubbing her palm down herskirt.
“And you’re not a damn tourist making dates with strangers when your life’s indanger.”
