“Deep breath, creature,” he whispers. I frown, then searing pain erupts from the left side of my abdomen. Flashes of the horrific pain caused by the knife I stabbed myself with flare in my mind, causing me to shudder.
“You stabbed me,” I seethe. He grins. Nope, not a grin, a smirk of pure darkness that promises pain and not the sensual kind I’m used to receiving from him. I strain to pull my legs up to kick him off, but the strength is leaking out of my body along with the blood.
“Now, creature,” Archan begins, “let’s start with who you are.”
“Natia Waterford, Pandora, Eve, plus other past lives I can’t remember.”
“Do it again,” Zac says, folding his arms and standing over us.
Archan yanks the blade out and stabs the other side. I buck under him and howl in agony. I’m a hardass, but this is like being burned from the inside out.
“Where is Lawrence hiding?” he asks.
“Last time I saw him he was in the bowels of Hell, in his own realm of violence.”
Archan frowns. “We have already searched there. When was this?”
“After Nathan, Zac, Duncan, Zee, and I attempted to rescue your ass. When he took me to Hell and tortured me. When I thought you had abandoned me.”
He leans away from me and glances between my eyes. My hand finds the handle of the knife and I draw it out; hissing between my teeth. I’ll heal quickly if the burn is anything to go by. I can feel my flesh knitting together. The knife drops to the stone floor with a clatter. He glances down and his frown deepens. My guess is demons wouldn’t be able to remove this knife. Too bad for him I’m not a demon. How to convince a psychotically suspicious asshole that I am, in fact, no longer dead; but reborn as something to rival him. Something that can stand by his side and offer him a partnership?
“Do you remember how you said I kiss you?” I whisper.
“Like you’d go to war for me,” he mutters, glancing at my lips.
“That’s exactly what I did, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
I reach up and grab his neck, slamming my lips against his. They part under my demand and our tongues tangle in a sensual rhythm that is purely us. He groans and his free hand grips my chin, tilting it back to go deeper. A flush of lust rolls through me, more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt. It makes my head spin and my limbs feel like they are on fire. He breaks away and trails his nose along my throat to his bite mark. He inhales before leaning his forehead against mine and closing his eyes. “It can’t be you.”
“Seriously, asshole, you kiss other people like that?”
“It’s not her, she’s dead. Obliterated. Banished from the afterlife, she was killed by a god, Archan,” Jed says, coming to stand next to Zac.
“Smoothie, one, I’m a legend. I can’t truly die. Two, consider how I died. Ty didn’t kill me, I did.”
Silence stretches around the room. Zac tilts his head to the side. “Huh,” he says.
“Master of the intellectual turn of words as always, Zac,” I mutter, not taking my eyes from Archan as he stares into mine, searching for the lie I’m hoping he’s realizing doesn’t exist.
“Get out,” Archan mutters.
“Archan-” Jed starts.
“I said get out.”
Power snaps around the room as it empties of all gods except me and Archan. I arch a brow at the man between my thighs. “Planning on having our reunion on the prison floor?” I ask. “I was thinking of candles and roses.”
He stares at me like he can see into my mind and pick it apart for him to examine. His hand skates down my side and trails to the edge of my dress before pushing it up and over my stomach. “This is moving fast,” I whisper as a shiver dances up my spine. His fingers brush against my ribs, causing me to suck in a breath.
“You’re healed,” he mutters.
“Erm, yeah about that.”
“How?”
“Well, I couldn’t come back as a human. It’s against some crazy universe law. So, surprise, I’m a goddess.”
His head snaps to mine. “Don’t lie.”
