Similar in looks, but not quite as pretty, Nia gaped at them. “You know him?”
“I met him a couple of weeks ago.” She cast him a devilish grin. “We just kind of randomly ran into each other.”
“Well, I’m definitely glad you ran into him tonight.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Her smile turned luminescent and did awkward things to his body in spite of the pain he was in. “You’re my hero, Urian!”
And before he realized what she intended, she kissed him. This wasn’t just any kiss. It set him on fire.
For reasons he couldn’t even begin to explain, she tasted like home. Pulling back, he stared down at her.
Until he heard the police sirens.
Shite!“I have to go.”
Nia gaped. “You’re wounded.”
It didn’t matter. Urian stepped back into the darkness, taking a second to take one last, lingering look at Phoebe. In the moonlight, she was exquisite.
Until then, he hadn’t realized how numb he’d become without Xyn around to remind him how precious life was. How good things could be.
Forget the soul exchange he had to have with humans. Her kiss was the psuché—the breath of life.
Damn shame I’m going to have to kill her.
November 15, 1988
“Okay, now this is getting creepy. Are you stalking me? Should I think about getting a restraining order?”
Urian froze as Phoebe grabbed him from behind as he stood in the alley near her building. Her humor and nerve amazed him. No one was ever this forward where he was concerned. Most wet their pants if he so much as glanced in their direction. “Are you not afraid of me?”
“Should I be? I mean … I was joking about the restraining order, but should I call a lawyer?”
He laughed. “You do know that I’m a Daimon, right?”
That finally seemed to catch her off guard. She even took a step back. “Are you?”
He opened his mouth to show her his fangs. Like an intrepid child, she reached up to touch them.
“Mine aren’t that large. You think it’s because my father’s human?”
Wow … he couldn’t believe her grit. “You’re really not afraid of me at all, are you?”
She shrugged. “I like people. Even Daimons.”
That shocked him most of all. “Met a lot of us, have you?”
“Not really. Most of the ones I’ve met have tried to kill me. But you saved my life, so I’m assuming you’re not one ofthose.You’re not one of those, are you?”
He was definitely one of those, and yet something about her innocence reached out and wrapped itself around a heart he’d thought was long dead.
Worse, it made him strangely protective of her.
In a weird way, she reminded him of Nephele and his niece that he’d inherited after Theo’s death. One he’d carefully watched over and take care of, until she’d been slaughtered by Acheron’s bastard Hunters. “I’m definitely something that goes bump in the night.”
She laughed at his bad double entendre. “You know, lines like that will get you friend-zoned.”
He gave her his most charming grin. “Will they?”
