My breath exploded from me as fire lanced from my groin to the rest of my body. Gritting my teeth, I turned her to face me. She yanked one of her arms free and swung her hand at me. Throwing my arm up, I knocked the knife from her grasp and pulled her down to the ground. Straddling her waist, I pinned her hands above her head while she squirmed beneath me. Despite her human status, she was a hellion who was determined tocastrateme.
She bared her teeth at me and planted her feet on the ground to thrust her hips up. The abrupt movement knocked me forward a little, but I quickly rightedmyself.
“Enough! I am not yourenemy,Wren!”
She went still beneath me, her chest rose and fell with her rapid inhalations as she gave me a look that made myheartsink.
“Are you going to rape me now like I’ve seen so many others of your kind do, demon?”shespat.
Those words made me feel like she’d broken my nose and kicked me in the balls all over again, and I finally realized that I’d been going at Wren completely wrong. She didn’t flirt, didn’t appreciate being admired by a man—never mind a demon—and she wanted nothing to do with beingteased.
I’d assumed she would warm to my ways, but I knew now that if I continued to push at her, I would only succeed in pushingheraway.
She wasn’t like the demons of Hell who saw sex as a recreational pastime. She wasn’t like the humans at the wall who had seen a lot in their lifetimes, but most not as much as Wren. Most of those people hadn’t seen the worst of what demons and humans could throw at them;Wrenhad.
The people at the wall had bedded demons out of curiosity; most had come back because they enjoyed it. I’d watched some of the Wilders come to the tents of my friends too. Those Wilders had seen some of the worst of what Hell could throw at them, but they’d still been curious. Wren’s curiosity was outweighed by the fear she would be hurt, and that I would be the one todoit.
I didn’t want her to be like any of the others I’d been with, not my Wren, but I didn’t know how to convince her that she could trust me. Though she would never admit it, the vicious sides of humans and demons frightened her. This woman who had tried to kill Kobal, followed us back to the wall, and remorselessly broken my nose was far more vulnerable than I’d everrealized.
She couldn’t deny the attraction between us. Actually, she could and oftendiddeny it, but deep down she knew the truth, even if she would never admit it. However, she didn’t need someone flirting with her; she needed someone to hold her and assure her that the atrocious things she’d witnessed over her lifetime wouldn’t happen to her. Wren’s biggest nightmare was my kind and all the things they could do. Her abrasive, self-assured demeanor had hidden her insecurity from me,untilnow.
Releasing her, I leapt up and landed three feet away from her. She lay on the ground, blinking at the sky before rolling to her side and rising. Her eyes were wary when they met mine, but she braced her legs apart in preparation of fightingagain.
“You will never have to fear me, Wren,” I promised her. “I will never harm you. I desire you, I will not deny it, but I’llneverpush you into something you’re notreadyfor.”
“Since the day we met, all you’ve done is push me!” sheretorted.
“And for that, I amsorry.”
She gawked at me before clamping her lips together and giving me a sideways glance as she edged toward her knife. “What is your game now,demon?”
My teeth ground together as she called me demon in that disgusted way she had of spitting the word out. “No game,” I assured her. “Reclaim your knife, Wren. I will not take it from youagain.”
She hesitated before striding over to pick up her blade. She never took her eyes off me as she slid the knife into its holster. “Lead the way,” I told her and wiped the dried blood away from my upper lip. My nose had already set back into place, but it stillthrobbed.
She glanced at the flakes of blood on my hand. “I don’t want youbehindme.”
“It was a good blow,” I told her, “but my nose is healing, and I don’t holdgrudges.”
She rested her hand on her knife. “Soyousay.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her. “So I say. I will walk beside you if youprefer.”
“In frontofme.”
I didn’t say a word as I walked past her and into the woods. I didn’t look back, but I heard the crunch of footsteps as she fell in behind me. My senses remained focused on her, the increased beat of her heart and scent. I offered no threat to her right now, yet her trepidation didn’t ease. Eventually, she would learn totrustme.
ChapterTwenty
Wren
I’d been determined to kill Corson earlier, but the harder I tried not to look, the more I found my gaze running over his lithe body. The pants he wore hugged his firm ass as he walked with his shoulders back. He didn’t speak, didn’t ask me if I enjoyed my view in some sarcastic way. I did enjoy the view, but I’d never admit ittohim.
I didn’t know what had come over me earlier. Corson unsettled me; he brought out the better-forgotten memories of what had happened to some of my fellow Wilders. He stoked fears I didn’t know I had. I’d seen demons rape and kill men and women before, but in my heart, IknewCorson wouldn’t do that to me. I felt he would keep me safe nomatterwhat.
So why had I said that to him? If I felt so safe with him, then why would I ask him if he was going to rape me? I bit my lip as I pondered this question and tried to figure out theanswer.
Because he scares me more than the demons who rape and kill,I realized. I knew what those demons were after, but with Corson, I had no idea what he wanted from me, and my convoluted feelings for him petrified me. Sex was one thing, but when it came to Corson, there would also be feelings involved,myfeelings.
