“I will,” I assured her and stepped aside to let her pass into the living room, but I wouldn’t wake her. She needed hersleep.
She walked over to the couch, set the candle down on the table, and glanced at the window. All the shades and curtains had been pulled over the windows before we’d entered the house. I assumed they always stayed that way so no one walking by would notice if something about the windows changed from one hour tothenext.
I sat in the armchair across from Wren as she settled onto the couch. She pulled her knife free and placed it under a cushion before laying her head on it. Curling up on her side, she tucked her hands beneathherhead.
She may tell herself she distrusted me, but she was asleep in minutes. Her breathing slowed, and her lips parted. My hands dug into the armchair as I drank in every detail of her until I couldn’t take it anymore. Rising, I stalked over to the window, before pacing back to gaze at her again. I had no idea what it was about this woman, but there were sirens with less pull over men than what she hadoverme.
That niggling feeling started at the back of my mind again. There had been no women since meeting her, and I had no desire for any others. The protectiveness I felt for her wasn’t something I’d ever experienced with a woman before, and I’d been infuriated when she’d compared me to her other partners. These were all things that were notme. Jealousy was not an emotion I’d ever experienced before, but Wren evoked it from me in aninstant.
I ran a finger over one of my empty ears. I recalled thinking about finding another woman to rid myself of my lust for Wren, but the idea of bedding another repulsed me. Unless Wren started wearing jewelry, there would be no earrings for me in the future. Maybe there never would beagain.
My hand fell away from my ear as I continued to stare at her and that niggling feeling became more incessant until it started to take a firmer holdoverme.
She couldn’t be what I was beginning to suspect. Yes, she enchanted me, but she was human.Demons have found their Chosen with a humanbefore.
And humans died far tooeasily.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wren
A burst of noise jerked me awake. My hand slid down to grip the handle of my knife as I listened for something that would reveal what had woken me. Then, a low rumbling built until it became a crescendo ofnoise.
Releasing the knife, I pulled my hand away and looked at the chair where I’d last seen Corson. He wasn’t there. Turning my head, I spotted him standing by the window, his hands raised over his head as he gripped the frame. His shirt sleeves had fallen back to reveal the corded muscles of hisforearm.
My breath caught, and my heart hammered as a series of lightning bursts illuminated his lean body and the chiseled planes of his angular face. Not gorgeous like Magnus, Shax, or the angels, but there was something entirely fascinating aboutCorson.
This demon could make someone scream in pleasure as easily as he could in pain. I thought that should make my dislike for him return, but it didn’t. Instead, I found myself imagining what it would be like to feel his hands moving over me again, but this time they would be on my flesh as he slid deep inside me and took possession ofmybody.
I hadn’t found much enjoyment in sex those few times with Todd. However, I hadn’t been overly attracted to Todd either. He’d been cute and nice, but I hadn’t screwed him out of any real desire or feelings for him. I’d done it to ease my curiosity about sex, and because I lived with the constant knowledge that I could die in the nextheartbeat.
I’d seen people die that fast before too. There had been one time when a man had been walking and talking beside me, the next second he’d been pounced on by a demon. I was alive only because the demon had chosen that man instead of me. I could die at any time, and I’d refused to be a virgin when it happened, so when Todd came around, I decided he was a goodoption.
But then sex with him hadn’t been all that wow-inspiring, and now I found myself still speculating what people talked about. With Todd, there had been discomfort; I’d expected that, but I hadn’t expected the constant worry that something might eat one of us or how fast it would allhappen.
Deciding the first time was practice, I’d practiced a few more times with him before realizing practice was not making it any better. I’d finally given up on sex, and him, altogether. I hadn’t liked him much to begin with and hadn’t cried when I’d learnedhedied.
What did that say about me? Was I so cold, so broken by everything that I couldn’t feel sad over the death of my onelover?
I supposed someone didn’t watch their mother get slaughtered and turn out normal. The world going to shit hadn’t helped with the whole “being normal” aspecteither.
Unlike with Todd, when I watched Corson, I feltdesire.
I hadn’t gushed about Todd and sex, like Jolie and some of the other women did. After Todd, I’d assumed they were exaggerating what it was like to want a man and be with him… until Corson. Now I better understood what they were talking about, but Corson wasn’t simply a man; he was also ademon.
Why couldn’t he behuman?
Looking at him, I realized I didn’t want him to be anything other than whathewas.
Another crash of thunder rattled the windows and shook the house. The next flash of lightning illuminated Corson and the curtains as rain began to tick loudly off the windows. Seeming to sense my attention on him, Corson’s head turnedtowardme.
There was something primitive about him as he gazed at me, something I’d never seen in him before. The glow of the candle reflected in his eyes as he studied me with a predatory hunger. My heart hammered when I realized I was the prey trapped in the hunter'sstare.
I didn’t know what to do. Part of me contemplated bolting from the room, but the far larger part wanted to open my arms to him. Corson could make me forget, if only for a bit, all the death lurking around everycorner.
I dealt with people all the time, but I’d never dealt with anything like him. With Todd, things had been almost mechanical between us. He’d initiated things by kissing me while we were searching for food, and I didn’t stop it when it progressed further. Quick and efficient, that had been Todd. If I remembered correctly, we’d both left our socks on every time, and he’d still had his bootsontoo.
There’d been no flirting, no searing looks making my toes curl, but then there was no way Todd had the experience Corson did with his millennia worth ofwomen.
