“Her lemon squares are awful, Gus, and you know it.”
“Worst I’ve ever had.”
Declan knew these were the mundane things humans dealt with every day. They had no idea about the war raging outside their doors or that their lives hung in the balance. If the Alliance was successful, they would never know.
However, while Gus was used to these conversations, Declan wanted to bang his head against the wall. When the water turned off upstairs, Declan glanced into the living room before taking the steps two at a time to the top of the stairs.
The humans didn’t notice his departure as Gus was seated with his back to him, and Cheryl was focused on the blanket she knitted. When he arrived at the top of the stairs, he took in the pictures hanging on the walls and the sun streaming through the window at the end of the hall.
His boots didn’t make a sound on the carpeted floor as he strode to the window and peered out at the neighborhood. One of the neighbors was mowing their lawn while another swung on a porch swing and read a book.
It was all so quaint and unnerving. This was the human world. Yes, he’d moved about the fringes of the human world his whole life; he’d been to dances and balls, in their clubs and buildings. He’d watched them evolve and create and destroy for centuries, but he’d never stood in the middle of suburbia and observed their simple lives.
It was all so… so…strange.Yet something was comforting about it all. He could almost picture himself pushing that mower while Willow sat and read. They’d both be going out of their minds with boredom after a week, but it would be a peaceful week.
He stared at it for a minute more before pacing away from the window and down the hall to stand outside of the bathroom. Leaning against the wall across from the door, he crossed his arms over his chest while he waited. He was eager to get out of here.
He tried not to picture Willow naked while he listened to her moving about the room. However, he would have a better chance of sprouting wings and flying to the moon than he did of not imagining water running down her supple body.
Unwrapping a lollipop, he slid it in his mouth and grimaced when the blue raspberry flavor hit his tongue. He walked toward the stairs as laughter floated up from the TV. He stopped to listen to the comedy before pacing back to the window. From there, he turned and strode back to the stairs.
When the bathroom door opened, he turned as Willow emerged. A cloud of steam followed her out the door. Still damp, the water had turned her hair a darker blonde as it fell to just beneath her shoulders.
A pair of black socks covered the space between her boots and where the jeans ended above her ankles. The form-fitting, black shirt cleaving to her lean figure emphasized the swell of her breasts and round hips.
Declan chomped on the lollipop and almost spit it all over the floor when the hideous flavor seared his tongue. However, that taste did nothing to dim his visceral reaction to her as the demon inside him burst to the forefront. It clawed and roared as it tried to break free to get at her, toclaimher.
Willow stopped dead when she spotted Declan standing in the middle of the hall with his gaze riveted on her like she was the snake charmer and he was the snake. Red glimmered in his eyes as the lollipop crunched. Removing the stick from his mouth, he crushed it in his hand before sliding it into his pocket.
Feeling trapped by his ravenous gaze, Willow tried to decide if she should bolt or go to him. The sane part of her told her to stay clear, he wasn’t in complete control, but she’d stopped listening to the rational part of her when she joined the Alliance.
When he came toward her, she briefly debated running, but there was nowhere for her to go. She couldn’t hide in the bathroom. And then he was standing in front of her.
Her head tilted back, and sorrow filled her when she saw the anguish etched onto his face. She had no idea what it was about her that tormented him so, but she would do anything to ease it.
“Declan—”
Before she could say anything more, he pulled her close, and his lips smothered her words. He tasted like something she’d never experienced before, human candy; it was sweet and different, and she liked it. When his tongue touched her lips, she opened her mouth to his invasion.
And the world ceased to exist.
She stopped caring about broken phone lines, too-small jeans, Savages, or anything beyond this man. The taste of him, the feel of him,everythingabout him etched itself onto every molecule of her being. She barely recalled the details of the other men she’d been with, but she’dneverforget anything about him.
At first, his tongue was demanding, but it eased into something more tender as his arms encircled her and his palms flattened against her back. The lollipop flavor faded away. It left her with the taste of him, which was wild and earthy like the man.
She didn’t realize he was edging her backward until the distant click of a door closing pierced through the foggy desire coating her brain. The sink pressed against her spine as his hands settled on her hips and his fingers slid beneath the shirt to caress her skin.
Fire burned through her, but this fire hurt in the most delicious way possible. She’d never known she could feel so alive. Her head spun with the sensations he evoked in her.
She couldn’t think, could barely breathe, and she wantedmore. She didn’t realize her fangs had extended until she nipped his lip, and by then, she was too far gone in him to care enough to regain control of herself.
The last thin thread of restraint Declan retained over himself broke when Willow’s fangs scratched his lip. He’d worked for centuries to lock away the most malicious part of himself, but all that work unraveled in less than a second, and the pitiless beast broke free. The scent of her, the feel of her, and his overwhelming need to be inside her ruled him.
She washis,and he was going to mark her as such.
With deft hands, he undid the button of her jeans and pulled the zipper down. He didn’t care they were in the bathroom of a home in perfect suburbia Vermont as he pulled the jeans over her hips and down her thighs. Her emotions mingled with his until he couldn’t separate her desire from his.
Willow was suddenly thrilled she wasn’t wearing any underwear. Beyond saving, she’d buried hers in the bathroom trash can with the rest of her clothes and her belt, which was nearly torn through at some point.
