Page 37 of Peacemaker

He’d been deprived for too long for there to be anything better than the freedom to touch a woman. His woman.

Still, the shadow of Miriam squatted like a malignant lump between us, and neither of us could totally relax. Couldn’t allow ourselves to feel all the joy that waited, because she was there, crouching, grinning, biding her time.

As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, Miriam was not going to just disappear from our lives. From his life.

She could not be killed. And he was terrified she’d return to take control once again. We all were.

“She’s not coming back,” I murmured, against his lips.

He pulled away, just a little. “She will.”

“If she does, I will never let her take you. If you believe nothing else, believe that.”

“We won’t let her take you,” Angus said, coming up behind me. He pressed his warmth against me, and my breath slid out in a slow, blissful hiss.

Nothing felt better than being surrounded by those men.

Shane gave his horn a tap. “Let’s go, baby hunter,” he called.

“He needs to stop calling you that,” Angus muttered.

I grinned. “It’s an endearment.”

Angus patted my ass. “Be careful,” he said, before he strolled back toward the house. Leo had disappeared—most likely he was in the kitchen eating another chicken. The man did like to eat, and no wonder. He was huge.

Angus had told me that Leo had been starved in the Byrdcage because they’d discovered early on that food deprivation was worse than just about anything else they could do to him.

“Sometimes they’d feed him, then beat him until he threw it up. Then they’d—”

“I don’t want to hear any more.”

“Sorry, Trin.”

And then I’d been ashamed because Angus needed to talk. He needed to tell someone about the hell they’d lived through. I’d decided then to toughen up and let him tell his stories, but he hadn’t attempted to share the horror with me since.

I hadn’t pushed.

We drove down the way station driveway, a tiny procession of vampire hunters, and I let my window down to enjoy the late summer night air. It was fresh and almost too chilly, and I could smell autumn creeping in, waiting to pounce. I didn’t want winter to arrive with its muddy snow, icy temps, and gray skies, but I wasn’t the weather god. And that was just too bad.

Suddenly, the weather was the last thing on my mind. The earth seemed to shake when a demon landed in front of my car. He smashed his fist down on the hood and roared, and smoke, gray and wispy in the moonlight, rose like dust from his body.

I was so startled I shrieked, and my shrill vocal alarm echoed through the air. I didn’t hesitate though—I slammed my foot down on the gas with every intention of smashing his big body between my car and Shane’s truck.

But he was a demon, and he wasn’t powerless, weak, or slow.

He’d tossed my last car into the air and exploded it the first time I’d encountered him, and that was on my mind when I charged him.

I didn’t want him destroying my new car—especially not with me still inside it.

I yanked the wheel to the side and slammed on the brakes, and almost before I left my seat Silverlight was screaming to life.

The demon paused, his eyes wide as he witnessed her arrival. “Impossible,” he murmured.

I didn’t stop to think about anything. I let instinct rule me, and I went on the offensive immediately. I sent Silverlight through the air toward him. She was fast. Impossibly fast. Faster than a master vampire fast.

But the demon, despite his shock at seeing her slide from my body, had his own sword.

He ripped it from the sheath at his back, and its light, blacker than the night, brighter than the moon, stopped Silverlight in her tracks.