“Are you sure you’re part demon?” he asked. “Maybe you’re something else.”
“What else would I be?”
“Angel.”
I frowned before shaking my head. “Angels can’t produce fire.”
“The offspring of the fallen angels can; look at River. And seeing a person’s soul sounds more angelic than demonic to me, but we can ask Raphael or Caim.”
“I sure don’t act like an angel,” I muttered.
He ran his hand down my side. “Which is great for me.”
When I smiled at him, his eyes latched onto my tiny fangs. We had things to discuss, but I couldn’t resist running my tongue over my lips. Just as I knew they would, his eyes followed my tongue.
“The demon I spoke with said they’re discovering other human and demon mixes and they’re all revealing themselves differently. Some remain mostly human but are immortal while others have developed demon parts such as horns and tails.”
“Interesting,” he said.
“I can seeyoursoul,” I said.
I rested my hand on his chest over the place where his beautiful soul was strongest. The way he made me feel terrified me; I’d never had my heart broken and didn’t want to start now. But at least the warmth of his soul let me know he was a good man. Whatever hurt he inflicted on others wasn’t intentional. I doubted that would matter if I continued to get closer to him and was left behind.
I removed my hand from his chest and rested it on the bed. I wouldnotmove it again.
“I don’t understand how I can see your soul if you’re a demon,” I said.
“I was once human.”
The revelation made me do a double take. “You’re like me?”
“No. Last year, when we were traveling to the gateway in the hopes of River being able to close it, we were attacked by canagh demons. They took Erin and me to their nest. I believed that was the end for us, but River and Vargas followed us. During the ensuing fight, River killed Lilitu, the queen of that group of canaghs. However, when River hit Lilitu with her lifeforce, she accidentally threw the queen into me. Lilitu sliced me open as she fell on me and her blood mixed with mine while I was dying. I didn’t realize what was happening to me at the time, but I survived the transformation into a demon.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “I didn’t know a human could become a demon in such a way.”
“It is possible, but not all survive it. Corson’s Chosen, Wren, became a demon the same way.”
Forgetting my resolve to keep my hand on the bed, I rested it on his chest and tapped my fingers against him while I studied his soul. “That explains the soul then; a human who transforms must not lose it. I mean, your soul wouldn’t get pushed out of your body, would it?”
“Obviously not.”
“Fascinating.”
When he smiled at me, my heart did a strange flip. My gaze fell to his lips again, and before I knew what I intended, I leaned forward to kiss him. Before our lips could meet, he turned his head away, and like he was my Great-Aunt Dee, I found myself kissing his cheek.
Mortification burned through me, but somehow, I managed a smile as I removed my hand from his chest and ran it through my hair. I focused on the wall again as I tried not to bolt from the bed and this house. If I did, he would know how embarrassed I was, though I was pretty sure my red cheeks gave me away.
Idiot! You stupid idiot!
Usually, I wasn’t so hard on myself, but Iknewbetter. One thing I’d learned about demons since I started sleeping with them was they didn’t like to kiss. I was fine with it as I was trying to learn their ways and settling into the “don’t get attached” mindset they had toward sex, but for one dumb second, I’d forgotten and slipped back into my human ways.
Hawk grasped my chin and turned my head toward him. I tried to jerk my chin from his grasp, but he held onto me as his indigo eyes burned into mine. I restrained myself from punching him in the face.
“It’s not you; it’s me,” he said.
My mouth almost came unhinged. I’dneverexpected to hearthatline!
What the actual fuck? I wanted to hit him. No, I would kick him in the nuts. No, I was going to walk out of this house and never see him again. He’d pulled the most tired, cowardly line of all time on me; he wasn’t worth the punch in the face or the castration I itched to deliver.
