“That’s the way demons work.”
“So, I guess that rules out the possibility of me being an angel instead of a demon?”
I pondered this for a minute. “Probably, but I still think it’s worth asking one of the angels about your ability to see souls.”
She didn’t blink as she continued to stare at me. “Are you saying we’re supposed to be bound together for eternity now?”
“Yes.”
“I’m only twenty-five.”
“I’m only twenty-six.”
“I wasn’t looking to settle down. I was just looking for a… a…”
“Good fuck?”
I twisted the sheets in my hands at the idea of her with another man, but of course, there were other men. She wasn’t a virgin that first night. She lived with the demons, and shewasa demon, which meant there were probably a fair number of men before me.
I wanted to killeveryone of them, and I would if one of them dared to touch her again. Taking calming breaths, I gritted my teeth against my overwhelming impulse to have their blood staining my hands as I tore them to pieces. Enough blood spilled yesterday, but I’d never felt this possessive of anyone before.
“That’s exactly what I was looking for,” she said, though I detected a hint of hurt and annoyance in her clipped tone. Then her eyes narrowed on me. “I certainly wasn’t trying to trap a man.”
I almost laughed, but there was nothing funny about this. “And I wasn’t trying to trap a woman. I was also looking for a good time.”
She smiled halfheartedly. “It was a good time.”
“Yes, it was.”
The best time I’d ever had with a woman, and my hunger was still more satisfied with her than with anyone else before her. Even after the battle, and the fact I hadn’t taken as much from her as I did with some of my other partners, I was still more sated than ever before. A Chosen made a demon stronger and, in my case, she also nourished me more.
She was also an end to my lonely existence—a lifeline in a world I was drowning in before. But I suspected Aisling, and every other woman, did not want to hear they were bound to a man who was relieved to have them.
It would probably result in her punching me in the face. I hadn’t missed the fury that blazed through her when I told her that it wasn’t her, it was me when it came to kissing. I couldn’t believe those words had come from my mouth; I’d always scoffed at the guys who uttered that cliché saying, but the words popped out before I could stop them.
“Maybe we can meet up again in a year or something,” she said.
My hands tore into the sheets. “You want other men?”
“I didn’t say that, but I’m not ready to settle down. It’s not part of my plan right now.”
“And what is your plan?” I grated, which only caused her eyes to narrow more.
“To survive the next day and then the next and the next.”
“And you can’t do that with a Chosen?”
“Look, my life has been tossed upside down numerous times; I’m not ready for another curveball right now. Maybe we can discuss this again after we’ve had time to think about it more. We can meet up again in six months.”
“No.”
She looked like I’d poked her in the eye. “No?”
“No. Maybe this isn’t what either of us wanted, but it’s done.”
Ihadwanted to find my Chosen, but she didn’t need to know that either. And what was I going to say to her? I wanted this, but I didn’t know it wasyouI wanted. Another thing all women were eager to hear from the man they would spend eternity with. I didn’t have much experience in sweet talk, but I knew when to keep my mouth shut.
This was not the way I expected finding my Chosen to go, but then I don’t know what I’d expected. Had I thought it would be easy? No, I’d seen enough of my friends find their Chosen to know it wouldn’t be easy.
