“I didn’t need to see that stuff,” I said. “I can’t… I can’t be worrying about all my old demons, no pun intended, when I’m trying to focus on this crazy-ass mission in the most crazy-ass place in the universe. This isn’t about me, Jax. I’ve got sisters. Three of them. I didn’t even know they existed until recently, and if I don’t see this through—if I don’t get this dude’s blood and get back to the Temple of the Dark Moon—Melantha will kill them.”
He dropped the packs and closed the space between us, reaching out to cup my face. Sympathy flashed in his eye, but it quickly turned to something else—something wicked and predatory.
“I know,” he said darkly.
“You know?”
“I’m a fear demon, Haley. Everything you saw just now? I saw it too. I can sense your fears. All of them—fears about the future, fears you experienced last year, right down to the fear of drowning you’ve had since you were a child.”
I pulled away from his touch and shook my head.
“Your whole life,” he said, “you’ve been afraid of your birth mother. She murdered your father—her own husband. She tried to drown you. She tried to steal your magick—your legacy.”
Ouch. Right to the fucking bone, that one. It felt as if he’d shoved a knife into my gut.
“Stop,” I whispered.
Still, he kept coming. Another step, too fucking close. Another reminder. Another twist of the knife.
“You suffer from an almost debilitating fear of abandonment,” he continued, “firstly from your mother, but also because your adoptive parents and grandmother died, leaving you behind. Saint bailing on your relationship only further served to—”
“I saidstop!” I unsheathed my dagger. “Get out of my fucking head!”
“Haley, I’m telling you,” he warned. “If you don’t deal with this shit, you’re—”
“Fuck off and deal withthis.” I sliced my palm and slammed it into his chest, the spell already on my lips. He stumbled backward, then fell on his ass, and I pounced.
Straddling him, I gazed down into his face, his eye wide, his breath short and ragged.
“You feel that, Jax? The lightheadedness? The muscle weakness? Your heart’s beginning to slow. If I don’t call off the spell, you’ll pass out. Maybe even die. Scared yet? You fucking should be. Fear demons aren’t the only ones who can unleash terrors.”
“Haley,” he whispered, reaching for my face with a shaky hand.
But he wasn’t scared—I could see it in his eye. Just sad and a little pale.
And, as much as it pained me to admit…
Hard.
For me.
Fucking asshole.
I could’ve pushed it further. Could’ve rerouted the blood to leave his dick as limp as an overcooked lasagna noodle.
But now, with that rock-hard bulge pressing urgently against my core, all I wanted to do was…
No.
Jax was a fear demon. If merely kissing him for ten seconds had sent me fleeing for my life, what would a dose of that red-hot demon dick do to me?
I was in so far over my head, I might as well be drowning all over again, just like my birthmother had intended.
I sighed. My spell was already fading. It wasn’t intended for long-term use, anyway—just a quickie to help you escape a jam, like if you were about to get jumped or groped.
But the thing about escaping was you had to actually, you know,go. Away. You couldn’t just sit on top of your would-be assailant, subtly grinding against him, dreaming about that sweet, sweet Demon D.
After a beat, Jax sucked in a breath, the color finally returning to his cheeks.
