Page 200 of Sorrow & Strangers

“We are?” I ask, taking a bite of my pastry and smiling at Rafe. He tips his chin at me and continues eating, but I notice he keeps glancing at the door as if he is waiting for someone.

“I mean, I’m always late, and I made it here before you,” Alice says, sipping from her teacup, which appears to be full of thick crimson blood.

“Not too busy trying to get the shifter dick out of your mouth, then?” I ask, pouring some juice for the stranger before filling my glass. Alice flashes her fangs at me and flips me off, both of us bursting into laughter a moment later.

The stranger tucks the contents of the envelope back inside and slides his hand over my bare thigh. “Rafe,” the stranger says, his voice full of humor, and I glance at him.

“What?” Rafe asks, looking up from his plate.

“I’ve received an interesting invoice from the hotel,” the stranger says, tapping the envelope.

Rafe quirks a brow. “Okay?”

The stranger chuckles, and it’s such a filthy sound that it makes my core tighten. “About some permanent damage to the beach.” He reaches into the envelope and pulls out a couple of Polaroids. Before anyone can see them, Alice has snatched them from him.

“Holy fuck, Rafe!” Alice practically squeals, and I snatch one of the photos from her.

It’s a photo of the sand, but it’s been hardened to glass, and it shimmers in the sunlight, showing the perfect mold of a female ass. Next to it is the imprint of a male’s, though it’s not as formed. Clearly, the ground had cooled a bit by then.

“Whoa, who did this? Nice ass!” I say, leaning toward Alice to see the photo she is holding. The stranger’s hand tightens on my leg, making sure I am within reach.

“This is better than a fingerprint!” Alice says, as Rafe lunges to grab the photos, his cheeks red with embarrassment, but Alice and I are faster.

“Damn, Rafe, who is this female?” I say, rotating the photo to look at it from another angle.

“No one,” Rafe growls, trying to grab it again, but I hold it farther away. The stranger wraps his arm around me protectively, steadying me.

“Oh? Not a redhead?” the stranger asks, and I glance at a stunning redheaded female who is standing in line for a coffee. I noticed she hesitated and stared at Rafe’s back when she came in before turning away. No doubt this is who he’s been waiting for.

Rafe follows my eyes, and the female turns as if sensing his gaze. His entire demeanor changes. A calm washes over him, and I can see him settle as he watches her with something akin to longing. It’s like magic, and I sit up a little straighter. The redhead smiles, and a beautiful conflagration of roiling flames lights her dark eyes before she turns away again.

Ah, this must be the phoenix.

With all of us distracted, Rafe succeeds in snatching the photos from Alice and me. We laugh as he snarls at us and pushes away from the table, moving toward her as if pulled by a magnet.

Chapter Eighty-Five

Rafe

The photos will give me a chance to talk to her again and get her name. And apologize for how I behaved. I was demonic with her. Even from across the room, I can see fading bruises on both sides of her neck. Why didn’t she cover them?

As I close the distance, my primal instincts rise again. Mine! the demon roars, bucking against my control. Unable to resist touching her, I rest my hand on her hip and reach around from behind to show her one of the photos.

“Seems we left a permanent mark on the beach,” I say, the picture clear evidence of our night together, forever depicting how we came together.

She doesn’t startle or even tense at my touch, as if she were expecting it. “Well would you look at that?” she says, leaning back as she looks down at the photo. There is no regret in her, no fear. Just amusement. Her presence relaxes me, soothing the part of me that constantly claws at my skin, the part that existed even before I became a demon.

Pursue. Chase.

What do you think I’m doing, demon?

My thumb rubs her hip, remembering the way my claws held her still as I took her, of the way every feral instinct I didn’t think I had, came roaring to life the moment I saw her.

I’d found a book about Pyrrhos in the resort’s library and spent the night studying it, trying to understand this sensation I feel around her. Is it because I am a demon or because I am a Morningstar? It can’t be the latter. This is the most me I’ve felt my entire life, even before I was tricked and used.

The book offered the barest overview of Pyrrhos, mainly focusing on how phoenixes thrive in extreme heat. Rivers of lava move through their capital, and their homes and palaces are built from obsidian and brimstone. But it was what I read after midnight, at the end of the book, that made my blood run cold.

Pyrrhos has maintained a close alliance with Hell.