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I’d just talked to a demon that was possessing a frigging sorority house.
How do you go back to a normal life after that?
You don’t. This becomes your new normal.
Wilder guided the Dart into a small parking lot next to the police station and killed the engine. He grabbed my hand before I could open the door, tugging my arm against his chest and weaving his fingers through mine.
In this small space his distinct smell was overwhelming. The peat and pine that marked him as a wolf was there, and on top of it was his own unique blend of fresh soap and motor oil. God his scent was wonderful.
He squeezed my hand once. Twice. Then lifted my knuckles to his lips and dusted a gentle kiss over the skin.
“Tell me you’re okay, and I’ll believe you.”
I stared at him, losing myself in those glorious hazel eyes, which were so full of worry. “I’m not.”
Why should I lie? He’d know it in a second. And I didn’t want to lie to Wilder. Keeping secrets was the kind of shit that ripped people apart. He and I might not be a couple—I honestly didn’t know what we were—but I wanted to be open with him. I wanted Wilder to know me in a way no one else had.
If he saw all of me and still wanted to stick around, then he was worth keeping.
I desperately hoped he was.
“What do you need from me?” he asked.
Liking the way my hand felt against his chest, I didn’t pull free. I just sat there, in the passenger seat of my own car, thinking about how to answer the most complicated question I’d ever been asked.
What did I need?
Instead of answering, I said, “It said my name.”
“I heard.”
“Wilder, what if…?” My words drifted off. I was thinking about something else now, a memory I had kept hidden even from myself for all these months.
A vision of a woman, her skin charred, reeking of death and sulfur, flashed across my mind. She’d followed me for weeks, then vanished almost as quickly as she’d arrived, giving me no indication of who she was or what she wanted.
Because I hadn’t seen her in so long, I’d let myself believe she’d been a bad dream. A waking nightmare.
Only now, with the way the demon had said I know you, I started to wonder if she might be the reason why it recognized me. She wasn’t a demon herself. Nor was she a ghost. She smelled and felt real, but she hadn’t been anything I could categorize into something I knew.
Yet whenever I saw her my guts churned with guilt and discomfort, like I ought to recognize her.
I shook off the unpleasant thought, not wanting to add more layers to this disaster than absolutely necessary. We had a death to unravel and three missing girls to free from the clutches of whatever that fucking thing had been. My hands were too full at the moment to mull over bad memories.
Coming back around to Wilder’s question, I replied, “Don’t let me get lost in all this.”
He smiled, a smirk that lifted one side of his mouth and crinkled the skin around his eyes in a much-too-charming way. I wondered if he knew how much he could devastate a woman with one smooth grin.
Of course he did.
“Sweetheart, even if I have to watch you night and day and not leave your side, I’ll make sure you’re all right. And when this is all over, I’m going to take you on a real, proper date.”
“I bet you will.” I wanted to sound unaffected by the flirtation, but the flare of warmth I felt in my belly and chest made my words come out in a husky rumble.
Oops.
He totally heard it too, because his grip twitched for a second, and he squeezed my hand the tiniest bit too hard. Though he tried to maintain his cool smile, I saw the way his expression shifted. His eyes lost their human coyness, and for just a flash of a second it was all wolf. All unashamed animal need.
Fuck.
