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Dressed in a low-slung kilt and nothing else, Eddie stepped out looking like a blond god, with his broad chest, muscular arms, and incredible body that didn’t spark the least bit of heat within her.
“Wait for it,” he said with a mischievous grin. With aswish, he unleashed large wings that almost brushed the ceiling. They were black as Alexei’s had been, but thinner to the point of allowing light to shine through in places.
She sighed, happiness uncurling in her belly much as his wings had unfurled from his back. “They’re wonderful. May I touch? Or is that rude? I don’t know wing protocol.” Giddiness had taken over, and she couldn’t stop babbling.
“If you dare.” His teasing drew her in, yet she couldn’t help but take her time examining each detail.
“They look like bat wings.” She stepped closer, pausing to see how the light made them seem even bigger from this angle. “Are they sensitive?”
“Depends on who’s touching them.” The shameless flirt. Why couldn’t her breath catch for him? No, she had to pick a surly prince who left her after bringing her to orgasm and then invited his ex-girlfriend to really shake things up.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” On so many levels. Something told her that Eddie had meant exactly what he’d said about wanting her. She knew now from personal experience that one-sided affection could be its own torture.
“Do your worst,” he coaxed.
“I shouldn’t.” Everything in her screamedwarning. He wasn’t hers to taunt. No one was.
“Does this bother you? Me being half naked?” He gestured toward his bare chest, the hair covering it. “I can get dressed.”
No, only her lack of interest bothered her, but she wouldn’t tell him that. “Nudity’s normal for me. I wore whatever they gave me.”
“You don’t look like this.” He flashed a quick grin, flexing for her—his cuteness all the more devastating for not working the way he wanted, but she could play along.
“True.”
“The Order didn’t have men stripping everywhere for you to ask about touching?” His joke dragged her down into the deep well of memories she’d tried to cover and leave behind.
The experiments. The dissections. The exposed bodies not treated with decency even in death.A sob caught in her throat. “I…” She couldn’t do this.
“Hey, I’m sorry.” He came close, his wings wrapping around her as if trying to protect her from the psychological wounds he couldn’t see, couldn’t fight. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. My goal was to cheer you up, not to make you feel worse.”
His heat sank into her, a solid warmth that was so alive, so far removed from the nightmare of her past. Not the passion she’d wanted from Alexei, but something else. “I’m trying.” At every single thing these days. To seem normal. To work past the troubles she’d endured. Tobewhat everyone wanted. She tried so damn hard and ended up feeling as if she’d achieved nothing. Loneliness followed her like a shadow.
“You don’t need to try. You’re already more than enough.” His deep voice sounded so sincere, and it made the sorrow worse because she wanted those words from someone else. It wasn’t fair to Eddie. “What can I do to help?” he asked.
“Be a friend?” She needed to put the boundary there, to be honest.
His gaze went sad and serious. “He’s the one, isn’t he?” Eddie didn’t need to say who he was talking about.
“I can’t seem to help myself.” Or she would’ve stopped this nonsense when Alexei first flew away from her. Her eyes burned, and she blinked fast to hide the watering. Why had a man who didn’t think she mattered caused so many tears? She couldn’t let them fall. Not again.
“All right then.” The flirtation had seeped from Eddie’s voice, leaving behind only resignation. “Do friends hug?”
She sniffed, grateful for the kindness she didn’t feel she’d earned. “I don’t know. Before you, Alys, and Nita, I haven’t had any friends.” She’d borrowed Alexei’s family, his childhood friend. Would she have any after she left him? The thought made her long to keep them close if only for the little while they would have left. “But I could use a hug.”
He wrapped his arms around her, his wings curling in what felt like an extra embrace. A strong press against her back had her glancing to see a barbed tail curved so that none of its blades touched her. Flashing a grin, he said, “Told ya I made those slashes.”
A chuckle bubbled out of her, chasing away the threatening tears. “So you did.” Which meant he’d been careful in keeping her safe, including from himself.
“This good?” he asked.
“Better than good.” She could almost pretend everything would be okay.
“What’s going on here?” Alexei’s booming voice cut through her comfort bubble. “Let her go.” He sounded as if he had edged into a near-feral growl. “Or I’ll make you.”
Eddie tensed around her, the sweet charm in his expression sliding into cold rage. “You could try, my prince.”
“Enough,” Joelle told them both, but neither seemed to hear her.Demon hybrids and their anger issues. The two might pummel each other into oblivion, and for what? For a man she wanted who didn’t want her? Or for the man who’d wanted her, but she couldn’t return his feelings? Either way, she lost. Hell,theylost. The two had been friends since childhood. She wouldn’t let them fight over her.
