She was a full-grown tigress, and she still looked like she wanted to do some damage. To me. Could I really blame her? Those eyes of hers shifted the longer we stared at each other, turning wet with a sheen of tears, and that was worse than a kick between the legs.

I was in so deep. We were in so deep, and I didn’t want her here. I wanted her far, far away from all of this, but it was too late.

Too late for both of us, and maybe for everyone else, too.

Her lower lip trembled as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her toes sinking into spilled conditioner or shampoo. An eternity stretched out between us as I soaked her up with my eyes. A collage of memories—from the day she knocked on my front door and changed my life, to the first time she said those three words that made my life what it was—bombarded me. But it was more than just memories. I knew right then I shouldn’t be feeling what I was, but every cell demanded her. My blood boiled.

I wanted her.

I needed her.

I loved her.

She took a step back, bumping into the tile ledge surrounding the tub.

“Kat,” I said, speaking her name for the first time in days, allowing myself to actually think it, and the moment that happened, the seal inside me broke wide open.

6

{ Katy }

The edges of the piece of glass were digging into my palm as I stared at Daemon. After everything that had gone down in the office, and then with that horrible woman, I couldn’t catch my breath or stop the tremors racing along my arm. I watched him take a step forward. The look in his incandescent eyes and the intent in his step sent a shiver down my spine. “Don’t.”

His eyes narrowed.

Too much hurt swelled in my chest, mixing with all the terrible things Sadi had said she planned on doing with Daemon, things that, when he’d been in the office, he hadn’t sounded like he’d be against enjoying.

My skin felt raw, my insides flayed open. I wanted to lash out and hurt something, someone. Tears burned my throat. “Are you sure you don’t want to leave with your new friend?”

Only a thin sliver of green showed now. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“That’s not what it looked like earlier. You two—”

“Don’t say another word,” he all but growled.

I blinked as anger roared through me like a typhoon. “Excuse me? Who the—?”

Daemon was on one side of the bathroom, and then he was right in front of me the next second, causing me to stumble to the side and step in the gooey mess on the floor.

I shrieked. “I hate it when you do—”

He clasped my cheeks, and the moment his skin was against mine, my entire brain seemed to short-circuit. The piece of glass fell from my fingers, landing harmlessly on a nearby fluffy bathmat.

He lowered his head until our mouths were so close that we shared the same air. It was all so unfair. From the moment he’d disappeared, all I wanted was to see him again, to touch him and to love him, and now I didn’t really know what was standing in front of me.

Nothing since the Luxen had arrived made sense.

He didn’t move. Instead, his luminous emerald gaze traveled over my face as if he was committing each inch to memory. There was a warmth that followed his stare, and the throbbing in my nose, where that heinous bitch had slapped me, faded away.

He was healing me. Again. After pushing me away from him and saying that he loved me, as in the past tense, and after associating with the worst kind of monsters. I couldn’t take it.

“This is so wrong,” I said, my voice cracking. “Everything is so messed—”

Daemon kissed me.

There was nothing soft or tentative about it. His mouth was pressed against mine, boldly parting my lips, and he kissed like he was starving. The rush of sensation nearly took my legs out from underneath me. My stomach dipped as a deep sound rumbled from his throat, shaking through me.

The spark of hope in my chest grew stronger, but confusion and anger snapped at its heels like an annoying little dog. Daemon tilted his head as one hand slid off my cheek. His fingers curled into my hair at the back of my head. My heart pounded, and it was too much.

I placed my hands against his chest and pushed.

“Kitten,” he growled, nipping at my lower lip.

A breath shuddered through me. “You—”

“She’s still outside the room,” he whispered against my lips, and then he was kissing me again.

His words were lost for a moment as his other hand trailed down the length of me, settling on the curve of my waist. He tugged me against him, fitting our bodies together, and the feel of it was somehow shockingly new and sweetly familiar. The kiss deepened until his taste was everywhere.

My hands shook as my fingers gripped the soft material of his shirt. A breathy sound escaped me. The tremble traveled up my arms and kept going until every part of my body shook.

“She’s gone.” Daemon lifted his head away, but I kept my eyes squeezed shut. I couldn’t stop shaking. “Oh, Kitten . . .”

I wanted to tell him not to call me that if this wasn’t real, but a sob rose in my throat. I clamped my mouth shut, because at this point, tears and breaking down didn’t help anything, and there had already been too many tears between us.

Daemon’s arm circled around me and his fingers spread across the back of my head, guiding my cheek against his chest. He held me in an embrace so tight I could feel his heart pounding through him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered against the top of my head. “I’m so sorry, Kitten.”