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He pulled his head back, angry bewilderment clouding his features. He blinked, and his eyes were back to their normal warm honey hue. “No. What? No, of course not.”
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for the rest of his excuse. But he had nothing else to say. “Are you sure about that?”
He let out a long, slow breath. “It has nothing to do with that. But fine, you’re right; we all have our reasons to be here.” He had that right. I nodded, and he continued. “I propose an alliance.”
I laughed, and the veins in his neck pulsed right along with his jaw. His biceps tensed, too, but those were the only tells that he was at all affected by my flippant response. He was trying really hard to hide it.
“What’s so funny?” he spat.
I raised my chin. “You think I’m stupid.”
“What are you talking about?”
My heart pounded. If Reaper got tired of me, he looked like he could rip my throat out with his bare hands. “I know what you’re up to.”
With a subtle shift, there was a sardonic tinge to his slight grin. “Ahhh... Oh no. It’s over, then. Why don’t you tell me? What am I up to?”
“I know how this shit works. First, you gain my trust and then turn around and slit my throat.” I didn’tfeellike that was true, but it had to be. This banter between us felt like just that. Friendly banter. And it felt right. Like,reallyright. But I couldn’t trust that. I couldn’t trust anyone or anything in this place.
He huffed. “Please. I don’t need an alliance with you. I’m offering mine.”
Trying to shake off the strange comfort I felt when I knew I shouldn’t, I forced a laugh. “Oh yeah? Out of the goodness of your heart?”
His mouth turned downward in frustration. “Yep.”
He was probably right. Who was I kidding? I was a liability to him here. All the bravado whooshed out of me with that realization. My heart raced like a dying moth fluttering along the window sill. “Why!?”
He threw his hands in the air and let them slap against his legs. “You know what? I don’t fucking know. Forget it.” Stepping aside, he nodded for me to go ahead and leave.
I took a step forward, and he just gave me this resigned, apathetic frown.
Although I knew it might have been a trick, I couldn’t just stand in front of Mr. Protective Sex Incarnate, either.
I needed a moment to compose myself.
Even if it meant fighting my way through a bunch of murderous fiends on the way there.
I swallowed, readying for whatever waited behind that door for me.
“Okay. Fine. Good luck,” I rasped.
Chapter Nineteen: Shattered Illusions
Tess
Carefully, I turned thelock and twisted open the door, but it crashed into me, the knob bashing painfully into my ribs and knocking me to the floor again. A literal cloud of darkness drifted over me. I threw my arms over my head, curling into the floor.
Then a roar above, a clash of bodies and a crescendo of growls preceded absolute silence, followed by the door slamming closed again.
“Get up!” he shouted, his eyes glowing again.
I didn’t react right away, unsure if it was me he was yelling at. But I viewed his devil-red face—even in the dark, fury etched across his features—and held my breath.
They were gone.
Whoever had tried to storm inside had failed.
It was just him and me again.
