Demon by My Side(23)

She gulped. “I know that.”

Jared released her and pushed to his feet.

Darcy followed, scrambling to stand, whereas every move Jared made was unintentionally elegant.

“Nothing goes as I intend it to with you,” he said, his back to her.

“How was it supposed to go?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “You were supposed to get the information I needed and be out of my life.”

She nodded. “Instead you had to save me.”

He said nothing.

“Thank you for that.”

The muscles in his shoulders stiffened. Darcy watched the telltale sign, pleased he hadn’t rescued his shirt from the floor.

“I do not require your thanks.”

She smiled at the tone. “Yeah, well, you’ve got it anyways.”

He didn’t turn.

“I suppose you’re not in the habit of rescuing humans.”

“I’m usually the one who does the breaking.”

She shivered. “Can I ask you a question?” she murmured, stopping behind him.

“I doubt my refusal would stop you,” he replied. She heard the dry humor in his voice and smiled.

“You didn’t have to save me to carry on with your plan. If I died, you could have always grabbed another hunter. I am…” She hesitated for a moment before facing the truth. “I am disposable to you. Replaceable.”

He turned slightly to see her.

“Why did you fight for me?” The question came out a whisper. Spirit toxin worked just as well on demons as it did on humans. He’d risked himself to save her.

And the demons she’d known all her life would never have committed such a selfless act.

Jared sighed as he turned to face her. His fingers rose to brush along her jaw, his thumb gliding over her lower lip. “I think,” he said, his gaze on her mouth, “that were you to die, I would discover you are not as replaceable as I’d thought.” His gaze flicked up to meet hers. “It is you I want, Snow. Not another hunter.”

Her pulse leaped at the declaration.

Jared leaned closer and ran his lips along the tender flesh of her neck up to her ear. “And I will have you before we are through,” he promised.

Darcy pushed him back, even as her nipples hardened in anticipation. “I don’t do demons.”

“Yet.”

There was no shaking the man’s confidence. She settled herself on the couch and reached for his wine. She needed some bracing.

Her gaze never left his as she sipped. The demon sank down gracefully at the opposite end on the couch, close enough to touch but far enough to give her room to think.

“We need to clear some things up,” she declared. “With our clothes on and our hands off each other.”

“No fun,” he purred, taking his glass from her hand and raising it to his lips.

Heat pooled between her legs at the sight. Watching him drink, his lips pressed to the same spot hers had been only moments before, was intimate. And she didn’t want to be intimate with this demon.

“You know more about what occurred last Halloween than I do.” She tried to ignore the way her body leaped in response to the way he fondled the wineglass.

“Yes.” His fingers glided around the thin rim with the same light touch he’d used on her skin.

“Sharing is caring.” Darcy snatched the glass from his hands, earning her another of his crooked half smiles.

“Last Halloween, something happened that should never have occurred.”

“With Kerilyn Whitney.”

“Yes. She died, but Arawn, the lord of the dead, wrestled her back from the edge. In doing so, he made her part spirit. Her transformation broke the rules that govern our world. Humans cannot become either demon or spirit, just as we cannot become mortal.”

“So the magic holding everything in place rebelled,” Darcy said, thinking aloud. “Kerilyn became part spirit and a tear opened between those two worlds.”

“Yes.”

She looked up at Jared. “Seems to me this is a human-spirit problem. Why are you here?”

“Any change to the structure of our worlds raises concerns. The development interests us.”

She took another sip of wine. “You want to use it for your gain.”

He smiled his enigmatic smile. “Leave demon interests to me. All we need to figure out is how to control the rift.”

“You mean close it,” she corrected.

“Of course.”

“Which is where I come in. Looks like humans are good for something after all.”

“On the contrary, I can think of several things you’d be good at.” His gaze drifted down her body and she snapped her fingers to regain his attention.

“None of that,” she warned.