“Oh no,” he said with a grin. “You owe me.” He started to turn away before pausing to add, “Once I can forgive, Snow. Do not try this trick again.”
She nodded quickly, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. A demon prowled through her room, making no move to do more than investigate his surroundings. He was slowly unraveling everything she thought she knew about his kind. Jaral should have attacked her. He should have treated her as an expendable tool and tried to dispose of her when she proved too stubborn. Instead he had protected her, teased her, worked with her. Worst of all, he’d kissed her as if she mattered to him. Every one of his actions was messing with her head. How could she draw the line between hunter and demon when he did his damnedest to blur everything?
“You are thinking too hard,” Jaral said, staring out the little window.
“How would you know?” she scoffed.
He turned back to her with a slight smile on his face. “Because, hunter, I think I am beginning to know you.”
* * *
Her eyes widened at his words just as he’d known they would. No, his hunter would not like the idea of her enemy knowing her.
When he’d woken alone on the floor he’d been ready to rend her limb from limb. Liam had tried to talk him down but the glib demon was like gas on a fire. When he realized he could sense his powers like a homing device he’d been ready to race after her. No one tricked him and lived to tell the tale.
And that was the thought that had stopped him. Because life without her in it would go back to the boring, endless days he’d known before she crashed into his world. Liam had simply watched him with that annoying, all-knowing grin of his, and then had asked what Jaral was going to do with his mate.
Jaral looked at her now with the title burning in his mind. She stood awkwardly, as if not quite sure what she should be doing. Her hands were fisted at her sides and her body tense. Still she met his gaze without flinching, daring him to do his worst. His hunter was far too strong for her own good.
Violence was the furthest thing from his mind as he stared at Darcy. Instead, he wanted to touch her and feel that instant connection. The one that would wash away the past, the realities of their situation, and leave them as they were meant to be. Lovers.
His lips twitched as he acknowledged getting her to that realization might take significantly more work.
The entire journey to her side he’d struggled with Liam’s taunt. A mortal mate was a liability. Still, if there was anyone in either of their worlds capable of standing by his side, his money was on Darcy. She would fight to her last breath for those she loved.
If only he could be counted among them.
“So,” she said, shifting from foot to foot in a nervous movement he found oddly endearing. “What do we do now?”
He glanced around the small motel room, which boasted little more than the queen bed in the center. Perfect.
“Now we get some rest and continue on our way in the morning. I’m assuming you know where we are going?”
She bit her lip. “You want to team up again.”
Jaral crossed to the bed and sat. He leaned back against the headboard, kicking off his shoes. “I want that blood.” Sarah’s blood was the key. It was leverage. Once he had it, he’d be on far better footing to deal with his father.
“To close the rift.”
“Yes.” The lie rolled so easily from his tongue. He was not about to sacrifice his future, not even for his mate. No matter what, he would claim his throne.
She hesitated for a moment before exhaling. “Okay. Partners—until we reach Sarah.”
“Which I recall offering before,” he said smoothly. “Only to be doused with a sleeping potion.”
Darcy looked away, a blush staining her cheeks.
“You need to start trusting me, hunter. Even if only a little bit.”
“I can’t.”
Jaral spread his hands. It wasn’t often he tried to look helpless but to put her at ease he’d make an exception. “We are stuck here for the night. Try.”
She glanced around the room, obviously searching for somewhere to go, but other than the bed and a rickety-looking dresser there was no other furniture in the room. With a sigh she dropped onto the far corner of the bed. Jaral hid a smile. Obviously she was trying to get as far from him as possible.
“I’m not going to be able to sleep with you here,” she grumbled.
“Come now, darling. Surely I’m not that frightening.”
That got her attention. She swung her legs onto the bed and sat cross-legged.
“I think I’ll call in your debt,” he mused.
She snorted. “I don’t owe you a damn thing.”