Panic frayed the edges of her control, and she started to look around for an escape. It wasn’t logical, but her mother’s training had instilled in her a need to locate all exits wherever she went, especially if she felt trapped or afraid.
“Hey.” Revenant softened his voice and moved toward her. “I promise you’re safe.”
“Safe from the angel, maybe, but what about from you?”
“You think I’ll hurt you?” He cupped his hand around her nape, his touch surprisingly gentle. “I want you in my bed, not in a grave.”
Oh, gods… yes.
No!
She shrank away from him, even though the mention of his bed made her heart beat a little faster. “I don’t think so.” He only wanted her because he thought she was someone she wasn’t. She didn’t want to be within a thousand miles when and if he learned the truth. He’d already admitted that he thought death sentences were reasonable for people who associated with vyrm. How would he feel about actual vyrm?
“Why not?” he asked. “You haven’t fucked a male since Yuri.”
Her jaw dropped. “E-excuse me?”
His smirk managed to be both amused and mocking. “Yuri. I’m sure you remember his name. By all accounts, you were pretty into him.”
She gasped in outrage. First of all, she hadn’t been into the arrogant surgeon. At the time, she’d believed he was beginning to suspect the truth about her, so she’d gotten intimate with him. Pretended to love the thorny flails and shit.
Second of all… “You’ve been checking up on me? How dare you! I told you I go to clubs to fulfill my needs.”
“Really?” More amusement. More mocking. “Which ones?”
“Just last week I partied my ass off at Thirst.” In truth, she’d gone to the vampire club with some nurses from the clinic for the sole purpose of playing False Angel slut, and she’d done a lot of flirting, but she’d gone home alone. “And how do you know about Yuri anyway?”
“I’m resourceful, Blaspheme. I can find out anything I want. It’s just easier to ask. So why don’t you tell me what you’re hiding.”
“Why are you so certain I’m hiding something?”
He looked over at the massive sword on the wall, its magnificent, double-edged blade dulled by age and the smoky light in Revenant’s lair. The ebony hilt, its cross-guard decorated with sharp teeth, flowed fluidly to the skull-shaped pommel. The thing suited Revenant well, beautiful, wicked… and somehow tarnished.
“For thousands of years, my job was to hunt down anyone Satan or Lucifer deemed to be undesirable or an enemy. That included half-breeds, angels, vyrm, traitors.” He trailed his finger along the edge of the blade, and for a brief moment, she pictured him thrusting the sword through her vyrm heart. “I learned to recognize deception.”
Shit. Just… shit. In an effort to keep from sounding terrified, she smiled glibly. “And how do you do that?”
A trickle of blood ran down the sword’s edge, but before it reached the tip, the metal soaked up every drop.
“Usually I can smell it. See it. Sense it.” He swung away from the sword and nailed her with black eyes so intense that she took an unbidden step back. “But you… it’s like I should be picking up on a secret, but something is blocking it. I’ll find out what it is, Blaspheme, so why don’t you just tell me now.”
“Why don’t you go fuck yourself?”
“I’d rather fuck you.”
His crude words became images in her mind, and damn her False Angel desires, because now all she wanted was to turn the images and words into action. Sweaty, naked, throbbing action.
Besides, she’d be fooling herself if she thought he was going to give up trying to bed her, and he clearly was a hellhound with a bone when it came to what he believed she was hiding. Trying to stay away from him wasn’t working, and she had no doubt that he wasn’t going to just go away.
It was time to opt for preventive surgery and cut him out of her life like a suspicious tumor. And like any good doctor, she’d use every method she had at her disposal, including what little aphrodisiac she had remaining on her wings if necessary.
“Okay, then.” Her mouth actually watered in anticipation of what she was about to say. “I have a proposition for you.”
One black eyebrow shot up. “I’m listening.”
Summoning every ounce of False Angel magic she had left, she sauntered over to him. Slowly. Seductively. He thought she was different, so she’d show him exactly how identical she was to the species she was pretending to be.