Page 31 of Touched By Death

“Why is someone trying to hurt her?” Alaric asks, bringing us back on topic while Dari sits down on the edge of the bed.

“Fuck if I know. Look at her wings. She’s powerful. It doesn’t take a fucking genius to figure that out. Maybe someone doesn’t want her to be potentially more powerful than the heir himself? Ever thought of that? Maybe someone has developed a fascination with her, and maybe that’s why they tried to get a taste of her blood. You know that shit between angels is intimate.”

A growl reverberates in my chest, and he throws his hands out defeatedly while chuckling at my possessive nature. “For fuck’s sake, cousin. She’s safe, alright?”

Inspecting the items on the desk, Ronan snorts. “You fool no one with your good guy act, Dmitriy.”

“Fuck you.”

Peering over his shoulder with a wicked gleam in his eyes, Ronan simply shrugs. “Bend over the desk, and I’ll show you a good time.”

Dmitriy hisses a snarl but then snaps his attention to the bed when the angel begins to stir again. She blinks her eyes open before shooting up in bed with a gasp. Looking at us all in turn, she carefully asks, “What are you doing here?”

Pushing past Dari, who groans loudly, I fist the little witch’s hair and pull sharply to bare her neck. “Gossip spreads fast. What were you thinking chasing after the stalker?”

She bats me off, but I grip her chin hard enough to cause a weak, cock-stirring whimper to slip from her trembling lips. “I had to find out who it was.”

“And did you?” I all but snarl, digging my fingers into her skin.

“No,” she reluctantly admits, avoiding my gaze as I lean in close to her face. Breathing her in, I swallow down the flood of relief I feel when I fail to find any hints of sex in her scent. Dmitriy is trying to get a rise out of me. He hasn’t actually fucked her tonight.

I shouldn’t feel so fucking pleased by that thought. Not when my father helped me see how wrong I am for a girl like her. But fuck if I’ll sit by and let another man have her either.

When I look over my shoulder, Dmitriy chuckles under his breath and winks.

“I’ll deal with you later,” I growl, then turn back to the girl, who has my heart gripped in the palm of her hand. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Her eyes spit fire as she glowers at me. “Nothing happened.”

“Bullshit,” I sneer, jostling her. “What happened?”

“Fine.” Her pulse thunders in her neck. It’s so loud that I can fucking hear it sing to me like a siren at sea. “I followed him down an empty hallway. The torch went out, and he shoved me up against a wall and proceeded to press a knife to my throat and sink his teeth into my neck.”

“Then what?”

“I burned him with my flame.”

“Burned him with your flame?” I exchange a look with Alaric.

“Yes. Instinct took over. I didn’t think.”

Leaning in close, I trail my hand to the back of her neck and grip it tight while dragging my nose over her throat, lingering on the bite marks. “It’s familiar,” I whisper. “The scent is different… Foreign somehow, but still familiar.” My fangs throb, and as my raven wings erupt from my back, I sink my teeth deep into her neck, erasing the stalker’s fucking marks and replacing them with my own. She yelps beneath my grip but yields like a good girl.

A satisfied groan rumbles in my chest when her blood floods my mouth. She may be a fallen angel, but she’s the most addictive drug in all the ways that matter. Dari clears her throat behind us, interrupting my bliss. The snarl that accompanies the aggressive flaring of my wings has Dmitriy chuckling.

I break away and look over at Dari while wiping off the excess blood from my chin with the back of my hand. “What do you want?”

“We need to take her back to our place.”

“No,” Aurelia speaks up, and I frown as I turn back to her. “I’m not coming with you.”

“I told you she’s fucking stubborn,” Ronan mutters, shaking his head as he inspects a plant on the desk.

“She doesn’t get a say in the matter,” I state with an air of boredom.

Leaning in close, she sneers in my face. “You don’t get a choice in the matter, Daemon. It’s over between us.”

It’s for the best, right? I’m marrying Dari. Besides, why the hell would she want me when I can’t protect her from her stalker? My eyes flick down to the sore-looking cut on her throat, and I swallow down the ugly feeling that’s threatening to drown me in misery.

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