Page 68 of Inflamed By an Incubus

“I went to look into something regarding Aryanna.” His deep voice curled around her, soft and comforting, easing some of the tension from her soul. She glanced at him, her eyes meeting his. “I was worried it would be dangerous and I didn’t want you coming along. I wanted to protect you. I didn’t mean to—” He scrubbed a hand over his hair, tousling the dark lengths, and stopped as it reached his nape. On a long sigh, he tilted his head back, still clutching the back of his neck. “I think I spend most of my time apologising to you recently. I don’t mean to be the way I am. I just have a lot on my mind.”

She got that. His promotion to the position of commander must have doubled his workload. He hadn’t been in the Central Archive much recently, and when he had been there, she had found him leaning over a roster of hunters, trying to figure out new team builds that would have a broader spread of skills that would make them more effective in the field.

“Want to ditch patrol and get a coffee and catch up?” She reached for his arm and brushed her fingers down the sleeve of his black Henley. His gaze fell to her, his brow furrowing as his eyes softened and he nodded, and she could see how much he appreciated her being on his side and not making a big deal of things. “All water under the bridge. If I was in your position, I’d be a ball of stress too.”

He smiled and his hand dropped from the back of his neck, and then his look turned deadly serious. “Evelyn… there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you and I’m not sure I should, but I can’t go on like this. It was wrong of me to—”

His shoulders tightened.

Evelyn tensed as she sensed it too.

They weren’t alone.

She spun on her heel to face the intruders and barely bit back her gasp as her eyes collided with Fenix’s swirling blue and gold ones. He was like a shadow in the dimly-lit park, his black shirt and jeans hugging his lean but muscular body in a way that had the whole of her focus shifting to him, the world falling away as his gaze held her immobile.

A shiver rolled down her spine, heat blooming in her veins as warmth spread through every inch of her. Her pulse quickened, blood rushing as she stared into his eyes, as awareness of him speared her soul and had her unable to tear her gaze away from him. The fierce reaction he always evoked in her felt so wrong, as if she was betraying her own kind and Archangel by feeling attracted to him.

But at the same time, it felt so very right.

As if they were meant to be together.

God, he was gorgeous.

His wild tawny hair made her fingers itch to brush through it, to feel the silken strands against them as he gazed at her with so much heat and need in his eyes. She could so easily imagine how he would react if she braved surrendering to that urge, how every muscle on his bewitching body would tense and his gaze would fall to her lips.

How he would bend his head towards her, tempting her into claiming his lips.

Placing them within her reach.

An ache bloomed deep inside her, the heat becoming an inferno that threatened to burn her will to resist to ashes as it whispered about how good it would feel if she captured his mouth in a kiss, how that simple action would steal command from him and place him firmly under her control. Didn’t she want to know how good it would feel to have Fenix at her mercy? Didn’t she want to fist his hair and hear him groan in response? To see the hunger and desperate need in his eyes and know she wasn’t the only one feeling that way?

Didn’t she want to wreck him with only a kiss?

To claim him with it.

Fire licked through her veins, blazing hotter still, making her head hazy and her body come alive.

She burned with a need to bring this male to his knees.

His lips parted, beckoning her.

Movement beyond him had the spell he had placed on her shattering in an instant, the world rushing back in like a cold tide to kill the heat in her veins.

Evelyn curled her fingers into tight fists at her side and reminded herself that Fenix wasn’t just any breed of non-human. He was an incubus. For all she knew, this reaction she had to him was purely because he was using his powers on her. It wasn’t real.

She took a step back, towards Archer.

And Fenix’s expression shifted, the sculpted planes of his face hardening as his eyebrows drew down and his lips flattened.

“Confessing now?” Fenix’s voice was a black snarl, the look he turned on Archer nothing short of murderous, and something deep inside Evelyn liked it.

There was possession in that look.

As if he wanted her for himself, despised the thought of another male taking her from him, and would fight to protect her and stop her from choosing another over him.

Evelyn fought to shut down her rogue thoughts and the feelings they stirred, battling to clear her mind and focus.

It wasn’t hard when she took in the fact he wasn’t alone this time.

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