Page 97 of Devil's Delirium

“Lucky me.” I sipped my coffee. “What’s this warmth in my chest?” I had an instinct about it, but I needed confirmation from someone who knew.

“I think that’s a physical manifestation of your bond with Maverick. He’s not far. If you go too far away, it will grow cold and eventually painful.”

“Fucking great. I just got free of an attachment just like that.”

Chapter Fifty-Five: The Seraphim’s Reckoning

Maverick

When I woke, Idrank the water beside my bed and sat up. She was still in the house. I clutched at the warmth in my chest, knowing it meant that she wasn’t far. I’d never claimed anyone, but I’d heard the stories of an ice cold heart when your mate was too far away. The heat meant she was in very close proximity. I glanced around, hoping to see her watching me from a chair nearby, but I was alone in the room.

Letting my head hit the pillow again, I let out a deep sigh. I’d been so intent on finding out whether Tess was a hunter or not, I hadn’t been ready for this scenario. I couldn’t believe my luck. We could be together. I was worried there might be some damage to mend betweenus, but it was the best case, and my body buzzed with excitement at seeing her again.

After taking a piss in the adjoining bathroom, I entered the hallway and peeked into the bedroom next door. Tess was sitting against the headboard, typing on her phone.

I leaned against the doorframe, trying to keep my tone light. “Hey.”

She jumped, her hand rushing to her breast, and yelped. Her phone fell onto the bed beside her, and her eyes grew red and furious with every passing microsecond as she stared. Glared at me.

“Oh.” So she wasn’t exactly full of gratitude to be alive and bonded with me. We could work on that. We had forever to figure it out. I held a hand up. “Tess. What’s wrong? This is good news, baby. Give me a chance.”

She sat up and swung her legs down, edging off the bed. “You mean like the chance you gave to me?”

I coughed and then cleared my throat. Maybe that was fair from her perspective. I just had to explain mine, and we could get past it. “You have to understand, I thought you might be seraphim.”

“You thought I what?”

“I thought you might be a hunter, Tess.”

She jumped to her feet, fury written all over her. “A hunter? What the actual fuck, Maverick. Of course I’m not a fucking seraphim hunter!” She threw her arms to the side with her chest out. “You knew who I fucking was!”

“I knew who yousaidyou were…”

She stared at me, the thoughts running through her head at a million miles a minute, clear to see. She stuttered at first, then shut her mouth, took a breath and tried again. “No. Just wait… no. You’re lying… Why would you claim a hunter? In what universe does that makeanysense?”

“If you were a hunter, you’d be bound to me, which I thought would be a good punishment for a hunter.” I laughed, hearing my logic out loud in my own voice. “And if you weren’t, then… well, there’s no downside there. I don’t want to be away from you, ever. I’ll take care of you, Tess. No one will hurt you again, I promise.”

Taking a step closer, she shoved a finger at my torso. “Fuck you, Maverick!Youhurt me. In fact, no. There will be no fucking you. Not ever again. Whatever it means to claim me, I can feel it. This pull toward you, to submit, to fuck you and do whatever you want me to. And you know what? Fuck. That. Sideways. We can both suffer. Don’t ever fucking touch me.”

She jabbed at my chest, the heat of her breath on my face. She was so hot, all homicidal for me, and she was so close that our connection from when I claimed her and tied our power together pulsed with need. I gritted my teeth as she yelled at me, curling my fingers into fists, fighting the urge to seize her. Not yet.

It would only make it worse.

“What?” she hissed.

I opened my eyes. Her plump lips glistened, inches from mine. My cock pulsed, pressing against my pants. My chest heaved. I didn’t know when my breathing had become labored like that. “Your rage is delicious,” I whispered.

She took a step back, and I assumed it was because she felt it, too. But her eyes remained fixed on me, hard as steel. The specks of green amongst chestnut irises grew darker. And then she pulled her hand back and threw a punch at my jaw.

I could have caught it.

Normally, my instinct would have been to catch the fist in mine and crush it into a crackling sack of hand flesh. But it was Tess, and I had no instinct to hurt her.

I say I could have caught it, but maybe I was too blindsided that she intended to hurt me. I hesitated in disbelief, and she knocked my head to the side with a thwack.

When I turned back to her, she watched me frozen in place, like she’d awoken a dragon. I pressed my lips together, trying not to patronize her. She was kind of cute but also incredibly sexy, standing up to me like that. I was so proud of her, after all she’d been through with her father and Ivan. But I also knew that, no matter how buried in her subconscious, she understood I was safe.

I would never hurt her.

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