Page 48 of Tortured Soul
That demon had disappeared. Exploded into millions of tiny black particles.Burst out of existence. Was he—no. Demons couldn’t die and Arc wasn’t a hunter.
“Did you send him back to Hell or something?” I asked, my breath short.
He leaned closer, our noses nearly touching.
“Or something.”
Arc’s eyes dipped to my lips for a fraction of a second before going back to mine.
“I’m not blaming you. I just want to understand. I was out of my mind smelling you from that far away. Out of my mind hearing people react to that smell. Are your pheromones acting out when you’re weak?”
I hesitated then nodded.
“Okay. You mumbled about the barrier yesterday and Carrie mentioned something about it the other day. Does it make you feel weaker? Was that why you went hunting the very next day you arrived here?”
I tried to shift my gaze away but his hand grabbed my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes.
“I’m not your enemy,” he said softly. “I just need to understand you better.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes.”
He tilted his head to the side in wonder. “You fed a week ago. Why were you already so weak? Is the barrier draining you that much?”
Heat climbed up my neck to settle on my cheeks. I tempered it down using a little of shifting powers, but obviously not before Arc noticed.
“The human I fed on was—it wasn’t enough.”
“How so?”
I groaned internally, and his chuckle led me to believe that it wasn’t as internal as I hoped.
“Tell me, blondie.”
“Stop calling me that.” His smile only widened, so I rolled my eyes, caving in with a sigh. “He was a virgin. Thinking I was his fiancée.” I paused again. “He came in his pants before even taking my shirt off.”
My jaw was clenched so tight in embarrassment that I was almost certain my teeth cracked. His mismatched eyes weren’t teasing. They were kind. Searching.
“And you had to run to your roommates' help,” he concluded, already knowing the rest of the story. “So your pheromones act up when you’re getting too weak.” He waited and I gave another hesitant nod. “And you don’t want to have sex with other Immortals even though you can feed off them, because most of your past experiences were jerks who couldn’t understand consent.”
I tried to turn my face to the side again. He didn’t let go of his hold on my chin.
“Yes,” I gritted.
“Hm. I’m guessing last night’s attack didn’t help you change your mind.”
“It did not.”
I could remember it now. The crazed look on my attacker’s face. His forceful attempts at controlling me.
“He’s gone now,” Arc whispered like he knew where my mind went back to. “And I have a plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
A plan. I scoffed.
“I respected your boundaries last night,” he said, taking my hand in his, bringing it to the marks on his chest. “You said not to touch you, and I didn’t, even when you got rid of all your clothes and argued with me for ten minutes when I asked you toat leastput your T-shirt back on before sleeping. You spent the night nestled in my arms and it was enough for you to get a decent amount of energy back.”
I frowned, ignoring the shame overtaking me. “It shouldn’t have worked. There has to be pleasure involved.”
“Who said I didn’t enjoy it?”
