Page 44 of Queen of Ashes and Scars
I avert my gaze and change the subject. “Why are you called angels if you’re just another breed of demons?”
“Angels are sometimes seen by our prey. The ones who survive remember us fondly. Angels or demons, none of us come from hell nor heaven. We’re a different breed than humans, that’s all. The legends say we’re all descended from some powerful, dark Gods who once walked the Earth, but I think we’re just from different branches on the evolution tree.”
I reflect on his answer for a second. “Why do you want to turn me? You said something about me having the right DNA for it and that you knew from the first moment you saw me… How?”
“Supernatural creatures all have an aura around them. A kinetic field, if you will, that sticks to them and can be seen by other demons or humans that have the power to see the invisible.” He moves his hands in front of him like he’s merely giving a lecture on mechanics and not trying to explain such an incorporeal thing as magic. “Humans have auras so faint that they remain unseen, and vampire auras are actually pretty dull, too. Yers is… flawless.”
I rub the back of my neck, trying to shake off the heat in my gut at how passionate he sounds. How damn perfect he looks under the moon, the line of his jaw straight from Athens’ most ancient and beautiful statues.
“Yer aura is a faint tremble of power that lures me in across an entire room, but that’s not all. The pain ye feel is like a neon-bright billboard to an angel.” He pauses for a moment as though he’s searching for the right words. Words that’ll bring us closer. “Yer world has spun out of its axis. I know what that feels like. I’ll help ye see her safe to her throne, and if by then ye haven’t decided to accept my offer, I’ll give ye some space to breathe.” He licks his full lips, a smile threatening to pierce through his solemn exterior. “But I should warn ye, Leo Callas. As long as I breathe, I’ll never stop hunting ye.”
My lips quirk at the teasing edge of his voice. “You don’t hunt like the vampires I know.”
“I’m more patient is all. They hunt for blood and warm bodies, but I…”
I arch a brow, the clear superiority he feels toward vampires not at all a turnoff. If any man can convince me he’s better than most bloodsuckers in existence, it’s him. “What? You want my soul?” I ask with a grin, not half-serious.
He grips the edge of the rock, his gaze set on the dark horizon. “I want to earn yer trust. I want to see the world through yer eyes and show ye how different it looks from my perspective. Most of all, I need to know who ye are.” He tilts his head in my direction ever so slightly. “I want everything yer willing to give, Leo Callas.”
It’s weird to be wanted so much for doing so little.
“Just because of something in my DNA? Isn’t that flawed?”
He chuckles at that, and the tension between us fizzles out into something more comfortable. More honest. “Existence is flawed.”
Ain’t that the truth.
A hot flush rises to my cheeks, and the temptation to lean in and kiss him again short-circuits my rational brain. I love Arielle, and yet, Keenan’s magic is undeniable. Even when he mutes himself to allow me to make my own choices, a part of me longs for his peace to engulf everything else. The self-loathing, the doubts, the taboos about desiring another man…
Instead of succumbing to his lure, I stand and peel off my shirt, discarding it on top of the closest rock. “Are you up for a swim?”
He climbs to his feet, too, and grabs the neck of his shirt. The way his eyes dance quickens my pulse. “I thought ye’d never ask.”
He snaps off the top button of his jeans, and I jump into the sea not to stare. I swim up to the shallows next to the clutter of rocks that naturally formed where the waves break during a storm and wait for Keenan to catch up. When he emerges barely a foot to my left, my breath stutters. “Damn…Do you have wings or fins?”
He wipes the water away from his eyes. “Wings, but only when it’s convenient.”
I’ve been wondering how it works, with his wings being invisible most of the time… are they gone when he doesn’t need them, or am I just blind to them?
“Let me see them.”
A smirk flickers over his mouth. The water comes up to his waist and licks the hem of his white briefs as his wings blink into view. Long, dark feathers shine like oil under the starry sky, and salted water clings to the ridges in his stomach. A piece of the old me breaks at the sight. There’s no shame in longing to be something as beautiful as he is. No shame in giving in.
I’m sure of that, at least.
Chapter22
Feral
ARIELLE
Vampires seldom sleep at night, our metabolisms cranked up in the absence of sunlight. Alec and Sebastian lured me into their embrace after our intense, delicious tryst, and I blink awake with a full moon shining bright in the night sky. My stomach growls, the back of my throat itchy as hell.
Alec stirs next to me. “Fuck, I fell asleep.” He rubs his face down, his silvery scars catching the moonlight and creating mesmerizing patterns on his skin.
I slither out of bed and wrap a silk robe around my frame and skitter to the bathroom.
“You must be starving.”
