Page 44 of Demon Kissed
“I’m gonna get sick!” I protest.
“No you aren’t! This is a dream. You’ll only get sick if you believe you’ll get sick.” Ziel stops spinning me and instead leaps into the air with me still in his grasp.
I lose my breath, and my stomach plummets. I close my dream eyes and wait for us to fall back down. Only…we don’t fall.
We stay floating in midair.
I glance down and realize we’re still gently rising, drifting through the air like we’re in a hot air balloon. Only there is no balloon. Just us.
I clutch Ziel behind me and feel his fingers dig hard into my hips before he gently releases them and turns me in his arms. I wrap mine around his neck in wonder. “Are you flying?”
“We’reflying,” he corrects.
“No. I know we’re flying. But are you doing it?” Every word I say gets softer as I realize how much of me is touching Ziel. I’ve never been this close to him. All the months we’ve met, and I’ve never once stroked the back of his neck—shit! What are my fingers doing?
I pull my hand away, but Ziel just slides his hand down my arm and pulls my hand back to its former spot.
“I liked that,” he says softly.
I swallow hard.
I stare into his eyes, which are currently in the middle of changing from a deep brown to a striped grey.
What is happening?
Panic starts to unfurl inside me. Because I think I know what’s happening. I’m trembling and exalted all at once, because I see this deep reverence in Ziel’s eyes as he looks at me. When someone hands you that kind of power over themselves, it’s scary. I’m full of awe, but also full of fear—because I don’t know how to handle that level of emotion.
Ziel moves one of his hands to the back of my head, the base of my neck. And he starts to massage me there.
My eyes automatically shut. If I were a dog, my tail would start thumping and my back leg would start twitching in pleasure, because he rubs just the right spot.
“Tell me about today,” Ziel gently orders as we float above the clouds.
I tell him. When I finish, he stops massaging me. Reluctantly, I peel my eyelids open to stare up at him. A frown mars his beautiful face, which has transformed again. His skin is now the darkest ebony and contrasts with his striped grey eyes.
“Katrina, please. Youneed to stay away from those demons.” Ziel looks almost angry in his insistence.
He’s never been angry at me before.
“I already told them to leave. They say they can’t.”
His nostrils flare. “Demons lie.”
“I don’t think they’re lying about this.”
“They don’t have your best interests at heart,” he growls.
I get defensive and pull back a little, but Ziel mashes me to him. “How the hell would you know?” I say, as I shove against his shoulder.
“I don’t want you to get hurt—”
“They aren’t hurting me,” I argue. “Humiliating? Possibly. But actually hurting? So far, they’ve just done a bunch of misconceived, well-intentioned things—”
“Theywillhurt you.”
And though I’ve been scared of the very same thing myself, I become infuriated when Ziel says it. “They won’t!” I snap, shoving harder against his massive pecs. I’m suddenly desperate to get away. I feel like he’s tainting me. Trying to turn me against them. And something deep inside me screams like a banshee in rebellion. I wedge one of my legs up as I snap, “Why the fuck does it matter to you anyway?”
I get good leverage—finally—and kick off away from Ziel.
