Page 88 of Samhain Savior
“Looking for a spell,” I replied, flipping the pages faster. “One that will undo your stupid sigil mark and release me from your binding.” That had to be it. The soul contract he’d bound me to without my permission had to be the reason I was feeling the way I was. The reason my chest seemed crowded with too many emotions, as though someone had shoved a whole other heart behind my ribs, letting it beat in time with my own.
If I could break the contract, I would be free.
I was sure of it.
Behind me, Archer let out a sigh. “You’ll find nothing in there that can change what’s happened. Sit down so we can talk.”
“I think we’ve done more than enough talking. In fact, I think it would be better if from now on, you didn’t speak at all.”
He growled, the sound a low rumble that set the hairs on the back of my neck on end and had my nipples puckering under my dress.
So unfair.
“I think you’re forgetting who I am, witch.”
“Delilah!” I seethed, spinning on the chair to face him, taking in the angry scowl on his handsome face. “My name is Delilah, and I knowexactlywho you are, Archer.”
“Enlighten me, then.” His tone was casual, but there was something in his gaze that made me think he was worried. About what, I had no idea, but I no longer had it in me to care. The man was diabolical, and I was more than ready to be rid of him.
Even if the strange new sensations behind my ribs told me I was a liar.
“You are a fiend. A conniving, manipulative man who takes what he wants with no regard for others.” At my throat, the shadow collar quivered, but I ignored it. I had more than enough emotions inside my own body; I didn’t need to be thinking about the feelings of what should have been an inanimate object but was quickly proving to me much more than that.
“You are a killer,” I continued, and for a second I thought I might have seen a flash of hurt in his eyes, there and gone again. “Someone who takes lives with absolutelyno remorse, even if that person had been your friend for decades.” Bringing up Nathaniel was a low blow, but I was just so angry that I couldn’t seem to stop myself from using my words like a wrecking ball, wanting to knock down the walls he kept around him any way I could. I needed to know that he felt as raw and agonized as I did.
“You’re a monster.”
For a moment he said nothing, simply stared back at me with those dark, fathomless eyes. I waited, wanting to show him that I wasn’t afraid of him. Even as angry as he appeared to be, there was something in me that recognized the fact that Archer would never hurt me. I couldn’t explain it, but it was a certainty that I trusted down to my very bones.
Standing slowly, Archer approached me, his steps silent on the thick carpet. Still sitting, I was forced to tilt my head back if I wanted to meet his gaze, his height even more impressive from my seated position. Not breaking our stare, Archer carefully raised one hand, his thumb gently pressing on my lower lip.
“I am a killer,” he said plainly, his voice low. “I have sent more souls to the Pit than I could possibly count, and I have remorse for very few of them.”
I held my breath, my heart racing as he moved his hand, trailing his fingers along my jaw, his eyes tracking the movement.
“And you’re right. I do take what I want. Usually that’s because what I want is peace, for myself and for everyone else who lives on this forsaken rock. So, if I have to be conniving and manipulative,” he mocked, throwing my words back at me. “Then that is what I will be, because there is much about this world that you don’t know, witch, but trust me when I say that I will protect you from all of it, even if it is the last thing I do.”
“Archer,” I started, but froze when his fingers touched the bite mark on my neck, the sensation sending lightning through my veins. How could such a gentle stroke create such a storm of feelings within me?
“I may be a monster, Delilah,” his said urgently, his large hand curling under my jaw and pulling me to stand before him with a firm but surprisingly gentle tug.
“But I amyourfucking monster.”
Without another word, Archer kissed me, his mouth searing into mine, and I moaned before I could stop myself. It was much gentler than our first kiss back in Boston, but still so full of passion.
Archer, unsurprisingly, took control, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, leaving behind the subtle taste ofsmoke that I was quickly becoming addicted to. Curling his fingers around my throat in a loose hold, Archer kicked the chair out from behind me and pressed my body back against the wall, never breaking the kiss.
Unable to help myself, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, filled with the unexplainable desire to pull him closer, to pull him against me,intome. Inside, I could feel the same powerful force smoldering in my chest, like a volcano ready to erupt.
It frightened me almost as much as it intrigued me.
“Archer,” I gasped, pulling my mouth away from his. His only response was a snarl, his fingers threading in my hair to hold my head still while he continued to trail hot, violent kisses along my jaw, but I needed a moment to think. “Archer, wait.”
“I’vebeenwaiting,” he breathed fiercely, pulling his head back to stare down at me. His eyes were black as pitch, their darkness complete, with no white showing anywhere, and I felt like I was drowning in them. “Since the dawn of time I’ve waited for you.” Releasing my hair, he stroked his fingers down my throat, over the collar that seemed to shiver in excitement at his touch, and then along the silvery skin of the bite mark he’d left on me. The touch was light, but I felt it in every cell in my body. “Waited so long, I’d truly given up hope. But now, you’re here.”
“I’m here,” I agreed, not really understanding what I was agreeing too, only knowing that the words felt right.
“Yes,” he hissed, and as I watched, the features of his face shifted, his teeth elongating and his cheekbones sharpening as his demon once again rose to the surface.
