The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld #3)(49)
Author: Gena Showalter

He was scowling at her, his lips peeled back from his teeth. His nostrils flared as he inhaled. "I told you to stay in my room."

His eyes, normally polished onyx, were tinted red. Glowing. Pulsing. She gulped. "I couldn’t, I didn’t – "

"Go!"

"Don’t talk to me like that. Got it?"

"Leave. Please." A whisper.

As he stood there, panting, angry, bloody as if he’d just returned from a war, she lost her…whatever it was she’d been feeling. Disgust? Confusion? Shock? I want to paint him like this, she thought. He was a thing of beauty. Dark, a combination of cinnamon and honey, with eyes like an eclipsed sun – a person didn’t know whether to stare, blind to all else, or look quickly away.

What intrigued her most, however, was his tattoo. That butterfly, with its wings spread in midflight, half consuming his chest and neck, seemed to be watching her, beckoning her closer. It had always been ominous and harsh, almost evil, and yet it now appeared…gentle. The colored skin was glittering, a mix of ruby, onyx and sapphire. The usually sharp-tipped, forged-of-steel wings were somehow softened.

I’ve seen this before, she thought. I’ve painted this before. Hadn’t she? There was something unerringly familiar about it, though not enough to jog her mind completely. Maybe it was the fact that she’d seen a few of the other warriors’ tattoos. Each man had worn the mark in a different location and each had been a different color. Maddox was branded on his back, Lucien on his chest. Aeron, she thought with a shudder, all over.

Danika found herself reaching out, arm shaking, desperate to feel Reyes’s brand, to know the texture and the temperature. Hot and raised? Or cold and smooth?

He jolted backward, slamming into the wall, his arms spread to hold himself up. The sink jostled, the soap slipping and falling to the floor. Thump. "Do not touch me, Danika."

Her cheeks heated with mortification as her hand dropped to her side. "Sorry," she muttered. "I’m sorry." You knew better. He’s feral right now, so you have to be careful.

"Don’t apologize." Motions clipped, he swiped a towel from beside the sink and bent down. Back and forth he mopped the blood. "I am sorry you witnessed that. Please, just…return to my room. Please. I will join you shortly." The request was disjointed, proving how rattled he really was.

"I’ll help you clean up. I – "

"No!"

He shouted so loudly, she cringed. Damn it! Where was her courage? Where was her vow to never back down from another fight?

Immediately after the echo quieted, Reyes stiffened, ceased moving and rushed out, "I am sorry. Again. You did nothing wrong, only offered to help. But I always clean up my mess, and I will not allow you to dirty your precious hands."

Precious? Her? There wasn’t a drop of sarcasm in his tone, only absolute sincerity.

He pivoted, keeping his back to her as he skidded into motion. "Please, Danika. Go."

He was embarrassed by what he’d done, she realized. He was ashamed. She didn’t know what to say to soothe him. Didn’t know what to think to soothe herself.

Danika backed out of the bathroom. She didn’t look away from Reyes, who was still cleaning, still avoiding her, until her shoulder rammed into the door frame and she had no other choice. When she reached the hallway, she pressed herself against the wall. Tremors racked her.

She wanted to find Ashlyn, discuss this with someone who just might be able to understand, but her friend had left with Maddox and the others early this morning. Ashlyn had conversations to listen to, she’d said, and it had surprised Danika that the ever-protective Maddox had agreed to the journey. Should she go back as Reyes had ordered? Or stay and wait for him? Both appealed to her, but for different reasons. Leaving would give her time to calm down, to think. Staying would provide an opportunity to go with Reyes when he spoke with Torin about her family.

Admit it. You’re worried about Reyes. You want to see him again.

She stayed.

Fifteen minutes passed, the sounds of shuffling feet, running water and curses filling her ears. Strangely, impatience kept its distance as her mind rolled and churned like a storm about to break.

She had some major decisions to make.

She was due to contact Stefano later tonight and the tiny cell phone he’d given her was burning a hole in her pocket. What would he do if she failed to call? What did she want him to do? With Reyes seeing to her every need, things were…complicated.

Oh, she still wanted revenge. If she discovered that Aeron truly had killed her grandmother, she would return to his cell and she would not hesitate to cut off his head. But what if he hadn’t killed Grandma Mallory?

Don’t you dare give up hope. Reyes’s voice whispered through her mind, even though they both knew how evil hope could be.

"The Darkest Pleasure"

Could she allow the Hunters to storm into his home, capture the residents, hurt them, lock them away and ultimately slaughter them? Reyes would not be excluded from that. They wanted him, hated him. And she would not be able to warn him because he would warn the others – which totally defeated the goal of keeping Reyes intact, the only true decision she’d made.

She’d thought herself in deep. Now…What should she do? She felt torn between two sides, straddling a fence with no freaking clue as to which way to fall. Something would happen and she’d lean one way. Then something else would happen and she’d lean the other.

"Danika."

At the sound of Reyes’s voice, she blinked open her eyelids. When had she closed them? He loomed in front of her, this warrior who so conflicted her. He’d cleaned himself up, had seemingly scrubbed away his emotions as surely as he’d scrubbed away the blood. His expression was blank, and yet her heart fluttered as it always did when he was near.

"You waited," he said.

If that pleased or angered him, she couldn’t tell. "Yes," she said, breathing deeply of his fresh pine scent. He wore a black T-shirt and new pants. "I’d like to go with you to speak with Torin."

His head tilted to the side, his gaze boring into her. "You are not…scared of me?"

"No." Truth. She was just more confused than ever.

A sigh slipped from him, and beneath the casual resonance was a rushing river of relief. "I find I am once again helpless against you."

As helpless as she was against him? "I don’t understand this." Not the connection between them, and not their mutual unwillingness to hurt each other when they were both supposed to do so.

"Neither do I." He held out his hand. "I will take you to see Torin, but you are not to touch him. You are not even to get within reaching distance of him."