Eternal Flame (Night Watch #3)(14)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her shirt open, gaping, his hands on her flesh. Tight ni**les. Pebble hard. He’d want to taste her.

Fire. Surrounding him.

Jana … on the bed.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” The memory of her words filled his mind.

He jumped from the bed, moving fast, only to have her yell as she tumbled after him.

The cuffs.

He froze, staring at her wrist. Still bound. He took a breath and tasted her. “What did I do?”

She blinked and seemed to see him. “Ah. Guess you are back now.” Jana pushed herself up, stretching a bit, and the few remaining buttons on her top strained with the movement. He leaned forward, trying to give her more room to move. Where were the cuff keys? His left hand dove into his pockets. Nothing. Figured.

Jana just sat there, staring up at him, with no expression on her pretty face.

How was she so calm? “What did I do to you?” He remembered need. A white-hot lust that had thundered through his body and driven all sanity from his mind. Take. The hunger had been too much. He’d wanted her. Planned to have her, then-He swallowed. “Did I hurt you?” No, please, shit, he didn’t want to-

She laughed at that. A light, quick chuckle, and she swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I’m not easy to hurt.”

Lie. She was human. Human with some strong psychic powers, but human nonetheless. “I shouldn’t have-I don’t know why I—”

Jana rolled her eyes. “You were drugged, dude. You took two hits of the tranq. You got handsy, and then you collapsed, that’s all.”

All? His back teeth were clenched so hard his jaw ached. “I don’t … do particularly well with drugs.”

“What demon does?”

So she knew.

But she wouldn’t realize just how dangerous he could be when the drugs were in his system. She didn’t understand just how lucky she was to still be breathing.

He stiffened his shoulders. “I’m sorry.” The words were stark. “I shouldn’t have touched you.” He sucked in a quick breath and just caught more of her scent.

Her head cocked toward him.

“Whatever I did to you”-he held her stare, because the shame was his—“I’m sorry.”

Her face softened, just for a moment, and he heard her mutter something that sounded like, “Being a good guy again …", but then she rose and turned her back on him.

His lips pressed together.

“You stopped.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “Yeah, the drug had you wired for a bit, but you pulled back. You got your control.” A little shrug. “But then you passed out before you could get off the bed.”

The drumming of his heart echoed in his ears. “You’re telling the truth?”

Now she did smile. A big, wide grin that, oh, hell, flashed the dimple in her cheek. “Would I lie?”

Yes. “What about the marks on your chest?”

She glanced down at herself, and the smile faded. “These aren’t from you. They’re courtesy of the vampire who caught me in the alley.”

The one she’d torched. The bastard had attacked her.

“I’ve seen other demons on the drug.” Her voice pulled his eyes back to her face. A flicker of sadness appeared in her gaze. “Even with one dose, they don’t know what the hell is going on.” A considering pause as her stare measured him. “You must be pretty strong.”

He wasn’t going to touch that one.

But she, apparently, was. Jana faced him fully, one brow up. “What are you on the power scale? An eight? Maybe pushing nine?”

The demon power scale. A scale that ran from one to ten. One being the low end, the demons who barely had any power above a human’s latent psychic talents. And ten being the demons who could bring hell to earth.

“I’m strong enough,” was all he said.

“Hmmm.” She lifted her wrist, raising the cuffs and his hand. “Then get these things off, demon. Get them off, and we can just walk away from all this.”

If only. “A witch I know put an enchantment on ‘em.” Standard protocol for Night Watch containment gear and weaponry. A little bonus Pak had always insisted on throwing in. “I can’t break them.” She deserved the full truth. “And even if I could, I couldn’t let you walk away.”

Her lips parted. Soft lips. So soft.

“You’re damn well kidding me,” she snapped.

“No, baby, I’m not.” He straightened his shoulders. The hunt hadn’t gone down at all like he planned, but he was sticking to the rules. He’d been an ass, and he’d regret last night for years to come-drugs or no drugs, I shouldn’t have scared her. But he had a job to do. “There’s a bounty on you. You’ve got to pay for what you did.”

Her lips formed an outraged “O.”

“I’m taking you in.”

“Someone save me from good guys.” She punched her index finger into his chest. Hard. “I could have killed you while you slept.”

Why hadn’t she?

“Let me go,” she told him, dropping her voice, but keeping her eyes up. “Walk away from me. Trust me, it will be the best move you’ve ever made in your life.”

“You’re my bounty.” And there were dead bodies she had to answer for.

She shook her head. “You’re a fool. You’re gonna get caught in the crossfire. You’ll die. Or you’ll just wish for death.”

Like he hadn’t done that before. He’d died when he was sixteen, and the demon inside had taken over. He’d been fighting the devil ever since. “Promises, promises, baby.”

For just an instant, one instant, her eyes seemed to flare red.

Zane stiffened, but then the blue flooded back into her gaze.

She licked her lips, and her eyes darted around the cabin. Darted, then paused somewhere just over his shoulder. “This sucks.”

Yeah.

“Come on.” Then she started marching away from him, heading toward a shut door.

“What are you—”

“It’s been over nine hours, demon. I’ve got to use the bathroom.” She grabbed the door and slipped inside. “Now be a good Southern gentleman, and don’t even think about looking at me.”

Southern gentleman? Since when?

The cuffs were a damn inconvenience, but they’d be free soon, both of them. He’d take her to Night Watch, turn her in, and be rid of his Ignitor.

Case closed.