A little.

“Reaver, do you not know how to knock?”

“Angels don’t knock.”

“Do angels explain why they haven’t been available for six months?” Kynan asked. “I’ve been trying to summon you.”

Reaver shrugged. “Shit happens.” He cast a glance at Arik. “Heard you signed on with The Aegis. Good move—they can use you.”

Arik didn’t bother to ask how the angel knew he’d joined. Even if he’d wanted to ask, he couldn’t. He was standing in a room with a freaking angel and utterly speechless.

“Have the Horsemen agreed to meet with us?” Kynan asked, and Reaver nodded.

“They’ll see up to three Aegi, but I only want you two.”

Arik finally found his voice. “Why me? There are more senior members of The Aegis, and I’m not really a Guardian.”

“You’re sworn in,” Reaver replied. “And you’re a member of the R-XR. The military needs to be kept up on everything. And the fact that your sister is a werewolf and your in-laws are demons might help convince them that you’re not a fanatical Aegi who is out to kill them.”

“Is that why you want me, too?” Kynan asked.

Reaver’s sapphire eyes darkened. “I want you because you’re charmed. If the Horsemen decide that killing Aegi instead of working with them is preferable, you should survive.”

Eleven

The hot shower—in the white marble bathroom with six shower heads and heated benches—did not help Cara feel normal at all. The reality of her situation had sunk in, but now she wasn’t sure how she fit into this new actuality that was full of demons, legends, and gates of light that could take you anywhere in an instant.

Then there was the… whatever it was… happening between her and Ares. She’d kissed him. He’d kissed her back. He definitely couldn’t hide his attraction to her, not when she’d felt it jabbing into her belly when he held her pinned to the wall.

So yes, there was something physical making the air between them crackle. But at times it seemed like there was more. He could be hard, a total jerk, but he’d also feather a soft touch over her skin, or allow her to cling to him when she was scared out of her wits. And the fact remained that he had saved her life and given her safe harbor. Granted, keeping her safe was in his best interests. But he could make her captivity so much more miserable.

Then there had been that fun little announcement about how violence excited him. Some twisted part of her had continued to push him, and she wasn’t sure why. Maybe because if he was right, her lifespan had an expiration date that was coming up soon, and she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Though she’d never been religious, she’d prayed for a full return of the strength she’d had before the home invasion. She’d spent two years hoping to be rid of the constant paranoia, the jumpiness, the terror that would reach up and grab her by the throat every time she heard a strange sound or someone knocked on her door.

Be careful what you wish for. Because, yeah, she’d finally tapped into her inner well of strength, but only because she’d been attacked, kidnapped, branded, and hunted. She wasn’t sure the tradeoff was acceptable.

No, she was sure. It wasn’t.

Dripping wet and with only a towel around her, she padded into the bedroom, and it dawned on her that the only thing she had to wear was pajama bottoms. That’s what you get for not planning a kidnapping better.

Having no choice, she pawed through Ares’s dresser until she found a shirt to sleep in. Because as much as she hated to admit it, he was right; she needed to find Hal. Now that her life was tied to his, it was more important than ever that she locate him and get him to safety. Still, the idea that her role in helping was to sleep pissed her off, to be frank.

She’d been sleeping for two years, doing just enough to survive, and she was sick of it. She wanted to be the person she’d been before the breakin, someone who made goals and then went after them. It was why she’d moved to South Carolina and started a holistic veterinary practice. She might have been hiding her ability, but that hadn’t meant she couldn’t use it as part of nature-based healing.

Frustrated, she jerked the white and red shirt over her head. The hem caught her midthigh, and the sleeves came past her elbows. Frowning, she tugged the front out to read it. Detroit Red Wings. Figured Ares was a hockey fan. A nice, violent game.

Violence excites me.

His words drew a shudder from her even as a forbidden thrill wove its way through her veins. She’d been a pacifist from birth, raised to believe that the pen was mightier than the sword, that physical force was a last resort and even then, there should be rules and fairness and minimal bloodshed. Her father had believed that war was never acceptable.

“Better to die yourself than dirty your soul by killing another,” he used to say, and she wondered how he’d feel about the intruder she’d… yeah. She wondered.

“Violence is for those who don’t have the intelligence to find another way.” Another of his favorite sayings, and one that made her smile, because her dad had never met Ares. The Horseman was far from stupid. Arrogant, brash, and oozing authority, maybe, but not stupid.

Absently, she reached up and ran her finger over the mark that had throbbed when he touched her, which was even now tingling. The tingling was different though, was more… urgent. It burned. What the…? She peered down the inside of the neckline. The mark was even brighter than before, its raised lines pulsing angrily.

So… this couldn’t be good. No, definitely not good, she thought, as a familiar odor drifted to her nose. It smelled like her veterinary office the morning she’d found it torn up.

It smelled like Hal.

A muffled growl from behind her brought every hair on her to attention. Icy terror made her clumsy as she slowly turned in an unsteady circle.

And came face to face with a rhino-sized hellhound.

Checkmate? She f**king checkmated him?

Ares paced like a tiger in a cage, steam building in his body, and not only from the frustration of Cara’s getting one up on him.

She was in the bedroom with the door closed and locked, and he was in the hallway, wanting in. He’d damned near worn a hole in the stone floor, and his earlobe throbbed from her bite. It hadn’t hurt, but it had left an impression all the way to his cock, which wanted the same treatment.

Violence excites me.

What a f**king stupid thing to say. Mainly because it was true. There was a reason for the term “bloodlust.” Hell, it was Ares’s middle name.

Not that he got all worked up from watching senseless violence. But being in the thick of battle, with the adrenaline pumping, the testosterone raging… nothing beat that rush.

Nothing except being chest to chest with Cara.

Shit, he’d wanted inside her. But then something extremely f**ked up had happened. He’d felt as though his heart was connected via a pipeline to the agimortus on her chest. The sensation had been mildly erotic… until his heart had made like a gas pump, delivering fuel from his body to hers. Before his eyes, her skin developed a rosy glow, and though he could write some of it off to anger, and maybe a little arousal, he’d felt strength rising in her. She’d begun to emanate power like a damned nuclear power plant, and all the while, he’d felt himself draining.

Maybe not draining, exactly, because it hadn’t been painful. Just… freaky. He’d lost his ability to sense conflict. And worse, his thoughts had gone linear, so single-minded he doubted he could strategize his way out of a shopping mall.

Footsteps approached, and he knew by the cadence that it was Thanatos. Knew by the heavy strikes that his brother was armored up.

“I visited Lilith’s temple and there was no sign of Tristelle… and what the hell are you doing?”

Ares cursed, long and loud. “I’m an idiot.”

“Duh.” Than grinned, because yeah, he was a real barrel of laughs. “But what are you doing?”

“Fucked up. This is so f**ked up.” Ares slammed his fist into the wall and hissed through the pain. He never did shit like that, because if you ruined yourself, you couldn’t fight. Sure, the bones he’d just broken would be healed in an hour, but still. “She beat me.”

“Did you like it?”

“You’re still not funny.” Ares’s jaw was clenched so tight he could barely understand his own words. “She knows how important she is, and she called me on it.” Man, she’d shocked the shit out of him. Up until now, she’d been as timid as a mouse, afraid of someone saying boo to her, and suddenly, she’d sprouted some teeth.

Probably because the agimortus had ripped his balls out and transplanted them into her.

Thanatos laughed, and speaking of teeth, Ares wanted to knock his brother’s out of his head. “It’s about time someone got one up on you. And a female human at that.”

“Fuck you.”

“I can’t have sex.”

“This isn’t a joke, brother.” Every one of Ares’s muscles twitched. “I want her.”

Than arched a tawny eyebrow, the silver piercing catching the light. “Then take her.”

“It isn’t that simple. She can’t stand me.” Ares kept pacing, his gut churning, his dick aching. “But then she looks at me with…” Lust? Too strong a word. Longing? Too wimpy. But shit, he could smell her desire, and the way her body would curve into his…

Thanatos laughed again, and Ares’s hands curled into fists. “You can have any demon female in the underworld just by crooking your finger, and now you want a human, but you don’t know how to have her. This is good.” He cocked his head and studied Ares for a second. “Do you think you want her because she’s human? Is that the draw?”

It was a valid question. Ares hadn’t been with a human woman since before he was cursed, had been forced to sate his lusts with demons who appeared human. Halfbreeds were best; at least they were only part demon.