CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Lexi stretched languidly in bed and rolled over. Warmth saturated her body and she yawned, cracking her jaw loudly. Her legs ached, her feet hurt, and her back was killing her. She must have been walking longer than she realized last night. No wonder she did not remember making it back to the cabin last night. Layla must have been hissing mad given the argument they’d had before Lexi stormed off. Turning over again, she resigned herself to the fact she needed to go and beg her sister’s forgiveness. She opened her eyes and frowned. Where the fuck was she?
She sat up quickly, the covers falling around her body as her eyes searched the room. It was then she realized she was only dressed in an oversized shirt and her panties. With an indignant gasp, she grabbed the covers and pulled them back around her—as if a group of men were watching from the huge bank of windows that lined the wall.
She looked frantically around the room. This place was decorated for some kind of royalty or something. Large art deco style paintings covered one wall, while the other was taken up by the huge bed in which she lay. Furniture that screamed more money than sense dotted the room. But those windows… They took up a whole damn wall and gave the room an exquisite view of the mountains still shrouded in darkness with just a hint of dawn approaching painted against the night sky. A glass door led out to a balcony that she would have killed to have on the cabin. Her feet itched to walk out onto it and find where it led—clearly around the house somewhere.
Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the most immediate problem. Her clothes had to be somewhere in this cataclysm of modern décor. She could not have ended up in some stranger’s house by accident without her apparel. Lexi froze as the memories of last night flooded back in a rush—the man with the amethyst eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she groaned. She had hit him hard enough with that branch to cause serious damage, and he bushed it off like it had been a love tap.
Sarcastic, arrogant bastard. He must have drugged her or something. That had to be it. What if he had—Oh God, she didn’t want to think about what he might have done to her while she had been out cold in his house. Despite her mind running with the most evil and darkest of ideas, her heart kept pushing back. She shouldn’t jump to conclusions like that.
A sound from the other side of the door had her head snapping toward it. She jumped from the bed, all concerns for the fact she was only in a shirt forgotten. Her eyes darted around the room for a weapon of some sort. Settling on a rather large vase she grabbed it, testing the weight, and moving quickly behind the door. The sonofabitch was in for another head bashing.
The door opened slowly, and he entered silently—no doubt so he could molest her or something. His back to her and she sucked in a breath, taking her opportunity to bring the vase down. Unfortunately, she misjudged the distance and the bright orange monstrosity of décor shattered against his shoulder.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” His shout shook the room, and the tray of hot coffee and food he had been holding crashed to the floor.
The male whirled around, his gorgeous gem-like eyes flashing and narrowing on her. Lexi watched him clench his hands into fists, his jaw line tensing before he released it all in a breath and his whole body relaxed.
“Is it always going to be this way with you?” His voice was like smooth caramel in a holy-crap-can-that-even-be-legal kinda way. It took Lexi about ten seconds to realize he had even been speaking real words. She narrowed her eyes at him as his words reached her brain. What did he mean by always?
“What in the hell did you do to me? Did you drug me? I swear I know the police chief. If you touched me in any way—”
“I am actually insulted you would even conceive of such a thing. I might be a bastard, but I am not a rapist, Lexi Thorne.” The shocking color his eyes turned made her instantly regret her words.
She opened her mouth to snap back but she stopped herself. Why had she said that to him? What in the world possessed her to say such a thing? The clear insult and pain in those eyes of his went right to her heart, and she lowered her gaze, color flushing her cheeks.
“I don’t know why I said that, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” What was wrong with her? Was it the fact her sister was moving away from her emotionally? She had someone she loved, someone her daughter adored. Did that leave room for her, the crazy aunt that didn’t like anyone?
“You’re forgiven, of course. I can understand your trepidation waking up in a strange place. But be assured I will never lay a hand on you, until you ask me to.” His low and rather overly confident tone sent a shiver over her skin, and it wasn’t one of fear.
Lexi cleared her throat, stepping back and hissing—then swearing and stepping to the side only to hiss and swear again.
“Fuck! Dammit!” Shards of the failed weapon of choice cut into her bare feet.
She felt a sudden shift as strong arms wrapped around her and she was lifted into the air. A memory from last night came back to her—he had carried her last night as well, she remembered now. She had passed out in his arms as he bore her weight back to his home. God, she felt like such a bitch right then. More than that—geez, she had called him something so abhorrent that most men would have thrown her out. And here he was carrying her clumsy ass again because she was bleeding in his presence for the second time in twenty-four hours.
He set her on the bed and she watched him as he vanished from the room. His hair was dark mahogany, or was it teak, no maybe redwood… hell, it kept changing. It fascinated her—it was so many different colors of brown and red. His skin was a deep tan like coffee with just a touch of cream. Blinking, she growled low at herself. She was being an idiot. It didn’t matter that his eyes were the color of her favorite gemstone, or that his hair was like a kaleidoscope of deep autumn colors in the light. She swore she was not going to get involved with a man, not even one as handsome as him.
“Stubborn wench.” Deus frowned again at his reflection, turning his face left then right. He tilted his head down to look at the odd hair, then at his face. He opened his mouth to inspect the teeth, then clicked them closed. He could not get over the eyes, something about them, it pulled at a memory. Where had he seen eyes like this before?
At some point last night, when he had met this infuriating woman, his body had shifted from that fifty-something male he had been to this. He rubbed his fingers over the days’ worth of stubble on his jaw and wondered if he should bother shaving or not. He usually did not hold a form long enough to bother with it. Still, as long as he was going to be around her, he should make an effort. This form was her ideal one after all. He shook his head and looked at the now faint scar along his hairline where she had nearly taken his head off only hours before. Damn woman was out of her mind.
“Trust me to find the one with a few loose screws.” He finished running the hand towel under the faucet, pushing the niggling feeling of familiarity to the back of his mind and heading back into the room.
He paused, watching her pick at the shards of vase sticking out of the wounds on the soles of her feet, leaving little pools of blood on the bed sheets. Not that he cared, he would buy more. But seriously, this woman was a walking disaster zone.
“If you keep doing that you will make it bleed more.” Her eyes moved to his and she flashed him that annoyed, angry gaze again.
This female was majorly hot and cold—well, more like scorching and sub-zero. How was he supposed to read that? One second she seemed to be staring at him like she could not take her eyes off him, and the next she was considering what object to try and crack his head open with next.
“What are you, a doctor?” Okay, this was angry Lexi. He filed that away in his new Lexi filing cabinet in his head and walked toward her, reaching out for her ankle. She yanked her leg away almost violently and he waited. She was severely skittish. He lifted an eyebrow at her.
The blush that crept up her neck told him she knew what she’d done was stupid, and she slowly pushed her foot toward him. Gently, almost as if he were tending a timid animal, he reached out and slid his hand around her ankle, lifting it and setting it down in his lap. Her eyes stayed locked to him the whole time as he wiped the cloth over her blood-covered foot and picked out the bits of orange ceramic. He wiped over her arch and she tried to yank her foot away again, but this time he held it still, his eyes turning to her quizzically.
“Ticklish?” A small smile pulled at his lips as she glared daggers back. Oh, if looks could kill.
“Shut up.” Okay, score one for the demon.
Deus chuckled low and finished with her left foot, then tapped his lap indicating he wanted the right one. She hesitated for a moment before obliging him, and then he continued with his care of her wounds.
“So you know my name, which is more than a little creepy. I would like to even this up a bit if you don’t mind?”
“Oh, do forgive me. I’m Deus Aidoneus, pleasure to meet you in person. I know you because I have some of your photographs in the house. When I moved here I got some from the store in town. Ira was very proud of you, and he talks a lot. When I saw you last night I recognized you from your photo in the store.”
He watched as she blinked a few times and turned her gaze from his. The enigma that is Lexi Thorne. Finishing with her feet, he kept hold of her right ankle, his fingers against her skin.
“So why were you hiding out in the forest in the dark?”
Her eyes lifted to his and for a second he saw something fragile inside. He wanted to see more of that Lexi—the one she kept hidden behind this impenetrable wall.
“Why do you care?” Annnnd there it goes, hidden again.
“No reason, just wanted to know why you were wandering around my property in the dark. Considering you injured yourself, I wanted to be sure you were not going to sue or anything.” He dropped her foot and stood, looking down at her, making sure he kept it all business. She seemed very uncomfortable with any talk that was even remotely personal or friendly.
“Sue? I’m not going to sue. If you must know, you arrogant ass, I had an argument with my sister. I was heading to our family hunting cabin, that just happens to be near your land, and got a little lost. I had no intention of hurting myself. Now, as you can see, I am more than better, so where are my pants? I would like to leave!” Deus just stared at her as she snapped her mouth closed and swore under her breath. He had this effect on people, men and woman. If they desired to spill their hearts to him, they did.
“They were ripped. I have some sweats I can give you, but they will be rather large and not conducive to hiking in the snow.”
“They were not ripped that badly. They will do until I make it to the cabin, Mr. Aidoneus. Please get my clothes so I can leave.”
This was not going as well as he had hoped. The fact the Seers all seemed immune to his natural aphrodisiac qualities seemed to be a disadvantage in this situation. He needed to pull on his years of seducing women—not all of them had been easy targets, some he had actually had to work hard to get near. This one, however, he had never wanted to get near a woman as much as this one. She was prickly and spicy and everything he usually didn’t like about females; he preferred woman who were more receptive, softer and willing. She was standoffish, argumentative, frustrating, irritable—and by the gods, he had never wanted to pin a woman to a fucking wall as much as this one. He would kiss her until she submitted and melted against him.
The urge was making his head ache. He had never had to hold back, not once since the day of his creation. Having women or men come to him, throwing themselves at his feet, begging for his touch, had been so easy for him And now he was faced with one who looked at him like he was the devil himself. Patience was definitely not one of his virtues, not where this blond vixen was concerned.
“Fair enough, Miss Thorne, if you insist on keeping this formal. Allow me to finish tending your wounds. Can I at least make you breakfast… again?” He nodded over to the spilled and shattered remains of the tray beside the door.
She turned and winced, slowly looking back at him Her mouth opened and then she closed it and put her hand to her forehead. She sighed and ran those long fingers through her hair. Damn his imagination! He was thinking of way too many uses for those delicate hands when she started talking.
“I’m sorry. Deus, was it? Look, I’m sorry for the forest and the vase. I will pay for it. You have been nothing but kind to me, and here I am being a bitch to you.” He watched as she moved to stand, ignoring the cuts on her feet, and holding her hands before her. “Thank you for looking after me. I would love some breakfast. I promise not to hit you with anything else.”
Deus had to try really hard not to smile at her attempts at being demure and contrite. He got the distinct impression she did not do it very often. He turned his gaze over to his destroyed first breakfast. It had not been much; coffee, some cut up fruit and toast he miraculously hadn’t burned—he wasn’t the chef in the family, but he had been proud of himself. He had never actually made breakfast for anyone before. He was usually gone well before morning because his job was done, the soul was taken and cleansed, and the Blight was removed from the world.
“After you then, Lexi.” He gestured toward the door and she rolled her shoulders back, gathering her humility and determination no doubt. She was a proud woman, this Seer. She turned and stopped. He just smiled wide, glad she couldn’t see him.
“Do you have some slippers, maybe?” Her voice was a little shaky.
“Slippers? Oh, the vase shards. No, I don’t think I do. Your feet are too badly cut for your boots. I am afraid I will have to carry you into the den. If you don’t mind, that is.” Yeah, he was kind of doing that on purpose, but he couldn’t help it, and yes, she knew it.
“Remember that promise I made not to hit you. I lied.” The glare she gave him might have cowed a lesser man, but he just chuckled.
“I figured as much. Besides, if you stop attempting to murder me, how will I ever get better at dodging?” Before she could answer him with one of her snappy retorts he swept her up into his arms—an action he was coming to discover usually shut her up—and walked from the room as she held onto his neck with both arms. Yeah, he could get used to this.
The trip lasted all of ten seconds, but by the tense posture of her body, she acted like he was carrying her into the Underworld or something. He gently set her down, and she jumped away from him as if he had put his hands in some inappropriate places. She glared at him, pulling the shirt down. He was not about to inform her his shirt would never be long enough to cover her, no matter how hard she tried to pull it down. It would always flash the tops of her creamy thighs and give him a delicious tempting tease of her innocent-looking panties underneath. Talk about torturing himself—he couldn’t help but watch her as she tried to pull the front down, only to have the back ride up, and vice-versa.
“See, I got you to the den unscathed.” He even gave her a little bow just to annoy her some more.
“I swear you are the most annoying, pig headed, sarcastic asshole I have ever met! And considering the man my sister is dating, that is saying something!” He just smiled. Her skin did turn a lovely shade of red when she was angry.
Just a little more of a prod. He let a small trickle of his power reach out, temping her to open up to him, to drop her natural shields against those she didn’t trust. It was one of his many tricks that allowed him to get into a person’s mind. Filling his voice with that power he spoke, keeping his eyes locked on hers.
“You mentioned a sister. Won’t she be worried about you?”
“Why do you keep changing the subject? Yes, I have a sister, a twin if you must know. She is shacking up with some muscle-brained nut job who doesn’t even remember his own name, as if that makes it any better. She just expects me to accept him into our family.” She covered her mouth and narrowed her eyes at him. “How are you doing that? I know it’s you.”
“What on earth do you mean?” Feigning innocence, he broke his gaze away and walked past her toward the huge open kitchen and grabbed a clean mug from the shelf. Reaching for the steaming coffeepot, he poured a full cup and raised it to his lips. Her eyes locked on the mug and he smiled, lifting his eyebrows at her.
“Want one?”
“What’s it going to cost me?” Her arms crossed and she tilted a hip. Hell, if he could get her to just stay like that he would give her the damn world.
“Not a thing. I don’t charge… for coffee.” Grabbing another mug, he filled it and offered it to her. She didn’t move, she just stared at him as if taking the mug from him was going to cost her soul. “I don’t bite, Lexi.” But he wanted to.
Why did just going over and taking the coffee from this man make her feel like she was making some kind of deal with him that she wasn’t going to be able to get out of? It was those eyes, she was sure of it. He looked at her like he could see through her, like he was waiting for her to show him something she was determined to keep buried deep inside.
But he had coffee, and she needed her fix. Gritting her teeth against his mystifying power of making her talk about things she didn’t want to, Lexi straightened her spine and walked toward him, reaching out and grabbing the mug from him. Her finger brushed his and she staunchly ignored the fact that sparks numbed her fingers. She lifted his mug to her lips—making sure to drink from the opposite side to where his lips had touched. She kept her eyes locked to his and took a mouthful from the mug.
Swallowing the black heaven, she felt like herself for a moment before narrowing her eyes at him. Was he trying to unnerve her by staring at her like that? It wasn’t going to work; she lived with a five-year-old and she was a stubborn little thing.
“So you said you argued with your sister—”
“Nope, we’re not talking about Layla. This is so not happening.” She took another long drink and he smiled. Damn him! He was an arrogant one. He knew precisely what he was doing. Was it just his voice, or did he indeed have some kind of gift that made her spill her problems?
“You wound me, Lexi. But if you don’t want to talk that’s okay. I will bring the car ‘round and give you a lift home. I can’t let you go wandering around out there again. Who knows what trouble you will run into without someone to watch out for you.”
“I don’t need someone to watch out for me, least of all you. I can look after myself, I can look after my family from the media, from those fucking angels, from that damn demon in my house!” Geez, had she just come out and said that? What was wrong with her? Lexi never even saw him move, then his hands were on her arms and she was looking up at him, those amethyst eyes bright with intensity.
“Demon? What demon?” The sudden desperation in his voice made her pause. She searched his eyes, and all she saw was worry and a spark of hope. Maybe if she told him, he would think she was nuts and stay away from her? It was worth a try.
“The one my sister is sleeping with. The one with no memory.” His hands dropped from her arms and he stumbled back, reaching for the counter to steady himself. Okay, not the reaction she was expecting. “Hey, you alright? You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“Does he know his name? Anything about himself? Please, this is important, Lexi.” His eyes were shimmering and locked on her, but his mind was clearly on something else. Lexi bit down on her lip. What if this man meant Tan harm? Clearly it was no coincidence that he had bought this house.
“I… I can’t…” She knew then in that moment she would protect that man. He was part of her family now because her sister loved him, because he was something to Annabelle, and to her. “He is my family, my sister loves him, so I’m not about to expose him to a stran—”
“He’s my brother.” His tone was serious, his eyes hard as he spoke, and she just stared at him.
“Your brother? As in…”
“I think you know, Lexi, you mentioned what he is. You mentioned the Malakhim, the angels. You know.”
Lexi felt her heartbeat thundering in her chest. How was it even possible that she could run into another one of these Seven Sins demons in Stillwater, Montana? She wanted to run away! Again, this was so not her! Why did her family have to be involved in all this madness? It was a stupid question. She knew why, because of her blood, because of what she and Layla were, because of their powers.
“You’re a Sin, aren’t you?” Best just to come out and ask.
“Straight to the point, I like that. Yes, I am Asmodeus, Sin of Lust. My brother is Tanus, Sin of Wrath. Has been missing for months. He was taken from us by Michael. We have been searching for him. To find him here, it’s a miracle.” Lust. Well, that explained it. No wonder she was feeling all tingly and odd around him.
“You mean you didn’t come here for him?” Her stomach sank. If he had not come for his brother, that meant he was here for something else, and she had a pretty good idea what, or rather who.