Warning: Explicit language
Eidolon’s head snapped up, eyes glowing gold. Silver flashed; he launched the cleaver, impaling it in the wall. Forget surgery. The guy wielded a knife with deadlier skill than any O.R. required.
Still on his knees, he threw back his head and roared, a furious, raw sound that drove her backward several steps. Rage and danger emanated from him in scorching waves she could feel on her skin, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.
Tayla’s gaze cut to the knife. Just a few steps…
Her hand closed on the hilt; his hand closed on her arm.
“Sonofa–” In an instant, her spine cracked against the wall and his forearm crushed her throat.
“What do you know about this?” She couldn’t speak, could barely breathe thanks to his choke hold. “Tell me!”
He emphasized his last words with more pressure against her windpipe. Fury burned her blood as badly as the lack of oxygen burned her lungs. He’d caught her off guard, and it wouldn’t happen again.
She struck. Hard, fast, in the ribs. A hook to the leg knocked him to the ground. He was up in a flash, and she had to hand it to Hellboy, he had moves.
He swung. She blocked, buried her fist in his gut.
“I do this for a living, asshole, so you don’t have a chance.”
As though he hadn’t heard, or didn’t care, he lunged, and she flew back against the wall again. The whole wall thing was getting old.
“Is The Aegis responsible?” He spun her, took her to the floor. The impact rattled her teeth and made her abdomen throb at the site of her stitches.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” She elbowed his jaw and rolled so she was on top of him, squeezing him between her thighs. “What’s your problem?”
His snarl vibrated through her as he roughly jerked her beneath him, pinning her with his weight. “My problem is that someone, probably The Aegis, is slicing up my kind and selling their parts in the human and demon magical black markets.”
And that’s a problem, why? Probably something she shouldn’t say out loud. She wriggled and tested his grip. “If The Aegis was involved, I’d know. They aren’t.”
“That’s not what Nancy said.”
“And you believed her? A vampire?”
He watched her, peered so intently into her eyes that she suddenly felt stripped bare of all her thoughts. The sensation was disturbing as hell, and she bucked, trying to dislodge him. When she struck at his face, he pressed down with his body and muscled her arms into place above her head.
“You’re a better fighter, little killer, but I’m stronger and you’re injured, so don’t fuck with me.”
She glared, tempted to spit in his face. She hated being restrained, despised the feeling of helplessness and vulnerability. She especially hated that he was stronger, because they should have been an even match, but in recent weeks she’d lost the freakish strength she’d been born with.
“Get off of me.”
“So you can hit me?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”
“You just going to keep me like this forever, then?”
“I should kill you. Here, with no Haven spell to keep me from wringing your neck.”
She had no doubt he meant it, but she’d never backed down from a threat. “Try it, asshole.”
He watched her, his eyes still glowing gold. Even when he was threatening her, he was hypnotic. She watched right back, slowly becoming aware of how his body pressed down on hers, one thigh between her legs. His muscular chest crushed her breasts, and her scrub top had ridden up so the crisp cotton of his shirt rasped against her stomach.
“How many demons have you slaughtered, Aegi?” he asked softly. “Have you even kept count?”
She snorted. “How many humans have you killed?”
One dark eyebrow arched. “None.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Because I’m a demon. So I must kill humans for sport.”
“Pretty much.”
“Your ignorance is disgusting.”
“Everything about you is disgusting.” She tried to pretend that hadn’t been as childish as it sounded.
“I could remind you—”
“Don’t.”
The gold faded out of his eyes, replaced by the dark chocolate of desire that sucked her in like a whirlpool she couldn’t fight. She had to, though, because they were engaged in a war, and her side had to win. That it suddenly didn’t feel like a battle didn’t escape her notice.
One of his fingers stroked her wrist where he held them over her head, and she wondered if he realized what he was doing. It felt good, much better than it should, considering the situation.
“What are you going to tell your Aegis buddies about my hospital and what happened to you?” More fingers joined the first to caress the sensitive spot where her palm met her wrist.
“Nothing,” she said smoothly. “If they find out that I was held by the enemy, they might think I talked, and they’ll never trust me again.” Which could be true, but she did have to tell them.
One long swipe of his thumb over a pulse point nearly made her moan. “And what would they do to you, these friends of yours?”
“I don’t know. Maybe assign me to research instead of hunting.”
But something niggled at her, because she vaguely remembered another Guardian who had been captured and tortured by a brutal clan of vampires. When he escaped, mutilated and a pint low on blood, he’d gone straight to Aegis HQ.
For days they’d kept him sequestered, and when he finally went out on a routine patrol, he didn’t return. Everyone assumed he’d been killed in battle, but Tay hadn’t been so certain. What if they’d transferred him, processed him out of The Aegis, or even sent him to the Berlin Sigil to be watched or interrogated? Now that she was in a similar situation, the tiny sliver of doubt as to his fate had grown into a two by four that was about to knock her upside the head.
She needed an insurance policy. A way to prove her loyalty if it ever came down to that.The demon lying on top of her, his heart pounding strong and steady against her chest, was just the ticket. She could turn him over to them, if she had to.
“Look, Hellboy, what do you say we call it a draw and you let me up?”The suspicion in his penetrating gaze made her lose hope. “What are you up to?”
His thumb still ran over the sensitive skin of her wrist in slow, rhythmic circles, and his thigh rocked against her core with every tiny movement from either one of them. It wasn’t fair, the way he could make her so aware of her body, of every inch of skin that touched his. It was almost as though her concentration had turned inward, so much so that nothing around her existed.And because of that, she didn’t hear the scrape of claws on flooring until it was too late.
CLIFFHANGER!!! ARRGGH!