Page 26 of Love, Rekindled

“After the fall, I had a couple of long and painful days of healing to consider my options,” he admitted. “That’s when I decided to approach you.”

There were a few minutes of silence as they tackled the steepest section of the path, the loose rocks beneath their feet threatening their balance. It wasn’t until they rounded a bend that she asked the question that had seemingly been on her mind.

“Why not before then?”

“Besides the fact that you tried to kill me the last time our paths crossed?” he teased.

She studied him with a searching gaze as if his answer was important to her. “Is that really the reason you stayed away?”

Azrael reached up to touch the jade pendant he wore around his neck. It’d been there since he’d awakened in his Moscow lair to discover it lying on the floor beside him. At the time, he’d told himself that it was a reminder not to be distracted by a pretty face, but he’d known even then that it had nothing to do with Jayla’s beauty. He’d clung to the pendant as if it were a talisman. A tangible connection to a future he desperately desired.

“No.” His voice was as soft as the snow that drifted from the low-hanging clouds. “You know why.”

“Do I?”

He arched his brows. “Are you going to pretend that you didn’t sense the connection between us?” He slowed his pace, willing her to speak the truth. It didn’t matter that he’d possibly chosen the worst time and place for this conversation. Or that he’d promised himself he wouldn’t press Jayla until after they’d retrieved his sword. He needed to hear her confess that there was something special between them. “It felt as if I’d been struck by lightning,” he murmured, accepting that if he expected her to share her feelings, he would have to do the same. “Why do you think I tried to convince you to leave? I didn’t want to fight you.”

She glanced away, the sweet scent of lotus filling the air. “And that’s why I stabbed you through the heart. You terrified me.”

Azrael jerked, startled by her confession. Afraid of him? “Because of my ability to touch the minds of demons?”

“No.” She glanced back at him, her eyes narrowed. “Although I might stab you again if you try to meddle with my thoughts.”

Relief blasted through him at her teasing. More than a few demons resented his ability to compel them. If Jayla had truly been frightened by his talent, it would have been…unbearable.

“It doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” he assured her, his voice low and husky. “I can give you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams without even touching you.”

Her eyes darkened, awareness heating the frigid night air. She even started to sway in his direction when she abruptly jerked away.

“I still don’t understand why you stayed away,” she muttered, picking up her speed as they followed the path that twisted sharply upward.

Azrael’s long strides easily kept pace beside her, his gaze locked on her rigid profile. “Because I knew if I sought you out and we were together again, I would never walk away.”

Her hands clenched into tight fists. “And you didn’t want to be with me?”

Azrael muttered a curse. Not want to be with her? There’d been nights when the hunger to seek her out had been nothing short of torture.

“If you knew how I struggled to stay away,” he rasped, pointing toward the edge of the path that plummeted toward the unforgiving rocks far below. “It was worse than leaping off this damned mountain.”

She kept her face averted, but Azrael could sense a portion of her tension ease. “Then why?”

“I told myself it was because I’m cursed.” He shrugged. “What female would want to be with a male who has no memory of the awful deeds he committed? Besides, there was always the chance that the curse might someday consume me.”

“But that wasn’t the reason?”

“Not entirely.” He narrowed his eyes as a punishing wind whipped over the top of the mountain, threatening to lift them off the path and into the abyss.

Was it reminding him that this wasn’t the time or place for the conversation? Leaning forward, he braced himself as they reached the upper ridge.

“Are you going to tell me?” Jayla demanded.

He glanced to where she walked at his side. She moved easily up the path, her slender form far more aerodynamic than his bulk.

“You’re very stubborn,” he helpfully pointed out.

“It’s my finest quality.”

His lips twisted as he ran a slow, thorough gaze down the length of her slender curves. “Not even close.”

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