Page 1 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
One
DianneMarkhamhaltedasfamiliar raucous laughter bounced off the wide windows along the corridor around her.Jasmyn and Tessa. For a moment she froze, her grip on the plastic cup filled with frozen rosé wine slipping a little. What were they doing walking this way? The quickest path to their cabin was behind the bar area to the elevators next to the cafeteria. Did they know she’d lied about going to the bathroom?
Dianne took a steadying breath. No. They hadn’t seen her circle around behind the bar and sneak among the rows of tables burgeoning with swimsuit-clad people eating deep-fried buffet food and drinking cocktails with lots of ice and cheap liquor. She was sure of it. Not that it was hard to slip past the periphery of the crowded pool deck. The cruise was almost over. Today was a sailing day, and the pool the most popular spot on the ship.
A shriek of merriment pierced her eardrum. Jasmyn’s hot-pink reflection swam across the window in front of her. The woman’s clothing was as loud as she was.
Dianne looked around frantically. What should she do? She’d never make it to the mid-ship elevators in time. Could she make it to the stairs?
Her gaze passed over the wordlibraryembossed on a plaque that she must have passed dozens of times over the past eight days.
Almost without thinking, she tugged the door next to the plaque open and slipped inside. None of the handful of people scattered around the quiet room, reading or playing board games, looked her way. Not even the massively muscular male sitting in the sunny corner wedged between the window and bookcase. The paperback he held looked tiny in his paws.
Paws.
Yikes. What the hell was wrong with her?
He was just a guy. A guy that she kept noticing, over and over, on this cruise from the underworld. A cruise with almost four thousand other passengers and crew members. And yet he kept inserting himself into her line of sight. He’d even brushed against her at check-in. Then again, he towered over almost everyone with a vague sense of menace and an intensity that would have drawn her gaze regardless.
Dianne shook herself. She didn’t have to imagine that he had some demonic hold over her awareness. What she did or didn’t think of this beast of a man was on her, not him. It wasn’t his fault that she’d dashed into the library looking for sanctuary.
A muffled peal of laughter filtered through the glass door behind her, sending Dianne’s heart racing and her feet scurrying to the farthest corner. Where The Beast squeezed in at the too-small table like a linebacker trying to attend tea with dolls.
Pulling out a chair, she dropped into it and bent over her tote bag to tug out the large silky wrap that she’d just bought at the souvenir table set up on the pool deck. None of her friends had seen it. It looked like something her mom would wear, with its large red-and-white hibiscus petals nestled against a royal-blue background.
Across from her, the clean scent of the sea mixed with something warmer seemed to cocoon the hulking male figure, who now stared at her.
Even though her heart raced at being so close to The Beast, she ignored it and his smell to wrap the fabric around her shoulders, the frosé still held in one hand.
A moment later, Jasmyn’s voice sliced through the serene air. “I could have sworn I saw her come in here.”
“Isn’t that her in the corner?” asked Tessa, whose quieter voice nevertheless carried in the small room bordered by a floor-to-ceiling window.
Dianne’s eyes widened before her gaze caught The Beast’s. Holy damn, he was attractive. She didn’t really take in individual features, simply fell into his hazel eyes under dark, straight brows. Her breath caught in her throat as inspiration hit her.
The Beast’s eyes narrowed a second before Dianne placed her free hand over his holding the book and leaned forward to kiss him.
He stiffened.
“Just go with it,” she murmured against his lips, although now her heart beat double time.
Was she scared of him—or of how he’d respond? No man had ever reacted like that when she made the first move. The Beast’s scent embraced Dianne, making her thoughts swoon and sending them into dizzying disarray.
And then he kissed her back, one hand skillfully threading its way through her hair to palm the back of her head as he deepened the kiss.
“Are you kidding?” scoffed Jasmyn’s voice across the room. “She swore off men, remember? Especially gym bros. Besides, she wouldn’t be caught dead in that wrap.”
Forgive meflashed Dianne silently to the other patrons. She sensed movement and heard a few annoyed murmurs.
Jasmyn, oblivious to the growing ill will at her disruption, continued. “C’mon. Let’s go back to the cabin. I’ve been saving some really potent shit. Gummies. You’ll love them. No Dianne means more for us.”
The library grew quiet moments later. Dianne continued to kiss The Beast, his soft beard brushing against her cheek.
He disengaged from her, however. She felt the disconnection from him as a loss even as his gaze mesmerized her. Flecks of gold danced against a green background rimmed in dark brown.
Dianne expelled a soft breath. Damn. That was the best kiss she’d had in years. Maybe ever ….
His hand holding her head slipped to the table between them. He pulled back. “They’re gone, you know. You don’t need to kiss this ‘gym bro’ any longer.”
