Page 24 of To Crave Madly
She looked up at me, the surprise in her eyes darkening to anger over my actions. She really was a tiny little thing. So fragile. Precious.
No. Not precious; where had that thought come from? I couldn’t let myself think like that. Not about her.
Her eyes darted over my shoulder to the shadowed stairway that led down to my retreat. She really was curious about what I did down there. I could tell her. Watch the colour drain from her face as she realised how much of a monster I really was. I braced my arms on the door frame, towering over her and blocking her view to the space behind me. Those sinfully dark eyes landed back on mine.
“Want to know what goes on down there?”
“No,” she replied quickly, casting another glance over my shoulder.
“Hmm, you probably don’t have the stomach for it anyway.”
She scoffed and folded her arms over her chest defiantly. So predictable. Give her a challenge and she would just need to try to prove you wrong. If I weren’t so persistent in hating her, I’d almost find that trait adorable. But Ineededto hate her. Ineededto keep her away from me. I couldn’t put myself in a position where I had anything to lose like that again. It wasn’t worth the heartache.
“Let’s go.” My words were snarled, and she flinched. Good. She needed to hate me too. She needed to believe I wasn’t worth being a friend to and she needed to stay the fuck away from me.
I slammed the door behind me and headed out of the house. I didn’t look to see if she was following, I didn’t care. I just wanted this to be over with so I could go back to torturing demons for information.
The early evening night was cool against my skin. The weather was starting to turn cooler as the season changed to winter. I loved winter. The cold nights, crisp mornings and bright sunshine. But I missed the snow we used to get in the mountains where I lived before I ended up at the Conclave. It was truly magical. Pure brilliant white snow as far as the eye could see. It never snowed like that here. We were lucky if we got any snow at all. My heart clenched at the memory. Fuck. There I went feeling emotions again. This was starting to get bad. Really fucking bad.
“So, what are we doing tonight?”
Lori’s soft voice drifted on the evening breeze and I hated how my dragon reacted to it. His ears pricked up and before I knew it, I was turning to face the woman who was the source of all my fucking frustration.
“Patrolling,” I snapped. I hated how she made me feel. Hated that I wanted to touch her, taste her, fuck the life out of her. But I couldn’t. No matter how much my dragon wanted to crawl out of my skin and fight me for her. I was never going to let a woman have power over me like that again. Not when it had cost me everything.
She laughed back at me. “No shit, Sherlock. I’m not wearing all the leather for nothing.” Her hands moved up and down her body, drawing my attention to the ridiculously tight clothes. I shouldn’t have looked. That was a bad fucking idea. Now I had the image of her curvy lines burned into my memory. Was this how it felt to be fucking tortured? I groaned. This patrol was going to be Hell.
I turned on my heel and walked off. I didn’t have time to be waiting around for Lori to decide if she was part of this team or not. If she wasn’t coming with me then she could fuck off. Jasper was sending us out to investigate the Witches’ Corner. Alec had mentioned that his witch friend was worried about the witches who lived there and he was sending Lori and me to take a look.
“Wait. What about Torsten?”
“What about him?” I called over my shoulder. I hated Shadow Fiends. They were the mercenaries of the Under Realm and they were renowned for being cold and ruthless. I didn’t trust him, and I certainly didn’t want him on patrol with us. I’d knocked him out and stuffed him in one of the interrogation rooms in my basement while Lori was getting ready. He wouldn’t be able to shadow jump out of one of them because they’re designed to repress a supernatural’s powers. He was sure going to be pissed when he woke up, but I didn’t give a shit. I was not having him anywhere near me. To be honest, I was surprised I had managed to catch him unawares, but he was too interested in the stupid fucking donuts to even notice me. It was almost like he’d never seen one before. Who’d never seen a donut?
“Shouldn’t we wait for him? Lucifer made me promise not to –”
“I don’t give a fuck what Lucifer wants. He doesn’t run this place, Jasper does. Torsten wasn’t invited. Now, we have to investigate the Witches’ Corner so suck it up and move.”
She stepped up to me, fire blazing in her eyes and making them glow brightly in the darkening evening. “What is your fucking problem?”
I leant closer. “You. You’re my fucking problem.” I was so close that I could see my reflection in those demonic eyes.
“Well, do you know how many fucks I have to give, Cassie? None.”
“Stop calling me that.” It really fucking grated on me.
“Why? Does it piss you off?”
Yes. It pissed me off, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “No, Princess, it just fuels my need to dislike you excessively.”
She shrugged her shoulders and smirked. “That’s okay, not everyone has good taste.”
A vexatious growl crawled out my chest. She was so fucking frustrating. One of these days, I really would wring that pretty little neck of hers. Why did I let myself engage in the pettiness? I sighed. I knew why; part of me liked the way she stood up to me. People usually ran away from my not-so-charming demeanour. I had worked hard in getting people to steer clear of me and that’s how I liked it. But Lori… she made my blood boil. She set fire alight in my veins and now my dragon wanted to play with her. I just wanted to toy with her like a little plaything. Maybe wecouldhave some fun in the basement… Fuck. What was happening to me?
I huffed. “We don’t have time for this. Move your ass, or I’ll throw you over my shoulder.”
She pouted and I had a sudden need to suck that bottom lip. Fucking Hell. All this aggression between us was starting to turn me on.
“I’d like to see you try,” she said saucily while making to move past me. She was goading me. I smiled wickedly. She really shouldn’t do that.
