Page 31 of Villains and Vengeance
But I don’t say that, I just nod. ‘Dante’s gotten more serious about catching me since you guys made your deal with him. Guess he doesn’t want to give you your due. Anyway, his vampire was lurking. Took care of him and then some shifters appeared. I was getting away and one of them got a little overzealous.’
I stand up, not able to wait for water any longer. ‘How long was I out?’
‘A day or so, I think. Hard to tell here.’
I nod. ‘We need food, but we can fix the water part now. There’s a river close by.’
Axel doesn’t move, just stares. I look down at the floor a little self-consciously.
‘I’ll need your help,’ I mutter. ‘I won’t be able to climb down by myself with this hole in my back.’
He stands up slowly, eyes boring into me. ‘Fine,’ he grates out.
‘Remember,’ I say brightly, ‘if I die so do you, so no throwing me down to my death.’
I give him a double thumbs up.
He snorts softly. ‘I won’t kill you, Jules.’
The way my name rolls off his tongue makes me shiver. The way he takes my good arm and leads me to the exit makes me glance up at him warily. I see something in his eyes that makes me want to run, but also stay to see what happens.
He lets go of me, and I see him swallow hard.
‘You’re hungrier than you let on, aren’t you?’ I whisper.
He gives a jerky nod.
‘How long?’ I ask again.
He looks grim, not answering me as he moves the door-flap to the side and I’m met with Siggy’s gleaming eyes.
I reach out. ‘Hey, buddy. Bet you’re getting hungry again too, huh?’
I step out onto the web, my movements stupidly slow and unsure. How am I going to get us food like this? I can’t climb for shit.
When it’s clear that the chances of me getting to the ground without falling are slim to none, I hear Axel swear under his breath.
‘Stop before you kill yourself,’ he growls.
His arm snakes around my waist and he takes my weight, levering us both down with one hand, towards the ground. It’s painstakingly slow, but he puts me down on the stone floor and I look up at him with wide eyes. His hands are still on me and I’m so aware of them that my heartbeat is starting to speed up. I wonder for a split second if he’s using his lull on me, but he can’t be. I found out a long time ago that I’m one of the lucky .0001% of humans that the demon mind tricks don’t work on.
But he’s strong as hell and that scares me a little. I would have no chance without Siggy if he tried to overpower me. It also excites me in a weird way that I don’t want to examine too closely.
He finally lets me go, but it looks like he has to make himself do it.
‘What happens if you get too hungry?’ I ask.
‘You must know. You deal with supes a lot in your … line of work.’
‘Actually, I didn’t meet a lot of incubi,’ I murmur and it’s actually the truth.
‘I’ll go rogue,’ he said matter-of-factly.
I stare at him, waiting for him to elaborate.
‘What does that actually mean?’ I finally ask when he doesn’t.
‘I’ll take what I need. I’d like to think that I wouldn’t, but the way I hear it, it’s not a choice. There’s just the demon side that needs to be fed and it’ll do anything for the energy it requires.’
