Page 30 of Villains and Vengeance
I jump, belatedly remembering Axel is here.
I look at him blankly.
‘You saved my life. I saved yours. Now we’re even.’
I can’t help but tease him a little. ‘You know, in some demon clans saving each other’s lives means you’re bound together for life.’
His eyes move over me. ‘Not ours,’ he murmurs dryly and I grin.
‘Thanks for what you did,’ I say quietly.
‘I didn’t do it for you,’ he growls, seeming to resent the fact that he did save me.
‘I know, but thanks anyway,’ I say. ‘How did you know how to do that?’
He snorts. ‘Like you, I’m not just a pretty face.’
That sounded like a compliment. He seems to realize the same thing and his countenance darkens.
‘Are you flirting with me, demon?’ I can’t help but ask mostly just to fuck with him because it’s fun.
He lets out a slow breath. ‘I’m getting hungry,’ he mutters.
Oh.
‘How long—’
‘Until I can’t control myself?’ He smirks. ‘Don’t worry,Jules, it’ll take more than hunger for sex to make me desperate enough to touch you.’
I inwardly recoil at the vehemence in his tone. He still hates me with a passion then. I mean I knew that, but he could at leastpretend.
‘Good to know,’ I say with a sweet smile, while questioning how his words can possibly hurt me.
Why do I care what he thinks of me?
I don’t! Wait. He just called me Jules. He knows my name.
‘How do you know—’
‘Your name?’ He gives me a dark grin. ‘You were delirious for a few hours. I learned a ton from your mindless ramblings.’
I can practically feel the color draining from my face. What secrets did I let loose? What does he know?
I scan his square jaw and vibrant blue eyes, his high cheekbones and strong nose thoroughly as if I’ll be able to figure out what I let slip by looking at him. Did I tell him where the window is?Whenit is? Or did I mentionolderthings?
‘Is there any water?’ I ask coolly, trying to throw him off, make him think I don’t care what he heard from me when I was out of my mind.
‘Nope. Ran out yesterday and Siggy doesn’t seem to know how to bring any. Try to take better care of yourself, huh? If you hadn’t woken up, I have no doubt I’d be with those mummified remains around the bottom of the cave.’
‘Don’t worry, Axel, you’ll be back with Maddox safe and sound in a few days,’ I say without thinking.
Inwardly, I grimace that I just gave him a timeframe for the portal that he must surely know exists, but he doesn’t seem to take in the implications of what I just said.
‘We have a problem,’ I blurt in an effort to change the subject quickly. ‘I had to leave the food.’
He leans back against the wall of the bunker and regards me. ‘That’s what you were doing when you got that bolt through you?’
He looks guilty for a second. I mean itistotally his fault I had to go back out to find sustenance since he ate it all.
