Page 32 of Forsworn By The Vampire
"But not enough to want to be with me, huh?"
"I didn't say that."
"You don't want me to move me in here."
"Why the hell would you want to? And don't lie to me because I'll know."
I felt more than saw the way she raised her shields, and it affected me more than I'd like to admit. I didn't like her closed off to me. "You don't have to do that," I told her. "I'll stay out of your head."
She glanced at me sideways but didn't drop her shields.
"All I'm asking is that you be straight up with me, and I'll do the same."
Pressing her red lips together, she looked down at her hands. After a moment, she looked up at me. "I feel safer here, with you, than I do at home."
I frowned, completely confused as to how that could be. From what she'd told me, Angel here was one of the more powerful witches in the coven. What the hell would she need me for? Then, "Oh...the djinn."
She didn't answer, but she didn't need to. I could tell by the way she tensed up that I'd hit the nail on the head.
"What's he got on you, anyway?" It had to be something. Those things didn't just wander the earth looking for people to fuck with. There had to be some kind of connection, or a deal or something. Maybe an offense of some sort.
"I don't know."
"Don't give me that shit," I told her. "You knew he was gonna come after you. That's why you were in the cemetery trying to spell that dagger."
She was quiet for so long I thought she wasn't going to give me an answer. But at least she didn't start spouting more lies. Then she turned on the couch, bending one leg so she was facing me. Her shin pressed against the length of my thigh, and a hungry growl began in my chest. Angel froze for just a second, eyeing me, but stayed exactly as she was. "Are you okay?"
I sucked in my bottom lip as I chewed on that question for a bit. Gradually, the urge to throw her over my shoulder and take her back to my room subsided enough that I could speak. "I'm good," I told her. "Now start talking."
"Marcus, the djinn," her upper lip lifted in disgust, "has been threatening Mike's life. I need to finish the spell on the dagger if I want a chance in hell of sending him back to wherever the hell he came from."
Pure red-hot rage roiled inside of me. She was doing all this for that douche, Mike? If he was here right now, I'd rip his fucking throat out.
"Jamal?"
Fortunately for him, he wasn't here, and it gave me time to get my shit together enough to say, "So, you're doing this for fucking Mike?"
Startled eyes flew to mine. At first, she was confused, then she shook her head. "No, you don't understand. Mike hasn't done anything. He's innocent in all of this."
"I don't give a fuck what Mike may or may not have done. What the hell is he to you that you feel the need to risk your own life to protect his?" I was being irrational. But, fuck. I couldn't help it. If I didn't believe in the blood bond between us before, I sure as hell did now by the mere fact that if she hadn't been sitting here next to me, I'd be halfway to her apartment to kill Lizzy's assistant.
"Oh," she said. "Ohhh...no, you've got the wrong idea. Mike's my friend, that's it. There's nothing at all between us other than that."
"Have you fucked him?" Jesus. What the hell was wrong with me? It was none of my business what she did with her life. Or her body.
Except it was.Because she belonged to me now.
She made a face. "No. Of course not."
"Do you want to?"
"No," she immediately said. "Jesus, Jamal. I don't want to fuck Mike. I want to fuck you."
And just like that, the fire in my blood shifted, and all thoughts of that douche flew from my head.
Chapter 18
Angel
