“What if there was a way to get rid of the demon. Would you want to?”
“You are just brimming with questions better left unspoken. I accept who I am, the good and the bad. It has made me who I am. I think it is scarier wondering who I would be without this curse. I was damned the second I was conceived.”
I propped my chin on his chest so we were eye to eye. “I don’t believe that. You are not damned.”
“Don’t try to save me, Angel.”
Reluctantly, I rested my head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart intermixing with the swirling of our feelings. “Will it always feel like that, our emotions merging?” I asked, placing my hand on his heart.
His finger traced lazy circles on my neck, and my heart fluttered. “I’ll always know when you are worried, happy, sad, or angry. You can probably do the same. It might take time and practice to determine whose feelings are whose, but you should be able to filter through them.”
I was already getting pretty good at that, but when our emotions mirrored each other, it got sticky. “Tell me what it’s like when he takes over.” Talking about his demon wasn’t something he was comfortable with, but I couldn’t help myself. His demon fascinated me in ways I couldn’t explain. I was drawn to both of them.
His hand played with my hair. It was both relaxing and electric. “I don’t know how to put it into words. I guess it is like having another soul live inside you. One that wants to break free, but you know that if he does, people will get hurt. Once he surfaces, you are unable to control what he does, but it never stops me from trying to disband the roaring demon inside.”
“Except with me... He doesn’t want to harm me.”
“You are the exception,” he admitted. “I didn’t think it was ever possible for the demon and me to agree on anything. We are always pulling each other in opposite directions, except when it concerns you. I still haven’t figured out why, but I have a theory.”
“Oh yeah. What is it?” I asked curiously, peaking up at him from under my lashes. My chin rested on his chest.
“I’ve never put any stock into the whole fate stuff. I always believed that you made your own destiny, but after meeting you, I’m not so sure anymore. If there is such a thing as soul mates, you would be mine.”
My heart trembled, and my cheeks blushed. I liked the sound of that. “Do you think there are others like us?”
“Angel, you and I are one of a kind.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”
He shrugged. “It’s unheard of. None of this makes sense. You were supposed to be afraid of me. You weren’t supposed to fall in love with me. My demon shouldn’t care for you, yet both of those things happened.”
Now this was getting interesting. “You didn’t want to have feelings for me, but your demon did?”
His silver eyes danced. “Go figure. And to clarify, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to have feelings for you; it was just that I thought fate was fucking with me. You seemed too good to be true, but no matter what I tried, or how much I convinced myself, I could never get you out of my head. The demon inside me made sure of it.”
“You didn’t think you were worthy of love?” The arrogant Chase wasn’t so tough after all. He had a heart.
“Maybe,” he neither denied nor confirmed.
“And now?” I asked, smiling.
He studied my face a moment before the corner of his mouth twitched. “Now it doesn’t matter. I already got you.”
Did he ever! We were bound by heart and soul.
How much more trouble could we get into?
Turns out…a lot.
Never underestimate the amount of shit I can get myself into.
Chapter 7
Lexi and I were discussing operation wipeout in an undisclosed secret location.
We were at Victoria’s Secret, neck deep in bras and panties. Lexi was in sinful heaven, and I was drowning in embarrassment hell. Why I ever let Lexi take charge was still a mystery to me, but at least her method was effective. Shopping was pretty much the only guarantee that neither Emma nor Chase would be snooping about.
At least she let me come up with the codename—wipeout. I thought it was pretty clever since I was planning to wipe out Emma’s memory.
Lexi, not so much. She blinked and then told me, “You need to get out more.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. You are the one who wants to strategize in a lingerie store with half-naked mannequins.”
“I know—brilliant, right?”
God save me.
With a one-sided smirk on her glossy lips, she tossed me a pair of pink leopard thongs. “You should totally get these. You know, to bring out Chase’s animal-side.”
I choked and dropped the silky material like hotcakes. “Trust me. I definitely don’t need undies to summon the beast.”
Lexi grinned. “I bet you don’t.”
“Focus, Lexi,” I groaned.
“Right. Deception and strategy,” she said, tapping her lip in thought.