“Touch you while I was at it?” Pluto finished for me. “That does happen when you remove clothes. Did I violate you? No. When you become mine, I want you aware and enthusiastic.”
My body reacted in vastly inappropriate ways to his words, and our connection jolted. Even the siren stirred. Having my head and heart and body all at war with each other totally sucked.
Hades sensed my reaction. He leaned over me, drawing closer and closer.
He’s going to kiss me.
I couldn’t do it. Not so soon after I’d left Andre’s arms. I swear I still felt his fingers on my skin and his taste on my lips.
“What happened to me?” I asked.
His mouth was a hair’s breadth away from mine, and I could see him weighing the benefits of ignoring my question.
“Asiri.”
His eyes shuttered and he pulled away. “A mortal slit your throat.”
I reached for my neck, but the skin there felt smooth.
“It wouldn’t stop bleeding,” I murmured, remembering.
“The blade was cursed to prevent you from healing. Otherwise, you would’ve survived it.”
My hand fell to my side. “Am I dead?”
“You are immortal. So no, you are not dead.”
I met Pluto’s eyes. An inferno flickered at the back of them. Something about the devil was … off. An agitation lurked beneath the smooth fa?ade.
“What is it?”
Anger welled along our connection. “Don’t presume to understand me,” he snapped.
Tou-chy.
I began to get up. He pushed me back down, his face inscrutable. “I’m not done with you.”
“Done with me?” My heart began to pound.
I’d pushed him too far, using his old name like that. And now here we were on a bed with me wearing no more than strategically placed lace, and crap, I might have bigger things to worry about than a kiss.
Pluto took several deep breaths, his chest rising and falling. “You tried to meet with the enemy. That … enrages me.”
Now I watched him closely, not daring to move. I’d recognized something about him was off, but I’d vastly underestimated just how dangerous he was right now.
“But what happened to you after that … I am used to anger. I relish it. I cannot fathom why I feel it on your behalf. Especially after you continue to betray me.” He picked up my hand and threaded his fingers between mine. Even this gesture was full of agitation, like he hated that he couldn’t help himself.
His hand was in mine, and I hadn’t once flinched at his touch.
I should’ve.
I’m changing … and so is he. I’d seen the devil possessive, but not protective. I couldn’t trust this.
“Perhaps I see my own nature reflected back in you. But I fear … ” He shook his head, and whatever he planned on saying died on his lips.
“I’ve ordered the demons to strike angels and anyone fighting for them on sight. Our enemies are to endure the most painful deaths possible. Short of that, they are to be eliminated.”
I shook my head. “I won’t stand by and watch your demons attack innocent people.” Even if most of those innocent people wanted me dead.
He squeezed my hand hard. “Our demons, consort, or have you forgotten who you are and who you’re with? You are my queen and we will have a united front in this war.”
War. There it was again, the reminder that no one could play nice.
“Are we agreed?”
I kept my mind carefully blank as I nodded.
His hold relaxed. “Good. Then we can move onto other topics.”
He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. “To care about someone, it is strange, yes?”
My brows knitted together but I nodded.
“I’ve had no one to care about until you,” he admitted. “And now, with our connection, your death—temporary though it was—did crazy things to me.”
My heart lurched. Fate had given him the wrong soulmate. Another woman might have been able to change him, another woman might’ve come to love him. There wasn’t a happy ending for us.
Reluctantly, I placed my hand over his. “I’m fine.”
He cast me an irritated look. “I don’t care how you are.”
Liar.
Hearing his words and the vitriol in them, I would’ve expected him to get up and stalk out of here. But if anything, I sensed that the devil wanted to be closer to me. I didn’t know how I felt about that, and that indecision troubled me.
His eyes dropped to my lips, and oh God, oh God, oh God, he was leaning in, and there was nowhere for me to back up, and his lips looked far too inviting. The cord between us sang. This was so, so wrong, so— Pluto’s lips brushed mine, and before I could help it, I kissed him back. And, horror of horrors, I enjoyed it. The cord between us quieted. Through it, I could feel Pluto’s vast, vast hunger. For me, for kingdoms, for anything and everything he wished.
Once the kiss ended, I opened my eyes. What I saw in his frightened me. I’d seen the look on Andre. I hadn’t planned on seeing Pluto wear it.