Her lips tightened. Why was he so bothered by her presence? Surely to him one warrior was like another? As interchangeable as the females who passed through his bed?
“I’m sure Jacob is a fine Watchman, but he wasn’t trained at the temple.” It was a fact he couldn’t deny. No one offered better instruction than the priestesses’ warriors. “And he doesn’t possess my obsidian dagger.”
A strange expression rippled over his beautiful face. “I’m beginning to think you care, Sloane.”
She didn’t bother to deny the charge. Instead her brows snapped together as he turned off the narrow path and parked behind a large rock.
“Why are we stopping?”
He nodded toward the elevated plateau just ahead of them. “That’s where I need to perform the ceremony.”
Her gaze scanned the endless desert around them. Drenched in silver moonlight it looked flat from a distance, but she knew it was an optical illusion. There were hundreds of small hills and valleys that could easily hide a dozen enemies.
“Fine.” She reached to shove open the door, her hand slipping beneath her leather coat to pull out a handgun.
“Wait.” His fingers wrapped around her upper arm.
Turning her head, she sent him an impatient frown. The vast space around them was making her itchy. The sooner the ceremony was done, the sooner he could be back to the safety of his private suite.
“What?” she demanded.
His jaw hardened, his lean face impossibly beautiful in the moonlight.
“You do as I say, when I say.”
Anger jolted through her at his arrogant tone, but she bit back her hasty words. She was a guard. Which meant she was technically this male’s servant. He had every right to give her orders.
Even if it did make her want to poke him with her obsidian blade.
“Certainly.” She pasted a patently false smile on her lips. “Master.”
His own expression remained grim as he studied her with a smoldering frustration.
“This could be dangerous, Sloane,” he growled. “There’s a very good chance our enemies followed me from Hong Kong. There’s no telling how far they’ll go to try and stop us from getting information that might pose a threat to the Sovereign.”
She stiffened. Was he questioning her skills?
“I know what we’re facing and I can assure you that I’m capable of protecting you,” she snapped.
“I don’t doubt your abilities,” he snarled. “I just don’t want—”
She scowled. “What?”
“I don’t want you taking unnecessary risks.”
Sloane blinked. Then blinked again. Was he…worried about her?
The thought was so ludicrous she instantly dismissed it.
“Master,” she started, only to be interrupted by his rough sound of impatience.
“I told you to call me Tiege.”
Okay, that was enough. She might be his employee, but she’d be damned if she’d be the whipping boy for his crappy mood.
“Are you always so irritable after a feeding?” she snapped.
He met her glare for glare. “Never.”
So what did that mean? That she hadn’t fulfilled his needs?
The thought was obscenely painful.
“I suppose you blame me for not doing it right?” she muttered.
His sharp, humorless laugh echoed through the Jeep. “I think we both know that if you’d done it any more right I wouldn’t have been able to crawl out of bed.”
She desperately struggled against the vivid flashbacks of being spread across the bed with this gorgeous male stretched above her, his eyes glowing with copper flames as he surged deep into her body.
However there was no avoiding the blast of Incubus heat that slammed into her, searing over her nerves with sparks of sensual anticipation.
She didn’t think it was intentional. Just the side effect of being in such close proximity to a sex demon.
“Then why are you so pissy?”
He studied her in unnerving silence. “You disturb me,” he at last admitted in grudging tones.
She jerked at the accusation. “What have I done?”
“You smell like honeysuckle.”
He was disturbed because she smelled like honeysuckle? What the hell?
“Is that a bad thing?”
“It’s a distracting thing.” Frustration replaced the sexual vibes rolling off his rigid body. “I’m not supposed to want you. Not after I’ve already had you.”
“Oh.” She cleared her throat. He still wanted her? Good lord. That was…actually she didn’t know what it was. She squirmed in her seat, feeling uncomfortably flustered. Was she blushing? So much for being a big, tough Blade. “I could use a different soap.”
His nose flared, as if he was offended by her lame suggestion. “Change your scent and I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
Before she could recover from his sharp retort, Tiege was jumping out of the Jeep and heading toward the nearby plateau. Wondering if the male was playing some game to see if he could make her crazy, she swiftly followed up the narrow path toward the top of the hill.