Beast of Fire -- a Demon Hunting Sexy Romance by Lisa Renée Jones Page B

to speak, stopped. Hesitated another second. “I need to know you're safe.”
    Hurt flashed in her eyes, and she cut her gaze away. He had no idea what he had said wrong, but clearly something.  
    “I get that,” she said, the force of a dismissive shrug behind the statement. Kresley walked to the bed and kneeled beside it, reaching beneath the frame. She yanked a suitcase from beneath the bed frame and sat back on her heels, flipped the latches, opening the top to display an array of swords. “You might want some of these when you go out scouting.”
    He kneeled beside the suitcase, gave the weapons a quick inspection, and then turned his attention to her. “Kresley–"
    Her gaze riveted to his as she cut him off. “I know you want to protect me,” she said. “But I don’t want to be coddled. I came here to fight and I plan to.”
    He rotated around to face her, one knee resting on the wooden floor, the other serving as an armrest, one booted foot propped up. “What is so damn wrong about someone taking care of you?”
    She cut her gaze, as if composing herself. She sidestepped the question. “Because you can’t. Trying will only get you hurt. And I hate it, since I was used against you. Adrian never intended to let me go. He tricked you and he tricked me. He knew I’d never let you suffer because of me. He knew I’d come for you, and when I did, he used your freedom as a bargaining chip to get the ring. This was always about my firestarting. Always about that ring. And that scares me. He wants that ring in a bad way. It can’t be about one Demon. It just can’t be.”
    A sound outside the window set them both on edge, gazes flying to the fire escape. “Meow.” They both let out a breath as a black cat appeared by the window.  
    Kresley pushed to her feet, hand on her chest and Lucan followed. “Good grief,” she said, “I’m on edge. I need to get dressed. I don’t know why I tried to sleep. That was insane. I need to be ready if anything happens."  
    She walked away, leaving him staring after her, his feet planted solidly on the ground. More and more, it was becoming clear that his simple solution to ensuring Kresley’s safety, of trading himself for Kresley with the Guardians, had been no solution at all. She was right. Adrian had manipulated them both. Lucan had been been trying to protect her. Instead, he’d invited her deeper inside the Underworld, deeper into the darkness of a world of evil and manipulation. And this time, he had no idea how to free her.  
    ***  
    Lucan held a position in the shadows of the fire escape one floor below Kresley’s apartment, his hand locked on the Knights' sword that Kresley had given him. He ran his hand over the sword handle where a five-pointed star was etched, symbolic of the Knights.  
    A year had passed since he’d touched a sword such as this one; the memories that came with it were a bittersweet pill to swallow. The Knights had given him a reason to keep going; they had provided the purpose that had delivered him from the pain that losing his family had brought. A purpose he’d left behind to secure Kresley’s safety, and because he'd hoped Kresley would do more good in the world than he could.  
    Since then, in the past year, he’d charged into battle, expecting death, wishing it would come. He'd boldly marched into Demon-infested areas and issued challenges, knowing full well he was outnumbered. But in battle, the will inside him to destroy evil always won, and he'd survived each confrontation – the eternal hell of serving the Guardians had just begun.  
    The only thing holding Lucan back from another bold charge this night was Kresley. Now he had her to consider. Endangering himself needlessly was simply not an option until he knew she was free of the Guardians.  
    Nothing was simple any longer. Nothing was easy. It was complicated. Facing his choices and what they had done to Kresley was far more painful than simply accepted the hell