parted her lips like he’d been doing it his entire life and let his tongue slide against hers. A tremor went through him as the need to have her urged him to ignore the danger lurking outside and take her now. He wanted to pull her to his bed—yes, his bed —and lay with her, touch her, explore her. Make her call his name.
Outside, another long, eerie bay careened across the silence, mocking him. Warning him. Definitely closer now. Coming this way.
Reluctantly he pulled back, feeling raw and overwhelmed as her incredible eyes opened and focused on him with a dazed, yearning look that nearly incinerated him.
He forced himself to turn away.
“Stay with me,” he said in a tone so desperate it pained him.
He waited for her softly spoken “I will” before he opened the door.
R oxanne’s insides felt scrambled, her thoughts a jumbled mess. His kiss lingered on her lips, tripped up her senses, tangled her emotions. Her fear made her numb.
“Let’s go,” he breathed.
She could smell them before she even stepped over the threshold. A thin but noxious odor that stank of graves and sulfur and violence. It slammed into her with the power of a memory. The same rankness had been present last night, but she’d managed to forget— deny —it. Just as she’d managed to convince herself that what had come through the kitchen door at Love’s couldn’t be what she’d thought.
But now her eyes were open. There would be no more denial.
A silent walkway with a rusted metal railing ran outside each floor. To the left, she could see the stairwell they’d come up, to the right a pattern of doors and windows, all shut for the night. Large pillars ran at even intervals the whole way around. The walkway ended at a sharp corner.
Santo gave her hand a light squeeze before he slipped out, pulling her along as he quietly shut the door behind them and moved to the first pillar. They paused there, waiting for sounds of discovery, but all they heard was the roar of traffic in the distance and the loud tapping of a woodpecker in a nearby palm tree.
Her heart thudded in her chest as she tried to stay calm, but with her fear came the questions that preyed upon her composure. Santo followed the cracked concrete walkway from pillar to pillar as he headed toward the nearest stairs and the elevator that led to the parking lot. Roxanne followed, as silent as a shadow. Up ahead, she saw an alcove with an Exit sign. A mechanical hum announced the elevator rising. It ding ed on the floor below.
Santo paused, considering their options. She could tell he didn’t like the idea of getting into the elevator, where they’d be trapped and vulnerable while the doors slid open and shut. But the stairs were well lit and exposed on all sides. They’d be targets the whole way down.
He leaned back and whispered in her ear. “When the elevator stops on this floor, we get in.”
She didn’t have a better plan, so she gave him another reluctant nod, trailing behind him as he crept through the predawn shadows and hit the down button.
She could feel the shuddering vibration as the elevator resumed its climb, but it didn’t come close to matching the trembling inside her.
“What will they do if they catch us?” she asked.
He turned those dark eyes on her, unreadable in the gloom. An air of power and threat that was as much a part of him as the black hair and broad shoulders surrounded him. He looked so badass it was hard to picture him as the gentle, caring, passionate man he’d been earlier.
“You sure you want to know?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yes.”
“They’ll rip out your soul and feed on it.”
Oh .
He brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “But they have to get through me, first. And that’s not going to happen.”
Another blood-chilling wail lifted from below, and the reassurance his words had given her vanished. She didn’t know what they were up against. In a battle between scavenger demons, hellhounds, and an
Outside, another long, eerie bay careened across the silence, mocking him. Warning him. Definitely closer now. Coming this way.
Reluctantly he pulled back, feeling raw and overwhelmed as her incredible eyes opened and focused on him with a dazed, yearning look that nearly incinerated him.
He forced himself to turn away.
“Stay with me,” he said in a tone so desperate it pained him.
He waited for her softly spoken “I will” before he opened the door.
R oxanne’s insides felt scrambled, her thoughts a jumbled mess. His kiss lingered on her lips, tripped up her senses, tangled her emotions. Her fear made her numb.
“Let’s go,” he breathed.
She could smell them before she even stepped over the threshold. A thin but noxious odor that stank of graves and sulfur and violence. It slammed into her with the power of a memory. The same rankness had been present last night, but she’d managed to forget— deny —it. Just as she’d managed to convince herself that what had come through the kitchen door at Love’s couldn’t be what she’d thought.
But now her eyes were open. There would be no more denial.
A silent walkway with a rusted metal railing ran outside each floor. To the left, she could see the stairwell they’d come up, to the right a pattern of doors and windows, all shut for the night. Large pillars ran at even intervals the whole way around. The walkway ended at a sharp corner.
Santo gave her hand a light squeeze before he slipped out, pulling her along as he quietly shut the door behind them and moved to the first pillar. They paused there, waiting for sounds of discovery, but all they heard was the roar of traffic in the distance and the loud tapping of a woodpecker in a nearby palm tree.
Her heart thudded in her chest as she tried to stay calm, but with her fear came the questions that preyed upon her composure. Santo followed the cracked concrete walkway from pillar to pillar as he headed toward the nearest stairs and the elevator that led to the parking lot. Roxanne followed, as silent as a shadow. Up ahead, she saw an alcove with an Exit sign. A mechanical hum announced the elevator rising. It ding ed on the floor below.
Santo paused, considering their options. She could tell he didn’t like the idea of getting into the elevator, where they’d be trapped and vulnerable while the doors slid open and shut. But the stairs were well lit and exposed on all sides. They’d be targets the whole way down.
He leaned back and whispered in her ear. “When the elevator stops on this floor, we get in.”
She didn’t have a better plan, so she gave him another reluctant nod, trailing behind him as he crept through the predawn shadows and hit the down button.
She could feel the shuddering vibration as the elevator resumed its climb, but it didn’t come close to matching the trembling inside her.
“What will they do if they catch us?” she asked.
He turned those dark eyes on her, unreadable in the gloom. An air of power and threat that was as much a part of him as the black hair and broad shoulders surrounded him. He looked so badass it was hard to picture him as the gentle, caring, passionate man he’d been earlier.
“You sure you want to know?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yes.”
“They’ll rip out your soul and feed on it.”
Oh .
He brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “But they have to get through me, first. And that’s not going to happen.”
Another blood-chilling wail lifted from below, and the reassurance his words had given her vanished. She didn’t know what they were up against. In a battle between scavenger demons, hellhounds, and an
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