Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(54)
Paxton would trust Drake as far as he could throw him, but he forced himself to listen. He needed to get all the facts. “Tell me more.”
She bit her lip. “Drake is willing to help us with the final ritual. In fact, he’s more than willing to betray Ulric, but we need to provide proof to him that we actually know what needs to happen at the ritual.”
“We don’t,” Paxton said shortly. Her fingers traced little patterns on his abs, and he was about to lose his mind. It felt right to be talking over strategy with her in bed, but it was downright painful to remain relaxed and not roll her right over and finish what they’d started the night before. She was everything he could ever want in the world. He wanted to give her space and time to figure that out, but even he had a limit. It was quickly approaching.
“We have to figure it out, Paxton. It’s the only chance we have.” She avoided his gaze as if she didn’t quite want to look him in the eye.
He stiffened. “Hope, what is it?” She began to push away from him, and he held her in place. “You’re not moving until you tell me.”
Exasperation had her blowing out air. “I don’t like this whole bossy, dominant, alpha, I’m-a-vampire-demon-hybrid bullshit.”
“Yeah, your body says otherwise.” He wasn’t letting her off the hook. “Whatever you’re not telling me, you need to say right now.” He shrugged. “Or later. Either way, we’re not moving till you do.”
She rolled her eyes, temper darkening her cheeks to damask pink. “Fine. Drake wants us both in the dreamworld tonight so we can plan. Come with me, or I’ll go myself.”
He didn’t like that. Being threatened wasn’t his thing. However, he also wasn’t going to let her go in alone. “Okay, tonight at midnight. We’ll go talk to the Kurjan and see what he thinks. If he has a plan, I’ll listen to it, and then we can take it to both kings.” It was the right thing to do, even though the last person he wanted to see in the entire world was Drake.
Hope smiled. “See? Was that so hard?”
Paxton didn’t really have an answer for her. He didn’t like any of this.
She cleared her throat. “He still wants to kill you, and I know you want to end him, but you both have to agree to a truce until we kill Ulric. Then maybe we can broker another truce.”
There would be no truce, and if Drake found a chance to kill Paxton, he’d take it. Yet Paxton didn’t want to remove that glimmer of hope from her pretty eyes. “Okay.”
Her gaze studied his face. “You’re still pale. How are you feeling?”
“Weird,” he admitted. He still had cuts and bruises from the brawl with Paelotin, and yet he didn’t feel weak. He just couldn’t quite get his healing cells to work. It had to be whatever drug was still in his system. His gaze traveled across her face. She was adorable in the morning, and his heart thumped. Hard. He leaned down and kissed her nose. “Do you want to finish this or what?”
Her eyes widened, and panic glowed in them. He could barely keep back a laugh.
“No.” She scrambled away from him, and he let her, glancing at the clock. He was probably already late.
Allowing her to escape him for now, he got up from the bed and reached for his jeans. Within minutes, he was dressed and turning to look down at her. “I’m having more blood taken by Emma, and then Paelotin and I are going to have another chat about my real father.”
“Thank goodness it wasn’t my dad.” She blushed and hugged the pillow. She looked a little lost and a lot vulnerable and adorable.
He snagged the pillow and tossed it away before grabbing her arms and hauling her toward him to plant one hard kiss on her lips. “We’re not done here, Hope. Don’t think for a second that we are.”
With that, he released her, exited the bedroom, and strolled through the house, smiling at Libby, whose jaw dropped when she saw him. “Morning, Libs.” It was rare to see the shifter speechless, and he enjoyed every second. He was outside and headed down the snow-covered street before he heard her move. He didn’t envy Hope the morning discussion. But what did he know? He’d never had a girlfriend, and he’d never really had a morning after, so maybe women liked to talk about that stuff. He had no idea. What he did know was he didn’t have anybody to talk to.
As he walked to Realm headquarters, he nodded at several soldiers, who all returned the nod, so apparently word had gotten out that he wasn’t a traitor. At least that was something.
Entering the lodge, he jogged down to the main laboratory, wishing once again he had the ability to teleport. It was unfair that all demons had lost the ability because of the Seven. He knew he wasn’t the only one feeling angry, and he wondered just how safe the Seven would be in Realm territory. Both kings had issued decrees that they were to be left alone, but they’d hurt people because of what they’d done. Teleporting had been a part of life, and now it was gone.
Paxton wished he could teleport into Kurjan territory and have a little talk with Drake by himself. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. He opened another door, and Emma looked up.
“Hey, you’re here to donate more blood,” she said, her eyes cobalt today.
“I am.” He walked over to her, pulling up his sleeve. “Take all you need.”
The woman gave a happy hop. She was one of the kindest females he’d ever met, and yet she was a menace with a syringe in her hand. He wondered if there was anybody who’d ever met her who hadn’t had blood taken. At least she was good at it. Within seconds, she had inserted the needle and was extracting blood.