Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [92]
Ares snorted. “Just wait until he’s catching people instead.”
“Is that…” She swallowed sickly. “Is that what they eat?”
“Not usually. They’re Sheoul-dwellers. They rarely travel to the human realm unless they’re summoned or brought here.”
“So he can travel back and forth? Do his hunting in Sheoul?”
Ares inclined his head in a brisk nod. “They don’t need Harrowgates, and usually they’re invisible to humans when they’re aboveground. He might be invisible now, in fact. We can see him because we’re part of the supernatural world.”
She trailed her fingers over her chest, feeling the raised lines of the new mark through her sweatshirt. “Because of this.”
“And the bond to Hal.” His gaze dropped to where she was rubbing the marking, and the energy coming off him shifted from menacing to erotic.
Back at Than’s place, he’d said he felt things he shouldn’t. That he wanted to keep her alive for more reasons than protecting his Seal. And that he wanted to throw her down and take her until they were exhausted.
She shouldn’t want any of that. Well, maybe the sex. Opening her heart up again could be a colossal mistake. But every time she caught a glimpse of the man behind the sword, every time he wrapped her in his protective arms, it tapped into the part of her that wanted to be cared for and kept safe. Ares knew about her ability, knew what she’d done with it, and he didn’t treat her like she was a freak, and that alone scored him a lot of points.
“What is this, Ares?” She probably shouldn’t have asked, but she’d never been good at subtlety, and with all the uncertainty in her life right now, she wanted to be clear on this, at least. “I can’t read your signals, and I don’t know who you are.”
“I’m a warrior.”
“Yes, I know who you say you are, but why do you say that? Are you a warrior by birth? By choice? By circumstance?”
“All of the above.” He cocked his head toward the exit. “We should go.”
She grabbed his wrist, and he stiffened, but he didn’t shake her off. “When were you born?”
“Dammit, Cara, we don’t have time for this.” The words were angry, but he let out a long-suffering sigh, and she knew she had him. For a moment, at least.
“Humor me. I’ve done everything you’ve asked. Give me this.”
One eyebrow arched. “The orgasms weren’t enough?”
A pleasant fluttering filled her belly. “Women like pillow talk to go with them, and you denied me that.”
“I at least got you a pillow.” At her flat stare, he rolled his eyes. “I was born around the thirty-second century bc.”
“Did you know what you were?”
He looked up at the gray sky. “For twenty-eight years I thought I was human. My demon mother snatched human babies out of their cribs and replaced them with us. She used some sort of enchantment to arrange for our human parents to name us what she’d chosen.”
“What happened to the babies she stole?”
He hesitated. “You don’t want to know.”
No, she probably didn’t. “Where did you grow up?”
“Egypt.” He looked past her at Hal, his gaze sharpening with hate. “Now, we’re going.”
Pretending she didn’t hear him, she continued. “You had kids. Did you have a wife?”
“I’ve humored you for too long as it is—” He whirled so suddenly she yelped. “Who are you? Show yourself!”
Cara heard the crunch of gravel, as a man peered around the estate’s iron gate. “I-I’m David. I’m a Guardian.”
A deep, rumbling growl came from behind her as Hal, crouching flat on the ground, eased up to them. She dropped her hand to his head, soothing him with her touch. “It’s okay, Hal. Shh.” The last thing they needed was the hound tearing apart one of The Aegis’s demon slayers.
Ares took her hand and led her to the road. Hal followed, though his ears were still back, and his teeth were bared in a silent snarl. The Guardian wisely backed away, hands up.
The moment they stepped outside the Aegis property, the forest erupted to life. A scream caught in Cara’s throat as creatures appeared from out of the woods, out of the ground, and out of thin air.
In a graceful surge, Ares simultaneously