She blinked. Well, of course she saw him. The man's soul and the dragon's, they were the same.
"Others in my life have feared me. Ran screaming when they saw my dragon form." He lifted his hand as if he'd touch her again, but his fingers stopped just inches from her arm. "But not you. You felt the breath of the dragon on your skin, and even then, you didn't fear me."
She'd never fear him.
A muscle ticced along his jaw. "You're rare, Maya. Damn rare. I could look this whole world over and never find a woman with your strength."
Ah, now he was just bullshitting her.
"You are so f**king strong, but you're running scared now."
"What?" She wasn't-okay, so maybe she had run from Vegas, but-
"Maybe it's because you're afraid of your feelings-and I know you have feelings for me-and that fear is trapping you. Stopping you from having the life you want. A life with me."
She looked over his shoulder, staring at the darkened factory. "Nassor was right about me, Slick.
There are things inside me, a darkness that you just can't understand." That darkness was dangerous.
"Let me try." His fingers finally touched her arm, curled over the skin. "Give me a chance. I think you'd be surprised at the things I can understand."
Oh, damn, but his words tempted her. If she just had herself to consider, she'd be all over the guy already. "What about Cammie? The kid's been through enough, she doesn't need someone like me coming into her life and bringing demons and shifters and-"
"Cammie's asked about you every day that you've been gone." For a moment, humor glowed in the depths of his gaze. "She told me she wants to be like you when she grows up."
Poor delusional kid.
Maya rubbed her chest, where she could feel a dull, throbbing burn. "I'm not gonna change who I am. I-I can't. I'm gonna keep hunting, fighting-"
"I don't want you to change." His hand slid down her arm, curled around her wrist. "I'm crazy about you-vampire, demon slayer, wolf tamer-whatever. I'll take you, any way I can get you." He pressed a kiss to her palm. "Just don't walk away from me again." His voice was ragged. "Hell, I'd rather face Nassor and his vampires another time than to watch you walk away from me."
His words shocked a surprised laugh from her, and made her realize that walking away from him again, well, she didn't know if she could do it.
About Nassor. A stab of guilt had her stiffening her spine. "You know I had no choice about the compulsion, right? I had to put you to sleep, there wasn't any other way to get inside-"
His lips twisted into a faint smile. "Ah, Maya, you never put me under a compulsion."
"What?"
"I pretended to sleep and then pretended to wake when you needed me." A shrug.
Well, well. So the dragon still had a few secrets, after all. "You control the link, don't you?" It had never been her, even though she'd taken his blood.
"The Wyvern line is old, and very, very powerful."
Yeah, she got that picture, but she wasn't sure he was understanding her. "People who are around me, those who get close to me, they have a way of winding up either hurt"-like Sean-"or dead." Like her mother. She didn't want to risk him, too.
Adam just shook his head. "Don't you know yet that I'm one hard ass**le to kill?"
She licked her lips. "Adam-"
"Our lives are about risk, Maya. That's who we are. What we are. Don't give me some bullshit line about me being in danger because I'm with you. Hell, I'm always in danger. That fact doesn't change anything for me."
There was a ring of truth to his words that she couldn't deny, and though she tried to fight it, a wild flaring of what could have been hope grew inside her. He knew the risks and still wanted to be with her. "So what is it that you're offering me, Slick?" She finally asked him, because she needed to know, needed to be sure.
"I'm offering you a partner. A lover. Someone who'll watch your back and hold you when you sleep."
Hold you when you sleep. Because Adam did hold her, keeping her wrapped in warm, strong arms. And, damn, but it felt right when he held her.
In the past, she'd always wanted to sleep alone after sex. She hadn't wanted a false closeness.
But with Adam, it wasn't false. The connection she felt, it was real. She'd missed him, missed his touch and his scent and his strength the last few nights.
She'd missed his arms, holding her.
"Maya…" The rumble of his voice made her swallow. She stared into his eyes, unable to look away as he said, "I'm offering you all the blood you need and all the sex you can handle," he continued, heat roughening his words.
Wow. No smart vampire would turn that down.
Silence, just for a beat of time, then, "I'm offering you forever with a man who'd do anything you wanted-just to make you smile."
Well, damn.
Maya parted her lips to speak, but found she didn't know what to say.
Forever. Such a long, long time. Especially for her. And for Adam.
"Nassor was right about the darkness in you," Adam said and Maya felt her heart lurch to a stop.
No, no-
"I've got that same darkness. I know what it's like to live with that kind of power inside." His gaze bored into hers. "I control that darkness, and so do you."
But what if she lost control? What if, one day, the beast inside took over? His fingers tightened around hers. "You'll always leash the beast, baby, because the woman in you is a hell of a lot stronger than the darkness."
He lifted her hand, pressed a kiss against her palm. "What will it be, vampire? Do you choose to walk with me or do you choose to walk alone?"
She'd thought she'd chosen before. When she'd left him, she'd planned to fight on her own. To live on her own.
But Adam was offering her something now-something she'd barely ever dreamed she'd have.
A partner, a lover of her own. Someone to turn to when the nightmares rose and even when the laughter beckoned.
"What about Cammie?" It was the only thing holding her back-if she ever did anything to hurt the kid…
"It took me a week to get here because Cammie and I had to pack up the house in Maine. She wanted to come to you, and so did I." The briefest of smiles. "Don't you know, you're her hero now? The woman who saved her from the monsters."
Oh, but she wanted to take what he was offering. The chance for happiness. For a life not lived in the shadows.
"I…love you, Maya. More than I think you'll ever know."