How did she know that?
“Some folks would call that instinct. A psychic edge. Whatever you want to name it, the fact is that your mind is stronger than others. You’ve got a gift, one most humans never get, and those that do have it, well, precious few understand just what in the world is going on when the edge kicks into play.”
“But you understand, right?”
“All of my kind have the edge. We were brought into this world with it, and we’ll leave with it.”
He didn’t want to talk about what fictional powers he may or not possess. Right then, he just wanted to focus on her. “So you usually do a hypnotic show, huh? No other tricks to prove that you’re a demon?” Though proof was really moot at this point, he still felt the driving need to keep pushing at her.
Because she’s just knocked my world right off its axis.
No, his jaw tightened. He couldn’t lie to himself right then. Colin had rocked his reality months ago. Cara had just broken the shaky peace he’d been living in since that night.
“I have a few other skills,” Cara admitted, somewhat grudgingly, he thought. She lifted her hand. A small plume of smoke appeared about two inches above her open palm. As he watched, the smoke thickened, and with a snap, a ball of flames burst in the air.
Cara pulled back her hand, smiled at him, and tossed the fire straight toward him.
“Shit!”
He ducked. Felt the rush of fire. Looked up, saw the ball, spinning in the air, fire blazing gold and red.
Then it vanished.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
He wasn’t 100 percent certain he believed that. Especially since the top of his head felt singed.
“You pissed me off,” she said, lips twisting. “I shouldn’t have tossed that toward you.”
“Uh, yeah, you shouldn’t have tossed the ball of fire at my head.” Unbelievable.
His lover was a demon.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
A very sexy demon.
One who apparently had a very bad temper.
And gorgeous legs.
Ah, hell. “So what am I supposed to do now?” He really didn’t know.
No, actually, he did know one thing—with absolute certainly. He still wanted her.
“What do you want to do?” Was that hope flickering in her eyes?
He had to ask. “You feel, don’t you, Cara?”
She frowned.
“I mean, like me, like humans, you feel. Lust. Anger.” Oh, yes, he knew she felt anger. He had the burnt hair to prove it. “Love.”
A slow nod. “I can feel. Being a demon doesn’t mean I’m not a woman, Todd. I need. I hurt. I bleed. Just like anyone else.”
But with a few dangerous extras thrown in for spice. He rubbed his eyes. “Look, I’ve gotta have some time to think about this.” To figure out just what the hell was going to happen next.
Her face paled. “I see.”
That cold, stilted voice pissed him off. He dropped his hand and stalked toward her. Todd caught her arms and hauled her up against him. “No, I don’t think you see a damn thing.” She thought he was running, like those other fools she’d mentioned.
But he was no fool.
He kissed her, driving his tongue into her sweet mouth and growling his hunger.
Her fingers pressed against his shoulders.
He drank in her essence. Fought the growing hunger that roared inside him. “I have to get to the station,” he bit the words off against her lips. The tox screen was due in first thing this morning. He had a job to do and—
And he needed to think.
But he was not running.
He stepped away from her. “I’ll be back, Cara, tonight. We’ll finish this—” Whatever this was.
She just stared up at him, silent.
What was he supposed to say? The woman had just confessed that she was a demon, for Christ’s sake.
No wonder the sex had been so damn powerful with her. She wasn’t human.
Just like she’d told him in his dreams.
Oh, yeah, his dreams…they’d have to talk about those babies—and she would have to tell him just what the hell had really been happening when he touched her in his sleep.
Cara nodded. “I understand.” She shrugged, tried to look as if she didn’t care. Failed. “Do what you have to do.”
Damn if the stiffness in her shoulders didn’t make him feel guilty, when he was the wronged party. He hadn’t misled her about being human. “It’s the case, Cara. I have to check in by seven thirty. I’m supposed to be getting the tox screen in for House.” Okay, he probably shouldn’t have told her that. His big mouth was going to get him into trouble one of these days.
“Then you’d better hurry.”
No screaming. No yelling. No when-will-I-see-you again questions.
He shoved his hands into the front pocket of his jeans. Marched toward the gate on the side of the house. Hesitated. Shit—he had to go. He had to swing by his place, find a shirt with buttons. Then hurry his ass down to the station.
Todd pulled in a slow breath. “This isn’t finished.” He said the words without looking at her, because gazing at the woman was dangerous to his control.
“No.” The word drifted to him on the breath of the wind that feathered over his face. “It’s not.”
He’d be seeing his demon again, there was no question of that in his mind.
His right hand reached for the gate.
“It was real, you know.” Her voice stopped him cold. “Everything that happened between us was real. I wanted you, you wanted me. Just like humans. Only much better…”
Much better than anything he’d ever experienced before, that was certain.
“Remember that, when you’re away from me. Remember what we had when we were together, and stop thinking that you screwed a monster.”
His fury erupted. Todd spun around, hands fisted. “Damn it, I never—”
She was gone. Just the faintest trace of her soft lavender scent remained in the air.
“I never thought you were a monster,” he snarled, knowing that she couldn’t hear him. “That was your word, not mine.” He’d thought of her only as…
His.
Todd’s eyes squeezed shut. Hell, he’d known the woman was going to be trouble from that first glance, and he’d been so right about her.
Now what was he supposed to do?
Colin was bent over his desk, busily thumbing through files, when Todd walked into the bull pen. As usual, chaos reigned in the detectives’ world. Phones rang with shrill cries. Voices floated around the room as questions were tossed back and forth between the men and women who were guzzling black coffee and pushing the sleep from their eyes.