Page 65 of Demon's Bane

Goddess, it might be a mistake.

It might be the biggest mistake of my life to stay here with him, to put myself smack in the middle of something I have no business being in at all. After today, it’s clear that all of this is more dangerous and more complicated than I thought, but… I can’t just leave.

Going home? Leaving Rhett here to face all of it alone?

Unacceptable.

For better or worse. Mating bond or no mating bond, I can’t do that. I can’t leave him. Not now.

“Together,” he murmurs. “We will face this together, little mate. And you will tell me when it’s enough, when you are ready to go back to your realm.”

My chest clenches painfully. Already he’s anticipating my surrender, expecting me to fold and leave him here to deal with it on his own.

“Not happening,” I tell him, and although the wariness and uncertainty don’t leave his expression entirely, he nods and squeezes my hand, drawing me gently forward.

“Well then, if you’re staying, how about a bath?”

Nothing in either of our two realms sounds as good as that, and I tell him as much as he leads me from the front room that’s made up of a kitchen and a living space, through a spacious bedroom, and opens a door leading into an adjoining bath.

It’s a small room with wood walls like the rest of the cabin, but some kind of dark gray stone tile on the floor instead of hardwood. Along one wall sits a toilet and a counter with a basin sink. On the other, a huge, deep tub carved out of the same kind of stone as the floor.

“Water is plumbed in from the spring beneath the mountain,” Rhett explains as he turns on the tap.

Steam rises from the tub as it fills, and the sight of it almost makes me want to groan out loud in relief.

He points out a couple of soaps sitting on the ledge of the bath, along with a stack of fresh, clean towels and washcloths.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he says, hovering near the door. “Unless there’s anything else you need?”

I’m sure he doesn’t mean for those last few words to sound as suggestive as they do in his deep, graveled voice.

Unless there’s anything else you need.

The memory of the first time we were in a bathroom together flashes through my mind, impossible to ignore in the tight, close space between us.

The cut of Rhett’s muscles. His tattoos and piercings. The stirring of his cock and the impossibly erotic sight of his knot.

A flush climbs my cheeks.

Apparently it doesn’t escape Rhett’s notice, because a moment later he clears his throat.

“I’ll be in the main room,” he says gruffly. “Call for me if you need anything. And you can leave your clothes outside the door. I’ll make sure they’re cleaned for you.”

“Alright,” I manage to rasp.

After the door shuts behind him, I take a step toward it and rest my head on the worn wood.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I’m pretty sure I’ve felt almost every emotion under the sun today. Anxiety about leaving Beech Bay. Sheer wonder at seeing the demon realm for the first time. Fear and panic and relief and a million other things I can’t even name.

And now… what?

Lust?

Becausethat’sthe logical next step after every other damn thing I’ve felt today?

Trying to shake it off, I strip and set my clothes on the bedroom floor before returning to the bathroom and sinking into the luxurious warmth of the tub.