Page 27 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

“Because I don’t understand,” he said sharply, pushing himself away from his dresser and stalking toward the bed.

Toward me . “Because you’re a fucking mystery to me and you haven’t told me shit about you except that you’ve been abused because of what you are.

All the other scraps of information I got because of other people or my damned visions. ”

He kneeled on the mattress, advancing on all fours before stopping right in front of my face. Panic settled in as I realized I couldn’t escape since I’d already backed all the way up to the headboard.

“Because I can’t do anything else other than assume when it comes to you.”

His warm minty breath fanned over my parted lips as his mouth was inches away from mine. My blood was pulsing in my ears and the air stuck in my lungs.

“Stop treating me like your enemy,” he said, his eyes softening ever so slightly. “I’m not. I’m your mate , whether you can feel it or not.”

I had trouble focusing on his words when his near naked body was so close to mine. In my attempted escape, the T-shirt he had lent me had lifted up to my waist and my legs were no longer folded against me in protection.

Straddling one of them, both of his hands fisted on the mattress next to my exposed hips, there was no way he didn’t notice the heat that was suddenly radiating from me. I could only pray that it wasn’t accompanied with a huge amount of pheromones.

“Say something,” he breathed out, his eyes searching mine, completely oblivious to the turmoil happening inside my mind.

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

The corners of his lips quirked up in a small smile .

“How about you start by telling me why you’ve let your Nephilim mate fall to madness?”

Of fucking course that’s what he would ask.

“You’re seriously asking me about another man while two inches away from kissing my lips?” I asked in desperate hope to avoid the subject.

His small smile turned to a full on grin.

“Would you rather I kiss you?”

Would I? Yes. Anything but give him that answer. I felt guilty enough, I didn’t need him to resent me for it too.

“The way I see it, there are two possibilities for you right now,” he whispered, so close that I could feel his words against my skin. “You can either answer the question, or make sure I don’t get to ask it again.”

A small gasp escaped my lips, bringing into my nose and lungs the strong smell of cinnamon I’d been trying to avoid.

“Are you blackmailing me?”

He chuckled, the amused expression reaching his eyes. “I’m giving you two options that play to my advantage while respecting your wish that I don’t touch you myself. Be careful if you choose to answer the question, I’ll probably have follow up ones to ask you.”

His nose brushed mine and I shivered, feeling a small burst of energy tickling my face.

“And it’ll be too late for the easy way out if—”

In a second, his voice was replaced by a soft groan as my mouth opened against his and my nails dug in the back of his head, pulling his face closer to mine. His whole body tensed above mine when my tongue caressed his bottom lip, delighted in his taste.

Cinnamon.

How un surprising.

But, oh , so delicious.

I couldn’t help but pull on his hair as he kissed me back like a man starved. Like kissing me gave him his first inhale of breath after suffocating for years.

His tongue finally met mine and, no matter that my eyes were closed, I gasped from the blinding light that appeared behind my lids. From the electricity that seemed like it was running under my skin from my fingertips, my lips, the tip of my nose.

Every place where we connected.

We were both panting when I pulled back, not letting go of his head between my hands. The veins of his arms were visible from the force he used to keep his hands fisted against the mattress, as if to prevent them from trying to reach for me.

“I need you to tell me something,” he rasped, before swallowing audibly.

I groaned in frustration. “I’m not—”

“Something else,” he interrupted. “You never answered my question in the archives. Why do you hide your ears?”

I stared at him, my eyes searching his. Searching for the reason he wanted to know.

I found none.

“Because when people know that I’m the first of my kind, they expect high things from me.

They expect me to be the best Succubus that exists.

” I paused. “I’m not. I’m a mediocre one.

I’m the Succubus Archdemons were fighting to get in their tie, only to realize that my powers were bridled and that I had an attitude problem.

That I hated being what I am and that I was doing the bare minimum to get by. That I was not worth anything.”

The silence was deafening as I cleared my throat, turning my face to the side to escape his gaze.

“That’s why I hide them. That way people don’t expect anything from me. That way people don’t expect me to fight back when they attack, which they always end up doing, anyway.”

I think about that demon in the street the night before. I think about Carter teleporting me to the library, only to insult me and Dimitri to my face.

I might not have done a great job defending myself against the first one, but Carter was definitely taken by surprise.

“No more hiding,” he whispered, rubbing the tip of his nose against the shape of my ear. “No more secrets.”

I scoffed, turning my face back to his, knocking his nose with mine.

“Why am I the only one getting questioned? I don’t know much about you either,” I said, trying to deviate the focus of the conversation.

“You can ask me whatever you want.”

I opened my mouth to talk but fell short.

There was a lot I wanted to know. About him. About this place. About Carter .

But we had just fought. And kissed. And it felt too intimate to ask him personal questions right now.

“Tell me something I don’t know—no, tell me something no one knows about you and this place.”

He seemed to think about it for a moment, adjusting his legs in a way that made me lift mine above his unconsciously. The energy started transferring from the underside of my thigh, where our skin touched and goosebumps traveled up my body.

“The camp has been receiving threats for a few months. I mean— I’ve been receiving them. Some Immortals that were missing were found dead on our doorsteps with notes carved in their bodies. Notes addressed to me. Taunting me.”

He straightened up, leaning back on his haunches and giving me a full view of his chiseled chest. His eyes were worried, calculating.

“Carter and Carrie are the only ones who know. We think that wherever our people are being taken to when they disappear is run by one or many Immortals, and they’re playing with us. We’re not sure why.

“That’s why I was out of my mind when I saw you out in a pool of blood, without even taking notice of the color of it. That’s why Carrie and Carter were suspicious of you at first. At least for Carter, it was one of the reasons.”

I pulled myself up using my elbows to sit back up, facing him.

He caught my ankles and I tensed as he pulled on my legs to make me lie down again. “Time for bed, blondie.”

I groaned but didn’t fight back when he lay next to me, pulling me in his arms before placing both his hands behind his head. Respecting my boundaries.

Boundaries that I was slowly starting to regret as I kind of wanted his hands all over me right now.

“The papers you found were actually really helpful,” he said as my hands were moving on their own accord, caressing his chest. “Come to Carrie’s office tomorrow. We’ll tell you what we know and what we found out. ”

I nodded, still a little shocked about his revelations. I wasn’t expecting him to tell me something like this. And I really wasn’t expecting to feel that worried about it.