Page 19

Chapter 19

Dex

D ex opened his eyes and blinked as the sun nearly blinded him. Shit, he must have fallen asleep. When had he ever fallen asleep with the TV on?

There was an unfamiliar weight on his chest, and he went completely still as he remembered.

Sometime after about the fifth episode, he’d dozed off, and Dex checked the TV, seeing she’d watched the entire first season…

Letting him sleep.

Nova had her coat over her, snuggled into him like this was natural.

Dex couldn’t move.

One of his arms was over her which meant he’d done it in his sleep, and she’d let him.

Fuck, this was bad. This shouldn’t have happened.

All he could think about was how she felt against him, how safe she must feel to sleep with him.

How safe he’d felt to fall asleep before her.

Dex knew he was a touch-starved bastard. Every time he fucked someone, it was all he could do to keep his hands off of them. He just wanted to feel their skin against his, but that had always just been fucking. Dex had never wanted to…cuddle.

He was torn between staying exactly where he was until she woke up or extricating himself so she wouldn’t wake up on top of a guy she barely knew.

Nova’s dark purple hair shimmered in a beam of sunlight and he couldn’t stop looking at it or the scar that marred her perfect skin. Dex smiled when he saw the freckles dusted across her cheeks. It had been too dark to really see them before.

Her hair was all ruffled and messed up, and she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

The urge to touch her was overwhelming.

Dex wasn’t confident he wouldn’t violate her trust. She’d asked for a friend, not a lover.

Very carefully, he slid out from under her, rolling so she’d be lying on her stomach just like she’d been on him. It put him in a weird position and Dex reached down, placing his hand on the floor.

There.

Nova sighed when he slid all the way off the couch to the floor, blindly reaching out for him.

But the moment she moved, her face fell into the patch of sunlight.

Her eyes snapped open and the purple burned with a fire that honestly scared the living shit out of him. That soft hand suddenly gripped his throat hard enough to actually hurt. Dex stared into her eyes, her pupils dilated to pinpoints.

She didn’t recognize him yet – if she was even actually awake.

The grip on his throat started to burn as her magic lit up the runes on her forearm. If he wasn’t quick, she’d blow his fucking head off.

“It’s me, Dex,” he told her, extremely careful not to move a single muscle. Wherever she was mentally had put her on the defensive.

Fucking hell, she was terrifying.

“You’re in my apartment, safe.”

Her grip tightened and he could see fear flicker in her eyes. “Safe?”

“Safe in Dex’s apartment.”

“Okay.” Nova released him and went right the fuck back to sleep.

Holy shit.

Dex was up and across the apartment in a split second. He went to the windows in his living room as quickly as he could.

She’d been fine until the sun was on her face.

He closed every set of blinds and the blackout curtains until it was dark as hell. Then he grabbed a spare blanket and tucked it around her, making sure there was no light near her face at all.

Staring down at her, he realized in that moment that she was not just a normal witch. The power he could feel was one thing. It wasn’t all that impressive and there was no real flavor to it that told him her specialty.

But whatever had happened to her when she’d gotten that scar…

She leveled up the moment she felt threatened.

It wasn’t normal power at all .

Dex had no idea what exactly it was, but he would bet it had something to do with her ability to manipulate darkness and whatever made her react to light the way she did.

He’d forgotten until her hand was around his throat, just how she’d been in the mortuary.

At first, he’d thought she was rightfully scared he’d murder her there, but she’d stepped closer to him once his shadow had blocked the light. She’d practically begged him to turn the lights off.

Dex had chalked it up to the mortuary, not the actual light.

Was she afraid of it, or did it physically hurt her?

Either way, he went through his entire loft, making sure it was as dark as possible. She could explain when she woke up.

Running his hand through his messed-up hair, he considered Nova’s sleeping form.

Dex was in so much trouble when it came to her.

She was complicated and mysterious, independent and aggressive. She was also tall, and he loved it considering how he always felt like a freakish giant at 6’7”. Then she had this weird side of her that was honestly adorable.

His phone went off silently and he stared at the number for a long time before going into the bedroom. Dex closed the door behind him. “What is it?”

“I’ve got footage of someone breaking into the accounting firm,” George told him. “Director of IT said they accessed her computer but can’t figure out what they were looking for.”

Dex sighed. This was the last thing he needed right now. “Send me the footage. Who else knows about this?”

“Just the guys on security in the building, and the director.” George was silent for a moment. “Are we keeping this quiet?”

“For now.” Dex would rather just deal with the problem. Agmos wouldn’t like being bothered with something this mundane. “Have the director do whatever she can to figure out what they wanted and tell security I’ll take care of it.”

“Got it, Dex. Anything else?” George still sounded wary of him, and after what had happened at the club, Dex didn’t blame him.

She wasn’t his, but here she was, sleeping on his damn couch, and a flash of possessive rage went through him.

“No one touches the witch,” he said, a growl escaping his throat before he could lock it down. “Nova is off limits.”

He could say it was because of her scent charm, but Dex knew the shifters weren’t stupid. Lying to their faces would just be an insult.

“I’ll spread the word.”

Dex hung up and tossed the phone on his bed. For a split second, he considered going back to sleep, but after having a moment where he thought he might actually die, it would be impossible.

Killed by a witch.

He snorted and went into his attached bathroom. The all-powerful demon-angel snuffed out by a witch with an attitude problem. If that wasn’t karmic justice, he didn’t know what was.

And she was going to be so mad if she ever found out he’d told the entire Corp to stay away from her.

He yanked his shirt off and threw it into the hamper a bit more aggressively than was strictly necessary.

Dex didn’t know how to deal with this.

He had no problem keeping things as just friends between them. But if anyone else fucking touched her, he’d kill them.

Gripping the counter, he took a deep breath, trying to keep his cool.

Looking up, he studied his Korean-like features in the mirror, trying to see what she saw.

He took after his mother in looks, but the size was all his dad. Not for the first time, he wondered if his mom was still alive.

Dex turned on the shower and considered what the fuck he was going to do about Nova.

Why didn’t she want him as more than a friend when she was obviously attracted to him?

She’d said it out loud or he would just chalk it up to harmless flirtation. The way she’d leaned back against him on the rooftop made his brain short-circuit every time he thought about it.

Turning the water as hot as it would go, he let the bathroom fill with steam as he stripped.

Did she think he was a player?

Who the fuck was he kidding? Dex had no interest in anyone really. Most of the time, he was checked out until his bloodlust rose to the surface. Every once in a while, he’d go to another city to find someone to fuck, but that was it.

Dex was the farthest thing from a player no matter how much he liked to mess with people. George probably thought he was losing his mind since Dex gave zero fucks about anyone ever and now here he was telling everyone a witch was off limits out of nowhere.

Letting the water scald his skin, Dex tried not to think about how she’d looked sleeping on his chest.

Nova felt safe with him.

He quickly washed and got out, grabbing a towel on his way to the closet. It was only mid-afternoon and now he had to deal with whatever this new problem was.

Ever since the other syndicate had arrived in Seattle, things had been going sideways.

Dex yanked on his sweatpants and scrubbed his hair with the towel. What had they been looking for?

A scream pierced the apartment like a knife and his heart literally stopped before he used every bit of speed he possessed to find her.

It was unnaturally pitch black in the living room. He couldn’t even see her outline. Dex slammed into the table and stumbled before reaching the couch.

She wasn’t there anymore.

What the fuck was going on?

The growl that came out of his throat warned him he was right on the edge of losing control. His teeth and shoulders ached and Dex felt the urge to rip apart everything and everyone.

“Dex?”

He whipped around and grabbed her, backing up until they were against the wall. Putting his body between her and the rest of the loft, he cocked his head and listened. There were no other heartbeats except the ones in the other apartments.

A quick scan of the building with his magic and he found nothing out of the ordinary.

“What happened?” he demanded, keeping a hand on her shoulder so he didn’t lose track of her in the dark with those fucking charms on. “I can’t see a fucking thing.”

He couldn’t see .

“I—I had a nightmare,” she whispered, voice shaky.

Fucking hell.

Dex released her and stepped away, breathing hard.

The urge to yell at her nearly overwhelmed him, but it wasn’t her fault he was right on the edge of burning the fucking world to the ground. He snarled and closed his eyes, knowing they were glowing.

“Could you please ease up on the darkness?” It took everything he had to ask nicely.

The last thing he needed was to scare her even more.

This girl had some serious trauma if her sleeping patterns were any indication.

“Sorry.” A second later it was back to a normal darkness and he could see again.

Dex turned slightly, making sure she could only see his white fire. She stared at nothing though, eyes unfocused and with her entire body trembling.

Without another word, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

Dex flicked his fingers, using magic to make sure the curtains and blinds were closed as tightly as possible before settling her in his bed. He wrapped the blankets around her and then lay on top of them. His arms went around her next and he held her close.

This was definitely inappropriate but there was no other way to calm down his demon at the moment when she was the source of his irritation and anxiety.

“I’m sorry,” she said, the words tickling his bare chest.

“Why are you sorry?” His voice still wasn’t normal and Dex gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on her.

“I scared you.”

Dex sighed then, feeling bad she was trying to comfort him in this situation. “You did.” He tried not to think about how peacefully she’d slept until he’d left. “Are you okay?”

Nova didn’t bother trying to lie to him.

“What was the nightmare?”

Her arm snaked across his middle and she pressed into him like she couldn’t get close enough. Dex held her as tightly as he dared, understanding the need for some kind of anchor after a dream like that.

“It was the same dream I’ve had ever since it happened,” she told him. “I watch the demon rake his hand over my face with his claws.” Nova reached up and mimicked the motion on his own face, middle finger right over his eye.

A demon did that to her?

“And then my sister got him off of me. I was five years old when it happened, and she was only ten. Ten years old and she still got him off.”

Dex had no idea how a ten-year-old witch could manage that.

“She was a hunter,” Nova whispered like she could hear his thoughts. “Taking after our dad.”

Well, fuck.

“The things he did to her.” Nova shuddered and Dex actually felt sick. “I was the one with magic. Why couldn’t I help her until it was too late?”

Dex didn’t move as he listened to her. He knew some demons refused to temper their chaos cravings, but kids? That was pretty rare. Why had a demon come after a kid in the first place?

“My magic…lashed out at him when he gutted her,” Nova whispered. “He was burned to ash, but it was too late. It took her so long to die, Dex.”

There was nothing he could say to make it better. There was nothing in the world that could erase what had happened to her.

No wonder she thought the scar was ugly when every time she looked at it, that was what she remembered.

“She died a true hunter’s death, protecting those she loved.” Dex knew it wasn’t that reassuring, but it was better than saying nothing at all.

Nova was up so fast it actually made him blink in surprise. “She did.” Wiping her cheeks, she walked back to the living room and Dex rolled over onto his stomach so she couldn’t see his eyes.

Holding her had helped, but adrenaline was still coursing through his veins and now he wanted to hunt down a demon that wasn’t even alive anymore.

“Fuck!” she yelled.

He growled into the pillow, feeling his demon practically cackle in anticipation.

This girl was going to fucking kill him.