Zoey Avenger (Incubatti Series Book 2) (24 page)

“Fuck it. Fine.” Zoey removed her weapons and stacked them on the decorative table near the door. She whirled to show she had nothing else on her. “Happy?”

“Come on in.” He turned away and strode into the living area.

“I’m fine here.” She objected, remaining by the door.

“Scared?”

He knew how to egg her on and what to say to provoke her. Worst of all: he knew she needed help if she was there.

“I’m not scared,” she said through clenched teeth. With some reluctance and another look at her weapons, she trailed him and lingered in the doorway to the foyer.

Declan sat on the couch, somehow managing to remain as commanding and in control as he did standing. He interlaced his fingers behind his head and leaned back against the couch, waiting.

“There won’t be an army of Cambions outside your door when I’m done here, will there?” she asked uncomfortably, too aware that it was him making her body tingle and not the idea of killing a herd of Cambions.

“I can handle you just fine.”

Warmth crept up her neck. “I need the head of an incubus.”

“Only the head.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t have any in the freezer. Not sure I can help you.”

It took effort, but Zoey didn’t let the dry, unexpected joke make her smile. Declan’s sense of humor always caught her off guard. It was sharp yet quiet and unpredictable, like him.

“If you need a full incubus, we might be able to negotiate.”

“I think I’d rather take my chances finding an incubus and chopping off his head,” she replied.

“What do you need him for?”

She glanced out the window. “We figured out how and what Olivia is doing to the Halflings. We need pure samples of gland shit from an incubus.”

“Gland shit,” he repeated, a faint smile pulling up one side of his lips. Everything Declan did was done with an innate ability to seduce.  

Zoey caught herself staring too long, leaning in to get a whiff of his scent and to test his magic.

“You need a lab to make the neurotoxin.”

The clock on the wall above him read one thirty. “We’ve got one,” Zoey replied.

“Interesting.” The brief humor was gone, replaced by the expression of an enforcer searching for the truth in his investigation. He lowered his hands and stood. “It’s not any of mine. Which means the four of you suddenly appearing at random places across the DC metro area was meant to pull my attention from somewhere.” As he spoke, he drew nearer, stopping within arm’s length without coming closer.

Zoey reached back for a knife only to recall she was disarmed. The combination of his scent, closeness, and her memories were starting to eat away at the resistance she wanted to remain firm. “That’s none of your concern, Declan,” she warned him. She took a step back, aware of what he could do if he touched her. He had the ability to read some of her thoughts from a distance, but direct contact left her entire mind exposed.

“Olivia’s formerly secret lab. Four of you to distract my forces. The rest taking over the lab. It all works out, except that you need a sample.”

She didn’t expect the flicker of his anger, not after all he’d put her through. “Don’t, Declan. I can see it on your face. If you’re even considering warning Olivia –”

“What Zoey?” he challenged, closing the distance between them. “You’ll do what?”

Breathless, she stared up at him, momentarily caught in the magic of the super incubus that was her soul-mate. His chiseled features were hard. Her lower belly began to burn, her blood quickening and pulse like the patter of a hard rain.

“You don’t know what kind of fire you’re playing with,” he said, calming and reining in the magic that held her transfixed.

Zoey blinked and eased back. “I don’t have a choice, Declan. I need the toxin and antitoxin. The toxin stabilizes the Halflings so they don’t self-destruct.” She stopped, realizing she’d told him more than she intended.

“How does it work?” he pressed.

“Olivia used it as a drug, doping up the Halflings. When she was done with them, she stopped giving them the drug and they went crazy like the Cambions and had to be put down, which she did by feeding them to the Cambions who are supplying the toxin to her in the first place.”

Declan listened, eyes on her lips as she spoke. His long lashes had always intrigued her, along with the flecks of green in his hazel eyes.

“Don’t stop,” he said in a sultry whisper that made warmth bloom hot and quick inside her. “You said you wanted the antitoxin as well. Why?”

Zoey ground her teeth to keep from responding. His magic and scent wound through her senses, making her want to melt into him.

“Tell me why,” he said, lifting his eyes to hers.

Because I have three weeks without it. “Fuck!”

“Three weeks,” he repeated aloud. “What’re you talking about?”

“It’s none of your business,” she snapped and moved away from his influence.

“It is,” he said icily and took her arm, stopping her.

If his scent was intoxicating, his touch crippled her. Zoey absorbed as much of his magic as possible to keep it from overtaking her better judgment. She’d never won this game with Declan. His heat sank into her clothing and touched her skin the way his body would, if she didn’t move quickly.

“Maybe I need it to kidnap your father again!” she snapped, rallying her anger.

“Or maybe I need it to cheat on you again.”

Zoey yanked away and face him. Emotions collided and jumbled within her. She was caught between a meltdown and sobbing the way she did when she first learnt of his betrayal.

“Is it true?” she managed. “You were drugged?”

“I was.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” More emotion than she wanted came out in the question.

Declan held her gaze. “Why did you really come, Zoey?” he asked, warmth appearing in his features for the first time since he entered. He neared once more, this time cupping her face with one hand.

No part of her wanted to move, but she wasn’t able to control the emotions inside her. “Don’t!” she snapped, pushing him back.

He lowered his hand with pursuing.

“I want to hate you, Declan. I want to carve your heart out with the dullest weapon I can find so you feel what I do. I want to go back and time and make sure I don’t meet you or … fuck I don’t even know!” Her eyes were blurring with tears. Embarrassed, she swiped at them. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“What could I have said that you would’ve listened to?” he returned. “You think I didn’t feel everything you went through? You think I don’t care, that letting you go was easy for me either?”

“How the fuck would I know what you felt? It’s not like you’re capable of expressing anything! Your whole life has been living a lie while you wait the right time for some grand plan meant to change the world. Why would I be any different?”

“I do everything in my power to help you, Zoey. I will continue to do that.”

“I don’t want your money or your help, Declan. I want …” She stopped, not about to admit the deep, intimate thought she’d all but banished from her mind.

“You want what I want,” he finished for her. “To wake up every day beside the person you care about.”

“Even if I did, it’s not possible. We’re enemies. You put out the fucking warrants on all of us.”

“Because you kidnapped my father.”

“And you cheated on me.”

They stared at each other. Zoey had the sudden urge to laugh but didn’t, unable to figure out what was funny about her situation.

“I will get you the samples you need,” Declan said. “For a price.”

“Which is …”

“What it always is.” The words hung in the quiet between them.

Zoey’s breath caught.

“If I’m not mistaken, you still owe me anyway.”

She rolled her eyes. “I thought you didn’t want me here.”

“It’s dangerous for both of us.”

“Ah. You don’t take risks.”

“But I will get paid.” The fire of desire lit in his gaze. “Enemies by day, lovers by night?” Declan sidled closer once more, unbuttoning his shirt methodically with long, slender fingers to reveal golden skin molded over the sculpted muscles of his chest and abs. 

“That never works out, Declan,” Zoey objected. The hot ache of desire bloomed at her core and raced through her, torching her ability to think straight. Her sensitive skin tingled in anticipation of his touch, and she licked her lips nervously, unable to control her reaction. “What happens if I cross your path during daylight?”

“We’ll deal with it.” He paused close enough for their bodies to meet, his magic and scent wrapping around them, at once intoxicating and exhilarating.

“I got shit to do and bad guys to kill,” she said firmly. “I won’t promise every night.”

“Skip a night and find out what happens.” His husky growl sent a shiver of sheer carnal need through her.

“You’re assuming I forgive you, Declan." Zoey sought some piece of her former fury to prevent her from sliding further down the slippery slope leading directly to his bed.

“You didn’t come here for an apology, my little Zoey,” he replied, aware of what her name spoken in his thick Southern accent did to her resistance. “You came here for me.”

Drowning in his dark vanilla scent and the heat of his body, she wasn’t able to recall what exactly made her think a private meeting with him was a good idea. “Okay, so maybe I really can hate you.”

“Hate me in the morning,” he whispered. Leaning in, Declan’s warm lips brushed hers. The consuming fire of an incubus getting ready to claim his soul-mate tore through her. “I want to show you why you’ll be back tomorrow night.”

“Declan.” She whispered her name in anguish, wanting him with inhuman need yet … afraid. “You destroyed me.”

The moment the words left her mouth, he froze. His sex magic retreated suddenly enough to make the air around her several degrees cooler. Zoey gazed up at him, knowing she was too close to begging him to fuck her for her to resist him, if he wanted sex.

For the first time since they met, Declan backed down. He took a step away and then two, his expression a mix of cool detachment and emotion, as if he was trying hard not to feel.

She understood too well what it was to be in that stage. Zoey released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding and wiped away tears burning down her cheeks. The charged tension stretched between them, pulling at her, making her want to abandon any second thought, fear or doubt about him and fling herself into his arms. The human side of her, her heart, couldn’t bear the thought of tumbling back into his bed when it still lay in pieces.

“You’re not ready,” he said at last, his hazel eyes holding her gaze.

“I’m sorry, Declan, but I’m not.” The hoarse words took effort when her body was screaming for him.

“Don’t apologize.”

She tried to read his face with no luck. Was he going to walk away from her? How did she want the door between them to remain open when she was clearly rejecting him?

“I have to go,” she said and started towards the door.

He said nothing, until she reached it. “Zoey, wait.”

She paused with her hand on the doorknob once more. Her heart somersaulted while more emotions bubbled closer to the surface. She was caught somewhere between fury and sorrow, helplessness and the urge to kill every Cambion in the world. There was nothing she could think of that he might be able to say to her in this moment to take away her pain, and yet, she willed him to say something, to show her there was potential for them beyond sex.

The heat of his lean frame at her back reached her. His hand covered hers.

She closed her eyes, shivering. Their souls were always connected even when their hearts stood so far apart from one another.

“Please,” he added softly. “Just wait.”

Zoey did. His breathing had quickened, his tone taking on a sense of urgency she hadn’t heard from him. If she turned, she suspected she’d find him struggling with the same emotions that nearly consumed her.

“An incubus fucks. An Enforcer deals with facts and truth,” he began in the same raw whisper. “Zoey, I don’t know what to do but I can’t lose you.”

She squeezed her eyes closed, unwanted tears threatening to overwhelm her.

“Please don’t go,” he added. “I won’t touch or talk to you if you don’t want me to.”

“There are whole … weeks when I don’t understand you,” she said in a strangled whisper. “Who the fuck are you, Declan? How do you add me to your bank account one day and then issue a warrant for my arrest the next?”

“Our relationship has always been complicated,” he said with bitter humor. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you even if I push you away doing it. Duty is clear cut but what I feel …” He drifted off and drew a deep breath. “I don’t have a fucking clue how to love you, protect you and be with you.”

She listened, affected by his explanation at a primal level. “You have to figure it out, Declan. I kill shit. I don’t plan and I definitely don’t do politics.”