Demons Prefer Blondes (Demons Unleashed #1)(54)

“Thinking?” Incredulity laced her voice. “About what?”

“We should exercise caution.”

She rolled her eyes. “No shit, but you, yourself, should know what I’m going through.” Throwing up her hands, she harrumphed. “My mother is in danger!”

So someone told her about Coby? It didn’t surprise him one bit. A gossiping lot Kalli and Lilith were. He didn’t want to think about his sister, not now.

Stay strong. Don’t let her see you weak.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” Rafael winced. He sounded like a spoiled little brat.

A deep growl rumbled from her as she pounded her gloved fist into her other palm. “Maybe you need me to kick your fine ass.”

With as much fire as she possessed, she probably could. His jaw tightened and his heart raced. Her fire, strong, uncontrollable, dangerous… and he was almost falling into that fire—hard.

“Fine,” she ground out. “I’ll go by myself.” With that she spun around and tromped toward her mother’s snow-topped house.

With a sigh of resignation, Rafael swung the door open further and stepped out of the car. “Wait!” he yelled, plowing out of the car and into the snow. Glancing toward the western sky, his heart plummeted.

Dark billowing clouds swirled and churned in the distance. A black mist circled them, forming more menacing clouds. Winds whipped, growing stronger with each gust, sending white blasts of powder against his face.

“This isn’t good,” he muttered as he trudged up the driveway behind Lucy.

***

With cautious steps, Lucy shimmied toward the back of her mom’s house, Rafe steady on her heels. Hopefully her mom still kept the key hidden in that blatantly obvious plastic rock. Only the person with an IQ of a rock would fall for that trick. Might as well just paint the word KEYS in big bright red letters on the front of it.

Tromping through a foot of snow, she swung open the gate as far as she could with a drift of snow piled behind it.

With a few muffled curses—some made up—she muddled through the snow. Nothing like climbing through knee-deep snow to burst her already-fraying nerves.

“I hate snow!” she grumbled.

As if sensing her displeasure, a whirlwind of the annoyingly cold fluff bombarded her face. “Damn!”

Tromping next to her, Rafe glanced up to the ominous gray clouds churning to the west. “Bloody hell.”

“What is it?”

“Bad weather.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s Michigan in December. Get used to it.”

“Are your winter storm clouds usually that dark?”

“To be honest, I never paid much attention to the clouds.” Squinting, she further inspected the dark masses. “The snow blowing in my face usually blocks my view.”

“Those aren’t normal storm clouds, Lucy.” Rafe stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a black skullcap. Pulling the hat on, he turned to face her. “We need to move… now!”

Noting Rafe’s patented stony intense glare, she fidgeted with her hat. “Okay. I’ll go in through the back. You do your poof thing.”

“I can’t poof until you’re inside. I need a person or place to visualize. I’ve never been inside your mother’s house.”

“You aren’t missing much, unless hideous amounts of Christmas decorations are your thing.”

“I suppose not.” Rafe scratched his chin. “You go in through the back door, and I’ll travel once you’re inside.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said through blowing snow. “So what’s the deal with the creepy floating guy?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, gazing up and away from her. Great, he was hiding something again. “I need to investigate.”

“Fine,” she said, her tone short. “See you inside.” With as much pride as she could muster, she stood proud and stomped her way through the snow. The sooner she got to her mother the better.

Digging around in the snow, in bare hands nonetheless, she searched for the plastic stone. She craned her gaze to Rafe, who scratched his head, a puzzled expression etched across his face.

“I’m looking for the spare key,” she said, sounding lame. “She keeps it hidden.”

With the arch of a brow, Rafe nodded. “Just hurry.”

“Yes master,” she mumbled under her breath. Then again, being at Rafe’s mercy did have some delicious merits. Her mind flitted off to him doing all sorts of deliciously naughty things to her. She knew she liked it kinky; she just didn’t know she had that sort of kink in her. Her lips curved into a devilish grin. She so couldn’t wait to get him alone to herself. If it was as good as his kisses… ooh-la-la. She bit her lip. The more time she spent with this man, the more daring she became. Alarmingly exciting.

Then her hand connected with cold plastic, breaking her from those ever rising lustful thoughts. “Found it!” She flailed the fake rock like it was a prize. Flipping it over, she pried the key from its hiding spot. Standing, she brushed the thick snow from her jeans and coat. It was time to take on Rafe’s commanding tone. “Let’s go!”

With steps as sure as she could take through the pile of snow, she tramped up the steps. Wasting no time, she inserted the key and unlocked the door. Without hesitation, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. She stomped her shoes and scraped them against the floor mat. Even in her urgency, she knew not to inflict the wrath of Mom. Wet, sloppy, snowy floors would trip her switch—big time.