The Trouble with Twelfth Grave (Charley Davidson #12)(31)

“Why stronger?” I asked, my mind racing to find a way to get him back to the earthly plane. To bind him to it. To strip him of his powers until we could locate the human part of him.

“I learned from the best.” His sensual mouth tipped up at one corner. A corner I’d tasted so many times. My mouth salivated to do it again. “Like you, I ate the flesh of my enemies. I devoured the criminal god Mae’eldeesahn and the demon assassin Kuur.”

I stilled in surprise. That meant the killer, the being that had mutilated and murdered three people back on Earth, could be neither of them.

But it meant something more. It meant that he’d had to go to battle with a malevolent god. He’d had to not only survive a hell dimension but fight just to stay alive.

My throat constricted at the thought. I trained my expression to stay neutral. Empathy was not something Reyes appreciated. I imagined Rey’azikeen liked it even less.

“But you are still the best, are you not?” he asked.

“The best at what?”

“At devouring your enemies.”

I had to keep him talking. Perhaps I could do the same thing to him he’d done to me. If I concentrated, could I shift and take him with me to the earthly plane? “Why did you level Rocket’s building?”

He brushed a finger along my neckline. “Why do you care?”

“Because I love him.”

He looked away, his sculpted jaw clamping down in frustration.

“I love him, and you scared him and left him homeless for no reason.”

“I had a reason,” he insisted, his heated gaze back on mine. “And you know it.”

I was going about this all wrong. Honey attracted, not vinegar. “I know what?” I asked, softening my voice.

“I know you should never have sent me in there.”

“I am well aware of that, too. But it was your idea.”

He frowned. For a split second, he slipped and showed his hand. He didn’t remember. He thought I sent him in there. I sent him to hell.

“I would never do that to you.”

“You can’t help it,” he said as though finally understanding me. “You lie even when I know the truth. That was the second time you sent me into a hell dimension and the second time I escaped.” He wrapped his hand around my throat and lifted my chin with his thumb. “Whatever will you do next?”

I’d forgotten. According to Garrett’s research, I had indeed sent him to hell, but it was in lieu of the one his Brother had created for him. It was a hell from my home world. My home dimension. It was not as harsh as the one Jehovah had wanted to send him into. The one I’d eventually send him into.

“I didn’t mean for you to have to escape. I tried to get you out.”

He tightened his grip. “You failed.”

The resentment he harbored stung. It was as though I was talking to a stranger. A powerful, unpredictable, volatile stranger, and yet one I knew so deeply. Loved so deeply.

“Is that why you’re angry? You think I tricked you into going into the god glass? Is that why you’re killing people?”

His brows slid together, completely taken off guard before he recovered again. “Yes,” he said, lying through his perfect teeth.

His initial reaction spoke volumes. I’d blindsided him.

Elation soared out of me, a caged bird set free. Reyes didn’t kill anyone. Neither did Mae’eldeesahn or Kuur. Then who? Two of the murders were in broad daylight, a place no demon could go. What else could do such a thing?

“Where is it?” Reyes asked, growing impatient.

I blinked back to him. “Where is what? What are you searching for?”

His gaze dropped to my mouth. Lingered there. “This does not have to go badly for you. Just tell me where it is.”

“No,” I said, frustrated.

His laugh held no humor whatsoever. “You can hide it, but know this: I’ll find it eventually.” He pressed into me. “And when I do, I’ll not be kind.”

“Then I won’t be, either.”

He lifted a brow. “What are you going to do? Are you going to devour me, god eater? Are you going to swallow me up as though I never existed?” He leaned closer and put his mouth at my ear again. “Perhaps I’ll eat you first.”

Every time he pressed into me, my body betrayed me, and a rush of heat flooded my abdomen. A Pavlovian response to his nearness. His scent. The fullness of his sculpted mouth. The width of his shoulders.

It was my turn to lean closer. To put my mouth at his ear. To flood him with warmth. I rose onto my toes and whispered, “You could eat me now.”

Surprised, he jerked back, his gaze wary. Disbelieving. “You forget,” he said, his deep voice softening, “I am not Rey’aziel. I am not Reyes.”

Molding my body to his, I said simply, “Close enough.”

Without warning, I crushed my mouth to his.

He stiffened for all of three seconds before surrendering. He kissed me back, long and hard and sensuously. Then he stopped. Just like that. And stepped back. He wrapped a hand around my throat again and pushed me against the boulder, pinning me to it.

Holding me perfectly still, he let his gaze travel the length of my body, pausing on Danger and Will Robinson, a.k.a. my breasts. With eyes glistening as though hypnotized, he flattened his hand to my stomach.