Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy #3)(25)

“Take them off,” he said.

For the first time I hesitated and wanted to cry. I’d always wondered if I’d be naked with Kaidan someday, but never under these circumstances. Unleashing my emotions, I snapped, “You don’t have to be such an ass.”

His brief laugh was a dark sound as he pushed me onto the bed, grasping my bottoms and pulling them down my legs, tossing them away and leaving me bare. His whole body tensed as his eyes landed on the faded, greenish bruises across my shins. A quick survey of my skin showed I had bruises everywhere. Kaidan recovered quickly, his jaw set in hard lines.

He kept his eyes on my knees or stomach after that. The red badge at his sternum was as large as I’d ever seen it, spinning and pulsing. I wished for one soft glance from Kai—one glimpse of the boy who loved me. When his gaze finally met mine for the briefest second, it was all heat and anger.

I pressed my knees together, shocked that I lay naked in front of Kaidan Rowe and he seemed not to care. He stood at the end of the bed, unclasping his belt, which made his cargo shorts droop low on his hips. I had to swallow as he unzipped them.

This isn’t happening. I took a cue from his playbook and appeared slightly uninterested, keeping my eyes on his chest as his shorts dropped to the floor. Don’t look, Anna, I told myself.

Kaidan Rowe was nude, in all his glory, and I had to pretend to be unfazed. I couldn’t be caught gawking as if it was something I’d never seen. Which I hadn’t, and didn’t want to now. Not like this.

He won’t do it, I told myself. He won’t. Not like this. He loves you.

This was exactly the position Kaidan and I swore to never let ourselves get in. Naked. Together. I had no doubt in my mind that his father had sent him and the spirit. The consequence of refusing his father’s will would be death. Was I willing to go all the way in this moment to save him? Even if it meant I couldn’t wield the Sword of Righteousness—the only weapon that would help us get rid of the demons? Kaidan or the world. What kind of choice was that?

Please, please, please, I begged. Get us out of this.

Kaidan came toward me. When the whisperer made that gross, guttural purring sound again, I scrunched my nose. Panic and frustration made me speak out.

“Do you have to be here?” I asked it. “You’re really distracting.”

Shut up, it said to me. As if I want to be here with you boring Neph.

“Then leave,” Kaidan said. “We’re almost finished here. Anyway, I think you’d find room 108 far more interesting.”

This seemed to catch the spirit’s interest, and for the first time since Kai and the whisperer entered, I felt a spike of hope. The demon froze and then bobbed up and down.

You won’t tell? it asked.

“Tell what?” Kaidan said with impatience. “You did what you bloody came to do—you saw me find the girl and assure she’s impure. Your job is done, and I can finish mine much better if you’re not hovering.”

The spirit pondered this a few seconds before it turned with a swish and flew through the walls, disappearing.

I was afraid to breathe. We stared at the blank wall in silence for a full minute before Kaidan collapsed on the bed next to me, shoving his face into a pillow and hollering. I climbed beneath the blanket and tossed a pillow over his chiseled, naked butt.

My heart was beating too fast, and the thoughts in my head were too murky to decipher. When Kaidan reached an arm over and pulled himself closer, burying his face in the blanket at my lap, I was afraid to touch him.

“I would have stopped, Anna.” His voice was a thick whisper, causing tears to streak down each of my cheeks. “I swear. I’d die before I took you against your will. Please tell me you believe me.”

“I believe you.” And I did, but it had still been a scary, desperate moment that left me trembling. I was furious with the Dukes for putting us through this. What if we hadn’t been able to talk the whisperer into leaving? Things were going too far. Something would have to give. And soon.

I swiped the tears from my cheeks and pushed my fingers into his hair, knowing full well the whisperer could return at any moment. We couldn’t keep touching like this.

“Get under the covers with me,” I said. “We need to lie here for a little while in case it comes back.”

Kaidan looked up at me, showing all the emotion he’d so expertly kept hidden in the presence of the spirit. His expression made everything inside me come to life.

“There you are,” I whispered, stroking his cheek until I was awarded with a tired, small grin.

He sat up, shifting the pillow over his lap until he was under the blanket. We lay side by side, quiet, both our chests rising and falling too fast. Kaidan trembled before seeming to suddenly remember something. He shot up and took my arm, running a hand over the bruises.

“Anna . . .” Here we go. “What. The bloody hell. Happened? Who did this to you?”

I swallowed hard. “Listen, Kai. I’m all right now, okay?”

“Who?”

His breathing became faster, a raging storm brewing.

“The sons of Thamuz.”

His mouth went slack. “What did they do? I swear to God—”

“Nothing. They tried to take me, but I fought. And . . . Kope showed up.”

“Kope?”

“Yeah.” Kaidan was not going to like this story. I braced myself, and told him everything. He looked ready to blow a fuse.