OH. MY. GOD.
Lifting her hand, Willow pressed it to the center of her chest and glared at the woman who’d raised her. She felt as if she’d been dealt a physical blow, the bitter burn of betrayal ripping painfully through her insides. She couldn’t believe it. Had Jessie lost her friggin’ mind?
“Will?” Noah’s voice was soft. Cautious.
Keeping her hard gaze on her aunt, she said, “Forget it.”
Noah looked between her and Jessie, who was just sitting there with a serene smile on her face, pretending she hadn’t just thrown Willow into the fire. “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” he demanded.
“Willow has a friend,” Jessie explained. “His name is Damon.”
Noah grunted, the supremely masculine sound almost making her smile. “And this Damon is a demon?”
“Maybe,” Willow muttered, ready to strangle her aunt. Bracing herself for the coming argument, she shifted her gaze to Noah. “But I need to be searching for Sienna. I don’t have time to get involved in your problems, no matter how serious they are.”
“The Death-Walkers aren’t my problem, Will. They’re everyone’s problem.” He paused for a second, his dark brows pulling together … and there was a strange light in his eyes that told her she wasn’t going to like what he said next. “If you want to find your sister, then sticking with me is probably the best chance you’ll get.”
“How do you figure?” she asked, thinking he looked as surprised by what he’d just said as she was. If she hadn’t been so angry, the situation might have actually been funny.
He recovered quickly, vibrating that hot male energy at her while he pulled back his shoulders, as if getting what he wanted was a foregone conclusion. “Think about it, Will. What Jessie said is true. Calder wants my body.”
She shot him a cheeky grin. “He got the hots for you, Noah?”
“You know what I mean,” he growled, an endearing flush of color burning along his cheekbones.
Yeah, she knew. But it was easy to see why Noah would be considered prime host material. What male, no matter how much of a monster he was, wouldn’t want to wear that sexy skin? Women probably threw themselves at him on a daily basis, begging for the chance to touch and taste all that rugged, mouthwatering perfection.
She was truly playing her role as the awful bitch to a T, but it couldn’t be helped. After all, it was easier to be angry than hurt, and God, did it hurt. Just looking at him was a kind of physical torment. Just being near him. Breathing him in.
Noah had been the first boy who had ever made her feel like a sexy, desirable female. Who had blown her mind with pleasure that was so intense, it’d felt like she was dying … but in a good way. And no one had ever quite managed it since. It was like the bastard had marked her, every other man she’d known paling in comparison.
Still, considering the cards she’d been dealt, it was, in a way, good that things had turned out the way they did. Thanks to a certain pain-in-the-ass prophecy, nothing could have come of her crush on Noah Winston. But that didn’t mean that the way he’d ended things hadn’t stung. Having a guy tell you it was a mistake to touch you was never a good thing. As far as set downs went, it sucked the big one.
And yet, despite all of that, she knew she couldn’t refuse to help him. At least, not completely. Her goddamn guilty conscience wouldn’t let her, no matter how badly she wanted to.
“Fine. I’ll track down Damon for you,” she grumbled, pulling her phone out of her back pocket, so that she could enter Noah’s number. She knew Jessie was going to have a lot to say to her, but that didn’t mean she wanted Noah Winston around to hear it. Better to clear out to her own cabin, and come back to see Jessie later, before she left. “You got a cell number where I can reach you?”
His dark brows drew together in a straight line over those sharp blue eyes. “Reach me?”
She tried not to sound huffy. “Finding Damon isn’t going to be easy. He’s trying to avoid his ex, who has it out for him big-time, which means he’s gone silent. No phones. No pagers. I’ve got to hit the road to look for him. It might take a few days, but once I’ve found him, I’ll call you.”
He worked his jaw, something grim and angry darkening his expression. “That’s not how this is going to work.”
Willow lifted one brow in a slow arch and cocked her hip. “Did I miss something? I thought you wanted my help.”
“I do. But you’re not going after the demon on your own.”
“You want that spell translated?” she snapped, pointing her finger at the papers in Jessie’s hand. “Or not?”
“Yeah, I want it. But we get it together.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes narrowed to hot, glittering slits. “The Death-Walkers aren’t idiots. If they catch wind of what you’re doing, they’ll come after you like a force from hell. Literally. I intend to be there to make sure you don’t get hurt. And I want to hear the translation straight from the demon’s lips.”
“No,” she breathed out, shaking her head. Hell, no.
“If you want your answers about Sienna, this is the only way.”
“I’ll get my own answers,” she snarled. “You’ve got to be out of your friggin’ skull if you think I’m just going to tag along with you for the ride!”
“The bastard who has her wants me, Will. That means you need me.”
“Maybe, but you need me, too,” she shot back, her temper getting the better of her. She never had been able to suffer arrogant men. And Noah Winston was as cocky and arrogant as they came. “You need me a lot. Remember? Damon might be the only shot you have at getting those pages translated!”
“That’s right. So we work together.”
Her stomach damn near bottomed out. What the hell had just happened? Closing her eyes, she stumbled back a few steps, until she came up against a wall. “Jesus, Noah. That’s a bad, bad idea,” she whispered, deciding she was going to have to add tricky to his list of character faults.
“I’m no happier about it than you are,” he said in a low voice, “but I don’t see that we have a lot of choice here. Unless you’re willing to tell me where I can find this demon of yours on my own?”
Huh. At least he knew better than to gloat. But she was still pissed as she opened her eyes to glare at him. “I can’t tell you something I don’t know. And he’d kill you before agreeing to help you.”
He gave a sarcastic snort. “Sounds like a great guy.”
Her smile was meaner for the fact she knew she was going to have to give in. The bastard was going to win, she was going to be stuck working with him, and God only knew what other horrors awaited.
CHAPTER FOUR
INSANITY MUST BE contagious. Considering the circumstances, that’s certainly what it felt like. Noah was trapped in his truck with Willow, surrounded by that mouthwatering scent, and the goddamn road seemed to stretch on forever, punishing him for the sexual thoughts that kept slinking their way into his brain.
Ever since his family had taken off in the dead of night twelve years ago and driven from Sacred to San Francisco, Noah had hated road trips. They made him irritable and tense. He’d been on more than he could count since joining the Watchmen, but he couldn’t recall ever feeling this restless while cruising down the open highway. He couldn’t even keep his damn eyes on the road, constantly stealing sideways glances at the woman sitting beside him.
She’d changed her clothes before they’d headed out, trading