Jennifer Armentrout - Bitter Sweet Love

Uh-oh.

Before the last puff of rotten-smelling black smoke evaporated, Dez was in front of me, his large hands slipping under the hem of my torn shirt.

“Are you okay?” he demanded. His warm palms flattened across my tummy, shocking me. “ Jasmine .”

Heart pounding, I gripped his arms. “I’m fine. It didn’t cut me, but you—”

“I told you to stay in the car!” He withdrew his hands, but then clasped my shoulders. The pupils of his eyes stretched thin. “What were you thinking?”

“You were outnumbered.” I slipped out of his grasp and shifted into my human skin. The residue of adrenaline was a bitter taste in the back of my mouth. “I couldn’t watch and do nothing, but your leg—”

My words ended in a squeak as he pulled me into his arms, holding me tight against his hot, bare chest. His hand balled in the mass of my tangled hair as his wings curled forward, closing me in. I stiffened at the feel of him, so very warm and alive. When he held me last night, the embrace had scattered my senses, but it was nothing compared to this.

Dez shuddered. “When I saw you get out of that car, my freaking heart stopped.”

Muscle by muscle, I relaxed into his hold, allowing my cheek to rest against his chest. I could feel his heart pounding. “I couldn’t just sit and watch again.”

“Again?” And then his powerful arms tightened around me. “Your mom? This was different,” he said quietly, his chin dipping down. “I could’ve taken on five more Terriers, Jas.”

Closing my eyes, I didn’t respond to that.

His lips brushed the top of my head. “There was nothing you could’ve done to help your mother. You know that, right?”

“Yes,” I said, my voice muffled. Females weren’t expected to defend themselves, let alone fight, an ideology Danika and I strongly disagreed with. If our mother had been trained, she might’ve escaped the attack with her life.

He held me for a second more and then let go, stepping back. When I opened my eyes, he was in his human skin. I’d seen a lot of the males running around shirtless, but for some reason, seeing Dez in that state made me feel as if I’d never seen a male stomach before.

His chest was cut and his stomach finely chiseled. He was broad, yes, but his muscles weren’t bulky. His jeans hung dangerously low, revealing those curious indents on either side of his hips. There were little nicks in the skin of his stomach and chest; old injuries I imagined had to have been serious for them to leave a scar. Somehow those blemishes didn’t deter from his masculine beauty but only enhanced it.

I was staring.

Forcing my gaze up, I saw that he was grinning slightly. My cheeks flushed. “You can’t be too upset with me for getting out of the car.”

He arched a brow. “I can be as upset as I want to be over it.”

I shook my head while I struggled to keep my eyes on his face. Now, I knew how most guys felt. It was a lot of work. “You promised to hunt a demon with me. I can’t stay in a car while we do that.”

Sinew stretched and muscles bulged as he folded his arms. Good God... “Well, technically this would count as hunting a demon, so—”

“No, it doesn’t. We didn’t hunt anything. They just popped out of nowhere.” I glanced over my shoulder, back to where they had appeared. “Why so many?”

His stare turned icy when I faced him. “They’re hunting for the mansion. They know a Warden clan is nearby and they’re trying to find it.”

I gasped, horrified by the idea of these things descending on a homeful of children. “Is... is that common?”

He nodded. “More common than you realize. They just don’t usually come out during the day. They’re getting bolder.” His lip curled in disgust. “We must get back. I need to report this to Garrick immediately.”

How had I never known about this? Demons were getting that close to our home on a regular basis? How much did I not know? In a daze, I walked back to the car. Dez drove this time. I was cool with that.

Dez had gone straight to my father when we arrived home, and I had gone in the opposite direction. As much as I wanted to hear what my father had to say about the Terriers coming out in the daylight, I didn’t want to be present if Dez decided to tell him I’d gotten out of the car.

And if Dez did tell him that, there was a good chance that my father would put a stop to my conditions.

I paced the length of my room, unable to sit for longer than a minute, it seemed. It had been this way since dinner. I hadn’t seen my father or Dez there.

Sprawled across my bed, Danika was... what exactly was she doing? Back against the mattress, arms flattened at her sides, she pressed her thighs together and lifted her legs straight into the air, holding still about six inches off the comforter. After a few seconds, she moved her legs up about a foot. Then she repeated the whole process.

“God, we need hobbies,” I muttered.

She laughed. “I’m working my stomach muscles.”

“Like I said, we need hobbies.”

Dropping her legs down, she sat up. Two thick braids bounced off her shoulders. “At least I’m being productive. You’re just walking back and forth.”

I stuck my tongue out at her and started pacing again.

A bright smile plastered itself across her face. “So what condition are you tackling next?”

I’d filled Danika in on everything—what happened today and my conditions, with the exception of the skinny-dipping, because I wasn’t sure I’d even been serious about that. “If Dez tells Dad about me being with him, there won’t be any conditions.”

“He’s smart enough to keep quiet.” She twirled the edge of a braid. “And Father is going to let you go with him. He’s always wanted you and Dez to mate. I’m so jealous. You’ll be traveling while I’m stuck here, wanting to claw out my eyeballs.”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. Mulling it over, I couldn’t imagine my father being okay with me traveling all the way to DC without a small army.

Danika flopped onto her back, sighing. “You’re going to get to see Zayne. I hate you.”

“You have such a crush on him.”

“I do,” she admitted, unashamed. “I hope he visits again with his father. That would make my year.”

I grinned. “It wouldn’t take much to make your year.”

She snorted. “True.”

Zayne was seventeen, Danika’s age, and extraordinarily handsome, even for a Warden. Danika had made no attempt at hiding her attraction when it came to the blond Warden, following him around like I’d done with Dez for many years, and Zayne had always been kind to Danika. If she had annoyed him, he’d never let it show. His father was the head of the DC clan, and it was rumored that in their household, there was a child that was both Warden and demon. I didn’t believe it. No clan would keep such an... an atrocity among them.

“So, did you kiss him?” Danika asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“What?” My cheeks heated. “No.”

Danika giggled. “Then your condition is not over.”

I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut. Dez hadn’t fulfilled his end of the condition with the driving, but fighting the Terriers hadn’t counted. We hadn’t been hunting for demons when they’d found us.

“You looked like you really enjoyed it when he kissed you last night,” she pointed out. “Brilliant idea, by the way, using your seven days as an opportunity to get out of the house, but you’re not going to tell him no in the end.”

My eyes narrowed on her. “I’m not telling him yes.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re mad. I totally get that, and you have every reason to be, but you haven’t looked at one guy since he left and you’ve definitely been looking at Dez.”