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Danger ca her head, she brushed it away, only to have it return again to annoy her

Aggravated, she opened her eyes to find Alexion kneeling on the floor beside her with a devastatingly gorgeous grin on his face He laid the rose he&039;d been tor her with down on the , beautiful I was afraid you were going to sleep the night away"

Danger returned his smile as she stretched and yawned "What tiht"

She froze at his words "What?"

He leaned his chin on thevery innocent and sweet about that gesture It holly unexpected from a man as capable of the power this one coht away"

She was completely stunned She couldn&039;t remember the last time she&039;d overslept Come to think of it, she&039;d never done this before Six hours a night was her ed to sleep twelve and she wasn&039;t even in her own bed How had that happened?

Maybe you needsex more often?

Well, that ithout saying

Yawning, she sat up slowly, clutching the sheet to her to find a nice dinner laid out on the sood to be true-a ly powerful and protective, awesoh to feed her a decent ed as that thought went through her Oh, yeah, he did have one serious drawback He was rather dead and "other" But for an eternity of this kind of pa to overlook that one disturbing flaw After all, she was no picnic herself

Alexion turned a lamp on by the table "I hope you like Chinese"

"As a matter of fact, I do" For some reason that made no sense whatsoever, she had a sudden case of shyness about leaving the bed buck naked while he stood there with that intense stare She looked about the roo her

Blind hiht be a problem, not to mention rude

He scratched his chin before he indicated the door with his thuet you one"

She smiled, relieved that he was a little more intuitive than most men He really was "other" No"Yes, please That would be great"

He nodded, then left her alone

Picking up the rose to inhale its fragrance, Danger took the time to lie back in the bed and re hours

To be awakened like this was soet used to this" She sighed drean sensation of warh her "I think I like &039;other&039;"

"Other" gave her a satisfaction the likes of which she&039;d never known before He ain She was actually giddy with the idea of spending another night with him

Giddy? Me?

It was inconceivable that she would feel that Yet she did There was no way to deny it

If only it could last But she knew better Their tiot up and went to take a quick shower

Alexion hesitated inside the roo in the bathroo over Danger&039;s naked body Of her soaping herself Touching her flesh inti her hands over her breasts with her legs slightly parted

His cock hardened immediately

It was more than he could stand His mouth dry, he set the drink down and went to push open the door to the bathroom "Need someone to scrub your back?"

She made a squeak as if he&039;d startled her "What are you doing in here?" she snapped

"Wanting to see you naked in the shower," he said without embarrassment or hesitation

She opened the curtain to stare at him Her hair was plastered to her body, but the strands parted over her breasts, leaving the tips of theaze "You need to learn control"

"That I have in spades"

She ran an equally hot look over his clothed body "I aet back out there and see what&039;s up with Kyros and crew"

She was right

"Fine," he said, hating the fact that he had a job to do that didn&039;t include more naked time with her "Hormones leashed" He let out a tired breath, then started away

She caught his hand to stop him "There&039;s always the dawn, you know?"

He lifted her hand so that he could place a kiss to the back of her knuckles "Is that a promise?"

She nodded

He closed his eyes and savored the softness of her skin before he released her and allowed her to finish her bath But it was hard

Not as hard as I a a difficult ti with the erection that wouldn&039;t be denied

While she finished showering, he distracted hi her food Impulsively, he picked up a piece of the chicken to taste it

His heart clenched as he tasted nothing It was like the popcorn There was no difference whatsoever Only the texture differentiated one fro away fro better than that long feast at the end of a battle The roasted lamb and beef that had been marinated in wine and spices Goblets of rich, red wine and mead

His mother had made the best honeyed bread he&039;d ever tasted

Of all the things he&039;d lost by being reincarnated, he hated losing the ability to taste thehis soul, but the food was a close second

He heard the door open Turning, he saw Danger leaving the bathroom, fully dressed She had a white toound round her head "How is it?"

"Still war?"

"I ate already," he lied She was suspicious enough about what sustained hi he needed to do was confide in her how Acheron kept his she didn&039;t need to know

Just as she sat down, her cell phone rang Picking it up, Danger looked at the caller ID "It&039;s Kyros"

She opened the phone, then answered it

"Yeah," she said after a brief pause "We&039;re still in Starkville Where are you?"

Alexion closed his eyes and concentrated so that he could hear Kyros through the phone

"Where are you staying?" Kyros asked

"In a hotel"

"Is Ias with you?"

Danger cleared her throat before she answered "Why do you want to know?"

"I&039;ve been thinking about what he said and I wanted to talk to hi his friend had come to his senses, Alexion placed it to his ear "Yes?"

"How close are you to Acheron?"

"Very Why?"

"Is it true that he has his own deue Si Acheron only shared with a few Dark-Hunters, and Kyros wasn&039;t one of the privileged few "What demon?"

"Be honest with me, Ias," he snarled "Daround his teeth What har that one question? It wasn&039;t as if Siainst a Dark-Hunter "Yes, he has a demon"

"Then, if I were you, I&039;d summon it"

"Why?"

No sooner was the question out of hisup on hi the button to turn the phone off while Danger got up to open the door

Before she reached it, a s tangible The door itself was left intact while the ball twirled to the center of the rooer until it was the size and shape of a grooht flashed into the rooed fes, black hair, and yellow eyes Her skin was ht him by surprise was the fact that he knew her face as well as he knew his own

"Sirabbed his ar hiht hi on here? Simi would never hurt hiain

He ju with you, Sie, hurily

At least that&039;s what he thought she said Her words and pronunciation were different from the Charonte that Sier started for her

"No!" he snapped He had to understand this How could this demon look so much like Acheron&039;s?

"Who are you?" he asked her

She cocked her head and glared at hiainst her much darker skin tone "I am death and destruction and I arowled at hier, trust me"

The words were barely out of hishionatizuod to command me, servant Xirena bows before no one"

He would have rip on his throat made it impossible to speak She tore open his shirt as if she were about to rip his heart out

"I think I need to interfere, Alexion," Danger said, inching closer to the time"

"No!" he choked out, afraid the de

The deled with all his er from the Destroyer

That would kill hiet her to budge off hirip to loosen even a tiny bit

Until her eyes fell to his shoulder where he bore Acheron&039;s o of his throat to pull the fabric back so that she could study the et her off him

She cocked her head as she studied the tattoo intently "You serve the one who is cursed?"

"Yes"

She looked even more puzzled by that "You called e Do you know h his bruised esophagus It burned and ached He wasn&039;t sure if the pain would ever cease

"Simi&039;s one Who the hell are you?"

Her gaze narrowed threateningly at him, as if she were offended that he didn&039;t know of her "I a of Xiaods I was the protector of my mother&039;s sioddess Apollyift for the cursed god Do you knohere my simi is?"

Alexion couldn&039;t think as he stared up at the demon on his chest

Simi meant "baby" in Charonte?

Sonovabitch He wondered if Acheron knew that "You are Sier "She is named Xiamara after our mother"

"She doesn&039;t know that Believe htly Her face showed her confusion "You know her?"

"I take care of her"

To his complete shock, bloodred tears filled her eyes "You care for hter"

A single red tear streaked down her cheek "My simi lives? She thrives?"

"Like a queen on a throne"

She threw her head back and let out an inhuuish and joy She got off his curled around her body, forer&039;s gaze She looked as confused as he felt

Simi wasn&039;t alone in the world? There were two of theood news or bad "I would su that&039;s done"

"Yes it is," she said in a very Simi-like tone "You tell her to come and she must obey you"

"Yeah," he said in a tone that was a mixture of nervous humor and doubt "Simi doesn&039;t obey anyone but Simi"

Xirena shook her head "She obeys her akri She must"

"Well," Alexion said slowly, still afraid the Charonte o back into attack mode "In her case, her akri obeys her And neither one of the to me at present"

She scowled at him "That is not natural Once a Charonte is bound, it must obey I refused the bond and aod She ht Never once had Alexion seen it work that way

"In the case of Simi, I think it&039;s more Acheron is bound to her, not the other way around"

She didn&039;t seem to understand that "But you can take me to my simi?"

"Yes"

She threw her arms around him and held him close It lasted for about two heartbeats, before she pulled back and glared at hi to me, worm, I will rip out your brains and eat theht Yeah, she was Sisand no, I wouldn&039;t lie to you Not about this"

She turned to look at Danger "Is she your fe to Xirena"

"I&039;le word of what they were saying, other than the naot up, then helped Alexion to his feet

"What&039;s going on?" she asked him

Alexion still looked a bit nervous and shaken "It appears we have a new friend Danger, meet Xirena"

Xirena ca her head at strange angles and with jerking movements

"You are not human," the demon announced "You have no soul"

"Thank you for the obvious Did you know you have horns on your head?"

The sarcass up a good point Xirena, can you make yourself appear huusted her "Why would Xirena wish to do that?"

"So as not to cause a panic with the other humans," Alexion explained "Simi does it all the time"

She looked horrified "Her akri makes her appear as human? That is the worst torture My poor simi to be so abused!"

"Not really Simi enjoys it"

She covered her head with her hands as if she were in great pain "What have you done to ave her a ful stare "We have loved her as if she were theever born"

Xirena appeared even more baffled Two seconds later, she looked like a beautiful blond wo to the top of her head, "the horns need to go too"

They vanished immediately

Xirena moved to the mirror to look at herself She jumped back and curled her lip "I look like the Atlantean bitch-goddess" She turned her hair black "Better"

Danger stared at her "Is it just me or does she look a lot like Acheron now?"

"Don&039;t ask," Alexion said "Xirena, I take it you were sent here to killraspberry "The od Daimon, Strykerius He said you were a servant, but you do not bear the mark of a servant on you You bear the mark of royal family"

Alexion was surprised by that Acheron had never explained the sign to him except to say that he had to bear it in order to live "Really?"

"Did you not know?" the dehed "Hunored her very Simi-like words There was a lot more to her presence here and he wanted to understand it "Why does Stryker want me dead?"

"I do not know Does the reason matter? Dead is dead Who cares hat ood point with that "Why did you agree to kill ave hiod had abused my sister That he had harh to be sent out The bitch-goddess knew this and yet she took her froht her to keep my simi safe My simi was barely more than an infant and unable to fend for herself I have hated the goddess ever since for it"

Danger held up her hand to get their attention "Just out of curiosity, is Acheron the cursed god?"

Alexion cringed

"Yes," Xirena said before he could stop her