“I—” I stopped, not sure where to begin.
I peered into his eyes, which brimmed with love for me, and swallowed the rest of the words about my dark secret, about the demon blood flowing in me, about how the part that needed to feed on him and the other demigods might come from my powerful demon heritage.
I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t bear to see his face change from love to aversion.
I was a selfish, lying bitch.
Let me keep him and all the demigods a little longer.
Just a little longer.
Even though my heart bled, I’d do anything in my power to make it up to them.
“Are you two done yet?” Paxton’s voice barked from outside the door.
I’d thought he’d been busy regenerating, but he must have been paying close attention to what Héctor and I were doing. He was monitoring my every move.
He’d thought I was going to leak the secret of my despicable origin to Héctor.
He’d warned me,“You won’t whisper a damn thing about what happened here to anyone, not even to your beloved Héctor.”
Irritation flashed in Héctor’s eyes, reflecting mine.
I hated that my former sworn enemy was now playing a new role as my “protector”—a role I had never asked him to take. I resented that of all people, he was the one who knew my secret.
I would lurk in the shadows and see how things played out. I didn’t trust Paxton one bit. If he ever thought he could blackmail me with my secret, then he hadn’t learned what I was. I’d once declared to him that I would never bend for him. On that, I hadn’t lied.
“Fuck off, Paxton,” Héctor growled, “if you don’t want another beating.”
I arched an eyebrow as he kept thrusting into me, savoring me despite the interruption.
“I broke his jaw and nose the other day for what he did to you in the training room,” he said.
I beamed at him. “Thank you for looking out for me.”
“Always, lamb.” Héctor smiled back, not slowing his thrusts. “I’ll go break his collarbone after this. Just so I can see you smile.”
“Next time I’ll hit back hard, fucker,” Paxton said coldly outside.
“Rosebud, Héctor,” Zak called outside the bedroom as well. “You two probably want to pause and get on with it another time. We all need to talk.”
Héctor grated his teeth as he pushed into my heated core.
“They must have finished regenerating,” I whispered.
“I hope next time it’ll take them a whole day to get back up,” Héctor said viciously.
Paxton snorted.
“The asshole rushed me while I spent quality time with my mate,” Axel shouted. He must have returned from patrolling the house. “And now he’s had her for over an hour. Let’s blow up the door.”
“Do a countdown?” Paxton asked.
Zak didn’t offer an objection, which meant he was on board with the plan.
“Halt,” I called.
“They dare not!” Héctor said, his wings spreading aggressively behind his back.