Haunted by Your Touch by Jeaniene Frost, Sharie Kohler Page A

knew what I was, I wouldn’t long be safe in Nocturna.”
    Of course. If Partials knew a Pureblood’s home address, we’d show up with some friends to drop off a welcome basket filled with Rest In Peace. It stood to reason that Purebloods would do the same to a lone Fallen.
    Which brought up another, very obvious question. “Why are you telling me all this? To convince me to keep your secret?”
    Rafael leaned forward until only a foot of that silvery, tingling water separated his face from mine.
    “I’m telling you because a demon should know everything about her mate,” he said softly, but with enough resonance for the words to hit me like a sledgehammer.
    In the midst of my shock over discovering that Rafael was a Fallen, I’d forgotten about those five points of light in my eyes marking me for all to see as a claimed demon. Absurdly, I looked away, as if that made them any less obvious.
    “Look, I don’t—”
    “Do you want to know the real reason why I was in the woods that night when you were a teenager?” he interrupted.
    That redirected my attention from what I’d been about to say, which was a lame rationalization, anyway. “You’re finally going to tell me the truth?”
    A thick lock of golden-red hair fell over his shoulder as he nodded. “When I was a boy, my mother told me that Fallen knew their mates by sight. I asked how, and she said because we recognized them. That didn’t make sense at the time, and as only a half-Fallen, I didn’t know if it was a trait I’d inherited or not. But that night I saw you at Bonecrushers, even though I’d never set eyes on you before… I
knew
you. It only took one glance to feel a part of me saying ‘this is her, my mate, the person I’ve waited centuries for.’”
    It felt like my heart stopped beating. Then it restarted in a rush when Rafael slid into the poolwith me, not even pausing to take off his leather pants. The water barely rippled as it enveloped him up to his chest, and his gaze held mine captive as he reached out to stroke my cheek.
    “I was in the woods because I was following you, even though I fought to stay away because you were barely more than a child. Still, I had to speak to you, at least once, before sending you back to your world. My delay coming after you ended up costing the life of your kinswoman, and for that, I am deeply sorry. But I was there that night for you, Mara, no other reason.”
    Emotions welled up in me, pulling my heart in different directions at the same time. I wanted to respond to his incredible declaration of me being his mate, but it was so beyond anything I’d allowed myself to consider that I tried to focus on what I could grasp.
    “Gloria,” I breathed unsteadily. “You could cross realms. Why didn’t you go after her when Ashton pulled her through?”
    “I did go after her, but only once I’d seen you safely back to your realm. I couldn’t risk leaving you in the woods where Purebloods and other dangers lurked. I looked, but I never found her, Mara. I also looked for the Purebloodwho’d taken her, but until today, I didn’t find him, either.”
    Poor Gloria. Familiar sadness rose in me, comforted by the memory of Ashton’s last, terrifying moments. At last, Gloria had been avenged, and the knowledge of that would soon soothe the rest of my family even as we’d always mourn her.
    “Rafael…”
    I didn’t know what to say as I stared at him, feeling the impossibly strong, smooth touch of his hand on my cheek. His gaze was intense, eyes flashing with tiny diamonds of light around those dazzling blue irises—
    Flashing
. Not stationary, like those five points of light in my eyes. My heart sank while disillusionment coursed like vinegar through my veins. He might think I was the one for him, but his eyes didn’t bear the mark of a claimed demon. Rafael was far closer in bloodlines to the source of our race; shouldn’t this trait be even more apparent in him? Some Partials never displayed those