Howler's Night by Marie Hall Page B

hadn’t been for years.
    After that kiss I hadn’t been able to sleep. And as much as my body yearned for his, the scars of what I’d suffered ran too deep for me to do more than we’d done. I still wasn’t sure I was one hundred percent okay to leave, but I also knew hiding wasn’t the answer.
    So he’d lain down, and I’d crawled on top of him, and we’d held hands throughout the night, not talking much, both of us lost in our solitary thoughts.
    “Asher, what did Death mean when he said he kept his deals?”
    Now that the adrenaline of the night had worn off, those words kept echoing through my skull. The violence Death had shown when he’d forced the poor girl to come to me had reeked of desperation, and it’d struck me as bizarre then and even more so now the longer I thought on it.
    I knew I’d struck a nerve with Asher the moment I asked, because he turned away from me.
    My entire body stilled. “Priest?” I rolled his face back to mine. “What did you do?”
    Sighing, he gazed up at the ceiling. “You don’t want to know.”
    “That’s not an answer.”
    He licked his front teeth. “You weren’t progressing as you should have, little demon.”
    His fingers tickled my skin just where my back met my ass, and I became aware of the hard curves of his body. My skin tingled. Swatting his hand off me, I growled, “What did you do?”
    This time when he looked at me, he didn’t fidget. “I needed a child. A living, breathing child. One that would force your instinct to break through what they’d done.”
    “What. Did. You. Do?”
    “I gave him my soul.”
    I slapped him, slapped him so hard my wrist throbbed. The violence that seemed always to beat just below the surface came to life, and I shook my head. “Why?”
    He grabbed my hands before I could slap him again, and his words shivered with anger as he glared at me. “Because I wasn’t going to let them have you. I won’t share you, Pandora. Ever. You’re mine. All mine.”
    His declaration made me tremble even as my fury built. “But your soul is owned, he couldn’t—”
    “Yes, he can.” He wrapped my arms behind my back, imprisoning me in his strong grip. “It’s done, it’s over, it can’t be undone. So we’re not talking about this anymore.”
    “Like hell we aren’t.” I shoved my knee between his thighs, making him grunt and double over, but he still didn’t release me. “What is he going to do to you? That’s Death, Asher. Death!”
    I couldn’t lose him, not now. Not ever. I’d just come back to myself, I’d just woken up from this nightmare, and now he’d told me this. My demons screamed inside me. Lust. Gluttony. Pestilence. And others.
    Roaring to life and clawing at me, shredding my insides to ribbons.
    “Dammit to hell, Pandora,” he grunted. “Get control of yourself.” Then his lips were on mine again, and I hungered, craved more.
    Whimpering, I yanked my arms out of his, stronger now in my altered form, but I didn’t want to hurt him anymore. Asher was my rock, my anchor. Without him I was lost, and I couldn’t lose him. I just couldn’t.
    The kiss was violent and full of fury and teeth and bites that were just this side of pain. When he pulled back, he was rubbing at my cheeks. “Don’t cry, little demon, you’ll shatter me.”
    “I hate you.” I slapped his chest. “I hate you so much.” And then I slapped him again.
    This time he let me.
    ~*~
    Asher

    When morning dawned, neither one of us spoke about what’d been said during the night. It couldn’t be changed, and there was no point.
    I pinched her ass as she finally got off me, then I froze as she gave me the first smile I’d seen from her in over a year.
    It wasn’t much of one, just a twitch of her lips, but she rolled her eyes. “Do that again and I’ll snap your balls off.”
    “Yeah.” I cupped myself. “But it would be worth it.”
    Shaking her head as if I was the dumbest thing on earth, she sauntered off toward the