Free Obsession by Jennifer Armentrout Page B

lot.
    Hunter leaned in again, bringing our mouths within kissing distance. Restlessness unfurled, spreading through my veins, spiking my pulse. I froze.
    “The senator obviously has a lot of contacts. Someone in the police department most likely sold you out, but you’re safe from them here.”
    Those rough fingers slipped back around, trailing down the side of my throat. They stopped over my wildly beating pulse. I sucked in a breath. Hunter smiled, but there was no real warmth behind it. Heat, maybe, but it was lacking any sort of emotion.
    I didn’t know what it was that made every cell in my body stand up and take notice—him touching me , or maybe I just wanted him to remove his hand.
    His gaze dropped to my lips and his powerful body coiled tight. The milky blue hue of his eyes churned sudden flecks of dark azure. Tension seeped into the air, heavy like a well-worn blanket. The room cooled as if the air conditioner had kicked on and was cracked high. The room darkened, but over Hunter’s shoulder and beyond the floor - to - ceiling windows, bright light basked the outdoors.
    Tiny goose bumps shot across my skin.
    Every instinct kicked into gear and was screaming at me to run—run as fast as I could. This inherent, very human warning system was blaring against the unnaturalness settling over the room.
    But I couldn’t look away from his eyes. There wasn’t warmth in them, but there was a primal heat , and my body responded even as it tried to shy away.
    Then Hunter removed his hand and sat back, popping the sucker back into his mouth and he waited. The spell was broken. Sucking in several deep gulps of air, I realized I’d held my breath.
    My hand fluttered to my throat as I swallowed a few times. Throat dry, I reached for the glass and finished off the rest of the wine. The liquid burned on the way down .
    “Am I safe from you?” I asked.
    He didn’t answer.
    I looked at him. “Hunter?”
    “I’m not going to lie and say I’m not dangerous. I am. In a way, I’ll be more dangerous to you than any Luxen will be,” he said, looking me dead - on. “I’m not the good guy here. I’m not the hero. My job is to keep you alive and I’ll do my best, but I can’t and I won’t make any promises.”
    Wasn’t the most reassuring thing I was looking for , and frankly it made me want to run screaming from the room, but I nodded. He still had that damn sucker in his mouth, twirling it with his fingers. My body reacted in a surprised, fiery rush that I desperately ignored.
    But no man should look that good with a sucker.
    “How do you look so human?” I blurted out.
    A small smile played across his lips. “Our DNA melded with human DNA. Same thing for the Luxen . I could go into detail, but it will probably bore you to tears. We may look human and even act it at times, but don’t ever forget that we are not human.”
    My heart turned over heavily. “Are you trying to scare me?”
    Hunter arched a brow. “I’m just telling you the truth.” Biting down on the sucker, he held the now empty white stick. “It’s probably a wise thing that you’re scared. Would you like another drink?”
    I nodded, relieved when he got up to retrieve the wine bottle. Without him beside me, the air felt less tense and thick. I wished he’d put a shirt on. “How did I even get here?”
    Hunter placed the refilled glass in front of me , and I grabbed it like a wino. “You’ll be happy to know it was a very human method of traveling. Drove your car to a private hangar and placed you on a plane.”
    I took a healthy drink. “My car is still at the hangar?” The thing wasn’t a luxury vehicle, but I couldn’t afford a new one.
    “Yes. It will not be touched there.”
    I relaxed a little. “Will you tell me about what you are?”
    “Already did that.” Hunter tossed the white stick from his sucker into the trash , then propped a hip against the island .
    My gaze dropped to the glass between my palms as I smiled a little.