Bewitching Jolene (Book 3) Jacobs Broken Mercenaries

chapter 9

ELLIOT

She looks skittish. I think she might bolt, and my body readies for the possible chase. Hearing the word demon seems to have hit her harder than anything else, including the horns. She’s fortunate I was able to tamp down my reaction. When she touched my horns, unh. If I wasn’t so worried about her frame of mind. I’d be rutting her right now. The smell of her arousal still lingers in the air, keeping me hard as stone. Jolene, on the other hand, looks like she was doused with ice-cold water. The frustration is real.

“You’re a demon, like those reptile things?”

Tamping down my anger at her words, I try not to be offended.

“Do I look like a snake? We're very different.”

She looks even more confused.

“So, there’s like different races?”

Shit! How do I explain this?

“No, that would imply we have similarities. Which we don’t! It’s more like animals; cats, cows, birds.”

I stop, shaking my head. I don’t think my explanation helped. If anything, she’s more confused. Staying put and chatting is wasting precious time. We’re sitting ducks here. My guess is half the species knows about her by now. I’m more afraid they know of her Phoenix lineage. They’re attempt at her abduction would make a hell of a lot more sense.

“It's not important, let’s go.”

I thank the gods when she silently gets up and follows me to the door.

Her shoulders are tense, and she keeps glancing behind her. I pretend not to notice, but she hasn’t looked at me since we left the motel. This is new for me. I’ve never been interested in a woman for more than one thing. Especially someone so young and out of my league. She’s smart, witty, funn,  and the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen. Soon she’ll be strong, very strong. Completely capable of handling, say the strength of a demon. I shiver with excitement at the thought. She’s definitely transitioning late. It’s not unheard of, but rare for a female. Males usually transition from the age of twenty-one to twenty-five. Females are anywhere from sixteen to eighteen, but I’ve only heard of a couple in history that have transitioned in their twenties and only because they were legends. I wonder if that will be the case for Jolene. She sure looks the part.

“What are your parents like?”

I know she's only got her aunt, and I couldn’t pull anything up on either of her parents. I'm beyond curious to find out if she knows anything about them. Jolene answers but still doesn’t look my way.

“I wouldn’t know. My mom’s dea,  and I’ve never met my dad. It might as well have been an immaculate conception for all I know about him or any one of my parents, for that matter.”

Wow, I sense a lot of anger behind those few sentences. Maybe that’s her deal with men, daddy issues.

“Did your mom have any special abilities?”

She stops, glancing at me, and I smile back at her invitingly.

“What’s with all the questions?”

walking backward, I keep my eyes on my surroundings but still focused on her.

“Just curious. Does it bother you?”

She shrugs, keeping pace.

“Maybe.”

Her tone is off with her expression. She’s enjoying my interest but doesn’t want me to know. So I goad her.