“Are you a warlock?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Heavens, no.”
Irritation rose. “Then how do you have powers?”
“I have a demon bloodline from my paternal side of the family.”
“A demon? And you’re just now telling me this?”
“It seemed irrelevant.”
She closed her eyes as she started the car. “Irrelevant. You’re a friggin demon, and you say it’s irrelevant.”
“I answered your question that I possess demon blood from my heritage.”
“And magical powers in that blood. Still a detail I needed to know.”
“You do the research, my dear. Did you honestly believe that a mere mortal could be imprisoned in a gargoyle?”
She ignored his question because she couldn’t rebuff his observation. How will this affect Felicia? She can’t fight a demon.
She couldn’t figure out how to approach the subject on the drive home. It had started raining by the time they reached her driveway. A welcome distraction. She smiled as she parked.
“I love these sudden rainstorms.”
Malik peered through the windshield. “You like getting wet?”
Sweet Jesus, do not open your mouth.
He gave you the opening. Go for it.
She hopped out before she said anything and turned her face to the sky. She closed her eyes and spun in a slow circle as she felt each droplet bead on her skin. She turned to Malik who just stood there.
“Afraid of a little rain? You need to live a little.”
The expression on his face made her heart do a cartwheel.
“What is that look for?”
He smirked, his sexy lips making her ache to kiss them. “I believe I’m slightly jealous at the rapture on your face right now.”
She spun around again. “Jealous of Mother Nature?”
“How can you enjoy getting wet with your clothes on?”
Tori ignored the racy thoughts that again sped through her mind.
Don’t say it. Keep your mouth shut.
Don’t even think about inviting him to flirt.
She ignored the feelings that stirred as she thought of him taking his clothes off to play in the rain.
Instead, she raised her arms and pirouetted as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Before he realized her intent, she grabbed his hand, and pulled him against her. “Haven’t you ever danced in the rain? Just for fun?”
He scowled. “It rained on me for centuries while I was entombed in that stone. Have you ever heard of the torture method called water boarding? Believe me when I say, it’s a thing.”
She raised a brow. “I can only imagine how horrible that was.”
“Oh, what the bloody hell.” He suddenly grabbed her and dropped her backwards into a low dip. Her shriek turned into a giggle as she maintained a death grip on his neck with her leg in the air. He growled inches from her lips. “Do you want to talk or are we here to dance?”
She could only whisper. “Let’s see what you got.”
He whirled her around the front yard in a perfect waltz to music that didn’t exist. The rain slacked up by the time they stopped. Her heart beat hard as they stood there and dripped, but the exertion of the dance had nothing to do with it.
She gave a coy grin. “Duly noted not to assume there’s anything you can’t do.”
“I wasn’t always stuck in the–”
“Look!” She pointed over his shoulder. “A rainbow.”
He turned and took in the colors stretched across the sky. Tori chuckled. “Maybe we’ll find a pot of gold.”
He still held her hand and caught her eyes with his own. “Maybe if the magic holds, we’ll both get lucky.”
The promise in his eyes took her breath away. Or was that an evil glint? Do I care?
A shiver shook her body, but whether it was from cold or expectation, she couldn’t tell. She pivoted toward the house.
“Come on. Let’s get some dry clothes on.”
She ignored him as she heard him mumble behind her.
“She wants dry clothes. I want a cold shower.”
Chapter Eight
Tori stared at Malik sprawled out on her couch. The television was on, but neither of them were watching it. She tried to ignore how sexy he looked just lying there in a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt that hugged his chiseled chest.
“Tell me about her.”
His brow raised. “Her?”
“Merada.”
“Oh.” He sat up and adjusted one of the throw pillows. “I knew you’d be asking.”
“You said I was like her.”
He gave a curt nod. “Very much so. Your beauty, your mannerisms, your personalities.”
Tori’s voice was just above a whisper. “What does that mean?”
“If you followed your life cycles backwards, I would assume your lives would meet.”
“We knew each other?”
He sighed. “Victorianna, you are well educated. You research things you do not understand. I’m positive that I don’t need to answer that.”
“You think I’m related to her.”
“No, my love. I don’t think you’re related to her, nor do I believe that you are descendant of her family. I believe that you are a reincarnation of her.”
That caught her off guard.
Is that even possible?
Do you really believe that?
And yet, you don’t doubt him a bit.
She fidgeted in her chair and tucked her feet up under her.
“I research, but past life regression has never been my forte.”
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t a thing,” she snapped at him harder than she intended. She took a deep breath. “I’m just saying it’s kind of... weird.”
“What would you like to know about her?”
“Start at the beginning.”
He fell silent. His features softened as she watched. “I met Merada at a horse sale. Her father was angry with her for attending, but she wanted to be certain that each found a good home.” He chuckled. “As fate would have it, I was purchasing the horse that held her heart. I fell in love with her the moment she started giving me orders on how I was to treat the animal.”
“That’s very sweet.”
He gave a little shrug. “It could have been. She was one of the few mortals who could sense what I was and yet chose not to care. Alas, things did not turn out so sweetly.”
Tori resisted the urge to kick him to get on with the story. “What happened?” She gritted her teeth to make the question sound polite.
“Her father was killed in a riding accident shortly after we met. While I had actively courted Merada a time or two prior to his death, we were quite early in our relationship and I had not yet visited her family. The moment her mother was introduced, she knew. She sensed what I was. Yet, instead of revealing her own family secrets, her mother decided that the responsibility for their well-being, along with all the siblings, fell directly upon my shoulders.”
“She wanted you to support all of them?”
“Exactly. They had a large family; Merada had eight brothers and sisters. While I would have been content in making her my wife at that very moment, I was but a young man myself. My fortune was not earned until I married my soulmate, so I was not yet in a position to take on the financial responsibility of the entire family. And so, with Merada being the eldest, her mother sent me away so she could sell her daughter to the wealthiest bidder.”