Her name is Evie, and believe me, the connotations of that name are not lost on me. Before we met, I saw her naked. I didn’t mean to. I was simply trying to check on her, as I had with many others in the city. Yes, I should have looked away and not studied the scars that riddled her body. I shouldn’t have wanted to touch her as much as I did, nor to have my legs weaken when I was faced with that choice. And I definitely shouldn’t have taken out my rage on the man that hurt her. There are a lot of things I should have done differently. Do not kill. Do not give in to earthly temptations. None of it was easy with her, and I would break all the rules if it meant I could touch her again. I was supposed to be rescuing her, caring for her, and showing her the way to a better life. Not thinking about how soft her skin was or how she would feel under my fingers, my tongue. How she would taste... These were dangerous thoughts for a man to have. These thoughts were even more dangerous for an angel to have. I am Zaqiel, and if I am to fall, it will be because of her.

If you ever came across a demon, I doubt you would think they were capable of feeling guilt. Neither did I until her. While she gets closer to me every day, every moment we see each other sparking something between us I had hoped not to experience with a human, I must hide from her. Because beyond my true nature, I know a secret that would destroy her. Everything she thought she knew was a lie, but who am I to shatter the illusion of the life she had created? If I wanted to be with her, really with her, I’d have to tell her the truth. Either my guilt eats me alive, or she turns to hate me, and I don’t think I can stand the idea of not having her body under mine again. Neither of my choices is particularly appealing. Guilt is a heavy burden, but what if the truth is heavier? I am Cade, and I am a different being than I was before I came to Earth and met her. A demon hiding in human skin. But existence would have been less painful if I didn’t know what I had to lose.

The tension only continued to build with the back-and-forth between us. She is playing her games and I mine. But demons are territorial and aggressive. Possessive. And she has no idea who she’s dealing with. Shauna wants me, it’s no secret. It is written all over her face when she looks at me, the way she brushes her fingers along my leg as we sit together. The way we ground against each other in an empty corridor at the rear of the bar. I’ll have her. I know I will. The question is, can I control my demon until I do?

Demons come to Earth for fun, but I came here because I knew something was wrong with me. The instinctual craving for violence felt separate from how I see myself, and I hated it. No matter how much I fought the instinct, it was always there, clawing at me from the inside and reminding me of its presence. My demon was demanding to be satiated. I wanted to escape, and when I fell for and bonded with a human, he turned out not to be who I thought he was. Although part of me believes it was I who corrupted him. I couldn’t allow myself to feel those things again. But Jacob draws me in, and I ache to touch and care for him with a part of me I long thought I had under control. My demon craves to possess, protect, and dominate. I thought I was past all that. In running from myself, I created a past I can’t escape, and now I’ve put Jacob in danger. And when my past lover catches up with me, it’ll be his life or mine.