The Hidden Demon by Monica La Porta

Author:Monica La Porta [Porta, Monica La]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Ophelia ran out of the tomb. She couldn’t bear Peter’s closeness a moment longer. The demon’s mood swings, the hot and cold treatment, her wolf’s growing demands, her own insecurities, everything was too much to take all in one day. Her wolf whined and barked, and her body longed for him, but she couldn’t know what her heart wanted. The sight of the embraced statue had awoken in her many feelings. Samuel had come to mind amongst the chaos and she had wanted to scream. She would have renounced her wolf if that meant knowing what she wanted. Who she wanted.

Breathing hard, she kept running back to the entrance and stopped at the gate. She grabbed the metal bars and let herself down, hanging from them. The cold stone froze her bare feet and she realized she had lost her sandals. She wished she could disappear.

Accepting that her fate was to confront her demons—she couldn’t help letting out a choked laugh at the irony—she finally sat on the cobblestones, her head against the bars. His boots clicked on the path in a pattern she had come to recognize already, and her heart sank lower.

“I’ll drive you back to Castel Sant’ Angelo to retrieve your bike.” He pushed the other side of the gate open and slipped through, then paused on the outside. “It’s getting late for you to be driving alone.” He had her heels and pushed them at her through the bars.

She didn’t tell him she had driven drunk after not having slept for three days and nothing had ever happened to her. Until a few hours ago, that kind of boastful remark would have left her lips without a pause. Now, she only wanted for that day to be finally over, and to reach her bed and curl into a ball. She took her shoes and slipped them on.

They reached Rome by dinnertime. Castel Sant’ Angelo was lit for the night and its silhouette was mirrored in the placid waters of the Tiber. Peter drove down to the Promenade’s garage entrance and stopped by the auto shop.

“Barnes sent your bike to be checked for foul play and bugs.” He indicated the shop’s window.

“Good.” She saw her Ninja parked by the entrance and motioned for it. She was already out of his car when he called her back. His voice a beacon she couldn’t ignore, but she didn’t turn, asserting her free will in the only way she knew, by being contrary.

“Will you be okay?”

“Yes. Thank you for the ride.”

She put one foot in front of the other and reached the glass door of the shop. When she lowered the handle, she heard the Jeep leaving and sadness engulfed her. She should have asked him if he had a place for the night. She should have offered him shelter, but she couldn’t be alone with him and be forced to be celibate. He didn’t want what she had to offer, and she couldn’t give herself, body and heart, to him.

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