Синтия Иден - I’ll Be Slaying You

Sure, the Night Watch team brought down some humans every now and then, just for the sake of keeping their cover in place as a legit bounty hunting agency, but the paranormals were the real targets.

Pak straightened his already straight suit. “On this case, I’m the client.”

Damn. He must think this threat was serious because Pak never let the cases get personal. His rule number one.

“And Dee—I want this bastard taken down, got me? Because I don’t want to see blood pouring in my streets, not again.”

With a Born Master, that could happen. Hell on earth could happen with one.

“Consider him staked.” Easy words, hard job. But she’d do it, because no way was she going to stand by and watch innocents get slaughtered by vamps gorging on blood.

As Pak had said, not again.

Time to sharpen up her stakes and hit the hunting grounds.

The music was terrible, the food was shit, and the crowd of dancers were all but screwing on the floor.

Dee leaned against the bar, trying to ignore the throbbing in her temples and letting her gaze sweep past the throng inside Onyx.

This was the eighth club she’d been in since she’d hit the streets. Humans only. Well, mostly humans. Onyx catered to the unaware, and that made the place perfect for vamps. So much easier to pick up prey when the humans didn’t realize the danger they faced.

They didn’t realize it, not until their dates stopped seducing them and started feeding from them.

By then, it was too late to scream.

Her nails drummed on the bar. Zane lounged in the back corner, his emerald gaze sweeping over the room. Some big-breasted blonde was at his side. Typical.

Jude hadn’t made an appearance yet. But he would soon. She’d use his nose to sniff out the place. See if he could detect the rot of the undead and—

“Let me buy you a drink.”

She’d ignored the men beside her. Greeted the few come-ons she’d gotten with silence. But that voice—

Dee glanced to the left. Tall, Dark, and Sexy was back.

And he was smiling down at her. A big, wide grin that showed off a weird little dint in his right cheek. Not a dimple, too hard for that. She hadn’t noticed that curve last night, not with the hunt and kill distracting her.

Shit, but he was hot.

Thanks to the spotlights over the bar, she could see him so much better tonight. No shadows to hide behind now.

Hard angles, strong jaw, sexy man.

She licked her lips. “Already got one.” Dee held up her glass.

“Babe, that’s water.” He motioned to the bartender. “Let me get you something with bite.”

She’d spent the night looking for a bite. Hadn’t found it yet. Her fingers snagged his. “I’m working.” Booze couldn’t slow her down. Not with the one she hunted.

Black brows shot up. Then he leaned in close. So close that she caught the scent of his aftershave. “You gonna kill another woman tonight?” A whisper that blew against her.

Her lips tightened. “Vampire,” she said quietly and dropped his hand.

He blinked. Those eyes of his were eerie. Like a smoky fog staring back at her.

“I hunted a vampire last night,” Dee told him, keeping her voice hushed because in a place like this, you never knew who was listening. “And, technically, she’d already been killed once before I got to her.”

His fingers locked around her upper arm. She’d yanked on a black T-shirt before heading out, and his fingertips skimmed her flesh. “Guess you’re right,” he murmured and leaned in even closer.

His lips were about two inches—maybe just one—away from hers.

What would he taste like?

It’d been too long since she’d had a lover, and this guy fit all of her criteria. Big, strong, sexy, and aware of the score in the city.

“Wanna dance with me?” Such dark words. No accent at all underlined the whisper. Just a rich purr of sex.

Oh but she bet the guy was fantastic in the sack.

Find out. A not-so-weak challenge in her mind. Why not? She wasn’t seeing anyone. He seemed up for it and—

Dee brought her left hand up between them and pushed against his chest. “I don’t dance.” Especially not to that too fast, pounding music that made her head ache.

He didn’t retreat. His eyes bored into hers. “Pity.” His fingers skated down her arm and caught her wrist. He took her glass away and placed it on the bar top with a clink.

She cocked her head and studied him. “Are you following me?” Two nights. First one, sure, that could have been coincidence. A coincidence she was grudgingly grateful for, but tonight—

The faintest curl hinted on his lips. “What if I am?”

His thighs brushed against her. Big, strong thighs. Thick with muscle.

Dee swallowed. So not the time.

But the man was tempting.

She couldn’t afford a distraction. Not then. “Then you’d better be very, very careful.” Dee shoved against him. Hard.

He stumbled back a step and his smile widened. “You keep playing hard to get, and I’m gonna start thinking you’re not interested in me, Sandra Dee.”

Who was this guy? Dee jumped off the bar stool. “You’d be thinking right, buddy.”

He took her wrist again with strong, roughened fingers. The guy towered over her. Always the way of it. When you couldn’t even skim five foot six with big-ass heels, most men towered over you. And since Dee had never worn heels in her life…

The guy bent toward her when he said, “I see the way you look at me.”

What did that mean?

“Curious…but more. Like maybe you got a wild side lurking in you. A side that wants out.”

Maybe she did. The guy sure looked like he could play. After the case.

“I don’t know you, Chase,” she finally told him, too aware of his touch on her skin. Too aware that her nipples were tightening and she was leaning toward him as her nostrils flared and she tried to suck up more of his scent. “I don’t know—”

“I saved your life.” A fallen angel’s smile. “Doesn’t that count for something?”

Maybe.

“Dee!”

Jude’s hard snarl.

Chase’s hold tightened on her.

Maybe not.

The white tiger shifter stormed through the crowd. People jumped out of his path because they were semi-smart. In seconds, he was at her side, nostrils flaring, lips curling back, blue eyes…watering?

“Uh, Jude? What’s going on?”

“Problem,” he growled and the man was good at growling. His eyes—and, they were most definitely watering—zeroed in on Chase. The two men were about the same height, and had the same rough, strong build. But Jude was light, his skin fair, his hair blond, and Chase…

Darkness. The thought came to her once more.

Jude’s gaze dropped to the hand that still bound her wrist. “Man, you’d better not be bothering Dee.”

Great. Because she needed him to act like an overprotective jerk right then. “Got it covered.” More than covered. So what if Chase’s thumb was sliding back and forth over her wrist and the movement had her heart jumping? No big deal.

Jude’s stare turned back to her. “We’ve got a situation.”

One that shouldn’t be discussed in front of an outsider. She got that. She tossed a careless smile Chase’s way, and tried really hard not to care. Her life wasn’t like other women’s. She couldn’t go out, find a great guy, and forget the world while they had sex.

Not when killers were waiting.

If the people in this bar had half a clue what was hunting them…

“See you around,” she told him, keeping her voice bland and tugging her hand free. His fingers had been rough against her, lightly callused, warm, and strong.