A dark-skinned woman with short curls strode over, cleaning a glass. “What’s up, Talon? Haven’t seen you around for a while.”
“What exactly do those black pills do?” He sank his fingers into Alex’s hair and pried his slick mouth away from his throat. Nathan watched the hickey heal right before his eyes.
Magda smirked, looking from Alex to Nathan. “It makes them feel likeus.”
Talon cocked his head, and Nathan looked up at Storm. “Is that true? Do you feel like this all the time?”
Storm looked nonplussed. “I don’t know.”
“Yep,” Magda supplied. “It makes their senses sharper, makes them feel stronger, makeseverythingfeel ten times better. Pain will barely register while they’re high, so don’t let them do anything stupid.”
“I don’t think we’re this horny all the time, are we?” Storm asked, taking Nathan’s chin and tilting his head back to peer into his eyes. Nathan smiled at him, nipping one of his fingers.
Magda snorted. “Why do you think we’rehereall the time? Hell yeah, we’re that horny. That’s why this club is so damn successful.”
“That’s a good point,” Storm groused. “Well, what do we do? They’re too distracted to talk to Lilith.”
Talon sighed. “We’ll do the talking. We can’t leave them alone. I don’t think they can be trusted down here right now, so we’ll just have to bring them with us.”
Alex pulled away from him abruptly and adopted a scowl. “Hey, I’m not hot for just anybody, y’know. I’d punch out anybody who tried to mess with Nate or me.”
“Exactly,” Talon said. “You think you can ‘take on the whole world,’ as Magda said. You’re turned on, surrounded by other people who are turned on, and the minute somebody laid a hand on you, you’d start a fight with the whole damn club.”
Alex beamed. “I would.”
Nathan laughed at his unrepentant face. “I’d help.”
Storm chuckled. “Got to love the honesty.”
Talon groaned, peeling himself away from Alex like it caused him physical pain and taking his hand. “Come on. The sooner we get some answers about these pills, the sooner I can take you home and fuck you like you want.”
Alex moaned dramatically, and Nathan laughed again, letting Storm drag him after them.
“Fucking sounds nice,” Nathan said, and Storm’s head fell back in despair.
“Just you wait until I can get you alone, sunshine.”
“Is throwing up the pill out of the question?” Talon asked as they left the crowd, going to a black door around the side of the bar that Nathan never would’ve noticed on his own.
“Probably,” Storm said, “since it’s already affecting them. Do you think it’ll be okay?”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
They ascended up a set of black stairs. The hallway at the top was also black, and red lights in the ceiling gave everything a crimson glow. Nathan ran his fingers along the glossy wall, humming at the cool sensation.
Talon didn’t knock on what had to be Lilith’s office door. He strode right in, towing Alex after him—and stopped just inside the door.
“Put those away,” he said.
Storm and Nathan rounded the doorframe and stopped behind Talon, giving Nathan a view of Lilith’s blacked-out office. She sat behind her desk, tapping red nails on the polished black surface with an air of impatience at Talon’s untimely interruption. Behind her, on either side, two halflings had handguns pointed at them.
“You think you can just barge in here whenever you want?” Lilith asked poisonously.
“We’re just here to talk,” Talon said. “Tell your goons to put those away.”
“Or what?” Lilith asked. “You don’t call the shots here, leviathan.”
“I can cross this room and snap your neck.”
