Regret filled his eyes. “I’d like to find peace.” Turning on his heel, he strode toward the tree line, stopping to glance over his shoulder. “Be safe, Belle.” With that, he disappeared behind two pine trees.
That wasn’t exactly a yes.
Chapter 5
Zane stood on the balcony, his body rioting with a hard-on strong enough to punch through concrete. If they hadn’t been in the dream world, he might not have been able to hold back.
Janie wanted him as badly as he craved her, but now was a bad time.
A seriously bad time.
Plus, the first time he took her, he wanted it to be real. She needed to make the decision facing the real him and not a dream-world mellowed-out version of the killer he’d become. Even so, one more minute, and he might have taken what she’d offered on that sandy beach.
But something had alerted him to head home, and he lifted his head to the moon-filled night.
Power. A different sort of power hinted on the breeze, bringing a tension that tightened his gut. No fucking way.
Turning on his heel, he jogged into his quarters and through the old whorehouse, reaching Suri’s door within seconds. A wave of power slammed into him, and he gasped.
Schooling his face into calm lines, he nudged open the door. Suri faced a Kurjan across a battered desk. A Kurjan with long black hair tipped with red.
Kalin stood and turned to face him. “We finally meet in person and not in a dream world or an underground cavern surrounded by vampires.”
It took every ounce of Zane’s control to keep his composure. Just the tension in the room from the Kurjan made his fingers itch to hold a blade. He looked beyond Kalin to his uncle. “What in the hell are you doing?” Stepping inside, he closed the door.
Kalin laughed, flashing incredibly sharp canines. “Peace makes for strange bedfellows, demon.”
Zane glanced up about four inches to Kalin’s face. At six-foot-six, Zane didn’t look up to many people, but Kurjans were a tall race. “We going to bed, Kurjan?”
Kalin’s eyes morphed from odd green to a flashy purple. “You’d be ruined for all other beings.” His blood-red lips twisted. “Even Janet.”
Explosions detonated inside Zane at the mention of her name. Going on instinct, he yanked free his knife and lunged toward his enemy. They impacted with a boom louder than the thunder in Janie’s dream world.
Papers flew and a stapler ricocheted into the window as they collided against the desk. The antique oak smashed to the ground, splintering into pieces.
Kalin punched the knife out of Zane’s grip, following up with a shot to the jaw.
Zane’s vision fuzzed, and he struck out, nailing Kalin in the nose. A desperate fury raced through Zane, and the need to kill ignited the beast within him. Blood arced and burned Zane’s neck as he continued throwing punches.
“Stop it!” Suri yelled, kicking shards of wood out of his way.
Rough hands, tons of them, yanked Zane off Kalin, who continued to punch.
Zane struggled furiously, swearing in multiple languages at once. The Kurjan had to die. A treaty between demons and Kurjans would mean a disaster for Janie, without question.
His uncle cocked a gun. “You want to get shot?”
Zane stopped fighting and shrugged off the three demon soldiers who’d stopped him. “Who the fuck are you, Suri?” he asked. Demons held Kurjans lower than beetle shit, and his uncle went and aligned himself with them?
Kalin shoved rubble out of his way and rose to his impressive height, taking a moment to dust off the medals at his breast. “We’re not done here, demon.”
Zane snarled through a busted lip. “Name the time and place, asshole.”
Kalin wiped blood off his face. “Don’t worry. Our time will come.” He turned and bowed to Suri. “The deal stands. Good day.”
As simple as that, the ruler of the Kurjan nation sauntered out of the demon’s office. The three demon soldiers followed him.
Zane spit blood onto the floor. “I never thought I’d see the day a demon conspired with a lowly Kurjan.” His uncle was a bastard, it was true, but even bastards had standards.
