“Don’t care. The thought I could have killed you will not leave me for a damn long time.” He lapped her skin again, stirring all the delicious nerves endings, and she shuddered. Her core clenched, and nipples tightened.
More, she needed his arms around her, needed to feel like she could breathe freely again.
Shadow turned, and Nik’s mouth captured hers. His hand slid through her hair, and he kissed her deeply, as if he, too, needed the connection…
“Hell,” he groaned, breaking their kiss far too soon. “I have to go back.”
Inhaling a shaky breath, she met his scorching gaze and nodded. “I know. The fight I appeared in, what was that about? The usual or…?”
His lips tightened briefly. “Tolvi sent his minions after us.” He set her on the couch and rose. “It frustrates me that we get so close then hit a fucking dead end.”
“Maybe you should letmetry and flush Tolvi out?”
“No.” Steel edged his tone and seeped into his eyes. “Don’t ask me that again.”
Man, he could be so darn intractable. Just because they were mated, it didn’t mean she’d suddenly become fragile and helpless. Before she could set her mate straight on his ancient views, his expression morphed to a cold mask.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Work.” He pointed at his head. “Got a telepathic message. I have to go. I’ll see you in a few hours. If you feel anything unusual, call me.” Then he dematerialized.
Shadow remained on the couch for several seconds, unable to believe she’d flashed. Caught in the throes of disbelief, she pushed to her feet and made her way to the dressing room—
Don’t ask me that again. Not unless you want the same thing to happen to you.
Shadow stumbled and grabbed the jamb, at the strange, chilling voice echoing inside her skull. She hastily glanced around the silent room.
Great. Now she was imagining voices. But wariness settled inside her.
Had Tolvi somehow got into her head?
God, she hoped not.
Chapter 22
Moldy,soggy air surrounded Nik, along with the gut-churning stench of sulfur as he stepped into the contained space of a crypt in the cemetery on the East River.
Aethan and Dagan waited for him, along with a moaning, dark-haired demon Dagan had trapped with his telekinesis.
“What happened with the horde?”
“I took them out.” Aethan shrugged. “Pointless to waste time when we know they were mere minions for the fucker, Tolvi.”
Nik nodded. With Aethan’s ability of whitefire, he probably decimated them in seconds.
“And him?” Nik nodded to the demon. Even with a busted lip and swollen left eye, the male still managed to glare at them.
“Found him lurking in the shadows after taking down the hellscums.” Dagan thrust the demon forward. “After a little, er, persuasion, he finally brought us here. But we just missed the bastards. Thought you’d get a better feel or scent something you’d recognize.” He waved to the empty vault.
Nik let the acrid smells in the gloomy crypt roll over him…then the sensation of absolute fear grazed his psyche, one quite familiar. Shit. It was the female Shadow spoke to in The Refuge when he’d tracked Rough’s goons. “The woman that was here, Joyce. Shadow tried to help her.”
“Picked up at least four females, and there were kids, too.” Dagan’s fists clenched, looking like he wanted to throttle the scourge.
Nik grabbed the demon and flashed outside, the moonlight casting an eerie light over the cemetery. He flung the demon to the ground, damp with dew. “Talk.”
“I don’t know anything—”
“You fucking knew this place!”
