Shadow.
Finally, he knew where to find her. And he’d have his answers.
He doubted she hung around The Shelter at night, not when she was playing Wonder Woman. But it would be dusk soon, and he didn’t have anything pressing.
“Nik, wait—” Blaéz stepped out on the terrace. No sign of his usually provoking expression, his blue eyes almost navy and unreadable. “This path you take…a dark haze hovers. Be careful.”
Nik respected the guy like hell. Blaéz’s precognition was paralleled to none. But seriously, he didn’t want to know what he’d seen or whatever the hell awaited him. He merely nodded and dematerialized to the Lower East Side.
* * *
Shadow leaned against a shopfront, sweat beading her brow. She plucked the overlong sleeves of her denim jacket as she studied the busy sidewalk, sucking on her cherry lollypop.
Ugh. People. Everywhere.
She’d rather be searching for Joyce or enclosed in her gloomy, rat-infested basement at this part of the night, but she had to pay her dues. Fuckin’ Rough.
She glanced up the street then down again, her gaze sweeping past a well-dressed, stocky man in a suit, puffing his way in her direction, to a skinny hood in leathers strolling behind him. Time to get on with the job.
The candy stuck between her lips, she pulled off her denim jacket and sighed in relief as her damp skin aired. At least the heat rising off the street had lost some of its intensity. She strolled toward them, licking her lolly, when the stiletto heel of one of her knee-high boots caught in a crack on the sidewalk.“Eeek—!”She tripped and went flying forward, arms whirling, grabbing onto someone.
“Sorry.” She quickly pulled away.
The thickset man blinked at her, then a smile started. His lust-filled gaze wandered down to her black mini and up again, fixing on her tank-top covered breasts.
“No problem at all, toots,” he told her boobs.
Asshole. She strode off. Nope, no guilt at all for relieving him of what she wanted. She had planned on the hood as a target because she had standards, but whatever.
Shadow stashed his wallet into her jacket pocket, and as she retied the denim around her waist, she stumbled again. Dammit. She needed to be more careful before she truly broke her heel. These boots were all she had.
Someone grasped her by the arm, hauling her to the edge of the busy sidewalk.
“Jeez—” she growled around her lollipop. “One minute ago, I nearly twisted my ankle. Your chivalry is a tad too late.” She tugged her arm and glared up. “You can let go—”Oh, shit.Horror stole her breath at the tall guy looming over her.
The pale-eyed Guardian.
“Thieving?” His low, endless voice, one she could never forget, stroked her mind and had prickles coasting up her arms and down her body to curl in her belly. Darn it, she shut off the annoying sensation, focusing on her precarious situation.
Deny, deny, deny.Then run like hell.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She yanked at his fingers with her other hand, trying to free herself, but they were like damn steel manacles.
“Don’t make this any more difficult on yourself. We need to talk.”
She flung her lollipop away. “I don’t think so.”
Those ice-green eyes swept over her face and seemed to devour her…in the same way she’d licked her candy moments ago. Oh, man. Her tummy tangled into a rope of knots.No, no, no, this wasn’t good.
His stare shifted down the street. “That’s a beat cop coming our way. I’m sure he’ll be quite interested in what you have hidden in your pocket.”
Shadow quickly tracked his gaze. Ugh. He wasn’t lying. The jerk.
“What’s it to you what I do, huh? This street’s filled with hardened criminals, and you come and hassle me.” Panic cramped her stomach as the burly cop drew closer. She hissed, “Don’t make me do something you’ll regret.”
“Like knee me in the balls again?” The pain-in-her-ass cocked an eyebrow. “I believe I owe you for that.” Then he deliberately glanced back at the cop.
Shit. She needed an out option. Fast.
