She grabbed a drainpipe and climbed the thing as effortlessly as she’d descended earlier.
Nik sprinted after her, then skidded to a halt.
Why the fuck was he chasing her?
He dematerialized to the roof, reforming just as she appeared on top. She lashed out with a kick, and he grabbed her booted ankle before it made contact with his balls.
If he were human, she’d probably have had him on his knees. Grunting in displeasure, he yanked her closer. With the hoodie of her baggy black sweater pulled low over her face, it revealed a glimpse of creamy pale skin and lush lips flattened in ire.
Deadly iron blades flashed from both her hands. One pressed against his carotid, the other nicking him in the chest, over his heart. This tiny female would dare attack him when the top of her head barely reached his shoulders? “Go ahead.”
She growled, then her other foot rammed into his belly. Using him as a springboard, she catapulted like an acrobat and broke free. Nik dove and grabbed her wrists. Cuffing those dangerous hands behind her back, he hauled her to him. Her back slammed into his front. And she grunted in ire.
Nik tightened his grip, preventing her escape, too aware of a very feminine body pressed up against him. The scent of wildflowers with a hint of woodsmoke crowded his nose—
It washer.
Five months had passed since she’d fled from the castle, and he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her. And here she was. Finally, he would find out who—whatthe hell she was—and why she pulled such a visceral reaction from him. He swung her around, keeping her wrists cuffed.
“Lemme go!”
Her husky voice crawled through him, searing his mind once more.
Despite the hoodie blocking her face, he could clearly see another ugly purple contusion marring her jaw, and the bruise he’d seen months ago made sense. Not abused, just doing shit she damn well shouldn’t. “You’re hurt.”
“Hitting the wall face-first during a fight, it’s gonna happen,” she retorted, tugging at her hands again. “Let me go, you inked weasel!”
He studied her delicate chin and flat mouth. “Not until we’ve had a little chat.”
She continued to fight him, trying to break free of his iron-clad grip. At this rate, she’d cause more bruises to herself.
“Stop fighting me.” He hardened his tone and tightened his hold fractionally, making his point. “You won’t escape, but you will hurt yourself. Explain why you ran from the castle?”
A low, very feminine snarl erupted. “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. I didn’t run. I simply left.” The next second, she moved, her knee shot up—
Fuuuck!Pain exploded. Nik stumbled back, agony shredding his balls. She took off across the roof and dropped from the edge of the building in a free fall.
Struggling to inhale air back into his lungs, Nik dematerialized and went after the little terror, anger, and lust warring in him. When he got his hands on her, he would—
He stopped dead. The sloped rooftop of the shorter building below was empty. Nothing moved, not even the vermin in the dark silent alley.
Again, she’d disappeared like the damn breeze.
I likesss her, his usually silent, serpent companion suddenly hissed.
“Shut up,” Nik muttered.
* * *
Her heart in her mouth, Shadow hid under the eave of the lower warehouse roof. After several minutes, she peered up at the taller building. Clear. No sign of the big tattooed Neanderthal.
Dammit. He remembered her.
Too bad, she had no plans to be caught again.
She took off in a hard run across the rooftop, leaped from the building to the gabled roof of the next one with the inborn agility of a cat burglar. Heck, her parents would besoooproud. If she knew who they were, she’d inform them of her great accomplishment.
Breathing hard, Shadow slid down the sloping roof to the gutter and drainpipe where she’d stashed her backpack when she’d sensed demoniis about. Couldn’t fail to miss the disgusting sulfuric odor of the decaying shitheads.
