* * *
Blaéz eased away from Darci’s enticing mouth, so tempted to finish this. But when the life of his woman was on the line, the threat had to be eliminated first.
“Wasthatsupposed to be my punishment?” she asked.
More like his, he thought wryly. “No. It just seemed like a good idea once I had you there.” Clamping down on his own needs, he grasped her chin. Even now, he couldn’t get past the fear he’d felt when the demon had flashed and grabbed her. “You ever put yourself in a situation like that again, Darci, you’ll find out what true punishment is.AndI’ll make sure you have a guard twenty-four-seven—even to the damn toilet.”
Her gorgeous face pulled into a scowl, her gaze still edged with the remnants of passion. “I didn’t know what he was, okay? I saw my brother in trouble—”
He cut her a granite stare. She shut her mouth. Blaéz moved her off his lap and rose, his erection a pounding ache, the scent of her arousal doing little to ease him. “I have to go.”
She hastily pushed off the couch. “I thought you were off duty?”
“I am.” No need to frighten her with the facts of what he had to do. “I’ll see you later.”
“Where are you going? I thought…” Color flared across her expressive face as she rebuttoned her top and straightened her clothes.
“We will, but I have something,”—orsomeone—“to take care of first.” Blaéz forced his gaze away from her tempting mouth and headed for the door he’d locked with his mind when Týr came searching for him, probably to go on patrol. Unlocked it and left.
* * *
Blaéz dematerialized to The Bowery and the fighting pit with only one thought: Find the one responsible for sending those hoodlums to his mate’s home and deal with him.
The rage he’d barely leashed while with Darci settled into stone-cold resolve.
He’d killed the demon who’d licked her face. It wasn’t hard to dig for information from his corrupted mind. And he got a name.
Blaéz neared the basement, when the malevolent odor of decaying demons reached him, the sulfuric reek strong. Two demoniis watched the place from the shadows.
He didn’t have time to engage inthisfight. Blaéz shoved into their minds and detonated them. As they turned to ashes, he headed for the metal door. The ominous darkness inside his skull swirled awake like a thick fog, the oily voices chanting…Kill them. They deserve it.
Blaéz walked down the dank corridor toward the arena, the scent of blood and pain filling his psyche. Grunts echoed, and the sounds of fists hitting flesh filled the air. He stopped one of the ‘hoods who passed as security. “Reno.”
The human cut him an impatient glare then froze when he saw who it was. A hint of wariness flickered in his eyes. The guard stuck a thumb out behind him. “Security room.”
Blaéz headed down the corridor. He slipped his hands in his back pockets and felt a scrap of silk there. Darci’s panties. He scrunched them tightly and pushed them farther into his pocket, didn’t want them falling in this shithole. Opening the gray metal door, he slipped into the small, cramped room. Three humans watched several monitors fixed on the cage fight.
“Reno?”
Heads turned.
“What?” A thin man with slicked-down blond hair and pale skin twisted in his chair. Flat blue eyes sparked with recognition. Smirked. “Another fight, warrior?”
“Yes.” Blaéz grabbed him by the collar and hauled him past the gaping security guards, stopping outside in the derelict lane. What he wouldn’t give to kill the prick. He had to play by the rules because the scum was human.
He shoved Reno against the wall and thrust brutally into his mind. The shit he dug through until he found what he wanted made Blaéz wish he could snap the twisted man’s neck.
Females tied to the bed, bleeding from razor slashes while he grunted over them…some dead…images of Darci with Daniel as they entered the libraryfiltered through Blaéz’s head.Reno had stopped at the red light opposite them…
Reno had a thing for curvy females like Darci. He’d used the boy to get at her. It wasn’t some random attack outside the library, he’d sent those thugs after her, too. And now to her home? He was that desperate to get her?
“Not in this life or any other, you piece of shit.” Blaéz coldly wiped clean the lowlife’s memories. He cared little if the human ended up with scrambled brains. He flung him away. Reno hit the wall and lay there in a heap of tangled limbs.
But his raid into the human’s depraved mind didn’t leave him unaffected. Added to those two demoniis he killed earlier, the malicious whisperings gathered momentum.Come, warrior, it will be sooo good…
His shields were splintering and he could do little to rebuild, tethered as he was to Hell.
His cell vibrated in his pocket like an explosion, hauling him back. Grabbing the lifeline, he pulled out his phone and stared at Darci’s text.You took my underwear.
