“That is not the way to get laid, Luc. Has no woman ever told you that?”
The vision of her naked and awaiting his touch stole his tongue. Once again, she’d surprised him into silence. But she mistook his speechlessness for censure.
“I’m sorry. I guess I’ve been laying it on thick.” With a shake of her head, she stared out the window at the passing scenery.
“Nadia.”
Her disappointed gaze made it as high as his nose.
“I’m happy for you to lay it on thick,” he assured her with a soft smile.
She nodded, wet her lips, and concentrated on the buildings along their route.
“Stop!” she shouted suddenly. “Stop the car!”
Because the elderly driver’s reflexes were slow, Luc did the honors of bringing the vehicle to a halt with a covert twist of his wrist. Before it was in park, Nadia had swung open the door and dove for the closest alley.
He swore.
The woman had no care for her own safety, and for the second time, was darting through the city’s seedier neighborhood.
“Stay here,” Luc commanded the cabbie. “If you leave, I will find you and make your life a misery.”
The offensive smells of urine and rotted garbage wrinkled his nose as he entered the alley. He’d be thoroughly surprised if there weren’t dead animal carcasses strewn about. Midway down the lane, he found Nadia, frozen in her tracks. Three menacing thugs surrounded her, with one bold bastard waving a knife in her face.
Fury boiled Luc’s every cell.
Annihilation was the only punishment these vermin deserved for threatening her.
Lightning split the sky. Thunder rumbled threateningly in its wake.
Four faces turned upward in confusion.
All but his.
As the tempest’s cause, nature’s show didn’t concern him. Stars peppered the darkening sky and belied the incoming threat. For good measure, he conjured another bolt at the end of the alleyway.
“What the fuck? Where did the storm come from?” One of the hoodlums shot a worried glance toward the strike zone. When he looked back at Luc, recognition flashed in his eyes.
“Who cares?” scoffed a second man, a stoner if Luc was any judge—and he was.
The third had a perfect view of him striding in their direction, with promised retribution in every step. Wariness flooded the man’s unwashed face, and he was right to be concerned.
Two more back-to-back flashes illuminated the now cloud-blanketed alley.
“What the…? Dude has black wings, man! Look!” he screamed.
All attention turned to Luc.
Nadia’s included.
Luc hadn’t extended his wings and was certain no one else could see what the knife-wielder witnessed. But on rare occasions, mortals possessed the second sight. They saw non-humans in their true form. He cursed his ill luck at encountering one with Nadia present. If she chose to, she’d see them. She had only to remove her human expectations and delve into her otherworldly talents.
Also, it helped to know what to look for.
As a rogue demon, the ring leader did.
“Go! Go! Go!” Belthas screamed as he dashed in the opposite direction. The jumpy, supernatural-detecting fellow didn’t need to be told twice. The stoner was a little slower on the uptake.
