“You’re trying to distract me.”
A teasing smile curved his lips. “No, if I was trying to distract you, I’d do this.”
Brigette’s heart thundered in her chest as she watched his head slowly lower. The glow of distant lights filtered through the tunnel, emphasizing the stark perfection of his features and glinting off the sharp tips of his fangs.
“Xi.” His name tumbled from her lips in a soft plea.
“I’ll be back,” he murmured, brushing his mouth over her forehead and down the length of her nose.
The cool caress sent a shiver a pleasure through Brigette. With an effort, she lifted her hands and pressed them flat against his chest. There was a voice whispering in the back of her mind that they were risking exposure with each passing second.
“Go.”
His lips moved to the corner of her mouth, the edge of his fang pressing against her soft flesh. The icy male scent of him swirled through the air, cloaking her in temptation.
“I’m going,” he whispered.
Her fingers curled to press her nails into his flesh. With one good push, she could have him pinned to the wall and his clothes stripped off his slender body. Then, wrapping her legs around his waist, she could ride him while those fangs sank deep into her neck…
“Xi,” she groaned.
“I’m gone,” he said, pressing a lingering kiss on her lips.
It was more than a promise of pleasure to come. It was a pledge of possession. As if he was claiming her as his own.
Or maybe that was just her befuddled imagination, she acknowledged, as Xi turned to silently disappear into the nearby tunnel. Maybe she wanted to be claimed by the fascinating vampire.
Dangerously lost in her troubled thoughts, Brigette nearly missed the scent of an approaching demon. With a muttered curse, she turned to head away from the opening, blocking Roban’s path. The male Were might not be able to smell Xi’s presence, but he could see him if he happened to peer into the tunnel.
Roban came to a startled halt, his green eyes flashed with the gold. “Female,” he growled.
Brigette folded her arms over her chest. The male was larger than her with the power of his inner wolf, but he didn’t intimidate her. He thought he was a badass with his shaved hair and the leather pants he was wearing, but he’d never confronted true evil.
Just another poser.
“I have a name.” She stepped toward him. “Use it.”
He ignored her command. “I’ve been searching for you.”
“Why?”
A humorless smile twisted his lips. “Maryam has started preparations for the next phase of our grand plan.”
Brigette snorted, her expression mocking. Inside, however, a tingle of alarm spread through her. This male detested her. More than that, he resented the fact that she wasn’t prepared to become a martyr to the rebellion. If Maryam was going to send someone to include Brigette in the plans, it wouldn’t be this male.
So what the hell was he up to?
“You mean there’s more to the grand plan than a bunch of ragtag demons setting fires and collapsing roofs?” she taunted.
He bared his elongated teeth. “Those have been nothing more than the prelude.”
“A prelude to what?”
“To our true purpose.”
Brigette rolled her eyes. “Is that purpose to bore me to death?”
“The end of the ruling elite,” he snapped.
As much as Brigette wanted to remind the idiot they were supposed to be preventing the demon-world from being enslaved by the evil Styx, not making a sleazy power grab, she forced herself to swallow her words. She’d already sensed the buzz in the air. As if the horde of demons were starting to prepare for something. Something big. She couldn’t let her desire to aggravate the male overcome her need to discover what was happening.
“How do you intend to do that?” she demanded.
“Come with me, and I’ll tell you.”
Brigette hesitated. Roban wasn’t subtle. The invitation might as well have trap written all over it. But she couldn’t deny his request without creating suspicion. Plus, there was the danger that Roban might begin to question what Brigette was doing in this isolated area of the tunnels.
She needed to get the Were away so Xi could continue his search.
“Okay.” She waved toward the passage behind him. “Lead the way.”
He glanced over her shoulder, almost as if he was wondering why she was so anxious to head in the opposite direction. Then he shrugged and turned to lead her through the darkness.
Brigette’s instinct was to walk several paces behind the male. She wanted plenty of opportunity to react to whatever nasty plan he’d devised. Unfortunately, the only way to probe for information was to pretend that she had no idea she was strolling into a trap.
Walking next to Roban, she pretended to smother a yawn. “You’re supposed to be telling me about your plans.”
“Maryam’s plan,” he sharply reminded her. “The rest of us are just her disciples.”
Disciples? Yeesh. The female vampire was letting this rebellion stuff go to her head if she’d started referring to her collection of outcasts as disciples.
“Whatever.” Brigette shrugged. “What’s the plan?”
Roban glanced in her direction, his expression impossible to read. “We have spent the past few weeks importing large quantities of C-4.”
Brigette furrowed her brow. She’d spent centuries rarely leaving the isolation of her abandoned village. It left large gaps in her knowledge of the current culture. But even as her lips parted to demand an explanation, she realized that she’d heard the term before.
“Isn’t that some sort of human explosive?”
“Yes.”
Brigette’s brow remained furrowed as they turned into a passage that was thick with mold, as if no one had been through here in years.
“Explosions won’t kill most demons,” she pointed out the obvious.
His expression was complacent. “We’ve had them…enhanced.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
Roban clicked his tongue, as if she was unbearably stupid. “The only way to truly ensure we got rid of our oppressors was to create a weapon they couldn’t fight against.”
Brigette shoved her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. It was that or punch the male in the throat.
Until this moment, she would have bet good money that nothing could be more annoying than spending five centuries confined with an evil beast from a hell dimension. But Roban was proving she was wrong. You didn’t have to be a malevolent spirit to be a gigantic pain in the ass.