His boss came to a stop right in front of me and jabbed his finger at my chest. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” he demanded, low but cutting.
“Dancing?” I said with an innocent smile.
“I know who runs this place. I know she talks with your Fund.” He said the last word with a sneer. “I told you, we can’t count on the other shadowkind for this. We’re handling it ourselves.”
“I never agreed to that. And anyway, I barely told her anything. I’m not an idiot.”
“As far as I’m concerned, the jury’s still out on that one.” He jerked his hand toward the doorway. “Let’s go. You’ve interfered enough for one night.”
My body balked at the idea of following his orders, but his arrival had reminded me that it probably wasn’t the safest for me to stick around here anyway. I was pretty sure the Company’s people had looked for me here once before. From Ruse’s reaction, he wasn’t up for more dancing anyway.
“Interfering, huh?” I said, jabbing my finger right back at Omen. “That must be some brand-new way of saying, ‘Provided an essential component to my masterplan.’ You’re welcome, by the way. Lucky for you, Luce, I’m ready to call it a night.”
“You,” Omen growled, but a second later he reined in the temper I’d known that nickname would provoke—even if I wasn’t totally sure why—with a flick of his gaze toward the crowd.
He couldn’t keep his cool forever. One of these days, I’d get under his skin enough to break the beast right open.
Maybe I’d better hope Jade had sent a few buddies my way before that explosion.
7
Sorsha
The New-Age cabin didn’t have electric lights, but I’d scrounged up a huge candle in a glass jar. The label said Lawn Mower, and the scent fit: like fresh-cut grass with a hint of diesel. I could tell why that one had been abandoned in the closet. It was better than the stale, dusty smell that had filled the cabin before, though.
As I blew out the flame for the night, Pickle let out a sleepy, squeaky murmur from the amethyst incense bowl now filled with shredded gauzy scarf. I’d set it in the shower stall in the tiny bathroom to give him the sense of a cavern. He’d have preferred a whole tub to trundle around in, but we were both making do with what we had.
I tucked myself in under the sheets on the cramped lower bunk, lay my head on the thin pillow—and all at once the warm weight of another body solidified against mine, making the space twice as cramped as before. I flinched with a lurch of my pulse. Then I registered Snap’s breathtaking face gazing down at me in the dim moonlight that seeped through the cabin’s window, his sweet but dark scent, like clover and moss, filling my nose.
He was already pulling back at my initial panicked response. Balancing precariously on the edge of the mattress rather than leaning against me like before, he stroked the side of my face in apology. “I’m sorry. I forgot that you can’t tell I’m here until I come out of the shadows. It’s started to feel so much like you’re one of us that I find myself thinking you have the same awareness.”
“That’s all right.” I didn’t mind his company in my bed now that I knew it was him. I gave him a gentle tug toward me before his tall but slim frame tumbled right onto the floor. His body settled against mine again—chest to chest, one toned leg tucked over my thigh, those golden curls nearly brushing my cheek—and a hungrier heat formed low in my belly. I couldn’t resist tracing my fingers along his smooth jaw in return. “Was there any particular reason you decided to drop in on me in bed?”
His smile looked a little sheepish, but his eyes gleamed with a hint of their monstrous neon green, unable to disguise his eagerness. “I was thinking—after seeing you and Ruse at the bar—I wanted to be that close to you again. We don’t have to do anything other than this. I’d be happy to just lie next to you while you sleep.”
Oh, my darling man—if I could even call him a man. I’d never have thought a being who was apparently capable of inflicting horrifying magic could be so enticingly adorable, but Snap somehow managed to be both in one.
I let my fingers trail down to where the collar of his Henley shirt splayed open over the lean muscles of his chest. “So you came here just to cuddle, huh? No interest in anything more?”
Another flash of neon flared in his eyes. “I didn’t say that.” His head dipped, his lips grazing my temple with his next words. “I would like very much to taste you again, Peach. Maybe in ways I didn’t get a chance to last time?”
“Hmm. The truth comes out,” I teased.
Snap drew back an inch to meet my eyes again. “Not just for me. That night, what we did together—it felt better than anything I’ve ever experienced in this realm or the one of shadow. But mainly because of how we connected so completely, sharing in the sensations. I want to do it again and again, but only if you’re with me, wanting it too.”
He spoke so earnestly it made my chest ache, both because of the adoration in his tone and because I knew how much of his affection was probably due to the novelty of the experience.
Sexual pleasure wasn’t something shadowkind instinctively sought out in their own realm—it appeared to be the domain of mortals like me and mortal bodies like the ones he and his kind wore here. Many higher shadowkind sought out that bliss once they discovered it, and some like the cubi kind needed it to sustain themselves, but Snap hadn’t spent enough time mortal-side to have stumbled on those desires until now.
“That attitude is a good one to have,” I said. “But it won’t only be me you can experience this with, you know. You’ll find you can feel just as good with other women—maybe even men too—when you broaden your horizons.”
He let out a soft huff. “No. There wouldn’t be anyone else quite like you. I’ve never seen—the courage you show, so willing to fight for us even though we’re not like you—your patience as we adapt to this world. You don’t shy away even from the parts of us that make others call us monsters. You stand up with us against our enemies even without the same sorts of powers, no matter what you’ve lost… I only hope I can be strong enough to match you.”
My throat constricted with a pang that shot straight through my heart. Okay, he might have made a pretty solid case there, even if I had trouble seeing myself as half as valiant as he did. Not being willing to stand by while living, feeling beings were caged and slaughtered was a pretty low bar to label someone a hero.
I caressed his jaw again, running my fingers up it and into his soft curls. “Well, I think you’re pretty amazing too. This world can be a shitty place, but you manage to find every bit of beauty in the simplest things. You want to understand everything just for the sake of understanding it—most people only care about what’s going to help them get ahead. I’ve never met anyone who wanted so badly to help and create joy in every way they can. I have no idea how I’m going to let you go.”
I felt the ache of that uncertainty even more when he beamed down at me. He kissed my temple where his lips had teased me before, and then my cheek and the crook of my jaw. “Then don’t.”