There was a pause before she replied. “Leon? Where’s Derek?”
“He’s a little… tied up. We had a last minute job swap.” Okay, that wasn’t totally the truth, but close enough.
Danny gave a soft snort. “Again? That’s starting to seem suspicious, Leon Marx.” She spoke softly, and it was almost like she whispered directly in my ear. Hot as hell. “Whatever, I’m not aborting this mission now. Did Derek fill you in?”
“I know the plan,” I evaded, not willing to admit I’d bugged her apartment.
“Good enough,” she muttered.
I spotted her across the bar, dressed as a sinfully sexy version of Catwoman. Her white blonde hair was up in a high, severe ponytail, and a black latex cat mask covered the top half of her face. Her “costume” consisted of a biker chick bra and a tight black mini-skirt. All completed with absurdly tall black lace up boots. My dick twitched at the sight of her, and my mouth watered as I imagined stripping her out of that outfit and fucking her in just the boots.
Fuck .
I started to move through the crowd to get closer, but someone’s hand on my arm halted me. I stiffened, peering down at the hand, then up at the owner of it.
“Leon,” the guy said with a small frown, “I thought that was you.”
I stared at him a moment, unblinking, then gave his hand on my arm a pointed look. He took the hint, quickly releasing me and holding his hands up defensively.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I just wanted to grab you before you disappeared in another puff of smoke.”
I smiled on the inside. “I’m not here for you, Lucas.”
The younger man gave a small smile of relief, running a hand over his hair. “Well, that’s good to hear. I wanted to say thank you, though. For, you know, what you did last year.”
He meant erasing any record of him ever existing. Making him into a ghost. I hadn’t done it for him—he was a stranger to me—but because I’d promised Layla. Lucas was her little brother, and before she’d died, she had asked me to help her protect him. To hide him from the Guild. I’d simply completed the task she’d set out to do herself.
“Don’t mention it,” I murmured, giving him a hard look. “Seriously. Don’t. As far as I’m concerned, kid, we’ve never met. Leave it that way.”
Lucas gave a tight nod. “Understood.” Then he hesitated. “Does Hayden know you’re here?”
I smirked. “Doubt it.”
“You need help over there, superstar?” Danny asked in my ear, and an uncomfortably warm feeling curled in my chest.
“Don’t stress yourself,” I told both Lucas and Danny. “We won’t make a mess on Timberwolf territory. Not tonight, anyway.”
Seeing as I didn’t care much whether Lucas told his bloodthirsty wife that I was at the party or not, I walked away before he could reply. Danny had a plan to hatch and a mark to snare the interest of. And I had every intention of helping her in every way I could.
“What was that about?” Danny asked as I approached. Her expression was hard to read behind the mask, but her sapphire eyes were sharp and calculating. I needed to be more careful, stalking her like I was. She was going to catch me soon.
Unable to help myself, I placed a hand on the small of her back as I leaned into the bar. My fingers caressed the bare skin between her bra top and miniskirt, and I could have sworn she gave a tiny shiver on contact. Or maybe that was wishful thinking.
I glanced back in the direction I’d left Lucas, but he was already gone. “Friend of a friend.”
Danny scoffed but didn’t move away from my touch. If anything, she leaned into my hand. “You have friends, Leon?” she said with such disbelief I should have been insulted. I probably would have been if I were a normal person.
I ignored the question, leaning over to shout a drink order to the bartender. My fingers stroked Danny’s back again, like they had a life of their own. Fuck, her skin was soft. Where was the scar from her bullet wound? It must be just below her skirt, seeing as it sat high on her waist.
My gaze drifted casually over the crowd until I spotted Danny’s target. He could hardly be missed, oozing kingpin energy with a veritable harem of women fawning all over him in a lounge area some distance away from us. He was dressed ironically, in a toga and Greek-style armor that was probably concealing very real weapons, considering who he was.
“Seriously?” I muttered, gritting my teeth. Just looking at him, knowing he would soon have his hands all over Danny… I wanted to kill him right here, right now. But that was not only against the mission—the Guild needed information before he was killed—it was against the rules of the premises.
I had no doubt Danny and I would be the ones to walk out alive, even if every other person inside the bar died in the process. But it was a conflict we didn’t need in our lives. Hades wasn’t a forgiving sort of hostess, and her rules were strictly enforced.
“Looks like you’re a bit late, DeLuna,” I teased quietly, my hand still on her back. “Your god of war already has his hands full for the night.”
Danny didn’t even seem slightly discouraged, though, much to my annoyance. If anything, she looked determined as she reached past me to snag my untouched drink.
She raised it to her perfectly crimson lips and took a long sip. Then screwed her face up in disgust. “Is this nonalcoholic ?”
“Of course it is,” I replied. “We’re working.”
She stared at me for a long moment, amusement playing through her eyes. Then she gave a small shake of her head and puffed a sigh. “Whatever, Boy Scout. It’ll do. Sit back and watch how a pro gets the job done.”
Her wink did something unusual to my chest, then she spun on those impossible heels and sashayed away from me.
I hated that. I never wanted her to walk away from me… no matter what the reason. I was no longer in control of my actions at that point, I simply reacted.
13
I made it halfway across the space to where my mark sat with a bikini-wearing woman writhing in his lap as she kissed his neck. I’d gotten close enough that he locked eyes with me, his drink pausing en route to his lips… then someone seized my wrist and spun me around.
“What the—” I barely got those two words out before Leon’s lips crashed into mine.
It shocked me enough that, for a moment, I kissed him back. I leaned into his strong grip and parted my lips against his, letting his tongue meet mine in a possessive, desperate kind of way. The sort of kiss that made me forget who and where I was.
Leon gave a small groan as he pulled me closer, his knee sliding between my legs and hitching my already short skirt up higher. As hot as it was, I suddenly remembered what I was meant to be doing. And it sure as fuck wasn’t making out with Leon in the middle of a Halloween party.
Mustering up way more willpower than I thought I needed, I pushed him away and gave him an incredulous glare.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I demanded in a strangled whisper, all too conscious of how on display we were. My target had been staring straight at me when Leon grabbed me. Was he still watching? Or had he moved on to easier prey? Everything I’d researched on this man said he liked to keep his sexual dalliances transactional and drama-free. Unlike Edward, this man was not even remotely interested in a taken woman.