“You’re a hired hunter, are you not?” I pressed. “And I have money. What I’m requesting is quite simple. I’d like to hire you. Will you please reconsider?”

There. I’d even said please. I was adulting at full throttle here . . . although my words had been a bit sharp.

Prisha sighed heavily, obviously worried that my temper was getting the better of me, but I actually thought I was holding onto my anger pretty well.

“She was taken right from our magic shop,” I continued over the loud music and the lesbian love show to my side. “Right from beneath my nose by some guy who was pretending to be a customer. And it’s already been hours since she disappeared.” I took another step into the dead zone. “Please, I’m actually begging you to help.”

The Fire Wolf lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow—the dude’s eyebrows were even perfect—just as Pogo Fairy’s friend cried out, letting loose the loudest fake orgasm I’d ever heard.

The hunter didn’t even glance at them.

“Please,” I said again. “I need you to find her.”

His eyes flashed, his usual amber gaze glowing crimson for a second.

I took yet another step into the dead zone. I was almost at his table. “We don’t have much time. You probably know the statistics of missing person cases. The longer she’s gone, the less chance she has of being found alive.”

The vamp waitress brushed past me again, bumping into me on purpose no doubt. My nerves prickled at her rudeness, but she didn’t do anything else other than set another drink in front of the Fire Wolf and whisk away his empty glass.

“That drink’s on the house.” She angled her body to face me. “Is this one bothering you? If she is . . .” She smiled, her fangs fully lengthened.

Oh please.

The Fire Wolf downed half of his new drink, then stood. “It’s fine. I was just heading out. I have a few things I need to finish up tonight.” He threw a couple hundred-dollar bills on the table, which Val collected in one greedy swipe, and with that he strode past me.

As if I wasn’t even there.

As if I hadn’t just begged him to save my sister’s life.

Pogo Fairy and her friend sucked in a breath, their lustful hands and roaming fingers stopping now that their target was leaving.

I rolled my eyes. I knew it’d been a fake orgasm.

Prisha crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow at me. “Really? You couldn’t play sweet and nice for five minutes?”

The dance floor parted again as the Fire Wolf stalked across the room.

I grabbed a hold of Prisha and pulled her with me. We hurried after him even though the crowd had returned to a tangled mess of bodies in his wake.

“I take it that you’re refusing the job?” I yelled to him over the pounding music.

Of course, he didn’t respond.

Somehow, Prisha and I managed to reach him before he disappeared through the door.

I latched on to his arm, not even thinking about what I was doing. His muscles clenched, his skin hot through his shirt. “I’ll pay you five thousand to find her.”

He glanced down at where my hand was touching him.

In the next instant, I was against the wall, the hunter’s body pressed flush against me. Prisha shrieked, then pulled her blade out, but a warning look from the Fire Wolf had her lowering it. He could easily snap my neck in this position.

The hunter leaned closer to me, his nose trailing down my neck as he inhaled. His own scent flooded me. He smelled of citrus and cedar, rich and decadent. My nostrils flared. I’d never known a man’s smell to be so . . .  intoxicating.

Damn libido.

“Sorry . . . what was your name?” he said casually, as if pinning me to the wall with every inch of our bodies touching was a completely normal way to have a conversation.

I swallowed, my throat dry, because as much as I was trying to ignore the feel of him, I couldn’t. It’d been so long since I’d been with a man. Months since I’d had a random hookup following a drunken night out. And years since my last true relationship with Carlos.

These days my vibrator was my only boyfriend. And even though the Fire Wolf brought out my snarky side, I couldn’t remember the touch of a man’s body ever feeling so good.

I licked my lips.

His gaze dropped to my mouth.

“Tala. Tala Davenport,” I said breathlessly.

His mouth parted, a wolfish grin emerging before he dipped and trailed his lips feather-softly along my neck, as if he were about to kiss me.

I held my breath, nearly straining against him. Anything to claim that mouth on my skin.

Obviously, my vagina was a lost cause.

The hunter pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes. “First off, Tala,” he purred, his voice as smooth as velvet. “You never, ever give anybody your real name in the Shadow Zone. Secondly, don’t ever touch me again.” His grip tightened, a flare of pain jolting through me, before his mouth drifted closer to my ear, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “People tend to lose limbs when they do that.”

He abruptly released me and stepped back.

My knees nearly gave way, but I managed to stop myself from falling. Still, my heart was beating erratically.

Magic simmered beneath my skin as my insides flamed to life. I couldn’t tell if I was in shock, or turned on, or both. Whatever the case, I’d never been threatened in such an erotic way before, but I had no doubt that he meant what he’d said. If I touched him again, I would lose my hand.

I stared at him, unable to move. Because despite his threat and that flare of pain at the end, I’d loved every second of his body touching mine. Gods, that was pathetic.

But if the dude had any reaction to the physical contact we’d just shared, he was an expert at hiding it. With a shove on the door, the Fire Wolf slipped out of the Black Underbelly and disappeared into the night.

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 7

Despite his complete and total dismissal of me, I still attempted to follow him, but the vamp waitress was suddenly there, barring the way. She slipped a slim, pale arm across the door. Given a vamp’s strength, it was the equivalent of a steel bar blocking the exit.

“He doesn’t want to do business with you,” Val said with fake sympathy. “What’s the matter, sweetheart? Never heard no before?”

Really? A snarl worked its way up my throat.

She laughed but didn’t move. “You know, you should count yourself lucky that he talked to you at all. When supes show up here looking for him to do their dirty work, he won’t even acknowledge most. Only the lucky ones get a chance to speak with him. And only the very lucky ones he speaks to in return. But with you, he actually engaged in a conversation, so count yourself blessed. He must have been feeling generous tonight.”

I snorted. “Blessed? What a crock. I was simply trying to do business with him, but apparently, he’s too good for me.”

The vamp smiled. “Finally catching on.” She took in my clothes that I’d bought off the clearance rack. “You couldn’t afford him anyway.”

“Okay, enough,” Prisha said as she moved toward Val, who seemed more than willing to accommodate my best friend. “We’re outta here.”

The vamp pouted at Prish. “Just ’cause your friend’s leaving, doesn’t mean you need to.”

“Oh yes, it does.” Prisha pushed her out of the way, and the vampire finally released her hold on the door, allowing my bestie to tug me along with her.

Outside, the night was cool and dark. Music from inside the Underbelly pulsed around us, as if the building’s walls were dancing to the beat.

On the street corner, the Fire Wolf stood tall and sinister looking in the streetlight. He held something in his fingers. It glowed, emitting a yellow flare. A crystal? He lifted the yellow gem and began swirling it in a circle in front of him.