A vibrant skyline filled the horizon as we inched to the edge of the sidewalk so none of the humans would walk into us in our invisible state.

“Where are we?” A shiver struck me so I wrapped my arms around myself.

“New York. That’s Manhattan.” He nodded to the skyline, then tugged me forward and around the corner.

Several dark alleyways lined the narrow street, and at the end of it was a nightclub. Neon lights flashed around the club’s entrance, and a bouncer was stationed at the front door.

“A bit early for clubbing, don’t you think?”

“I think your sister’s kept in there.” He pointed toward the club, then peered down at me. “Can you feel her?”

My heart jolted, and I immediately tuned into the witch-twin bond I shared with Tessa. My heart thumped even more when the bond vibrated to life, buzzing and glowing. “Oh gods, yes!”

“Where?”

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the feeling, my brow furrowing as I let it guide me. Down. “I think they have her underground.”

My eyes flashed open to find the hunter all up in my personal space. At some point in the last few seconds, he’d moved closer, doing it in that silent way of his. The look of hunger on his face had me taking a step away.

“Dude.”

At my loud comment, he startled and took a huge step back. He shook himself, as if coming out of a trance.

“This way,” he growled. The Fire Wolf led me into one of the narrow alleyways, then backed me up to a concrete wall. “Stay here, and stay hidden. We don’t need anyone recognizing you.”

He made a move to leave, but then abruptly turned back to me and slammed his forearms against the wall on either side of my face until he was caging me in. “Who’s Carlos?”

I yelped in surprise, his movement so violent and so unexpected that I’d been caught completely unaware. But I composed myself and replied, “What?”

He growled again. “I saw that text, and I have to know. Who’s Carlos?”

So it was the text that’d gotten him all weird and bothered. But again, how did that make sense? I tried to shove him away from me, but he didn’t move. “Seriously, what is wrong with you right now? My sister is being held captive and you’re supposed to save her, and instead, you’re asking me about a text I got?”

His jaw locked, and his nostrils flared. He inched closer before leaning down. “I don’t know why, but I need to know. I won’t be able to concentrate until I do.”

Okay, the dude was mental, seriously mental. I’d hired not only the scourge of society but also a complete nut case. How he’d kept his insanity hidden away for the past twenty-four hours was beyond me, but it was now official—the dude was insane.

I gritted my teeth together. “What. Is. Wrong. With. You.”

He scowled, the expression so dark and foreboding that my eyes widened. “Just tell me who he is. I feel like if I know, that this . . . feeling . . . in me will go away.”

Feeling in him? Okay. We were now talking about our feelings. Holy fucking tuna fish.

“He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

His jaw clenched so tightly, that I swore the bone was about to snap. “If he’s an ex, why is he texting you?”

I gave him an incredulous look. “Do you hear yourself right now? What does Carlos have to do with anything? You’re supposed to be saving Tessa!”

“I don’t know, I just—” His gaze dipped, and he took a deep breath. Heat rolled off him, and his forearm muscles clenched, still trapping me against the wall. “I think I need to scent you again, to feel . . . normal. Something’s going on with me. I need—” I tensed when he brought his head forward and his lips grazed close to my ear. Despite his completely crazy behavior at present, a tingle of goosebumps raced down my spine. “Release your cloaking spell, just for a second.”

Another shiver ran through me and I wanted to kick myself because now I was acting mental too, but I was powerless to resist his request. Or at least, that was what I told myself.

I called up my magic and deactivated my spell. The heavy cloak fell off me for the second time in twenty-four hours, and my magic surged forth, rushing through my veins and tingling along my skin as it raced from its confining cage.

The Fire Wolf sank more into me, as his head lowered and his nostrils flared. He inhaled sharply, the sound fast and deep. A low, vibrating growl came from the hunter’s throat.

Before I could ask him if he would rescue my sister now, his arms whipped down and pulled me flush against him, those limbs like bands of steel as they locked around my waist in a jolting lash.

I cried out in surprise as he hauled me up to his chest, his eyes locking onto mine. Crimson fire rolled in his irises, but something else did too. A glow, that subtle golden hue flared behind the flames again, and in that moment, I knew that I was looking at his wolf.

“You’re not with Carlos anymore.” His voice came out raspy and low. “You should be with me.”

And then his lips were on mine before I could even process that possessive and totally insane claim.

The Fire Wolf pinned me to the wall and sealed his mouth to mine like it was the last kiss he’d ever experience. And fuck me if I didn’t respond to it too, which meant I was also certifiable.

A moan clawed its way up my throat, liquid desire shooting between my legs at the feel of the hunter’s hard body pressed so intimately against mine. It didn’t matter that this was crazy. No, insane. Or that to be feeling this flood of desire and wanting to make out with a demon hunter after he’d been a complete asshole, and all while my sister was being held captive only a hundred yards away, was appalling.

None of that mattered. I couldn’t have stopped myself from reacting to him if I’d tried.

I wrapped my arms around the Fire Wolf’s neck as a rumble of pleasure shot from him. His grip on me tightened, as if he was trying to possess me, all of me, in one bruising touch.

My body begged me to get closer to him and I lifted one leg, then the other, until both were wrapped around his waist.

He stepped back a little and then shoved me forward against the alley wall again until the cold concrete pressed hard against my back as his hands slid down to grip my thighs. A low growl vibrated in his throat as his tongue flicked out to part my lips.

I opened readily, welcoming him into my moist heat. That demanding vibration again rumbled in his chest, as his hands tightened around my thighs until he was grinding against me as he devoured me in his kiss.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, it struck me as my hands trailed up and down his hard chest and around his strong shoulders, that he wasn’t dismembering me like he’d promised to do if I touched him. But that ridiculous thought was there one second, and then gone in the next as the Fire Wolf’s intoxicating mouth and feverish hands claimed all of my senses.

His tongue dipped in to dance and entwine with mine as another deep throaty growl thundered from him.

Gods, he tasted good. He licked, bit, and mouth fucked me with his tongue. His hips jolted up, and his thick length tried to pierce me through his pants.

Another moan erupted from my throat when he molded against my core, rubbing and grinding on the area in which I wanted him most.

“Fire Wolf,” I breathed.

I threaded my fingers through his hair. It was as soft as I’d thought it would be as I arched my neck. Another possessive snarl reverberated in his chest as he pressed hot, urgent kisses along my skin.

One of his hands traveled up and under my shirt until he was kneading my flesh. His hand traveled higher until he cupped my breast, his brazen thumb flicking my nipple.

I cried out, the sensation washing through me like a waterfall of desire.

“I want you. Now,” he rasped.