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After a long moment, a satisfied smirk curled his lips. “You will dance for me. Here on my stage.”

“Hell, she will,” Liam growled, and she held up her hand to silence him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, careful to mask her rising alarm. “There seems to be some mistake. I am no longer a performer.”

“Oh, but you are,” Dante sang, those mercurial eyes of his swirling. “Hair, makeup, wardrobe. The curtain parts, and you step onto that stage you’ve created. But no more. No longer are you in control of the role you’ve been handed. Face it, Vivian Laurent, your Black Widow act has gone stale. It’s past time you returned to what you do best. Stick with the classics. Dance for me the way you used to dance for him.”

At this suggestion, Liam snarled, baring fangs. “Vivian, no way are you giving a fire demon a lap dance.”

“Agreed,” Dante purred. He held out his hand to further his point. In his palm swirled a fiery ball of flames. He made a fist and threw it into the air, where it turned to smoke. “You’d find my lap an uncomfortable place to linger. I’ve no desire to scorch such a beautiful morsel.”

Vivian canted her head. “What exactly are you proposing?”

“Given the circumstance, your protector will sit in for me while I watch through his eyes.”

“Through his eyes?” Surely, she’d misunderstood.

“Oh, fuck no.” Liam paced a circle, then thrust his finger at Dante. “Nobody’s watching Vivian through my eyes but me.”

She ignored Liam’s huffing and puffing, studying the silver-eyed panther. “You can do that?”

Dante grinned, baring overly sharp canines. “I may be blind, but I see things beyond anyone’s comprehension. Why see with two eyes when the entire world is open to me?”

Liam grasped her arm and, despite her yelp of objection, pulled her to her feet and towed her a short distance away. “Tell me you’re not considering this.”

“He isn’t asking me to do anything I haven’t done before,” she defended. “Look around you. Most of them are half-naked, anyway. I could walk through the room wearing a G-string, and no one would blink.”

“But this is different.” He glowered, casting a glare at Dante then back. “Couple days ago, you asked me about my hard limits. Sharing you with another male is one of them. You agree to this, and that demon will be in my head. I’m not keen on the whole threesome aspect of this deal. And I don’t like how he’s forcing you.”

“There is no force,” Dante interrupted, sounding offended. “Do it. Don’t do it. Choice is yours. Point is, how badly do you need that question answered?”

Desperately. That dagger was her last remaining tie to Alistair. Because of it, half the underworld was hunting her. The sooner she was rid of it, the better.

She turned to find an armless chair set in the center of the stage. Dante peered back at her, massive horns gleaming in the firelight. He tapped his temple, his grin full of arrogance. “Apologies if I seem overly eager, but your agreement was a foregone conclusion.”

While eyeing that solitary chair, she should have felt uneasy. Instead, a shiver of anticipation ran down her spine. She took a deep breath of Dante’s fragrant herbs, and a spiral of heat snaked through her system. Warmth unfurled in her veins. More than once, she’d fantasized about this exact situation. Masturbated to it even. Had that devil Dante seen her innermost desires? Perhaps, but she was finding it difficult to be angry.

Dante raised his hand, and a spotlight glared down on their heads. Another flick of his fingers and the pace of the music slowed, the pounding beat turning heavy, sultry. Goddess, help her, but that rhythm was speaking to something primal inside of her.

“Showtime,” Dante said as though he’d plucked the words out of her head. “My stage is yours.”

Eighteen

Liam gripped Vivian’s hands.She might be putting on a brave face, but he’d seen her shiver. She all but shook in her stilettos. Screw Dante and his psychic mumbo jumbo. Maybe Liam hadn’t been there for Vivian in the past, but he was here now.

“That’s it. If you won’t say it, I will. Pumper—”

“Sit down,” she commanded, pointing to the chair at the center of the stage. The authoritative snap in her voice had his ears twitching and his cock stirring.Traitorous bastard.

He firmed his jaw. She’d forgotten how the rules had changed. “No, Viv. I won’t be taking orders from you. Not this time.”

Instead of arguing as he expected, she turned her back on him and stalked toward Dante. Good. About time she came to her senses. She’d tell the oracle to stick his mystic bullshit up his ass, and they’d be out the door. Vivian whispered something to the demon, then turned to face Liam, crimson lips curling. In her hand was a whip.

What in Sam Hill did she think she was going to do with that?

Dante grinned back at him, a disturbing twinkle in his freaky eyes.

While keeping her focus locked on Liam, Vivian said, “Dante, my darling, once you dial into Liam, you will see everything he sees?”