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“This is why I was in your office,” Fey admitted. “I was hoping I could find anything at all that would help us find out what she was doing here.”

It wasn’t a lie, though it might not have been the full truth. Still, it was enough for him to get started.

“I’ll do what I can,” Alastair told her. “I’ll make some inquiries, check our video feeds, and see what I can find out.”

She nodded. She even looked like she might thank him.

Or she did until he bared his fangs and said, “If that’s all? I think we’re done here… Unless, of course, you want to stay a little longer.” He set his notes aside and stood, slowly circling the desk to stand in front of her. With her seated, her eyes right at waist level, she didn’t need to guess at how her presence was affecting him. “I told you the last time you were here that I’d enjoy making you beg, Witchling.”

“Fuck you,” she spat at him, but her eyes lingered on his lap.

Alastair reached out, taking her face in his hand. Her pulse was quick against his fingers, and as he traced the curve of her bottom lip with his thumb, her breath hitched.

“Your two minutes are up, Witchling,” he purred. “Time to get the fuck out of my office.”

Chapter 16

At least the Vamp worked quickly, Fey thought.

Less than two days later, in the middle of fight training with her sisters, she got a text from an unknown number. A single line.

I have your info. Meet me at the club.

No need to say who it was from, no setting up a time to meet, no hint at what he’d found.

She stared at the message, dabbing the sweat from her forehead with a towel. Across the training room, Willow let out a snarl, followed by an audible shriek as Lilith flung her to the mat.

“Plant your feet,” Lilith snapped. “How the fuck are you supposed to defend the realm if you can’t even plant your feet?”

Another shriek, this time from Lilith, as Willow tackled her legs, bringing her to the ground.

“Who’s that?” Joy asked, panting at Fey’s side. She looked over Fey’s shoulder at the message, as they both struggled to catch their breath.

“That,” Fey told her with a smirk. “Is the owner of the club we visited. Alice’s club.”

Joy’s eyebrows rose high enough that they nearly disappeared into her hairline.

“I asked for his help,” Fey explained. “And it looks like he might have come through for us.”

“Do you need backup?”

Fey slipped the phone back into the pocket of her exercise pants. “I’ll tell you what—if I’m not home by morning, feel free to level the whole damn building, okay?”

Joy smiled. “Deal.”

Snarls and swearing filled the gym as Lilith and Willow continued to wrestle, both refusing to tap out.

“And make sure those two don’t kill each other while I’m gone,” Fey said with a sigh. Joy just laughed.

“You Fey?”

The massive Shifter guarding the door of The Last Drop stared down at Fey when she arrived at the club. He spoke in such a low, growling voice, Fey vaguely wondered if he spent most of his time off work in his other, furrier, form. Maybe he wasn’t used to speaking in something other than growls and howls.

“That’s me,” Fey answered, and the male grunted, moving aside, and opening the door for her. It was still early enough that the club wasn’t open yet. Fey went to move past the giant male but jumped, startled when he tipped his head back and howled.

A moment later, another Wolf from inside the building howled in answer.

The Shifter grunted again. If he’d noticed her startle, he didn’t show it.