Page 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

M y front foot is already planted inside the cube’s entrance, my chest about to smash up against the shifter’s.

I lurch back and to the side in an attempt to avoid contact without removing my foot.

He’s even taller than Alexei but very thin, and up close the strength radiating off him makes the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end.

He may be a shifter but he’s certainly aligned with dark magic.

A quick glance to the left tells me he isn’t alone.

A gorgeous man with the aura of a warlock stands one step behind him together with a pale-skinned witch.

It takes me a moment to identify the warlock’s power…

a necromancer? The way he’s alert to our surroundings gives me the impression he’s some sort of bodyguard.

My instinctive magic rushes to the surface. I’m ready to defend myself against all three of them, but Alexei’s voice rings out behind me, a dangerous, protective growl as he focuses on bird shifter who claimed the cube. “It looks to me like the lady got here first.”

The shifter darts a glance at Alexei, his shrewd gaze quickly studying Alexei’s size and, no doubt, judging his power, pausing for a second on his assassin’s ring.

The warlock notices it too, stepping up to the shifter with a questioning look. Any supernatural encountering a Master Assassin for the first time should be smart enough to consider their actions wisely.

The shifter, on the other hand…

A confident smile passes across his lips, and he waves his bodyguard away, saying, “I’m in no danger.”

He ignores Alexei and leans down to me, his pointed nose a bare inch from mine. The shifter’s dark power washes over me in a sickening wave as an angry hiss passes through his partially clenched teeth. “Get out of my cube.”

My fingertips tingle as my instinctive magic sizzles through them. Electricity crackles in the air around me and the neon lights flicker above us, enough to make the nearby patrons glance up.

Despite the danger, the shifter considers me with amusement, arrogance oozing from every angle of his face and posture.

I can’t back down. I need this cube. I’m not about to walk away now…

I grit my teeth, seconds away from releasing my power, when Alexei steps up beside me.

His fingers curl around my arm. It’s the lightest touch, but the energy inside me immediately calms, and a sense of peace washes over me, radiating from his hand and cleansing the darkness of the shifter’s power from my mind and body with startling speed.

Surprise shoots through me, but I force myself not to react.

Is Alexei using his assassin’s magic to calm my magic somehow?

The slow burst of power around Alexei is like nothing I’ve felt before.

A curious glow builds around us, mistakable for the haze that covers the dance floor on the level below us. It caresses my arms, waist, and hips like a shield, but it also pulls at me. Not at my body, but at my power…

The shifter is so close to me that he leans into it.

As soon as the glow touches his face, the dark power I sensed building inside him suddenly recedes as if it were being sucked into a void, the same way my magic has calmed and… disappeared …

His eyes widen in a way that tells me he wants to step away from us, but that would be a sign of weakness.

He hides his surprise quickly, the momentary fluttering of his fingers his only movement. “What is this?”

Alexei’s gray eyes are cold and hard. “Normally, I’d make you apologize to the lady, but in this case, I’ll be happy to see the back of you.” He leans forward while the soft haze around us merges with the neon lights. Any passerby will think the glow is simply an effect of the lighting.

Alexei lowers his voice. “You will walk away, and we will not see you again tonight. Is that clear?”

The shifter’s lips twist into an angry line.

I sense his power sputter and then stop like an engine that keeps dying, as if he’s trying to access it but can’t make it work.

What is Alexei doing?

Alexei’s hand tightens briefly, and the glow builds, illuminating the shifter’s malevolent eyes…

Then he steps back, snapping at his bodyguard, “We will find a better cube.”

He spins on his heel and stalks away, angrily gesturing for the warlock and witch to follow him.

“We won’t see him again,” Alexei says, and I hope he’s right.

Questions burn inside me about what Alexei just did. Mother Kadris said he doesn’t know the extent of his power and now, I’m questioning it too.

Putting aside my questions for the moment, I sink onto the end of the bed that dominates the cube. My feigned discomfort is becoming real. Standing with my legs at an awkward angle has given me genuinely sore arches and calves.

“Thank you,” I murmur.

Alexei pauses in the entrance, not even attempting to hide the fact that he’s assessing the safety of our surroundings outside the cube as well as its internal layout.

A bed takes up all of the space inside the cube, its sides reaching each wall with only a small space to move between the bed and the entrance. Cushions are strewn across its surface, lending color to an otherwise white space—white leather walls and ceiling.

I bend to slip off one of my heels, not faking the sigh that passes my lips. I love my heels—I wear them all the time—but there’s nothing like taking them off.

As soon as Alexei steps into the cube, the magic takes hold and closes off the cube behind him.

I can’t hear anything from the outside now—not the thumping beat or the constant hum of voices.

I can’t see anything outside the cube, either.

Inside, soft lighting makes the air around us glow, but the silence feels… dangerous.

When I return my focus to Alexei, I find him standing in the only open space between the bed and the closed entrance, leaning up against the wall.

His gaze is steely and determined. The silver haze from his assassin’s ring melds with his muscular silhouette. The assassin’s magic he wields draws me to him, but I force myself to stay seated, two paces from his location.

“What did you do out there when you touched me?” I ask. “I’ve never felt assassin’s magic like that.”

His focus passes over the bed before he levels his gaze with mine in a way that tells me he wants answers too. “Why are we in here, Tansy?”

I won’t answer his question, the same way he’s avoiding mine.

“I’m here,” I say, gesturing to the cube. “To take off my shoes.”

I slide off my other stiletto and rub my aching calf, pushing aside my gauzy skirt to reach my lower leg.

At the same time, I consider all of the spells masquerading as flower petals around my body and which one I should use.

The protection spell will freeze Alexei. It will give me the chance to take the rubies at my leisure. But I would have to speak it very quickly since his reflexes are lightning fast.

I wear another spell that’s a compulsion spell—it would make him give me the ring, but he would be aware of it and come after me as soon as the spell wore off.

No, I need a short spell, maybe only two words that will pause him for long enough that I can remove the rubies from his ring without him realizing or retaliating.

Unless, of course, I’m bold enough to steal them while he’s alert…

I gasp as he drops to his knees in front of me, lightly cupping his hand around my exposed ankle.

His eyes meet mine. “May I?”

I’m not sure what he’s asking permission to do, but I nod, my stomach fluttering as he rubs my calf in slow circular motions, his fingertips warm and firm as he works his way down to my ankle and up to my knee.

I smother another sigh, this time of contentment and… something else I’m not familiar with… a deep need for more.

He brushes the material of my skirt aside and drops a kiss on my knee, his lips warm against my skin.

Raising his eyes to mine, he keeps his voice low as he asks again, “Why are we here, Tansy?”

My ulterior motives suddenly disappear, consumed by what I want. I’m here to steal the rubies and get the revival spell. I wish I could tell him about it, maybe even ask his permission to take the stones, but he would never allow me to tamper with the ring, not even for his own benefit.

But now, more is possible. It would be so easy to slide forward, curve my leg around his hip, and draw him close. It would be so easy to lean my head forward and brush my lips across his, to finally taste his mouth and know what it’s like to explore his body.

My lips part, and a response pours out of me, more honest than I planned. “I haven’t seen you in a long time—and I might not see you again. I don’t want to waste this chance…”

A faint smile curves his lips, but he doesn’t make it easy for me. “Chance for what?”

I search his eyes, telling myself I won’t see what I want to see, that the heat in his eyes and the way he strokes my calf aren’t because he wants me. Well, maybe logically he wants me, but it’s physical, not emotional.

My heart demands answers, but not from him. From myself: Why can’t I give in to this?

Even if he doesn’t feel anything for me, even if he can’t love me, why can’t I take what I can?

I plan on getting the revival spell tonight, but I have no guarantees. All that’s certain is what’s right in front of me.

The touch of his hand on my leg is more than I can bear, promising pleasure that I’ve never allowed myself to indulge in.

Why can’t I give in to what my body wants even if it will leave my heart aching?

Without allowing myself to think any further about it, I reach out and curl my palm around the back of his neck, sliding forward at the same time so that my free leg hooks around his hips.

I balance there for a moment until his hand finds the small of my back, his fingers splaying against my spine, supporting me.

His body heat burns through my thin dress, but he’s not as close as I want him to be. He has to let go of my other leg—bent at the knee and pressed up between us—to allow that to happen.

The question in his eyes is unbearable. I’ve never made a move like this toward him, other than kissing his cheek once, which was an impulsive gesture that led to revelations about his curse.

His lips are inches from mine, his breathing in control. Unlike mine.

“A chance to be with you,” I say.