Page 32 of Cast in Shadow

“You shouldn’t be here.”

I froze at the sound of his voice, though this time it was atleast voluntary. He was watching me from the shadows, a blast from the past with eyes glowing a shade of red that tugged at something deep inside me.

How the hell could I ache for someone I hated so much?

I closed my eyes for a second. Just one second, and the next thing I knew, his heat was soaking into me. Peeling my eyes open, he was standing right in front of me, inches away.

It was too easy to forget he could move like that. Quick. Silent.

Deadly.

13

My heart was beating so hard I could have sworn a herd of tiny elephants was stampeding through my chest.

I forced a step back and shook my head, hoping it would clear away some of the fog, but he closed the gap. The man towered over me, his muscular frame exuding a brutal kind of power that was impossible to ignore. My gaze took too long to travel down to his hard chest and back up the taut tendons of his neck to the harsh set of his square jaw.

How could he still do this to me—entrance me with his mere presence—after all these years?

“You shouldn’t be here,” he repeated, his warning a low, sensuous rumble that vibrated through me. “It’s not safe.”

It barely mattered what he was saying when his body kept edging closer.

Oh, for fuck’s sake.I gave myself a mental slap.I am not this woman anymore.

I swallowed hard and backed up a few steps before leveling my pistol at him. “Where are they?”

His eyes narrowed, showing me a glimpse of the calculatingmonster I’d once been reckless enough to fall in love with. “Where’s who?”

“The bear shifter and the girl,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

A look of feigned confusion flitted across his face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Like hell he didn’t. Was it possible that he was clueless to my current situation? Sure, but between the warning and the fact that he was in the same vicinity as my missing daughter and agent, the odds weren’t in his favor.

“Don’t you dare play dumb with me. My team traced them to this area.”

“I thought you didn’t work with a team,” he said with the smug arch of one dark brow.

And now he was stalling. Which only confirmed he knew exactly why I was there. And he honestly thought he knew who he was dealing with.

Good for me. Bad for him.

“Tell me where they are, Emerson.”

“Or what? You’ll shoot me?”

We both knew bullets were no use against him. It wasn’t like they bounced off, but his magic would push the metal out of his flesh and heal the wound in a matter of seconds. It was part of what made primordial demons so damned unkillable.

I lowered the gun, keeping my finger on the trigger. “Tell me where they are or get out of my way.”

“No.”

I blinked back at him. “No?”

“This is bigger than you and me.”

“How the hell is a bunch of demons kidnapping members ofmyteam bigger than me?”