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TWENTY-SEVEN

Sorsha

The spoils our guard handed over after his shift in the penthouse didn’t look like much of a bounty. He’d gathered them in a shopping bag so that his body wouldn’t tarnish the impressions on the objects with his own thoughts and feelings, and it held only a crumpled, ketchup-stained paper napkin, a dried-up pen that was slightly gnawed at the end, and the severed plastic packaging from a… Tibetan singing bowl set?

I guessed we could hope the big boss had been meditating on his sins.

“Sorry,” the charmed young man said. “That was all he had in the garbage can by the end of my shift. I had to knock over his wine carafe just to fill up the bin so I’d have an excuse to take out the trash.”

“That’s okay,” I said, deftly picking out a few spare shards of glass that clung to the packaging. We’d specifically instructed him to stick to the garbage so that there’d be no thefts to alert his boss to our scheme. “If we can’t get anything out of this, we’ll just try again. He didn’t seem at all suspicious about the accident?”

The guard shook his head. “He really had left the carafe too close to the edge of the counter. I made sure he was watching so he’d see all I did was walk by it.”

Ruse patted him on the shoulder. “You’ve done excellent work. I’ll see that you’re properly rewarded when all this is over.”

Snap was waiting for us back in the RV. He sat up straighter on the sofa at the sight of the bag. “Those are the head man’s things?”

The incubus tossed the bag onto the table. “Yep. Ripe for the tasting. See what you can slurp out of them.”

As Snap eased open the bag, our other companions emerged from the shadows to observe more directly. The Everymobile’s living area was becoming a tight fit, especially with the second hulking wingéd in the mix… even without Omen here.

That thought twisted my stomach. Shoving down my uneasiness about our own boss’s continued absence, I squeezed over to the sofa and sat down there. Pickle scuttled beneath the table, hopped up beside me—and for the first time in days, scrambled right onto my lap. A little of my apprehension melted as I tickled his chin.

If my dragon could get over my failings and come back to me, then surely everything else could turn out all right too.

“The pen might provide the most information,” Thorn suggested, peering at the small collection of items. “The other objects would have been used much more temporarily, would they not?”

Antic bobbed on her feet, only able to make out the surface of the table when her heels left the ground. “Yes! The pen first.” With her last bounce, she sprang right onto the edge of the table but kept swaying there, adrift on waves of excitement.

Snap took the pen in his slender hands and brought it to his face. His forked tongue flicked out, skimming through the air just above its surface.

I’d seen him work his subtler devourer magic plenty of times, but the distance that came into his expression as he sorted through the impressions he’d gleaned from the past still sent a tiny shiver up my spine. To be able to know so much about a person just by testing something they’d touched… Say whatever you wanted about the whole soul-devouring thing, this was damned amazing.

His tongue flicked out a few more times, but the pen didn’t have much surface area to test. As his eyes refocused on us, his mouth settled into a frown. “I’m not sure anything I sensed will give us a strategy to encourage the boss out of his home. The main impression I get from his use of the pen is boredom. He used it for writing numbers into boxes in some sort of game? And also words in other boxes in a different game. Nothing he felt very strongly about.”

Yeah, I didn’t think Sudoku or crossword puzzles were going to be our ticket to luring the boss man away from his protective walls so Ruse could work his voodoo. “That’s okay. What about those?” I tipped my head toward the other two items without a huge amount of hope. Maybe we were waiting to launch our grand plan until our charmed guard could take out another haul of trash.

Snap picked up the ketchup-y napkin gingerly and tested all around it. A hint of a smile curled his lips, but not for the reasons we’d have wanted.

“He had a very delicious meal,” the devourer reported. “One of those burgers of ham, very juicy with seeds on the bun.” He paused. “And he became frustrated because of a call that interrupted his meal. But he put the napkin down when he answered. I don’t know what it was about.”

At least Snap had gotten some second-hand deliciousness out of that one. I restrained a sigh as he picked up the torn packaging.

It was the largest of the items, so it took several minutes before the devourer had checked it over thoroughly. He lingered on one spot, his tongue flicking here and there around a seam in the plastic. A glint of neon flashed in his eyes.

I straightened my posture, watching him. Something had caught his interest, and in a different way from the burger.

“It was a long time ago,” Snap said, slowly and softly. “But he remembers it sometimes at odd moments. He didn’t realize how much this set would look like the one she showed him…”

“Who showed him what?” Antic demanded, practically tap dancing across the table in her eager impatience.

I waved her silent. Snap took another taste of the impressions attached to the packaging. “A young woman he cared about a lot. He had asked her to connect her life with his—he gave her a ring.” He glanced at me.

“Humans exchange rings when they get engaged to be married,” I said. “It’s basically the highest form of commitment any person offers anyone else.”

The devourer hummed to himself. “Yes. That. But there is much sadness when he thinks about her. I think it must have been a very long time ago, years and years, but it still hurts him a lot. And—there is anger too. Something dark and large with vicious teeth… Blood…” His forehead furrowed. “I think perhaps she was killed by a shadowkind. That could be why he would want to kill us, couldn’t it?”

“Not that I think one murder excuses attempted genocide, but yeah, that could do it.” I rubbed my mouth. If this guy still thought so much about his long-lost fiancé, she might help us prevent that genocide. “Did you see anything else about her? What she looked like, her name…?”

“Yes. Yes, there was—” His tongue flicked. “Carmen. That was her name. Her voice is very soft in his memories… She called him ‘Isaac’.”

The pieces were starting to interlock in my head to form a rather impressive picture, if I did say so myself. Ruse leaned in and tugged on my ponytail. “I like that sly look on you, Miss Blaze.”

Snap peered at me hopefully. “You can use that?”

“It might be perfect,” I said. “The ring you saw… Was the impression clear enough that if you went to a store with lots of rings, you could recognize which one was the most like it?”

The gleam came back into Snap’s eyes. “I think so.”

“Is there anything else you’d require, m’lady?” Thorn asked.

“A wig,” I said. “Since he’s probably been warned about a redhead running with the monsters by now. With that and a ring—we can make this happen tonight.”

* * *

The wig wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’d ever worn. My shadowkind companions—who were becoming as adept as thieves as I was, with the additional benefit of being able to sneak into just about any building without any need for tools—had found me a good quality one, thick black waves that looked natural once my real hair was all tucked underneath. But the edges still itched at my skin. I didn’t want to fix it on completely until it was actually time to head out.

I took one last look at my transformed self in the mirror and then tugged the wig off. The plan was to move out in a little more than an hour. We wanted to be sure the business day had begun in Europe before we grabbed the boss here, because we couldn’t count on keeping our hands on him for all that long once we had him. Get in there, pull him and then his boss under Ruse’s spell, and end the Company for good—as fast as we could manage it.

All our running and fighting might be over tonight. It was too bad Omen wasn’t here to see it. Of course, maybe he’d have argued every detail of my scheme.

I’d found a part for each of us to play. Antic had brought in our first Company lackey; Snap had found the ticket to the boss. The rest of us would tackle that boss tonight. Our combined if very different skills were going to bring this all together… as long as I hadn’t miscalculated in any way.

As long as all those pieces lined up just right when it mattered most. And as long as the powers lurking inside me didn’t act up at the wrong moment in the wrong way.

I inhaled slowly, reminding myself of the inner cooling techniques Omen had talked me through, and someone knocked on the bedroom door. I could tell it was Ruse from the jaunty rhythm of it before he even spoke. “I hope that black monstrosity hasn’t swallowed you whole, Miss Blaze.”

I opened the door. “I wouldn’t call it a monstrosity. It’s actually not a bad look. Maybe I’ll have to keep it when all this is done.”

Ruse made a scoffing sound and curled a stray red strand around his fingers, his chuckles caressing my jaw. “You can’t be Miss Blaze without this.”

“The actual fire that can pour out of my body isn’t enough to justify the nickname?”

“I suppose I might make a temporary exception.” He stroked the side of my face again, a whiff of his bittersweet scent reaching my nose. The gentleness of the gesture woke up a flutter in my chest alongside the heat that always came with his touch. “Shouldn’t you be getting a little more sleep before the big play?”

I grimaced. “I tried—and I managed a little. I don’t think I’ll be able to totally relax until this is over.”

“It should be simple enough, shouldn’t it? You coax the Man In Charge onto that elevator, and the second you’re out on the floor below, we pop out to distract him while you yank off any protections he brought with him. Then I’ll get him eating out of my hand.” The incubus smirked. “Possibly literally, if we have time for that.”

“Right. Piece of cake.” But I’d thought that plenty of times in the past, and ever since these shadowkind had entered my life, my ability to judge hadn’t been quite as sharp as it’d used to be. Too much chaos in the mix.

Leaning into his caress, I rested my hand on his chest just below the collar of his sleek button-up shirt. “The plan does put a lot of the burden on you.”

“Do you hear me complaining?” The incubus slid his fingertips along my jaw to tilt up my chin, his warm hazel eyes holding mine. “I never expected to be the cornerstone of any operation we carried out here, Sorsha. I figured I’d be a convenient tool to smooth along the larger plans. Turns out I’m good for more than that after all—and I’m flattered that you believed that before it ever occurred to me.”

I couldn’t help smiling back at him with a playful tug of his collar. “I do have a talent for spotting valuable objects. Very handy in my usual line of work.” My good humor faded as I considered the point of uncertainty our entire plan rested on. “We don’t know what kind of personal protections he might be wearing, though. It won’t necessarily be as simple as luring him out and snapping off a badge. If you all jump out at him too early…”

“Then we decide on a signal for you to give us as our cue.”

“That won’t work if I need you to spring out the second the elevator opens. And even if I don’t, anything odd I say or do might tip him off. He’ll already be on edge.”

Frowning, I dropped my gaze. If we could have used radio gear, I might have been able to make a subtler signal that way, but electronics wouldn’t function in the shadows. If only there was some way I could have passed on the message essentially invisibly?—

I hesitated, my hand stilling against Ruse. There was a way, wasn’t there? The thought sent a momentary flicker of panic through me, but it petered out as quickly as it had risen up. I gazed up into the incubus’s face again, and the answer came to me clear as anything.

I’d seen who he was. I trusted him. This monstrous man had stood by me and stood up for me in so many ways, and I didn’t have a particle of fear left that he’d ever intend to harm me.

“Yes?” Ruse said, meeting my gaze with one eyebrow arched.

“I know how we can time it perfectly without the Company boss having a clue.” I reached to unclasp the silver-and-iron badge of my own and set it on the dresser with a clink. Lately I’d been wearing it more from habit than any real sense that I needed it. “As soon as we’re out of his apartment, you’ll be able to look inside my head and sense how I’m feeling—whether I’m confident and ready to go or still scrambling to work out the best approach. Go by that, and we’re golden.”

Ruse stared at me, the nonchalance I was so used to in his roguish face broken by shock. “Just to be clear, you’re giving me permission?—”

“I’m asking you to read my emotions,” I said. “It’s the best possible option. And—when I made the rules before, I didn’t really know you. I do now. And I know you’d never use this opening against me. I don’t just believe in your skills. I believe in you .”

The incubus blinked at me once more, and then he was pulling me to him, branding my mouth with a kiss so hot and giddying that I nearly melted on the spot. I barely had time to kiss him back before he’d eased away just an inch, his breath tingling over the lips he’d left tender with his embrace.

“I love you,” he said in a voice both stiff with tension and ringing with sincerity. “I realize—from an incubus, it may not be—and of course I couldn’t expect?—”

My heart swelled with an ache of affection so great that I lost my breath. I touched his cheek, swallowing the lump that had risen in my throat. I wouldn’t have been able to let him in as much as I was offering if this hadn’t been true. It was easier saying it the second time.

“I love you too.”

Ruse let out a rough sound and yanked my mouth back to his. This time the kiss stretched on and on, sending tingles all through my body and setting my skin alight. Without breaking it, he slid his hands down my sides and grasped my hips to lift me onto the edge of the dresser. More heat flooded me as our bodies aligned even more tightly.

He drew his lips from mine only to mark a scorching path along my jaw and down my neck. “I want to toss you onto that bed and ravish you until you’ve come a million times,” he murmured against my skin, each brush of his lips sparking new pleasures. “But we have a kingpin to topple, so that’ll have to wait. But I’ll be damned if I’m not going to have you at least once right now. It’s been too long since I was last inside you.”

No arguments here. I tucked my legs around his thighs, urging him even closer. “You have me. Let’s see what you can do with me, lover boy.”

He laughed, the sound thick with promise, and reclaimed my mouth. As he drew every ounce of pleasure from my lips, he worked my blouse free from my skirt. With what seemed like magical speed, he whipped it off over my head, unhooked my bra, and cupped my breasts.

His deft thumbs rolled over both nipples simultaneously, and the surge of bliss made me whimper against his mouth. He smiled into our next kiss, working me over with skillful strokes until I was dying with need.

My teeth nicked his lip as I kissed him harder. I arched into him, burning for more.

“Give me the incubus,” I said, knowing he’d understand what I meant.

Ruse grinned, no protests about my ability to handle him in his full shadowkind form now. And apparently while he’d been teaching Snap a few tricks, he’d picked up one from the devourer. As he closed his eyes, his clothes blinked away, giving me an instant view of his transformation.

The golden sheen glowed from his skin. His horns curled farther out of his hair. And down below, his already rigid cock curved upward at that angle I knew could send me soaring in a matter of seconds, his pubic bone jutting just far enough to stimulate my clit as well.

In every sense, he was made for fucking—and making a fucking miracle out of that intimate act.

When his eyes caught mine again, they gleamed as gold as the rest of him. He captured my mouth with an even headier kiss, and his hands skimmed up my thighs.

Never had I been so glad to be wearing a skirt. I’d chosen it for the Company boss’s benefit, figuring a feminine look would work in my favor, but it was definitely benefiting me right now. Ruse yanked the fabric up to my hips in one smooth gesture and divested me of my panties with another. Then his glorious erection was pressing right up against my sex.

I managed to keep my senses enough to remember the caution that had come over me with Snap—and just how much I did not want to add a baby to this mix any time soon. “Condom,” I gasped out, groping for my purse, expecting Ruse to laugh.

But no doubt the incubus had gotten the same request from an awful lot of his conquests in recent decades. He delved inside my purse to produce one as if it’d never have occurred to him not to.

The second he drove into me, as if his cock were meant to be nowhere else, all thought of the ridiculousness of safe sex with an incubus flew out of my mind with the rush of bliss. I matched Ruse’s thrusts, the dresser rattling beneath me. His glow seeped through every pore in my body. Everywhere it touched, more desire flared.

The head of his cock pulsed against the sweet spot inside me. He hit it again and again, grazing my clit at the same time, his mouth on my lips and then my neck and then my shoulder, his hands seemingly everywhere. I wrapped one arm around him for balance and let the other tease up into his hair to grasp one of his horns.

Ruse groaned and plunged into me even harder. Pleasure crackled through me, whiting out my vision. I came, gasping and moaning and deeply glad that his incubus sound-proofing magic would keep my cries of ecstasy from alerting the entire Everymobile to what we’d gotten up to.

“I love you,” I mumbled again, wanting to say it unprompted, and those three words tipped Ruse over the edge after me. He came with a heave of his hips and a guttural sound that rang through me with a burst of afterglow.

I clung to him as his rhythm slowed and his body came to rest against me, soaking in every bit of that glow that I could.

I might have lost one of my lovers, but I still had the three who’d dedicated themselves to me from the very beginning. Yeah, okay, you could call them monsters, but they’d looked out for me and stood by me more than any human in my life had ever managed to. They’d accepted both my mortality and my own monstrousness without hesitation.

If they believed in me , who the hell would I be not to?