Somewhere in the bar, glass shattered. Both Sunny and Sable jolted.
Deep breath in, out. Good, that’s good.
“I’m so ready to stop running and live without fear,” she muttered. She’d buy a house and plant a garden. Adopt a dog and a cat. The oldest, crankiest, ugliest mutt and tom at the pound. She’d go on a date for the first time in years...decades...probably centuries; she just had to find the right guy. Someone willing to put in the work to earn her trust. Then, she’d never again have to suffer through mating season alone. A time of clawing, gnawing, uncontrollable sexual arousal.
The next one kicked off in only two weeks.
“Me, too,” Sable said. “I’m ready to stop chaining myself in a locked room so that I won’t jump unsuspecting or unwilling males.”
“Yes!”
“One day, I’m going to melt those chains and make them into a butt plug. I’ll gift it to Lucifer before I kill him.”
Sunny snickered. “I like the way your mind works.”
The deeper they ventured into the bar, the more perfumes clashed. Flickering lights illuminated a sea of unfamiliar faces. Human. Human. Human. Vampire. Witch. Human. Human. Human. Werewolf. Though no one seemed to pay them any undue attention, Sunny kept a wary eye on the immortal trio.
Until husky male laughter snagged her attention.
Warm shivers raced down her spine, and she frowned. What a strange reaction to something so ordinary. Yes, his voice was sexy hot, but she’d heard hotter. Surely!
Sunny scanned the bar—there! Him. Though she couldn’t see his face, she knew he was the one. He had thick black hair, broad shoulders and a unique aura. One she couldn’t read.
He threw back his head, laughing again, and a new tide of shivers raced down her spine.
“Daisy,” she muttered.
The woman on his left leaned in to whisper in his ear. The woman on his right ran a hand all over his back.
He was the meat in a flesh sandwich.
Finally he shifted, presenting Sunny with his profile. She sucked in a ragged breath.
A woman never forgot a face like his. Hello, William the Ever Randy, brother to Lucifer. The bluebell.
He looked tailor-made, as if every feature had been chosen from a catalog. I’ll take that face, that hair and those eyes. Oh, and don’t forget those muscles. He had flawless bronzed skin, jet-black hair and eyes like a sapphire-diamond hybrid framed by long, spiky lashes. Broad cheekbones tapered to a strong jaw shadowed with dark stubble. Perfect nose, perfect lips, perfect everything—to everyone in the worlds but her.
“What? What’s wrong?” Sage asked, already reaching for the dagger hidden beneath her sleeveless jacket.
Rage sparked, quickly catching fire. “Look.” She motioned to William.
Had he heard about their vendetta against his family and come to stop them? Why else would he be here? And why not sneak up on them?
“Speak of the devil,” Sable ground out, “and he appears.”
Sunny had done her research. She knew William was an infamous mercenary and legendary womanizer who disdained the sanctity of marriage. A few years ago, he’d helped slay a god king. More recently, he’d gotten drunk at a nightclub and shouted, “I consider myself a pleasuretarian. I only eat organic pussy.” Cat. Only, he hadn’t used the word cat, like she had to do to bypass the stupid, magical filter.
“If rumors are true,” she said, “he sleeps with a new woman every night, possesses a fiery temper, sometimes injures his friends for laughs and enjoys killing his enemies as painfully as possible.” So much to admire. So much to disdain.
“In that case, I think we should rearrange our list of hits, and take out the royal first, while we’ve got the chance.”
“Agreed. One way or another, William the Ever Randy will die today.” Vengeance will be mine! “Problem. I can’t read his aura. Can you?”
“I...can’t,” Sable said, and frowned.
Daisy! “Despite tons of research, I failed to learn his true origins or species, so I don’t know what strengths to guard against or what weaknesses to exploit.”
“Well, no matter. We’ll find out.” Sable chewed on her bottom lip. “He’s beautiful, though, isn’t he?”
“He is.” Beautiful beyond imagining. And oh, the admission grated. Sunny did her best to ignore the flutter in her belly. “He looks like an incubus, ready to lure unsuspecting women into his bed.” Was he an incubus?
Arrogance and sensuality clung to him like a second skin.
Heart thudding, she dragged her gaze over the rest of him. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Had she ever seen such a perfect example of raw, rugged sex appeal? Such a deliciously large muscle mass? A black shirt molded to his bulging biceps, and black leathers clung to powerful thighs. On his feet, combat boots.
When he shifted a little more, she saw the writing on his shirt. It read Check Out the Cipher in My Pants. When he draped an arm around each woman, she spotted the metal cuffs on his wrists and the spiked rings on his fingers. Or rather, the weapons on his fingers. But so what? She had a weapon-ring, too: a tiny gun with brass pinfire rounds.
He threw back his head and laughed a third time. The fires of rage grew into an inferno. “After the terrible things he and his brother did to our people, innocent people, he deserves misery.”
“Agreed.”
With movements as sexy as hellebore, he lifted a glass of whiskey to his lips.
Swallowing a moan, Sunny switched her attention to the females at his table. There were three, and they hung on his every word. She recognized two of them. Their screen names were Jaybird and Cash, and they were cryptanalysts, like her.
Jaybird touched her lips to draw his gaze there. Cash leaned forward, putting her wealth of cleavage on display.
“Dude. They have the art of the flirt nailed, and I kind of want their autographs.” Both Horror Show Sunny and Roses and Rainbows Sunny sucked at flirting.
She set her glass on a table and led Sable into a shadowy spot beside a potted plant, so they could plan their attack.
“—yeah, man, it’s true,” the man near the table was saying to a group of his friends. “I kicked the sage—” Pause. “Sage.” He frowned. “Why can’t I say sage?”
His companions guffawed, as if he were teasing. One even elbowed him in the sternum.
Oops. Sunny and Sable’s magic filters prevented anyone from cursing in their presence. On the flip side, their magic stopped people from speaking lies, as well.
Gotta take the bad with the good.
“How should we play this?” Sunny tossed a flower petal into her mouth and—oh, hellebore! She’d been eating leaves and petals this entire time, the potted plant almost bare. Bad Sunny! This wasn’t snack time. She dropped the remaining foliage and dusted the dirt from her fingers. Anyway.
“I think we should go in hot. A real ambush. He won’t see it coming, because he doesn’t know who or what we are. At least, I doubt he knows. If he did, Hades would be here, too. Last I heard, the king hoped to recruit creatures like us to use our magic against Lucifer.”
“You’re right. Besides, how would he have learned of our determination to slay him? Everyone we interrogate about the royal families of the underworld, we kill, ensuring word about us and our mission never spreads.”
Sable chewed her bottom lip again. “I guess the only question now—how do we ambush him?”
Should they wait around and hope William approached them? What if he didn’t? Should they lure him over with a come-hither smile? He might not go for it. His current dates wore fancy dresses; as usual, Sunny and Sable wore unadorned T-shirts and jeans, the perfect blend-in and forget-we-were-ever-here outfit.
Should one of them close the distance and make a move? Like hit on him, letting him believe he was going to score, then lead him to their hotel room?
Yeah. T
hat. It guaranteed contact.
As she explained the idea to Sable, her heart sprinted.
“Perfect. Let’s draw straws,” Sable said. “Girl with the shorter one has to approach him. The lucky girl waits in the room and shoots him as soon as he enters.”
Sunny snorted. “No need to draw. I’ll do the grunt work. I can’t flirt, but I can turn a man’s mind to soup with my personality alone.” Anticipation fizzed in her veins. “Just...don’t kill him when he gets to the room. Let’s interrogate him first. We can finally discover the coordinates to Lucifer’s territory.”
“Done! Before you go over there and do your mind-soup trick, your appearance needs a little tweak. By the way, I’m gonna need you to teach me how you do that. I’m foaming at the mouth with jealousy.” Sable unwound Sunny’s braid and combed her fingers through the long waves.
Oh, what Sunny wouldn’t give for a trim. But even if she shaved her head, the thick azure mass would grow back in a matter of hours.
Sable nodded, satisfied. “All right, you’re ready. Irresistible, and all that crap. Just remember. Your biggest weakness is your expressive face. You have trouble hiding your true emotions.”
“Ten-four.” Sunny jutted her chin and squared her shoulders. “Here goes nothing.”
“You got this.” Sable patted her butt before heading for the lobby. Like all of their kind, she walked silently, her footsteps inaudible.
I do. I’ve got this. Sunny stepped from the shadows...and got hit with a wave of nervousness as people looked her way. What if she didn’t have this? Perspiration wet her palms.
No, no. I can do anything.
“—like a computer,” a guy sitting at one of the tables was saying. He had a familiar voice. “I’m serious. She can break a code with only a glance. Any code. It’s shocking to witness. She’s—no way! She’s right there!” The speaker pointed at her and waved. “Sunny! Sunny Lane. Hi. I’m Harry. Harry Shorts. Can I buy you a drink?”
More people looked her way. Including William. Their gazes met. Suddenly, she felt as if she’d been smacked with a crowbar. She lost her breath and stutter-stepped.
He studied her face, his attention lingering on each individual feature. His features darkened with heat.
The heat of attraction? She licked her lips, the nervousness gaining new ground, beading sweat on her nape.
She scowled. Finding a target sexy? Fine. Whatever. Being fluttered and maybe even kinda sorta aroused by one? No! Unacceptable. Either he exuded some kind of lust dust—yes, yes, all his fault—or mating season had screwed with her hormones early. Or both!
Then he turned away, dismissing her, and Sunny skidded to a halt halfway to his table. Sage! He didn’t want her? She ran her tongue over her teeth. Irritation overshadowed the nervousness. Her heart calmed and her blood cooled, the synapses in her brain firing again.
The prick is going down. Determined, she glided forward once again. When she reached his table, she stopped, expecting him to notice her arrival. He didn’t.
She worked her jaw and—her eyes widened. Oh, wow. He wielded magic, too. A lot of magic. Ancient, dark and powerful. The air around him vibrated with it, making her skin tingle.
The women ignored her as well, too wrapped up in William to care about anyone else.
Eventually, William stiffened ever so slightly, and she had to fight a smile. Breaking news! His awareness of her hadn’t dulled in the slightest; he just didn’t want her to know it.
Too bad, so sad. Deep breath in, out. Mistake! His scent... She closed her eyes and savored, her mouth watering. He smelled like angel food cake laced with crack.
Calm. Steady. No need to act like an uncouth wolf-shifter.
“—my best thinking naked,” he was saying to Jaybird and Cash, pretending Sunny wasn’t there. “You?”
Enough! “Hi. Hello. Hey,” Sunny said, rapping her knuckles against the table. Blowing this already.
At first, only the women acknowledged her presence. But William continued talking and sipping his whiskey, and they forgot all about her.
She rapped the table again.
Finally, he canted his head in her direction, all languid grace self-assurance. He made a real event of it, too, as if premiering a blockbuster movie. Why bother going to so much trou—ohhh. That’s why. Up close and personal, his eyes were even more of a showstopper, sparkling with arousal, glinting with a sheen of icy rage and glittering with steely determination.
Electrical currents zapped her nerve endings, and she almost yelped. Ignore the hint of pleasure. Forge ahead.
She pasted on her best come-hither smile and waved. A wave? Seriously? Get it together, Sun. Remember what his family did to yours.
As she balled her hands into fists, he looked her over slowly, starting at the bottom and working his way up—singeing her. When he reached the apex of her thighs, shivers and heat consumed her.
No, no. I will not react. He—and mating season—will not affect me.
His gaze continued moving up, singeing hotter...
He reached her pasted-on smile and unveiled a smirking grin. But...but...why?
“How may I service you, pet?” he asked, slow and deliberate.
She felt the words like a caress. Wait. Pet? Pet! Such an insult to her kind! “In ways you never imagined, handsome,” she replied, careful to moderate her tone. She glanced at Jaybird, then Cash. They had to go. Letting her savage, violent side glaze her eyes, she snapped, “Get lost.”
William’s smirking grin made another appearance.
Jaybird stared at him, exasperated. “Are you going to send her away?”
“No,” he said simply.
“Fine. She’s all yours. We’ll go.” With a huff, she stood. Paused. Waiting for him to stop her? When he remained quiet, she flounced off. Cash and the other female followed.
Here’s hoping Willy-boy is just as easy to manipulate. “Hello.” Ugh. Not this again. “I’m Sunny. My turn-ons include kindness and responsibility. I look twenty-one, but I’m older. Promise!” Nearly ten thousand years old.
A flash of intrigue, there and gone. “I’m William. Lovers call me the Panty Melter. Everyone else calls me the Ever Randy. My turn-ons are living and breathing. I’m older than twenty-one, as well.”
Mmm. His voice...like audible sex. If women were “sex kittens,” this man was a “sex panther.” Meow.
What are you doing, admiring him? She reminded herself of his many crimes. Long ago, Lucifer and his horde of demons had ridden into her village. They’d raped, pillaged and utterly slaughtered her people. Men, women and children. Her family. Her friends.
Sometimes, when she closed her eyes, she still heard their screams.
The only home she’d ever known had been razed, and the entire scope of her life changed.
There’d been six survivors, Sunny included. No one remembered seeing William, only Lucifer, but Willy must have been involved. Why else would Lucifer have cried, “For William”?
Perhaps the Ever Randy had planned the raid. Perhaps he’d hidden behind a mask. Either way, Sunny had lost everything. Even the other survivors. To better the odds of hiding their origins, they decided to split up and reach out only when necessary.
She and Sable were together now only because Sunny had requested assistance.
Fingers snapped in front of her face, yanking her back to the present.
Realization: she’d gotten lost inside her head. Did she want to die? Sunny repasted the smile on her face. “Ever Randy, hmm? Does anyone call you ER for short?”
“Only if they wish to die,” he replied, his tone dry. Despite the dryness, he thrummed with tension. Did her nearness rattle him?
“So he’s cute and ferocious. Good job, Sunny.” She patted herself on the shoulder, playing her role. “I picked the best slab of beef in the deli.”
He win
ged up one brow. “So I’m a piece of meat to you?”
“Yes, pork chop. Yes. But in my defense, I only think it because I’m right.” She leaned over and patted his cheek, the urge to slap him almost impossible to ignore. “You should come with a warning label. Or eyeball condoms.”
“Why? Do you plan to stuff your eyes inside my sockets?”
“Maybe?”
“Sorry, but I think I’ll pass.” He crossed his arms, his shirt pulling taut over deliciously flexed muscles. “No, you know what? I’m feeling daring today. Let’s go for it. Gotta try everything once, right?”
A laugh slipped from her. What the hellebore! A prince of darkness would not amuse her. “Sorry not sorry I sent your companions away. When I want something, I go for it.” Truth!
He moved his gaze over her once again. “And you decided you want me?”
His tone...she thought she detected a hint of certainty and uncertainty. How odd. “I spent a whole five minutes planning your seduction. That’s six minutes longer than usual.”
“That means you’re only twenty-four hours behind me,” he replied, ignoring her screwed-up math.
Did he make a joke...or a statement of fact? Did he just admit to attending the conference to find her?
So. There’s a chance I was wrong. A chance he knew or suspected who she was, and he’d come to stop her—forever.
Rage flared anew. Soon, it would be appeased...
For now, she forced another smile. The jerk had yet to invite her to join him, or express a desire to leave with her. Playing hard to get? Time to take their banter to the next level to give him an excuse to act. “If you were a pizza topping, you’d be hamburger and jalapeno, because you’re grade-A beef and hot. I’d be ham and pineapple because I’m salty and sweet.” No. No way I just openly compared us to pizza toppings, as if we’re taking a Facebook quiz.
Okay, so she didn’t just suck at flirting. She sucked, period. But wait! He smiled a genuine smile, not one of those smirking grins, as if she’d truly amused him. The sight made her belly quiver.
The Darkest King Page 4
