To Catch a Rogue

by Bec McMaster

  His lips curled up in a very dangerous smile. "I like how naive you are. What makes you think I wouldn't enjoy every single second of seducing you?"

  "You're a businessman."

  He stepped forward, caging her with the brutal, overwhelming crush of his body. The suit only hid the coiled power inside him. Blaisé let one of her claws spring free, and pressed it against his chest in a warning.

  "You don't know me at all, darlin'." His whisper was rough and raw. It tightened everything inside her. "So don't go making assumptions about what I am - and what I might want with you." His gaze dropped, like a smooth caress between her breasts. Something shadowed his eyes for a second - a longing so deep, it seemed an ocean within him. "All that fire," he whispered, tracing a finger against her shoulder. "Burning up inside this skin. You can feel it, can't you? I can. I can see the dragon in you, threatening to get out. You want this so badly it hurts. Why fight it? It would feel so good."

  Blaisé couldn't breathe. He was right. It hurt so much to hold herself back from that edge - to stop herself from Quickening. He pressed closer, the stubble of his jaw rasping against her cheek.

  "I could take the hurt away." A whisper in her ear. "It would be worth it, for just one night between those sheets with you. You don't even understand your own worth, what it feels like to never touch a woman of your own kind... To never feel that fire, always watching... Looking on from a distance, but never touching." His finger broke its path at her elbow. "Your father would kill me. All of the males of your clan would kill me." His gaze lifted to hers, full of temptation. "And it would be worth every second of the risk."

  Blaisé ducked out from beneath his arm, and scrambled to put the desk between them. Her nipples ached, the dragon stirring dangerously within her. Yes, it whispered. No, she told it firmly. She was tired of being nothing more than a play toy to the males that surrounded her. Time to make her own decisions. "You want a female draconian in your bed? Well, Ambyr's downstairs. She's draconian. I don't see you sniffing around her."

  That darkened Fade's expression. "I prefer my balls intact, thanks." A hint of snarl filled his voice, and he pushed away from the desk.

  Well. That was the first bit of true emotion she'd seen from him. Blaisé's eyes narrowed.

  "So, we need to get you out. Secretly." Fade paced, gnawing on his thumb. "We could send you North--"

  "No." She found her feet. "I've got a better place to go."

  "Oh?"

  "Emory will take me in."

  Storm clouds darkened Fade's expression, "Blaisé–"

  "He's my brother," she reminded him.

  "Half-brother."

  "Minor correction. The thing that matters is that he's blood. The Quickening won't effect him, and since his exile, he's lived alone. There are no other draconian allowed within his Washington State territories. I'll be safe to get through this first heat, without males hunting me down."

  "I think you underestimate the power of a female's heat," he said softly. "This is not the worst of it, Blaisé. Your scent... it's just the start." With a harsh laugh, he held up his clenched fists. They were shaking slightly. "I know exactly how hard it is for you to hold yourself back, right now. They'll hunt you all across the States, the instant they scent you."

  "Then we'll deal with that," she said with false bravado. "Somehow."

  "And when you get there? You don't even know your brother. He was exiled before you were born."

  "He rang me," she admitted. "After my mother died. He... he was kind to me on the phone."

  "Emory's your father's son," Fade warned. "He doesn't understand what kindness is."

  'You come to me, Blaisé, if you ever need help...I swear I'll protect you.' She shook her head. She trusted the brother she barely knew over the man standing in front of her. At least he would have no interest in her body, in sex. After that... Once she had some breathing space, she'd be able to get her feet underneath her and work out what her plans for life included.

  Not studying at NYU anymore, that's for sure.

  The thought hurt a little more than she'd thought it did. She didn't truly want to be a blah, but she wasn't entirely certain she didn't want it, either.

  Concentrate. Survival first.

  "Give me a week." Fade obviously saw that she wasn't going to change her mind. "I can't pull this together overnight, and you can't run now. Your father would come straight here, and rip my head off. This needs to be done quietly. If you can, come back here on Wednesday, or Thursday night. I should have some details for you then."

  "Twice in one week might be pushing my luck."

  "Then I'll make it a theme night at the club. Something to give you a reason to attend. Leather and Lace. Always popular. There'll be hordes here."

  Blaisé's eyes narrowed. "You just want to see me in leather."

  He gave the faintest of smiles, but his gaze was elsewhere. Plotting something, she recognised the look. "Make it Thursday. If you need to reach me before then, call the club. I'll see that my staff know to put you straight through." He slid his card across the table toward her. Silver eyes glinted. "But only use that number if the situation is urgent."

  A roll of the eyes. But she picked it up. "Thought I might just give you a call each night. We could play 'Dear Diary' with each other."

  Fade crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. "Good to see you getting some colour back into you."

  Blaise tucked the card into her cleavage. This time he didn't watch, his gaze growing distant again. She didn't feel slighted; curious more than anything. So that show earlier had been just a show? Or perhaps it truly had been her pheromones. They'd settled since then, the push of the beast inside her not as strong. She felt like she could breathe for the first time in weeks.

  But you're not as afraid now, she reminded herself. You have an ally. That too made the pressure ease.

  The same damn instinct that would push Fade to protect her had also made her run to him. Male draconians held a protective streak a few thousand miles wide; it was the core knowledge with which she'd been raised, but perhaps part of it was innate as well.

  "Thank you," she said, lifting up on her toes to kiss his cheek. His stubble roughened her lips, and he glanced down with a faint scowl.

  "You shouldn't be so trusting of strange draconian males," he suggested. "I'm just as likely to turn such a thing to my advantage."

  "Perhaps." She shrugged. "I'm going to trust my instincts on this one. But now I'd best get going before Ambyr comes up here looking for me."

  Fade gave a rough, humourless laugh, sharp as a punch. "Trust me on this one. She wouldn't dare."

  Interesting. It never hurt to do a little fishing and it seemed the big, bad male had a sore spot.

  With a nod, she turned toward the door.

  "Blaisé?"

  She looked over her shoulder.

  "Don't breathe a word of this to anyone else. Not even those you think you trust."

  Blaisé met those dangerous eyes. "Right now, I don't trust anyone."

  * * *

  ***

  * * *

  Fade stared through the one-way window, watching the dance floor below. Blaisé took her purse from the pretty African American girl she'd been sitting with, heading toward the bar as though she needed a drink. Smart girl. She'd barely arrived, and if she left now, eyes would notice that her business with him had been the only reason for this visit.

  But it wasn't Blaisé that caught his eye. Or held it, rather.

  Behind her, a lean, rangy female moved with lethal efficiency through the crowd. Ice-blonde hair was raked back impatiently out of her eyes and he doubted it had seen a brush that week, from what he remembered of her. Unlike Blaisé she was wearing head-to-toe black; tight jeans that moulded to her long legs, a pair of boots that hit her knees, and a leather jacket over her black tank. He couldn't see any weapons, but that didn't mean that she didn't have them on her.

  Ambyr. Doing bodyguard duty for Daddy's little pr
incess, by the look of it.

  As if sensing him, Ambyr looked up, those kohl-rimmed blue eyes locking on his, as if she could see him through the glass. The glare she shot him was a challenge, but one hand strayed to her hip as though it sought the weapon he knew his men would have confiscated at the door.

  She should be nervous.

  Fade's eyes narrowed, but his treacherous cock stirred to life. By trespassing here, Ambyr knew she was dancing along the edge of a dangerous blade. What he wouldn't give to get his hands on her... The only problem was he wasn't certain if he wanted to repay her for her long ago treachery - or fuck her.

  Perhaps both.

  "What are you doing?"

  The words startled him, but he relaxed instantly, not bothering to turn around as Brutus entered the room. "Just... wondering."

  "About?"

  Things I shouldn't. Fade stepped away from the window, Ambyr vanishing from sight. It was time to focus on Blaisé, and the very tempting proposition she'd put before him. "About revenge," he said, turning toward the minotaur. "And how sweet it's going to taste."