His face tightened. He’d gotten on the phone with his security staff and was finishing up the conversation. “Put them in the Blue Room and tie them down if you have to.”
“What is wrong with them?” Lucrezia asked.
“It’s the F,” I said. “It’s probably the same thing that happened in Newton. You want to give me some more BS about how you know nothing?”
Devon hung up and strode over to the elevator. “If people are taking F while they’re here, it’s none of my business or my responsibility.”
“And if four people end up dead here, then what?”
“Then nothing. We make sure that doesn’t happen.” He stepped into the elevator. “Coming?”
I wasn’t sure if he was asking me or Lucrezia, but I jumped in with her.
The Blue Room turned out to be a private lounge located next to the VIP room, so called because it was painted blue. A large table, laden down with partially eaten food and half-empty glasses of champagne, had been pushed against the wall. The occupants had been kicked out by the time we arrived.
New occupants had replaced them. The bouncers had taken Devon’s instructions literally, although I supposed they hadn’t seen many other options. The four people—three men and the one woman—had each been tied to one table leg where they struggled helplessly, less in anger than in pain. As far as I could sense, they were lost in that erotically excruciating point between pleasure and torture. The one that’s bliss for a little while before climax but would become unbearable if you were left there for too long. Like an itch left unscratched.
I could feel their suffering along with their lust, and with two such strong and potent emotions, it was difficult for me to control myself. My head and muscles buzzed with energy. I longed to be able to turn off my gift like never before.
Even Devon and Lucrezia looked queasy, as though they were being force-fed a meal that was too rich and too plentiful.
“What do we do now?” one of the bouncers asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. He was the same satyr who’d stopped me from entering the VIP room.
Devon threw a glance my way. “If it’s F, they’ll come off it soon enough. Keep them hydrated until they do. I don’t need them exhausting themselves and dying of heart failure.”
“I need to get a blood sample from them,” I said. “And there’s got to be more that can be done to help them. Something to counteract the effects. A sleep charm or a sedative or something.”
Devon ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t exactly carry those sorts of thing around with me, Jess. It’s a club, not an infirmary.”
I reached into my waistband for my phone. “You don’t have to. I’m calling for help.”
Lucrezia snatched my wrist. “Oh no, you’re not.”
I yanked my arm away, so jacked up on all the heavy emotions I sent her flying a couple steps backward with the force. “The Gryphons are going to find out about this one way or another. I am not letting any more people die.”
I was so intent on facing down Lucrezia that I didn’t notice Devon come up behind me until it was too late. I held my phone in a loose grip, and he pried it away easily.
He dodged me just as smoothly when I lunged for it. “Jess, stop a second. Lucrezia, take a couple people and go calm everybody down. Free drinks or whatever you have to do to help them get over it.”
“Whatever you have to do? You’re going to put compulsions on everyone, aren’t you?” I grabbed fruitlessly for my phone.
Lucrezia pointed at me. “What about her? I think I should—”
“I think you’ll do what I ordered you to do,” he snapped.
Lucrezia’s eyes flashed, but Devon outranked her, so she vented her annoyance by barking orders at the bouncers.
I started to protest again, and Devon grabbed my arm. “Jess, we’re going back to my office.”
He dragged me into the elevator, and I huddled against the opposite wall when he released me. Devon sagged slightly. I’d never seen him so frazzled. Not even during the middle of the crisis with the sylphs.
He caught me looking. “There can be too much of a good thing. Even for us.”
“This isn’t a good thing.” I held out my hand for my phone, but he ignored the gesture. The elevator doors opened, and I stormed after him into his office. “Lucrezia’s going to put compulsions on everyone, isn’t she?”
“No, she’s not. That kind of spell requires far too much preparation. She’s probably going to do exactly what I said, hand out free drinks and try to convince people it was part of an act.” He stuck my phone in his pocket. “You can have this back later when I know you’re not going to do anything I’ll regret.”
I stuck my hands on my hips. “If you want to make this difficult, I can make it difficult. Who do you think the Gryphons are going to believe if I file charges against you?”
“You’re not going to do that because if you want to get to the bottom of this, you need our cooperation.”
I laughed. “What cooperation? I want blood samples from those people, and I want the Gryphons here to help them. You don’t know if the drug wearing off will be enough. The drug itself could be what kills them.”
“If this has something to do with F, then this is my business. Not yours. Not the Gryphons. If you want credit for solving the problem with the Gryphons when we work it out, it can be arranged. But you need to let us handle the problem so you don’t get hurt.”
“You know, this is the second time you said that today. Are you concerned, or are you threatening me?”
“I’m warning you. As a friend.”
“Warn someone who cares. I’m not afraid of you or any pred.”
Devon stared at me a second, his brow furrowed, then the next thing I knew he pinned me against the desk. I swallowed. His eyes were as bright as Lucen’s could get when he was angry, and power leaked off him the same way. I could feel it spilling over my skin and rousing my nerve endings, just as I could feel Devon probing about in my head.
I breathed in, ready for a fight. Devon’s satyr pheromones smelled of cloves. Why hadn’t I ever noticed that before? My body awakened with desire, skin alight and mouth tingling. I could stretch forward and touch my lips to his, imagine their salty taste, the scratch of his day-old stubble on my chin.
Never mind that whole fight-or-flight response. With satyrs, it was totally a fight-or-fuck response. And damn, I knew which one I wanted. I slid my hands around Devon’s waist, down his hips, into his pockets, pulling him closer.
His body responded easily. I could feel his desire pressing against me, see the heavy rise and fall of his chest. He leaned in closer, his gaze so intense I was surprised I wasn’t starting to steam. Every breath he exhaled brushed my skin like a caress, urging my eyes to close and my lips to part.
Then he backed away, confusion replacing his smoldering look, and the poking in my head stopped. My own lust evaporated. Being stared at like a lab rat must have that effect on a person.
“No, you’re not afraid,” he said. “But you used to be. What changed?”
What had changed? I wished I knew. Why was his power affecting me when no one else’s did except for Lucen’s?
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Fading Light
Copyright © 2014 by Angela Dennis
ISBN: 978-1-61922-456-8
Cover by Kanaxa
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First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: September 2014
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Fading Light: Shadow Born, Book 2 Page 24
