Blood Before Sunrise

glowed in his amber eyes, which took their time in absorbing every curve of my body. “Get a good enough look?” I asked, unceremoniously falling into a chair opposite him. I propped my legs up on the desk, crossing them at the ankle as I made myself at home.

“Not nearly good enough,” Xander said. “You have far too many clothes on for what I’d like to see.”

Charming. “I can safely say my naked body is not a sight you’ll be seeing anytime soon. I’m not here to listen to your cheesy come-ons, Xander. I’m here to talk business.”

“Cheesy come-ons?” Xander said, leaning forward in his chair. “What if I told you I dream about you nightly? Your skin glorious and bare beneath my hands. What if I said I crave you like a drug and won’t rest until I have you in my bed?”

I ignored the pleasant glow that threatened to settle in my stomach from his words. I wasn’t completely immune to Xander’s charm. Flocks of women would be more than happy to strip naked for him with fewer words than that. But somehow I had a feeling it was the thrill of the chase that really turned Xander on. “I guess you’re going to have to look forward to many sleepless days and nights, Xander.”

“You’re beautiful,” he said, ignoring my sarcasm. “Each second without you is torture.”

Being the stubborn, arrogant ass he was, nothing I could say would deter Xander from wanting me. I suspected it was simply because I was the one thing he couldn’t get with a seductive smile and snap of his fingers. He was laying it on particularly thick today, but I wasn’t interested in playing his game. Raif’s mood had brushed off on me.

“I’m here to discuss one thing and one thing only. Money.”

Xander opened a drawer and withdrew a square ledger book. He flipped it to the appropriate page and grabbed a pen. “What will it take to get this matter of payment settled once and for all? One hundred thousand? Two? I’ll cut you a check, and you can never mention the subject again.”

My jaw hung slack. The bastard always had to one up me. But it didn’t matter. I wanted something from him, and his arrogance would ensure I was going to get it. “Are we talking about a retainer?”

“If it makes you feel better, yes.”

I could name my price and Xander would pay it? Well, it would eliminate having to seek him out every time I set foot on his property. Working for the Shaede King brought with it certain advantages I needed, but did I want to work on retainer for him? He’d dangle the money over my head and use any ridiculous excuse to get me to drop everything for him. “I’ll consider it,” I said. “On one condition.”

He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. Oh yeah, arrogance, thy name is Xander Peck. “I want to answer to Raif and Raif only. I will not wait at your beck and call. If you have work for me-fine. I’ll be glad to operate under retainer. But I won’t bat a lash unless Raif tells me to do it. And when he doesn’t need me, don’t expect to see me. I’ll reserve the right to work for other employers.” Take that, asshole.

“Done,” Xander said. “How much should I make the check out for?”

How ’bout a billion dollars? “Two fifty ought to cover it.” I held my breath, waiting to see how much he really wanted me around.

“I’ll make it three,” Xander said, his pen scratching against paper, “just in case.” With a flourish, he ripped the check from the ledger and slid it across the desk. Shit. He wanted me more than I’d thought. “Now you’re paid, and you can quit whining about it.”

I took offense at his comment. I had never considered myself a whiner. “Great,” I said.

Xander’s lips curved in a triumphant smile. Trumped again, I was sure he’d gloat for a long while over this one. If only I could be so outwardly smug. For a moment, I considered tearing the check to shreds and showering him with the confetti. But that would only prove his point and call my bluff. I needed an in, and this was it. So, instead, I brought Xander’s check to my nose, inhaling the scent of all those zeroes before stuffing it in my pocket. I swung my legs down off his desk and stood, hoping like I hell I could walk out the door without being ogled in a way that made me feel as though I’d need a scalding-hot shower afterward. “See you around, Your Highness,” I said.

“Yes.” Xander’s velvet voice chased me out the door. “You will.”

By paying my retainer, Xander hadn’t only just given me an assload of money; he’d also gifted me with what I really wanted out of our arrangement-power. No one would question my authority as Xander’s agent. And what I’d have to sacrifice through our bargain-my sanity at being his paid employee for starters-was a fair price to pay for what I’d gained. I’d be able to walk right into the PNT facility and question Delilah, at Xander’s request, of course, whether or not he’d actually asked me to do it.

Well…what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

I could get past Adare. I knew from our first meeting that he was an easygoing sort, not prone to suspicion. My only concern with getting in to question Delilah was Adare’s partner. Adare wouldn’t have told Raif that Fallon was dangerous if he wasn’t. And the fact that someone as deadly as Raif had warned me to stay away from him made me even more nervous. With any luck, I wouldn’t have to see him at all. I could slip past Adare with a few kind words and a fabricated story. But with the way Fallon’s intense stare had unnerved me, I doubted my ability to properly deceive him.

Who was he? Obviously he had a reputation that preceded him. But Raif’s explanation simply wasn’t good enough for me. Could I Google him? Sure. That’d work. Fallon on Facebook. View my complete profile here. I needed to get back into that building to question Delilah. Bringing Raif in on my plan was not an option. He’d shut me down before I could step a foot on PNT property. A few centuries had passed since his daughter’s disappearance. Opening up a wound that had long since scarred over would be terrible for him. I’d have to do this alone. I just hoped I had the backbone required to face those piercing gray eyes should I come across them again.

As I made my way down the stairs to the foyer of Xander’s ridiculously large house, the sound of Anya barking out frenzied and fear-fueled orders drifted up from the basement-level staircase. I smiled, striding for the door while humming a tune. “Don’t scuff your new leather pants on the tile floor!” I called out as I opened the door. The crash of something metal followed by a furious shriek answered me. Yep. Better than Christmas!

Chapter 8

“Darian!” Panting breaths followed a wince of pain. “Are you safe?”

I stared down at my cell for a moment before putting it back to my ear. “I’m fine.” Fear congealed in a cold knot, settling in the pit of my stomach. “What’s wrong? Where are you? Are you hurt?”

“Thank the gods,” was Tyler’s reply. I could hear the anxiety in his voice, the pain as he swallowed against gasping breaths. “Don’t…leave your apartment. Stay where-ah-you are.”

“Why?” Jesus, was that really my voice? It had escalated into something high-pitched and frantic. “What the hell is going on?”

“Someone will be there soon…”

I waited for him to say more, but the line had gone silent. “Tyler?” I whispered. “Ty?”

An angry growling of gears in the background startled me, and the cell phone dropped to the floor. The back panel popped off while the battery sailed underneath my kitchen table. I left the phone in pieces and merged with thin air only to reappear at the gate to my elevator.

“Is there a reason why you failed to mention that someone tried to kill you a few nights ago?” Raif’s accusing voice drifted up the shaft before the elevator made its way completely up. “My, but you’re a special combination of stupid and stubborn, aren’t you?”

“Where is Tyler?” I demanded as Raif stepped out of the metal cage and brushed past me.

“Dimitri’s gone after him.”

“What happened to him?”

“Oh no,” Raif said suddenly. “This is not your interrogation. I have some questions for you, and you’re going to answer every last one of them before you get one scrap of information about your Jinn.”

Apparently Raif liked being left in the dark just about as much as I did. With Delilah being our main focus, I’d forgotten to mention my near brush with death a couple nights back. Not that it wasn’t unusual lately for someone