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“Don’t lie to me.” She stepped toward him. “There’s an innocent man’s life in the balance and Daniel—”
“I am terribly sorry to inform you that your intended is wrong.” A shoulder lifted in casual disregard. “I cannot help you. Now, if there is nothing further, you must excuse me…”
As the male turned away, she pictured Gus, clear as if he were standing before her, from his Afro to the H.R. Pufnstuf t-shirt he liked so much to the faded, well-worn jeans he always wore.
“You’re our only hope.Please.”
Blade froze. And then turned back around. For a moment, there was a glow of menace about him, and she recognized what it was: A predator on the hunt. She knew the feeling from her wolven form.
“What exactly are you offering,” he said in a deep voice.
“You know what?” Xhex pointed to Lydia with a jab of her forefinger. “I’m done warning you. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll walk the hell awayfrom him right now; otherwise you’re going to live with the consequences. Either way, I’m out.”
The vampire dematerialized, leaving behind a string of curse words that were consumed by the wind. And then Lydia was alone with the male, the night somehow growing darker, the air getting even colder. As she tried to keep calm, she realized his sister was right. This was not a male you wanted to show weakness around.
And sure enough, like he could read her discomfort, Blade lowered his head and looked at her from under hooded lids. “What exactly are you offering me in return for my aid?”
“I can pay you,” she blurted.
“I already have money, but perhaps something else then. What else are you willing to pledge, female?”
“I don’t know what you’re implying—”
“The hell you don’t.” His voice practically vibrated with a distinctly masculine intention. “There is only one thing I want from you and you know precisely what that is.”
“I am inlovewith Daniel,” she said with force.
“Oh, yes, I know.” He tilted his head to the side, his stare gleaming. “But let us consider your situation, shall we? If I help you with this problem concerning your friend, if I handle things on your behalf—and I believe we both know what you want me to do—then you will owe a payment—”
“I amnotsleeping with you—”
He put a hand to the center of his chest, as if offended. “Not now, of course. Not whilst your Daniel still lives. I am not a total savage, you realize.”
Lydia’s heart started to pound so hard, her hearing was affected by the rushing noise.
“Ah, if you could only see the expression on your face,” he said with a smile. “And yet I do not understand the shock. You need something I have. I want something you have. This is a negotiation—and I am willing to delay my resolution so that your conscience is clear. Quite a sacrifice to your benefit.”
In a bald voice, she said, “I do not want you.”
“I know that. Yet it does not bother me.”
“And in any event, I can’t trust you.”
“Actually, you can, in this situation. It will be amply clear whether or not I live up to my side of the bargain—and it goes without saying that what you are looking for is something I can provide. I am uniquely suited to this mission of recovery of the remains and revenge. After which, I will wait for however long is required so that your mate is not betrayed by our little arrangement. Indeed, he need never know.”
She recoiled. “I am not going to lie to Daniel.”
Blade’s shrug was nonplussed, as if they were discussing nothing more than a lunch date betweenfriends. “I do not care whether you do or don’t. That is your business.”
When she just stood there, he put his palm out for a shaking. “Do we have a deal? Do you want your revenge or not.”
“Gus could still be alive,” she said in a numb way. Mostly to herself.
“Not if he is in Kurtis’s hands. If that is who has your friend? He was dead within the hour—if he was lucky.”
As Blade read the wolf’s grid, he attempted to regard her pain, fear, and helplessness with the detachment so characteristic of the psychopathy that defined him: On the surface, her upset was a consummate win and amusement for hissymphathcore, this forcing of a female of worth to give herself to him, in the midst of her mourning, when she had absolutely no interest in having sex with him, because she was trying to avenge the wrongful killing of someone who evidently was important to her, a tasty meal of distress.
Such a delicious tangle of toxic emotions. For her.
