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One of the wolves leaning against his motorcycle. Black helmet, dark tattoos crawling up his neck beneath a tight, black long-sleeve stretched across broad muscles. Doesn’t move, doesn’t say a word, but even behind the dark visor, I can feel his gaze on me. Like a predator seconds before catching his prey. In the city jungle you stop being afraid of movement, it’s the stillness that makes your skin crawl. I try to ignore it but my body tenses involuntarily.

Lex glances at his shattered car mirror while his guards instinctively reach for the guns beneath their jackets. Piro points the bat at the nearest one.

“Come on, bloodsucker. Make my fucking night. Pull it out.”

Lex raises one hand without looking at his men. Easy. Controlled. He knows better not to stir stupid shit. Because if he starts a fight, the alley will fill with corpses in seconds.

“Enough.” Lex looks at me. “We’ll talk later.” He gestures, his men get back in the car, and the Range rolls out of the alley. I walk down the alley to the main street and see my BMW waiting at the corner.

“Is it serious?” Piro asks. His pupils are blown wide, the nightrush doing laps, and he’s only looking for trouble.

“No. And you shouldn’t have done that.”

He laughs. “Lara. It’s time to put them in their place. They’re not kings of this city anymore, and they know it.” He jerks his thumb toward his bike. “We’re going to Le Vertige later. Come.”

“No thanks, I have a business to run.”

He kisses my cheek, drops his helmet back on, and the bikes tear out. The last one to go is the guy in the long sleeve, he almost stops while passing me.

I get in my car.

“You could have been a little earlier.”

Sava glances in the rearview. “Traffic.”

The next day, I walk through the shopping mall with my head still vibrating from the nightclub music. Some days, I can’t even tell if the bass is still playing or if my brain is just echoing it. It’s like getting off the boat and still feeling the land moving. While trying on new shoes, my phone buzzes.

Piro

Hope you good stardust girl. Come to Moon tonight. You can bring some witches.

I see Piro is on a bender, and that’s fine with me. Moon isn’t the most lucrative place to do business. Vampires are my number one clients for dust, they pay the most, but with this Julian thing I prefer to lay low for now. I set the phone face-down and take both pairs of Giuseppe Zanottis to the register.

“Declined.” The cashier hands back my black Amex with a practiced smile.

I pull out the JP Morgan.

“Declined.”

Well. Fuck.

“Put it on my tab,” says a voice behind me. A voice I know too well. I close my eyes for half a second before turning around slowly.

“Lex. How lovely to see you.”

The cashier stares at him like she’s seconds away from ruining her entire life voluntarily. He looks sharp as always in his dark suit. I take the shopping bags from her and walk out of the boutique into the marble corridor of the luxury mall. Lex falls into step beside me effortlessly.

“We didn’t finish our conversation.”

“I told you. Routine visit. He bought, I sold. That’s everything.”

His hand closes around my arm. Firmer than necessary.

“Come with me.”

I look at him. Then at his bodyguards flanking us.

“Do I have a choice?”