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He took a deep breath.Gone was the salty air of the ocean, the cawing of seagulls.The air sweltered dry, dusty, and hot.
A coat of grime covered the walls.Lifting his head, he spotted a thin window high above.He hadn’t been able to see the outside world in weeks.
He grabbed the concrete ledge, pushed through the aches, and pulled himself up.In the hazy night sky, stars glittered—something he hadn’t seen for years in the city.Where was he?
His strength gave out, and he collapsed onto the cot.His stomach cramped and growled.How long had it been since he’d last eaten?He couldn’t remember.His parched lips cracked, and his head throbbed in a steady thump beneath the vertigo.Magic surged below his skin, and he focused on slow breathing to dim the pain.He closed his eyes.
“Hello, Perry.”
Vori.
He opened his eyes, sure he’d imagined her.But no.She walked out of the shadows, tall, ethereal, and pissed off judging by the glare.
She was here.
He stood too fast.His head spun like a demon-summoning circle.“Vori?”
“You’re a hard man to find.You took off on me two years ago without a word.I understand you’ve been preoccupied—joining a demon-led cult, almost killing witch Senate heirs, prison, jailbreak, being locked up again.You could’ve just said you weren’t interested.”
“I shouldn’t have left you that night.”The truth he’d waited so long to tell her rushed out.
“But you did.”She twisted her mouth into a mockery of the supermodel smile that flashed from magazine covers.“How was your time in witch jail?Not so good, it seems.”
“I…” He couldn’t admit it.Not to her.Not the horrible crimes he’d committed.The witch world would never forgive him.Hell, he didn’t blame them.
“I know what you’ve done.”Her condemning tone made it sound like he was being sentenced for his crimes.
“Then why are you here?How?”Maybe that was the better question.“I didn’t hear you come in.Not your footsteps outside.Not the door opening.Not your breathing.Nothing.”He inhaled.“Wild flowers and rain.”The same scent he remembered from when they’d met, the scent he’d had to lean close to breathe in over the smoke and booze and sweat of the nightclub.“I couldn’t smell your perfume a minute ago.How’d you get in?”
“Getting in is the easy part.It’s the getting out that seems to be difficult for you.I let you out once, and here you are locked up again.”She sounded as if his being recaptured was an inconvenience.
“Why did you help me?”
“Were you faking the speechless act at the prison?So I wouldn’t know who you were?”
“No.”Although he should have.Running into a love interest while not looking her best was one thing, but seeing a crush while imprisoned took it to a whole other level.
She stared at him as though she could divine the truth.Maybe she could.Who knew what magic she had if she could appear in his cell?
Like a demon.
Fear slid through him like ice water.
No, she wasn’t.She couldn’t be.
He’d spent enough time with one to know.His demon radar was off-the-charts honed, but he couldn’t figure out what species of supernatural she might be.
She lifted her chin.He’d seen her strike that pose on a fashion runway.“The night we met, you told me you’re a survivor above all else.Were you lying?”
“I never lied to you.”He hadn’t.
“You didn’t die in the demon’s Revelare, and you made it through whatever torture the witch Senate dished out.So I’m assuming you possess some self-preservation skills, even if you were a witch out on Halloween.”She huffed a disapproving noise.“Not a wise choice.”
No, it hadn’t been, but not for the reasons she might think.He’d been tricked into going to the club for information about his sister’s murder.How could he have known the woman who’d walked into the club looking exactly like his dead sister was a demon-summoned succubus wearing her skin?He’d followed the creature out of the club and into the ranks of the Revelare.
Vori flicked an Arctic gaze over him, one so unlike the looks she’d given him that first night.“I have a proposition for you.”
“Yes?”Despite the way she wielded her proposition like a death sentence, the promises and possibilities of that word had the electricity under his skin jumping toward her.He slammed what little of a lockdown he could on his powers, but not before sparks danced across his fingertips.
