Page 154 of Hunted

‘Come.’

At the club, I slide into a corner booth and start making calls.

Agency contacts. Fringe informants. People who owe me favours. People who owe the Revenant Agency money.

Nothing.

No one has heard of a contract lure like Tezra’s or seen wards like those used recently.

Whoever killed him is terrifyingly competent.

I know, Valentin, with his preternatural hearing, can hear every word. But with every dead end, his focus slides less to the threat and more to me.

My mouth. My throat. The swell of my breasts above the bustier.

Hunger seethes off him.

The next time I lower my phone and shake my head, his eyes flare silver.

‘Fuck all,’ I say. ‘Not a whisper.’

His hand closes around my wrist. ‘Then we are leaving.’

‘Wait. Are you calling Ciaran O’Rourke, like Navarro suggested?’

His eyes go black with fury. I hold my ground. ‘Tezra was my friend, Valentin. I need answers.’

‘I am aware, little hunter.’ His grip tightens. ‘We are still leaving.’

I should challenge the high-handedness. I absolutely should. But the word ‘leaving’ hits like a promise, and my body answers with humiliating enthusiasm.

I stand. He follows close behind.

We move through the club, the crowd parting around him with prey-level politeness. Instead of heading down, we climb. Up a private stairwell, along a narrow corridor, towards a skylight cut into the dark like a slice of sky.

I look up and Valentin follows my gaze.

Silver glints. Then his arms are around me and the world drops away.

He leaps upwards.

Impossibly.

I’m cradled against his chest, air rushing past, breath snatched from my lungs. Then we’re on the roof with the city spread beneath us in glittering lines.

‘You promised me a pick up later,’ he rasps. Then he kisses me.

Hard. Hungry. Deep enough to erase thought.

And then he moves again.

Rooftop to rooftop, the city blurring beneath us in violent flashes, his mouth finding mine between leaps like even seconds without tasting me are an insult. Wind tears at my hair. Night bites at my skin. His body stays hot against mine, grip absolute.

It should terrify me. Instead, I’m laughing into his mouth by the time the Tower rises ahead, black glass and shadow welcoming its king home.

He lands and we’re inside before I can blink.

Into his bedroom.