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"Most lesser demons have the sense to show respect when in the presence of a vampire"

"You’ve already let the cat out of the bag that you intend to haul , so what the hell?" She shrugged "I o out"

His slender fingers stroked the hilt of his knife His big-enough-to-slice-off-her-head knife

"I can pro to provoke me is not the sort of fun you want"

She curled her lips in what she hoped was a sneer, but rimace of terror

"True, the sort of fun I want involves a piece of ith a very pointy end decorating the center of your chest, but for the et"

Braced for his punishment, Laylah shen he did precisely what she didn’t want

Instead of striking out in fury, he stilled, his expression intent Just like a predator about to pounce

"Intriguing," he murmured

"What?"

"Your desperation to keep er down the line of her stubborn jaw "I should warn you that your games only "

Laylah spun away froet this va"

There was an icy chill as he moved to stand directly behind her

"Let’s start at the beginning Why did you kill Duncan?"

"I …" She licked her lips, her hands pressing to her stoh her She didn’t want to reh the secret tunnel and into the small cabin next to the Mississippi River They’d expected to find Duncan hidden there The cur, after all, was intending to save his own hide by selling out Caine to the King of Weres But neither had expected the less dominant cur to try and attack Or for Laylah’s powers to strike out with such force It was yet another regret, in a very long line of regrets, that Laylah would have to live with "That was an accident"

"You fried a cur," Tane pointed out dryly, "which doesn’t make my heart bleed, but those little accidents are exactly why rel Jinn have been banned"

She shuddered Did he think that she didn’t try and control her powers? That she wouldn’t give anything to stop another senseless death staining her conscience?

"Shut up"

"What happened?"

She sucked in the cool, da blindly the past few days, backtracking and taking side tunnels until she had no idea where they were, but there was nothe unmistakable scent of a nearby river, which meant they still must be near the Mississippi

"Caine learned where Duncan was to meet with Salvatore When we startled him the cur went nuts and attacked" Her jaw clenched She had done her best to stay out of Caine’s crazy ass schee curs into purebloods Why not decide to sprout wings and becoiven a vision that revealed he was to becoht the vision was more likely an overdose of the pharmaceuticals he rels supposed to let themselves be usting half-breed ripped to shreds?"

"A touch bitter?" Tane murmured, but his hands were oddly tender as he stroked a path over her shoulders and down her ar a rash of fire over her bare skin

"Go to hell"

"I’ve already visited, sweet Laylah, and I have no intention of returning anytime soon" He leaned down to press his lips to the curve of her neck "I’ll accept that the death of the cur was an accident"

If she hadn’t been near the point of collapse she one completely mental and thrown herself on the beautiful brute Her body felt as if it were on fire

Damned vamp pheromones

Instead she forced herself to step away frolare into his too-handso ass"

"Why didn’t you return to Caine’s lair instead of taking off on your own?"

She unconsciously rubbed her arled fro tracked and I assumed that you would follow Caine I took off to save my own skin"

"No, you took off to try and lead us away from Caine’s estate" He deliberately paused "And the child you are protecting"

"If you already have it all figured out then why are you pestering ritted

"Because I want to knohy you would be willing to sacrifice your life for a child that isn’t yours"

Tane watched the emotions ripple over the Jinn’s expressive face, annoyed by his unfamiliar fascination Granted Laylah was a beautiful creature Stunningly beautiful

And she stirred his lust to a fever pitch he hadn’t enjoyed for centuries

But, he had one purpose in following this female

When he’d first entered the tunnels, he’d been chasing after Salvatore, King of Weres, and the aggravating gargoyle, Levet They’d gonefro-punch to let both of them die a miserable death, Styx had been clear he wanted a better relationship between Weres and vampires And what the Anasso (leader of all vaot

So Tane had led Salvatore’s servants in pursuit of Caine and the mysterious demon who had kidnapped thees and fled in the futile hope of avoiding his ioyle’s insistence that the demon he had sensed was a Jinn half-breed