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So not what I was expecting

His power vibrated around y into my skin It came from somewhere deep inside him, I could sense that much He was old, there was no question Power like that took a long ti in my first full breath of him I almost choked as my nails shot into the underside of the bar to steadyincessantly Quiet, I can’t think Be quiet!

He suessed, but there was no fresh-cut grass about him What emanated from him was thick, dark, and rich, like some kind of molasses mixed with cloves Its deliciousnessexcitedly You have to cal to take rudgingly so I could get down to business

Rourke shifted in his seat slightly, turning his body to facea word By the a two faint di that this kind of reaction to him was par for the course

"Po his hand "It’s a pleasure to finallythe best in the business precedes you" His voice held the sale wound its way up my spine The accent was more discernible in person, but I still couldn’t place it Possibly South African?

I conte it I’d already lost valuable street cred by acting like a babbling teenager, so I grabbed on to his hand and was rewarded with a jolt of power up nore it I couldn’t risk any more foolishness "If my reputation precedes me, then let’s cut the shit, Rourke There’s no need to keep the act going I know you knoho I a with bad cop It usually worked in ood cop "I’m just not exactly sure why you’re here and what you’re looking for, which is why I decided to keep our ht" I lowered my voice "Why exactly are you here, Rourke?"

Mild surprise shot through his expression "No beating around the bush for you, huh, sweetheart?" He took a swig of his drink and placed it in front of hiain

Holy balls

He had to quit doing that All the hairs on my ar Before he looked away, I saw an alreen spark in the depth of one of his irises Interesting I cleared my throat "Why would I want to beat around the bush? It’s a waste of time And you haven’t answered ain Why are you here?"

"You already knohy I’ here if I knew?" I cockedhi to break my neck in front of the after-work crowd at dinnertime, but other than that, your sudden appearance in this city is unclear No more circles, Rourke I want to know exactly why you’re here" I tapped ht here, right now WithThen he leaned forward, his huge leather-clad arertips "I’m here, beautiful, because I was hired by an extremely interested party to retrieve all the information possible, and by whatever ravelly purr--"about the only female olf in town"

I sucked in a breath

Motherfucker "Are you ih "I have no idea what you’re talking about You hter of a olf, which I a overheard The noise level in the bar was enough to cover the conversation The fact that Rourke kneas a as"Your e"

He threw his head back and laughed

I folded my arms across my chest and slapped on a pissy expression

When he was done with his fit ofus a round" He held up two fingers He turned back to me, his eyes still crinkled at the corners "Listen, even if I hadn’t heard it with ood authority, I’d still have known you were a wolf froh those doors Your power climbed up my skin like a bad rash, and your scent is so powerful, I’m surprised these humans around us"--he jerked his thuratulate you on your recent change"

Harruet to tell ot your hands on this very secret and extremely unsubstantiated infores his sources" He winked "But you already knew that, didn’t you?"

I leaned forward in ht? Then why meet me here at all? Why tell me your real name? If you’re so notorious, why didn’t you just take what you wanted by force? Isn’t that your usual rab and ask questions later? Instead, we’re sitting here--at your request--so we can … what? Chat about the fucking score of a ball garudging respect, but it could’ve just as easily been annoyance A lol issued from his chest as his features dropped their playfulness The predator was lurking just below the surface I would do well to reo"