she tried to remedy, but he wasn’t having any of it. He banded his arms around her and held her to him.
“Demon sensed your presence. He looked your way.” The colored lights reflected on Maccus’s skin, giving him an even more otherworldly appearance. He hunched forward, trying to make himself smaller.
Like that was going to work. Even bent over, he exuded a presence, a power that had other people moving slightly away so that they weren’t bumped on the packed dance floor.
“Um, thanks?” Her preference was to track down her bounty, move in, and be done with it. If the demon bolted, she’d give chase. It was the way she always worked.
Stopping to have a dance in the middle of things was new for her. Hot lips skimmed down her throat. She couldn’t suppress the moan of pleasure that bubbled up from inside her.
“Demon. Hunt.” The ability to speak in full sentences had deserted her, something that happened too frequently since she’d met Maccus.
He skimmed his lips over hers and then let out a short huff. “If we must.”
She blinked and stared. Was he making a joke? Teasing? Most likely, he was serious. He wasn’t big on humor.
“We must.” She shook away the sensual cobwebs ensnaring her. “Contract, remember?”
He grunted and released her. Getting her bearings, she took the best track toward the demon. Thankfully, he was too busy slamming back shots and feeling up the blonde on his left while he kissed the brunette on his right to notice her.
She waited patiently. Maybe it was small of her, but she enjoyed that initial jolt, the awareness in the demon’s eyes when he recognized who she was and why she was there.
Oh, she was smart enough to understand it gave her a sense of power when she was truly powerless over anything in her life. But a girl had to take her pleasures where she could get them.
Maccus, however, wasn’t nearly as patient. He reached out and tapped the demon on the shoulder.
“Fuck off.” Speed barely raised his lips from the brunette long enough to speak.
The woman snuck a look at Maccus, and her eyes went wide. Morrigan rolled her eyes. Yes, he was every woman’s bad-boy fantasy come to life. So what? Didn’t give the floozy license to eat him up with her eyes.
Her fingers skimmed her knife. The brunette would get her head shaved if she didn’t stop staring.
I’m jealous.
She rolled her shoulders. They didn’t have time for this crap.
Noticing his honey was no longer interested in kissing him, Speed opened his mouth, likely to tell them to fuck off again. His cocky expression slipped away when he got his first good look at them.
It pissed her off that the demon was more concerned with Maccus than with her.
Speed raised his hands. “Hey, I don’t want no problems, man. Let me buy you a drink.”
Fed up, she pushed forward, shoving the brunette aside. “You need to be more worried about me. You’ve outstayed your welcome. Time to go home.”
He glanced from her to Maccus and then to the exit.
“Don’t even think about it,” she warned. Speed’s shoulders bunched. His head tilted toward the door. Adrenaline surged in anticipation of a chase.
Maccus, the bastard, gave a subtle shake of his head, and the demon subsided.
A flush of angry heat raced up her face, and she pursed her lips together to keep from screaming in frustration. Sure, the demon had reason to fear Maccus more than her. Her job was to apprehend and return. If a hunter killed, they’d better have a damn good reason. The demon knew that. Maccus, on the other hand, was an assassin with no constraints to keep him from simply dropping the demon where he sat.
So yeah, she got it. Didn’t mean she liked it.
“Hands,” she told him, out of patience.
“Do we have to do this here?” he whined. The women were inching away, distancing themselves from what was going down—all except the brunette who kept eyeing Maccus.