Once Bitten (Shadow Guild: The Rebel #1) - Linsey Hall Page 0,22

a handbreadth. I could detect the barest hint of his magic—the scent of a fire and the sound of thunder—but it was well under control.

Everything about him was well under control but, somehow, I knew…beneath the surface, there was more than ice.

“Did you kill the man in the alley?” I asked, wishing I already had that truth serum.

“No.”

“That’s it? Just…no?”

“Just no.” He strode toward me, his movement impossibly smooth.

My heartbeat thundered as he approached, and my skin chilled. It took everything I had to hold my ground, but I refused to run. There was too much on the line here, and he was an apex predator. I couldn’t show fear, or he would attack.

Even if that wasn’t true, I couldn’t bear to let him know I was afraid.

Instead of coming straight for me, he moved past, so close that I could smell the fire of his scent. Every bit of me tightened as I turned to follow his back with my gaze, and my shoulders relaxed when he went to the sideboard on the other side of the room.

He looked back at me over his shoulder. “Coffee?”

“Um…no.” I wasn’t going to drink a possible murderer’s coffee.

He poured himself a cup, and the wild thought burst into my head that he also drank blood.

But where were his fangs?

My gaze flicked to his mouth, but I saw none. When I looked at his eyes, I realized that he was smiling at me. Not a big smile, but he was definitely amused.

7

The Devil

I watched the woman. She stood still as a hare spotted by a fox, her gaze carefully averted from mine. My body screamed with an awareness I hadn’t felt in years. Hell, that I had never felt.

What was it about her that made me feel alive? She had eyes that seemed to see right through me, though she wouldn’t make eye contact. The back of my neck prickled as if I were being watched from all angles. Like she could see right to the heart of me and all the terrible things I’d done.

Was that what so intrigued me?

No.

There was a connection, one that I’d never felt before.

And I wanted to sink my fangs into her pale neck and feel every bit of it.

I wanted to touch her. It was something I hadn’t felt in hundreds of years, and she ignited it.

I reached out for her mind, attempting to make contact in a way that would compel her to do my bidding. I wouldn’t use it in an unscrupulous way—I never did that with women—but I wanted to feel that connection. I wanted to make her look at me.

She didn’t comply.

How was that possible?

Did my power not work on her?

She stiffened her spine and demanded, “What do you know about the man in the alley?”

“You could see me there, then?”

She nodded. “I saw you.”

“But you weren’t there. Not when I was.” I studied her, trying to get a hint of her magical signature. It was locked down tight, though not by her own effort. I detected the faintest hint of a suppressor potion.

She wasn’t used to keeping her signature locked down, which confirmed that she wasn’t from Guild City. Everyone here knew how to keep their magic under tight lock and key—the Council of Guilds demanded it. Their strict control of magic in the city was half of what made it possible for me to run my business. Smuggling boomed under strict law and governments. It was perfect for my particular talents.

But then, I’d already known she wasn’t from my city. I knew everything that went on in this part of London. It was impossible not to be painfully aware of her.

“Well?” I prodded. “You weren’t in that alley at the same time I was. I’d have noticed you. But you made a connection with me there.”

She nodded sharply, and I spotted the indecision in her eyes. Finally, she said, “I saw you in one of my visions.”

“Does that happen normally?” If my power didn’t work on her, then she was special to me. I wanted to know if I was special to her.

“Tell me about the body in the alley.”

I grinned, liking that she evaded my question. She wasn’t an easy woman, and I found that it appealed to me. “If you were worried that I was the murderer, why come here?”

“Because I can take care of myself.”

I believed it—for the most part. She could handle herself around others, yes. Still, I could have her underneath me in seconds if