business.”
A warm breeze swept through the night, but it did nothing to ease the coldness in her bones. She snorted. “Now I’m getting why this has to remain a secret. A human would be crazy to ever allow that.”
Kyden jerked his chin in agreement, then he turned to Haven. “You’re done here.”
The vision faded, leaving only the drained body, and Haven placed her hands upon her hips. “Dream on. I’m going with Nexi.”
Kyden drew his sword from his scabbard. “Finn would hand me my ass if you were put in danger. You’ve never come with me before and I don’t plan to change that. Please don’t argue.”
Haven nibbled her lip, regarding him, then she accepted defeat. “You’re right, he’d bury you.” She bounced over to Nexi, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Be safe.” Then she skipped off, and within three steps, she’d vanished into the portal.
While seeing someone disappear into thin air was enough to leave Nexi shaking her head in shock, watching Kyden stab his sword into the man’s stomach made that last event not nearly as baffling.
Before her eyes, the man’s face became fuller, and his fancy suit once again hugged a middle-aged body. Even the decomposed-flesh scent in the air cleared, and Nexi leaned in, noticing the man had an added gunshot wound to his head. “That is beyond freaky.”
Kyden sheathed his sword, turning to the street. “Freaky, maybe, but necessary.”
She grabbed his very thick, very muscular forearm, enjoying how his muscles flexed beneath her fingertips. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He looked to her fingers around his arm before his eyes slowly caught hers. “Not that I’m aware of. I imagine, though, you’d care to enlighten me.”
She swallowed hard and dropped her hand, fighting the warmth pooling low in her belly. “If you haven’t noticed, you’re wearing a leather kilt and are half naked. What’s the plan, hide in the shadows and be all spy-like?”
“I don’t pretend to understand how to act spy-like.” His brows drew together with his frown. “Guardians’ gear has a magical glamour placed upon it. You, as a supernatural, will see the guardian gear. Humans will see regular street clothes.”
She stated the obvious. “Then why did I see your whole get-up that first night in my house when I was still human?” At the slow arch of his brow, she didn’t need him to explain. “Because I wasn’t really human, right?”
He nodded. “You, as in your true self, are a supernatural. The glamour on our gear only works on humans. Even if your magical abilities were blocked, making you mortal, you’re genetic makeup is supernatural. Therefore, the glamour wouldn’t work on you.”
Nexi didn’t recall ever seeing any half-naked warriors walking down the street, but maybe that was because she’d been such a homebody. She figured, too, if she had seen such an image, she would’ve assumed it were a costume and explained it away. “Well, that glamour thingy is—” She scanned over his squared chest glistening with moisture from the warm night, down to his rippled abdomen before she forced her attention to his grin. “Convenient.”
Chapter Four
A glass balcony wrapped around the upper level of Crimson Rose. The walls of the dance club were painted black with a crackled blood-red faux finish. Steel tables were scattered around the large rectangular room and candles on top provided a warm glow. The dance floor was straight ahead with a large, gold cage hanging from the ceiling that held two female vampires grinding to the techno music.
On a Friday night in Salt Lake City, clearly the vamps in attendance were looking for fun. Too bad Kyden wasn’t here to indulge, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t enjoying himself. He leaned against the bar and turned to the source of his amusement.
Nexi’s mouth had dropped open the moment she spotted the crowd on the dance floor, and ten minutes later, it still hadn’t shut. Up until this point, she hadn’t seen this many supernaturals gathered in one place. Even in the Otherworld, the Council’s Guard was typically working or sleeping. It wasn’t often everyone gathered at the same time.
She currently eyed a vampire and a mortal groping each other. Kyden, though, was tempted to do the same with her. At the images racing through his mind, he shifted on his feet as the shorts under his kilt felt too tight.
Leaning an elbow against the bar, he considered Nexi’s appeal. He preferred women with a bit of bite to their personalities. This woman had more than