Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,12

Tiger King in the making. Wonderful. If Omen didn’t end up tearing his throat out when this was through, I’d bet Elsa would once her fangs had grown. I only regretted that I wouldn’t be around to see it.

I settled onto the sofa and put on my “serious business” expression, mainly inspired by Thorn and his vast range of sternness. Another thread of magic wove through my voice. “It’s particularly important that you don’t mention our meeting to anyone. Not everyone in the Company of Light is worthy of our trust. Which is precisely why we need your assistance with a vital matter…”

It took more than half an hour of tempting and cajoling before I was sure the hopeful hero was 100% committed, but by then I could have told him the security of the planet depended on him jumping off the roof of the museum, and he’d have happily run off to do it. Luckily for him, the use I needed to put him to was much less hazardous to his health, at least in the immediate moment. What the rest of his Company would do to him if they realized he’d been compromised—well, I expected he’d receive his just desserts for his horrible life decisions.

As I sauntered out of the house, the sun had just touched the rooftops of the buildings opposite. I kept walking until I was out of view and then dashed through the shadows back to the RV where Omen had brought it around the other side of the block.

As soon as I appeared with an okay signal to Omen, he revved the engine as if the vehicle were his motorcycle and not the sort of thing in which retirees took off to Florida. It rumbled on down the road, and Sorsha poked her head out of her bedroom.

“Did it go all right?” she asked.

I gave her a thumbs up. “Got him eating out of my hand in no time. He had an important bit of info to pass on to us, too. They’re expecting an inspection from a couple of higher-ups tonight. They run most of their experiments overnight when there wouldn’t be any patrons around if a creature escaped. Smaller staff during the day. In light of that news, I primed him to make our introductions tomorrow while the place is open.”

I glanced in Omen’s direction with a flicker of anxiety that the boss might not appreciate my taking that initiative, but his grunt of acknowledgment was approving enough. He might be the man of plans, but I had enough wits to contribute in that area too, didn’t I? More than just a pretty face and a sweet voice, thank you very much.

As Sorsha had clearly trusted. There was no surprise tempering the relief that crossed her face. “Less than twenty-four hours until we get Snap out,” she said. Then her exhilaration dimmed. “Assuming he’s still there. Assuming they haven’t been even more horrible to him than the other shadowkind.”

There was definitely something wrong with my incubus inclinations that her fretting wrenched at me as much as it did. Well, our companions didn’t need me until we made it to our next target. I went over to her.

She leaned back against the closed door with a dip of her head. “I know, there’s no point in worrying about it when we won’t find out until tomorrow anyway.”

I brushed a few locks of her red hair back from her cheek and let my hand linger against her warm skin. “Of course you’re worried about him. We know what these fiends are like.” And as much as our mortal had woken up passions I never would have expected in the devourer, he’d woken up a tenderness in her that I wasn’t sure she’d ever expected either. Something softer than the playful affection she’d offered me as she’d started to open up to my attentions, but why shouldn’t it be?

She sucked in a breath and appeared to gather herself, resolve steadying her posture. Never did she look so gorgeous as when she was preparing for battle, and damn if I hadn’t had plenty of opportunities to witness that in the past few weeks.

“They have no idea what hell they brought down on themselves when they took him.” Her gaze darted to Omen in the driver’s seat. “Maybe literally if it comes to that. And they’ll deserve every bit of it.” She shifted her attention back to me. “You know I didn’t suggest a change in tactics