sofa at my other side. “Maybe ‘boss’ doesn’t mean the same thing it used to.”
“I’m pretty sure delegation has always been part of the job description.” He glanced toward the front of the RV as Ruse slowed to a stop. “But don’t worry, Disaster. Since you’re so keen on having my protection, I’ll sacrifice a few minutes to the stench.”
“That’s not what I was saying,” I groused—and holy heretic hounds, was that a hint of a grin from the hellhound shifter, despite our argument?
“I could hang back then,” he said as he pushed himself away from the counter across from the table. “Darlene needs protection more than you do while you’re around.”
“Oh, no.” I gave him a light shove toward the door. “You said you’d come, and you’ve got to be a man of your word. Come on. You’ll get to do so much glowering and growling. Probably mostly at me. It’ll be fun.”
He caught my hand before it’d even finished grazing his back and pushed it back toward me—not roughly, but firmly. The heat of his fingers blazed over my skin, making the banter suddenly feel electrically charged. “You won’t want to misplace this where we’re going.”
“A gentleman would offer his elbow,” I informed him.
“Good thing I’ve never pretended to be one of those, then.”
“M’lady,” Thorn said, offering me his elbow and looking as if he took the whole gentleman thing as seriously as he did most other subjects.
I smiled up at him and rose on my toes to kiss his cheek. “I already know you’re perfectly chivalrous. But you’d better stick to the shadows unless we need defending—it’s going to be hard enough getting down there without anyone asking why we’re messing around with city property.”
Ruse appeared on the steps by the door, apparently having already scoped out the area. “There’s an opening to the sewer down one of the quieter streets,” he said. “We can go through the shadows and push it up for you, and if you’re quick about it, there aren’t too many people around to notice.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The other shadowkind vanished, except for Snap, who rested his hand on my hip with his arm around me. I tipped my head back to put my face at the perfect angle to receive a kiss, and he didn’t disappoint me.
“I’ll be fine,” I told him. “You’ll all be right there—and I’m just walking down the street.” And disappearing into a manhole of some sort, but I’d rather not dwell on that too much ahead of the stink. Slipping stealthily through the gap shouldn’t be any trouble after all my thieving practice.
“Of course you will,” Snap said with automatic confidence. “I only wondered…”
When his pause stretched on, I poked his arm. “What? You’ve wondered a lot of things, and I’m always happy to answer.”
He wet his lips with that tempting tongue. “Have you and Omen become closer? The way we are, and how you are with Ruse and Thorn?”
The memory of the hellhound shifter’s hot fingers just now—and of the moment days ago when he’d responded to my kiss—tingled through me. “Not like that,” I said. “Why?”
“It’s only—there are times when the two of you have that energy between you, for what Ruse calls mating.” The devourer looked abruptly, adorably awkward. “I wouldn’t be upset. He is… very different from me, and very powerful, and he’s doing so much for all shadowkind. I couldn’t say I’m worthy of your affection and he isn’t.”
I gave him a wry smile. “I think it’s more whether he thinks I’m worthy of his. That’s all right. The three of you are plenty to keep me occupied. And he’s a jerk at least as often as he’s tempting.”
Snap hummed. “He carries a lot of weight on his shoulders. It’s made him hard. But he’s been good to me.” He pressed a peck to the top of my head. “I’d better catch up. Hurry to meet us.”
I shut the door of the RV—currently in tour bus form—carefully behind me and made for the ridged metal surface that stood out against the asphalt just down the street. As I reached the manhole, the heavy cover lifted to show an inch of darkness and the faint gleam of Thorn’s white-blond hair.
A couple of teens were ambling down the street toward me. I gestured for the warrior to wait a moment, became fascinated by the closed storefront next to me until the teens had passed by, and then made an upward motion with my hand.
The