Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,93

on his white-blond hair.

“We have our guard,” he said. “I believe now may be an excellent opportunity to prepare him.”

“Right, right.” I shoved myself out from under the covers, finger-combed my hair back into a messy ponytail, and allowed myself the small indulgence of tapping the warrior’s impressive chest. “Next time you wake me up, I expect it to come with benefits, not work.”

His dark eyes gleamed. “We might have a moment for a brief benefit if it would raise your spirits to the task.”

“Perfect way of looking at it.” I gripped his tunic and rose up on my toes to kiss him. Thorn returned the gesture, his mouth so hard and hot it left no doubt that there would be plenty of benefits to come when the time was right.

Ruse had driven the Everymobile to new digs while I’d slept. I stepped out into the quiet of a residential street, bungalows and two-storey houses set behind small, neat lawns. The incubus emerged from the shadows by one of the smaller places down the block and beckoned me over silently.

When I reached him, he tipped his head toward the house, his voice dropping to a whisper. “We were hoping you could keep your beauty sleep, but he wears his damned helmet to bed. The boss man must have made these lackeys awfully paranoid.”

“Yep,” I said. “Clearly they have no reason at all to worry about shadowkind descending on them in the middle of the night.”

“Well, not before now. You want to put those thieving skills to further use?”

I didn’t have my lock picks with me, but I didn’t need them. The guard’s security wasn’t quite that tight. I crept through the backyards to make a discreet approach, and Ruse slipped into the shadows around the back door to unlock it from the inside. When he eased it open, I slunk in past him. He pointed me to the door that led to our target’s bedroom.

As I stepped inside, I almost started feeling bad for the dude. He must have had a softer side in him somewhere: his walls were adorned with posters of cartoon ponies frolicking with their magical friends. He even had a plastic figurine of a purple one watching over him from the bedside table.

That said, he was still a shadowkind-hating prick. And now he’d get to experience a truly magical friendship.

Ruse hadn’t lied—the guy had his silver-and-iron helmet pulled tight over his head, covering it from his forehead down his temples to just above his ears. It looked as if he’d added some padding to it, but it still couldn’t be all that comfortable. He was either very dedicated or very exhausted.

He had a badge pinned to his nightshirt as well, I saw—it poked just above the sheet that slanted across his chest. That would be easy enough to deal with, thank holy hand grenades.

I padded across the floor, breathing silent and shallow. With cautious fingers, I peeled the sheet down far enough that I could grasp the badge. This maneuver called for delicacy rather than speed. Just my luck that I was familiar with both.

A few twists of my fingers detached the clasp. I set the badge on the bedside table and motioned to where I assumed Ruse was watching from the doorway, not risking taking my eyes off our target. As I reached for his helmet, the guy made a muttering sound and rolled over.

Fine, I’d just have to lean farther over the bed. As soon as I had it off, Ruse could work his voodoo. We could forget delicacy now.

I set my hands against the cool metal surface, readied myself, and heaved as hard as I could.

The dude yelped and flailed. I darted backward, carrying the helmet with me, and Ruse swept in, his smooth, chocolatey voice already lilting from his lips.

“Hello there, my friend! Nothing to be disturbed about. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for all this time.”

He must have read something in the guard’s emotions to suggest a solid angle for his charm. As he talked on, I shoved the helmet into the closet, made an apologetic gesture to the poster ponies staring at me wide-eyed, and stepped back to join Thorn, Snap, and Flint, who’d emerged from the shadows.

Ruse could always tell when he had his subject eating out of his hand. It wasn’t long before the incubus offered a simpering smile and said, “All we need to know is when we can expect your boss to leave his