Shadow Thief - Eva Chase Page 0,44

song was just starting. The incubus swayed my hand in time with its beat. “What does any of that matter? Humor me. You wouldn’t want me to have to resort to dancing with the mannequin, would you?”

Actually, I’d have kind of liked to see that, but the rhythm was starting to work its way into my limbs. He’d waited awfully patiently. “I suppose I could give you this dance. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Ruse grinned and spun me around, the motion taking my breath away for a moment. When he pulled me back to him, my free hand came to rest on his well-built chest. Gazing up into his roguishly handsome face with that dimple in his cheek made it hard for me to get my breath back.

I forced myself to step away from him, letting the beat carry my feet. It worked its way through me from toes to head. My arms lifted into the air, my waist twisted as I shimmied, and Ruse let out a little whoop of encouragement as he got down to boogie too.

We faced off against each other, sidled over to bump hips, and circled around each other as that song faded into the next. I was starting to work up a sweat, but the incubus didn’t look the slightest bit affected by the exertion. He grasped my hand again to draw me closer and dipped me like he had the mannequin earlier in the evening. A laugh spilled out of me.

Snap had been watching from the sidelines, but something about that moment appeared to spur him to action. He stepped away from the doorway and started to sway with the music too, his golden curls glinting under the overhead light. He didn’t know any dance moves I’d ever seen, but his body caught the rhythm with such fluid motion that it was hard not to watch him. His sinuous style came to him naturally enough to look graceful rather than awkward.

Ruse pumped his fist. “Now it’s a party!”

As if in agreement, Pickle scampered into the room. The little dragon hopped and flapped his clipped wings in a dance of his own as he darted around my feet. I scooped him up to set him on his favorite perch, keeping my hand by my shoulder to steady him as I twirled.

Thorn stood in the doorway as if on guard. His gaze followed us as we danced, but the typically grim set of his mouth suggested he didn’t approve of this kind of frivolity. But it wasn’t as if we had any leads we could be chasing down in the middle of the night, and frankly, I was a lot more likely to figure out this mystery if I wasn’t all tangled up with tension. A gal had to let loose every now and then to stay sane.

I swiveled, dipped, and sashayed around Ruse again. Pickle bobbed his head in time with the rhythm. Ruse caught me by the waist for a moment, tipping his head to press a quick kiss to the other side of my neck, and heat shot through my body that had nothing to do with the workout.

He let me go, and I turned toward Snap, mimicking his motions as well as I could. I probably looked like an idiot next to his godly form, but what the hell. The heat kept flowing through me—along with a weird tingling that was seeping into my mind. I’d have blamed it on desire if it hadn’t seemed to muddy my senses rather than heighten them.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear it, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. As my feet stumbled under me, Ruse caught me from behind. “Careful there,” he said in that chocolate tone, but my pulse had hiccupped for reasons that had nothing to do with his sex appeal.

“I think—” My tongue was stumbling too. A chill prickled through me under the haze. Something was definitely not right.

The room was spinning now—or was that me? I pressed the heel of my hand to my head, but the dizziness kept washing through me, the fog closing in on my thoughts. My stomach listed as if I were standing in a boat on rough waters.

“I don’t feel so good,” I managed to say, and then I lurched right over to hit the floor on my hands and knees.

16

Sorsha

The smack of my fall radiated through my hands and legs. My stomach heaved, and I almost lost whatever remained