him. Ruse swept his arm toward the open door. “Ladies first.”
The other three stayed out of sight, but I assumed they hopped from the shadows along the street into the darker corners of the cab. We couldn’t see them, but from what I understood, they’d be able to see us just fine. I doubted Omen would eviscerate me in full view of at least one unknowing mortal, so this seemed like the perfect time to pay him back for his obvious disdain for my presence.
“Nicely done,” I said to Ruse as the cabbie hit the gas, and scooted over to grasp the silky fabric of his shirt. The incubus flashed a brilliant smile before meeting me halfway for the kiss I’d planned to claim.
The moment his mouth caught mine, it was definitely him doing the claiming. Holy mother of mistletoe, the guy could kiss. Sure, bodily pleasures were his stock and trade, but still, mark this one A with a thousand pluses.
For a few seconds, I forgot where we were. I forgot the onlooker I’d meant to piss off. I was lucky I remembered my name. My lips parted for Ruse’s sly tongue, and my body melted into his, my skin sparking where he trailed his fingers down my side.
Why had we put a hold on our very enjoyable nighttime escapades again? Oh yeah, because he’d broken his promise and used his paranormal voodoo to take a peek inside my head. But he’d told me why with an explanation I could believe, and he’d been on excellent behavior since. I should definitely look into rewarding that behavior soon, shouldn’t I, especially since the reward would be gratifying for both of us?
The driver gave a little cough, and that broke me out of the bliss enough to ease back. Heat crept over my cheeks. Ruse shot me another smile, but I’d swear even he looked a tad flushed. I gave myself a mental high five. If Omen was fuming right now, especially since he couldn’t actually tell us to knock it off, so much the better.
The cab took us to a derelict storage facility on the outskirts of the city. Most of the garage-style doors were dented and rusted, many of them half-open with only dust and litter scattering the cement floors beyond. But the place must have been at least somewhat operational, because the unit Omen strode straight to had its lock in place and no sign of deterioration. He jerked up the door to reveal…
“You drive a station wagon?” I said, unable to keep the incredulous note out of my voice.
Omen shot me a frigid glance and patted the boxy brown hood. “Betsy here is as reliable as they come, and when evading one’s enemies, that matters much more than glitz. She’s also got a glamour on her windows that gives a false impression of who’s inside, courtesy of a former fae associate of mine. I do also have a motorcycle, but that’s kept elsewhere.”
And it wouldn’t really lend itself to carting all five of us around town, at least not when the others were in physical form. But seriously—he’d named his car Betsy? I held in a snicker, but the sharpening of his glare suggested he’d noticed the twitch of my lips. I did have to admit that the glamour spell would be awfully useful for keeping the pricks we were up against off our backs.
Thorn peered into the darkness of the storage unit, where wooden crates and metal chests were stacked along the walls around the car. “This space could also serve as a place for Sorsha to sleep—out of the way, and—”
Omen spun to face him, cutting him off with a curt voice. “Don’t be ridiculous. Would you have her lead this group right to my stash? We shouldn’t linger here any longer than we already have.”
Thorn looked so stricken my throat constricted at the sight. It wasn’t an expression that belonged on a man of so much strength. “My apologies,” he said quickly. “I should have thought the matter through more carefully.”
“It seems you haven’t been very careful with your thinking in general these past few months, or I wouldn’t have spent most of those months acting as a lab rat for a coterie of vicious mortals. Why don’t you keep your mouth shut from now on and let me do the thinking?”
I hadn’t realized it was possible for the warrior’s face to fall even more. Bristling on his behalf, I lost control of my