Rohan kicked the door to his suite shut, but didn’t touch me. Moonlight slashed his features through the opened drapes. “You left.” I startled at the thickness in his voice.

I didn’t need to ask him when he meant. After his show. “I didn’t think I was needed.”

“You thought wrong.”

Today’s events had left me emotionally strung out and unable to understand his cryptic statement. I thought wrong because he needed me? Or because he’d needed someone to take the edge off the adrenaline coursing through him and I was the best option? Since he didn’t know how Lily felt at that point, since they hadn’t yet kissed again.

“I’m here now.” A bead of sweat trickled down my spine.

Rohan came toward me. His eyes glittered hotly enough to be made out even through the press of darkness. “Wanna see my view?”

A lick of heat unfurled in my gut. I managed a nod.

Rohan slid the glass door to his balcony open and stepped outside. He led me past the table and two chairs that took up most of the space to the solid front panel where he wrapped my hands around the metal railing on top. The bar pressed into my navel.

“Keep your hands on the railing.” His voice was a rough purr against my neck. “No matter what.”

Not a problem since I suspected I’d need the support.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” His voice ghosted over my ear. The city lay before us like a glittering jewel.

“Yes.” I could have demanded he speed things up. I often did, but tonight was about savoring and prolonging. Dawn would come soon enough.

We stood like that, an almost magnetic force vibrating between our bodies. I closed my eyes, not giving a damn about the view. I wanted my other senses to kick in to cocoon his touch around me, fill my veins with his scent.

Rohan pressed into every inch of me without a single point of contact. I was hyper-alert, attuned to the slightest nuance in his breathing over the distant wash of traffic and how the smallest shift in his position behind me sent a tiny current of air along my shoulder blades. He slid his arms around me and it was almost overwhelming. Resting his head on my shoulder, he popped the button on my jeans, tugging them down.

He traced the curve of my ass. “I may have been hasty in dissing this thong.”

“Told you.” I gripped the railing tighter, its metal a weighty curve in my palm. A breeze whispered against the front of my shirt, teasing my nipples into even stiffer peaks.

“But it has to go.” He cut it free, slipping it off from behind, running the fabric over my clit. Glorious friction against my growing wetness.

I gasped. A sugary syrup of desire slid through my bones.

He removed his hands and I heard his belt unbuckling. Heard a rustle of foil.

“Widen your legs.”

My chest rose and fell in ragged breaths. Strung tight with anticipation, I did as I was told. With a single thrust, Rohan slid inside me. My head fell forward.

“Enjoy the view, Nava.” He nipped my shoulder. “I am.” His hands flattened on the railing on either side of me, trapping me as much as the gentle rhythm of his hips.

My breasts were heavy. Cuntessa clamored for attention, but I didn’t remove my hands from the rails. The deliciousness building inside me was enough of a reason to hold off.

The energy crackling off my skin wasn’t my magic but an invisible force licking and dancing between us. I offered no resistance, happy to let it spark higher. To consume me.

Of course, when Rohan reached around to stroke my clit, I didn’t exactly complain. “Five floors isn’t that high up,” he said. “Someone must see what we’re doing here.” He jerked his hips, my own hitting the panel wall with a rhythmic thumping. The movement a dead giveaway to anyone watching us. “See me fucking you.”

My eyes snapped open and I twisted around so I could see that too, see the truth of us reflected in his expression. It was fierce and gorgeous.

He lifted his hand from my clit and sucked his finger into his mouth. “See me tasting you,” he said. I whimpered at the blatant carnality. He chuckled. “I love how easy it is to get you aroused.” He teased Cuntessa once more.

Tonight was the end of us and I’d hold nothing back. I slammed my hips back against him. “Then let them see you really fucking me.”

Rohan pulled out of me. “Inside,” he growled.

I spun to face him. He took my hand, laying it against his cheek. “Inside,” he repeated in a softer voice.

His washboard abs clenched as he bent over to retrieve the clothing we’d shed so far, obscuring the thin line of dark hair running down to his pelvis. I looked my fill before leaving the balcony.

Once inside, I finished stripping while Rohan ran the shower for us. He nudged me toward the roomy stall, his still-hard cock pointing the way.

Did he sense this was our last time together?

I stepped under the hot spray to combat the twist of my stomach. Already tightly coiled, the heat of the shower and the massaging circles of his hands as he lathered me up wound me into a near delirium. What I’d forgotten about shower sex though, was that it kind of sucked. I kept being jostled into the cold air. Twice Rohan whacked his skull on the shower head. Half the time, the water sluiced down on us like drowned rats.

This was not doing it for me so I dropped to my knees, the river rock on the shower floor pebbling my skin. What I was about to do would turn me on as much as it did him. Except, I hesitated, seeing Poppy in this exact same position.

Rohan tilted my chin up to face him, understanding written clear on his features. “Nava–” I shook my head, banishing her from this moment. Sincerity and sorrow shone out of his eyes.

I liked going down on him and I wasn’t about to let anything, or anyone, wreck that. Not on our final night together. I ripped off the condom, tossing it out onto the floor, then took Rohan’s thick length into my mouth, sucking gently on the head of his cock, licking off the salty pre-cum.

He sighed, bracing one hand against the sandstone shower tiles.

I swirled my tongue over the tip before intensifying the pressure, taking in more of him.

Rohan hissed, his fingers threading into my hair. His dilated pupils burned with an unholy intensity. “Touch yourself,” he ordered.

Happily. I slid my fingers over my clit with aching slowness. Rohan watched me with darkening eyes.

I sucked his balls into my mouth. He gripped my hair tighter, his hips starting to rock. He white-knuckled the safety bar mounted to the wall, his harsh groans almost swallowed by the sound of the spray. His cock jerked, hardened further.

I licked my way up the length of his dick.

Rohan gave a desperate wanton moan that made my blood run hot.

“Bed.” It was my turn to give orders.

The shower was abandoned in haste.

He stretched himself out dead center on the mattress. Grinning, naked, and stroking himself. Absolute sin on pure white sheets. I forgot how to breathe. “How do you want it?” he asked. “We can do anything we’ve ever done before.” A mischievous glint lit his eyes. “Or try something new.”

Déja vu hit hard at the sight of Rohan once again offering himself to me. The first time, in my hotel room, I’d hesitated, suspicious of his motives. Now I failed to answer for an entirely different reason. My imagination was up to the challenge. My emotions weren’t. “I want to quit thinking.”

He tilted his head, studying me for a moment with a cat-like curiosity. “Then lay on your back.” The darkness in his voice made me shudder.

Rohan stretched out on top of me, pressing me into the mattress and the cloudlike softness of a billion thread count sheets. I ran my foot along his calf, his toes flexing at my touch. He pressed hot kisses down my neck and along my collar bone, then sucked my tit into his mouth, his teeth scraping along my sensitive skin.

I arched up under him.

Rohan caressed every inch of my body, whispering my name between breaths. I tried to burn this moment into my brain: the slight rasp of his voice when he was aroused, the scratch of his stubble when he turned his cheek to my belly, the heavy warmth of his hands cradling me like I was his birthday present. I willed myself to focus on the heat spreading like wildfire with every touch and not the tightness in my chest.

He licked my clit and I bucked off the bed. “Nicely played, Snowflake.”

“Not everything between us is a game.” Another lick. The delightful sound of a second condom package opening.

“Isn’t it?”

He crawled up my body, pinning my hands over my head as he rocked against me. Not yet inside. “Is it a game how badly I want you?”

I dug my heels into the blankets. The heavy ache between my legs grew. “I don’t know.”

Rohan sank bank onto his calves, jerking my legs up to ninety degrees as he planted himself deep inside me. “Does this feel like a game?” He gripped my ass, tilting my hips up, filling me more completely.

My legs trembled. Rohan adjusted them so they’d rest against his chest. He sucked my toe into his mouth, his hand sliding along my calf with a possessive glide. “It’s not,” he said, when I didn’t answer.

It didn’t make it real though, either. Still, he’d been honest and he was deeper inside me, connected more intimately than anyone had ever been. He deserved honesty, too. I met his eyes. “I don’t want to be alone in the dark either.”

He groaned helplessly and surged up against me. His fingers biting into my hips, he claimed me. Strong. Lethal. Fucking ruthless.

We’d both been ruthless with each other. It amped my desire and broke my heart.

I writhed in sheer wanton abandonment as he fucked me into the mattress. Still-damp strands plastered to my face. The blood roared in my veins, the emptiness I’d clung to all day blown away by the storm raging inside me, bringing with it impending bliss.

Our bodies were fever hot. A primordial fire, all-consuming. I fell into the tensing and clenching of my core. Into that fine edge of pleasure and pain that only Rohan properly satisfied.

He gave a wicked groan and called my name, his orgasm triggering my own. These mutual orgasms were a recurrence between us that bewildered, delighted, and terrified me in equal measure. Stars danced under my closed lids, my body shuddering, then slowing to stillness. He fell against me and kissed my forehead. The lazy smile he gave me was my personal Aurora Borealis, wondrous, mysterious, and lighting up my world. Anything Samson had ever made me feel, even with all his sorcery, had been nothing in comparison.

I craved Rohan again so badly it physically hurt. I balled my hands into the mattress.

He slid his hands around my back, cradling me to him before reaching past me to pull the covers up over us.

“You want me to stay?”

He nudged his leg between mine. “Back to thinking,” he chided. His arms tightened around me. I took it as a yes.

The first time we woke up, we were a tangle of limbs that slid into a sleepy lazy fuck. The second time, Rohan woke up first but given what he was doing with his tongue, I didn’t sleep much longer.

The third time, I woke up before him, watching him sleep on his stomach. Dawn was breaking, a soft hazy light infusing the room. Rohan’s hair had fallen into his eyes, and one arm was thrown off the bed. The blanket had ridden down, a spill of cloth bunching at the base of his spine. I traced a finger over his heart tattoo on his bicep, memorizing the lines of his muscles. Sure, I’d see him shirtless again when we trained, but not in bed like this. I’d be able to fight him, but I’d never again be allowed this gentleness.

I moved my hand up his arm, along his shoulders, my fingers ghosting over his body. Trailing my hand down to his Kshatriya tattoo on his back, I placed my hand against his skin, feeling the soft rise and fall of his breathing under my palm as he slept.

Even if I’d considered a relationship with him for a second, I wasn’t the one for him. It was one thing for him to want me in the dark, in the dead of night, but I saw how he looked at Lily. He needed the light she brought him. I wasn’t capable of that, and even if I was or I wanted it, I had enough on my plate with the demon hunting gig. No, I had no desire to be Rohan’s sun.

He knew it, too. Rohan hadn’t tried to kiss me, hadn’t done anything last night except give me exactly what I’d wanted. I brushed a lock of hair off of his face, smoothing it away.

Good-bye, Snowflake.

I pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades, my vision blurring.

Rohan opened his eyes, scrunching up his face against the sunlight streaming into the room. “Quite the workout last night.”

Blinking to get rid of any telltale moisture, I pulled the blanket up my chest. “I totally Debbie Allen’d you.”

“Huh?”

“Made you start paying. In sweat.”

For a second I didn’t think he’d gotten my bad Fame joke, but then he laughed, smacking me with a pillow. “That’s terrible.” His smile worked its way into the cracks of my soul, warming me up like patches of sunshine that I wanted to curl up around.

I scrambled out of bed.

Rohan didn’t notice my haste. He sat up, scratching his chest. “There’s a word for people like you.”

I hopped around the bedroom searching for my clothes. “Incredible?”

“Not what I was thinking.” He picked up his phone and frowned. “A dozen Rasha out tracking and no sign of Samson yet. And the production office isn’t answering.”

I considered the problem as I got dressed. “Anya mentioned some other commitment Samson had. He might be hiding in plain sight.” I found my phone and called her.

She answered, sounding harried. “Hello?”

“Anya, hi. It’s Lolita.” I couldn’t wait to be rid of that name. “Sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you knew where Samson was today?”

“I’m with him right now. You want to talk to him?”

I gave Rohan a thumbs up that my hunch had paid off. “No. I, uh, want to surprise him. Where are you?”

“A very drafty warehouse. He’s doing a photo shoot with Poppy.”

A lot of people around. It might be tough to lure him away. “Is he up to anything later?”

“One sec.” I heard paper rustling. Her ever-present clipboard. “Yeah. He has a radio interview.”

I got the interview time and station address, thanked her and hung up. Rohan applauded me. “Work smart, not hard,” I said. I sat down on the edge of my bed to put on my boots, while Rohan texted Drio to set a guard on Samson.

I checked my phone, even called in to my room for messages, but there was nothing from Dr. Gelman.

“Where are you going?” Rohan was back in Rasha mode.

I chewed on my bottom lip. “You don’t need me right now, do you? We can’t get to Samson until later.”

“You’re not going anywhere alone.”

“Why not?”

Rohan swung his feet onto the ground, wrapping the sheet low on his hips. “Samson knows we’re Rasha. Buddy system until he’s dead.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I have an uneasy feeling.”

“I have an uneasy feeling, too. About Dr. Gelman. Will you come with me to make sure she’s safe?”

“Yeah. Give me ten minutes.” He grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom.

I used those ten minutes to phone Leo, calling from the hotel phone instead of mine. Gelman had me paranoid about who might be listening in.

Leo answered on the first ring.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Me too. I had no right to go off on you like that.”

“It’s over now, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Aw, babe. What did he say?”

I listened to make sure Rohan was still in the shower. “No words necessary.” Yeah, I’d chickened out of actually saying it, but after last night it seemed apparent. “Listen, I’ve got a favor to ask.”

“Shoot.”

I explained about Dr. Gelman phoning on Saturday. “If I’m not back yet, you’ll need to be home at the same time for the next few days until she and I connect.” I dug around in my purse for a spare elastic and bobby pins to pull my hair back.

Leo checked her schedule and then assured me it wouldn’t be a problem.

“You going to be okay?” she asked.

I scraped some loose strands back. “Sure.” At least until the first time I saw Lily and Rohan together. “You know me. Besides, now we can go trolling for boys together.” She didn’t answer. “Unless of course you’ve caught one?”

“Catch and release, but what a spectacular expedition.”

“Do tell.” I twisted my ponytail into the elastic band.

“Kane and I bonded,” she said meaningfully.

I stabbed my head with a bobby pin. “Huh? But he…? What about Ari?” I couldn’t figure out which part of her statement to get more indignant over.

She snorted. “I went out with Kane and Ari. Drinks were had. Kane decided he loved me.”

“Bitch. I’m his love bug.”

“Tough titties. You’ve been displaced. He introduced me to a friend of his.”

“Who?”

The fridge open and shut on her end. “A Lucas, Marcus, someone. Maybe it was Jason. What’s important is that I could pick his manaconda out of a police line-up.”

“Never use that word again.” I tightened my ponytail. “How were my boys?”

“Ari is playing hard-to-get. He’s got game. When did that happen?”

“No idea. But it’s about time.”

Rohan came out of the shower, hair damp, but dressed and ready to go.

“Gotta run. Schmugs, babe.”

“Schmugs,” she said and hung up.

“Schmugs?” Rohan asked.

“Leo. It’s an old goblin word for good-bye.”

“You are so full of shit,” he said.

“Good thing I’m cute. Come on, Rasha, let’s go make sure Gelman’s all right.”

* * *

Her trashed hotel room and signs of struggle proved that nothing was all right. I sank onto the bed with a low moan. “This is my fault.”

Rohan sat down beside me. “Nava, we don’t even know what this is. There could be any number of explanations for what happened. Gelman is a witch. Who knows what else she was involved in? You don’t know much about her.”

“You’re wrong. This was on me.” I walked over to the window, fingering the torn curtain dangling precariously from the broken rod to peer outside, as if I’d catch her down on the street strolling back to the hotel without a care in the world. When I released the fabric, my hand was sticky. I grabbed the edge, twisting the curtain into the light.

“Oh.” The fabric glistened with a familiar silver substance. It trailed down the wall, hardening in a small pool on the carpet.

Rohan caught me before my knees hit the ground. “What?” He inhaled in a hiss when he saw the secretion.

I looked at him bleakly. “The Brotherhood is using demons.”