Unable to sleep for over an hour, Levi rolled out of bed in slow motion. Behind him, Cary slept on her belly with one arm stretched out across the mattress and the sheets scrunched into a mess across her sexy ass. The idea of climbing back in alongside her and taking her warm body into his arms made his palms tingle.

His pulse spiked each time their paths crossed. It suited him fine to be her pleasure machine if that was all she wanted. He just wished his stomach wouldn’t knot up each time Cary came to mind. The way she never backed down from a fight to protect innocents, the passion of wiping the streets clean of demons, and the softness in her voice whenever she said his name. She could ask him to do anything, and he’d probably jump. Cary wasn’t the kind of girl to push, so he’d do this softly and hope she felt safe enough around him to ask for help. He needed another way to prod her without scaring her away. But was more than a fling with Cary possible? He had no idea how to broach the topic, fearing she’d bolt for good.

He shoved his dilemma to the farthest regions of his brain, unprepared to deal with not having his feelings reciprocated. Hell, his thoughts sounded like a fucking teenager, so what would she think of him?

The moonlight streamed through the window and threw a silvery blue hue across Cary’s sharp shoulder blades, trailing down the dip of her lower back. He had no idea what kind of spell she’d cast over him. Her sensual scent still lingered in his nostrils. He stretched his arms into the air. She was incredible, and God, he could have sex with her every day for the rest of his life.

His minx had two orgasms in the shower, and while he had intended to go for another round, she’d fallen asleep the moment she hit the bed. Fair enough. They’d both had a horrid night and sex helped put that aside… Or at least it should have.

He made his way toward his sofa, scratching an itch over the tattoo just below his collarbone.

From what he’d heard, Cary had been in the hunting business longer than him, even if she’d only worked for Argos for just several months. Yet she turned down the protective ink, used bare fists instead of magicked weapons, and always hunted alone. Why would she choose the toughest path? Stubbornness? Maybe, but he was convinced it had something to do with her past.

Settling onto the sofa, with his feet up on the coffee table, Levi laced his hands behind his head and focused on shutting down his over-active mind… with no success. Memories of Cary at the mercy of the speck demon with the spirit board plagued him. They burned a hole through his mind. Tonight, she could have been taken? Gone forever, just like that.

Wiping sweat from his forehead, he shifted in his seat.

Too many inconsistencies. Cary seemed to have no idea about the demons’ strange behavior, either. The possibility that the two of them couldn't figure out what was happening made him worry even more.

His answer lay in paying Argos a visit and grilling them about tonight. Wouldn’t be the first time he questioned them, but they never gave him answers, not even how much he owed them to pay off his debt. They had never come out and told him. Well, one way or another, he was going to get his answers to all of it.

He clenched his teeth. Brent still had Marcos’ dog tags, that he’d tried to steal back from them. Brent didn’t give a fuck about what those tags meant to Levi or the memory of losing his best friend. Until he paid Brent his debt, Levi remained his bitch, and the dog tags were a tangible reminder.

Releasing a deep exhale, Levi climbed to his feet. This was why he couldn’t sleep. He over-thought everything.

Cary’s heavy breathing called him to her side. He strolled over to the window near the bed, glancing down at the dark road. A car drove past beneath the street lights and out of sight. He spotted a silhouette moving in the shadows opposite the closed storefronts, but couldn't make it out in the darkness.

Levi’s pulse sped up. A demon? He scratched his chest again.

The figure rushing down a side alley hadn’t radiated an aura. Plenty of pubs and clubs in the area spat out drunks during these hours of night, so it was probably nothing. With hardly any sleep, his mind created monsters from thin air. He released a breath he’d forgotten he was holding onto.

Creaking behind him made him spun around. Cary had rolled onto her back, her scrumptious breasts on full display. The memory of tasting them and flicking her tight nipples got him hard in a moment. Stepping closer to the bed, he stared down at the only girl he’d spend night after night with once he got his crap together and once he convinced her he was the right guy. Until then, the idea of her sat like a fresh scar across his thoughts, tender and refusing to completely heal.

Don’t kid yourself, Levi. She doesn’t want you.

He reached for the sheet around her waist and pulled it to her shoulders, covering her. Then he grabbed his laptop from the bedside table and returned to the couch. Argos wasn’t the only avenue for demon intel. He kept in touch with a few other rogue hunters, just in case. He owed two of them favors, and asking for help would mean owing them even more, but fuck that. Argos wouldn’t easily spill the beans, so he’d email all four hunters and see what they said.

If a new type of jumper prowled the streets, the kind that stayed outside a human body for more than six seconds, they would be all over it.

Argos would be too, and maybe, Levi realized, trading that information could be worth more than he owed.