“Tell me what’s going on.”

Alek’s voice slid over Lily’s heightened senses, soothing and thrilling at the same time. Her breath still fast from her sprint, from the panic and adrenaline pumping through her, she swayed as he pulled her to a stop.

“Talk to me, tsvetochek.”

“I—I killed him.” Her throat felt so raw, it hurt to speak.

He laid both hands on her shoulders. “So you can live. It’s not like you—”

She shook her head hard. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Avoiding his eyes, she studied the strong column of his neck, the cords of muscles and sinew that were so quintessentially male. So lickable. Without thinking—can’t start thinking, that’s dangerous—she slid one hand up and stroked over the spot where his neck met his shoulder. His demon aura flared, and his muscles went rigid at her touch. She tunneled her fingers into his hair, relishing the silken feel of it.

She needed this. Right now. Right here. To lose herself in him. To find a counterpoint to the death she just dealt, a light to the darkness within. She caressed his neck, reveled in the heat and male strength underneath her fingers.

He closed his eyes and uttered a strangled sound. “Lilichka.” He tightened his grip on her waist. “Stop this, or…”

Her focus was glued to his mouth. “Or?”

He pulled her closer and leaned in, nipping at her earlobe. “There’s only so much gentleman in me. Keep this up, and all bets are off.”

His deep voice sent a pleasant shiver down her spine, curled her toes. She turned her face toward his. Power sparked in the space between them. His breath—hot, branding—brushed against her lips, but he held back, his muscles taught, his aura vibrating with tension.

“Alek,” she whispered against the temptation of his mouth. Closing the inch between them, she licked over his lower lip.

His eyes went demon, an explosion of fire on midnight sky. With a groan that was half growl, he responded. And, oh, he began by unleashing a streak of dominance that had her melting inside.

One of his hands shot into her hair, tangled in the strands, and pulled hard enough to hurt deliciously good while his mouth crashed down on hers. His tongue demanded entrance, and she melted with eagerness to grant it. He licked at her, a hint of teeth grazing her tongue. The sensations—his grip on her hair, the heat of his kiss, his body pressing against hers—sparked a chain reaction of pleasure inside her, all the way down to the aching, needy spot between her thighs.

Yes.

She wanted to drown in him. Acting on an impulse, she moved one hand down his front, cupped him over his jeans. He groaned and pushed into her touch, deepening the kiss. The urge to stroke that delicious hardness without the barrier of clothing made her tremble. She was fumbling with his belt buckle when he tsked and whirled her around so her back was to his front.

“Not fair,” she muttered.

All further protest from her ended in a moan as he slid his hand under her shirt, under the sports bra, and up to her breast to tweak her erect nipple. His lips feathered over the curve of her neck, and she tilted her head and rested it against his shoulder to give him better access. He lightly bit the sensitive skin, then licked over it, setting her aflame.

Desire pulsed through her, and she rubbed against him, the feel of his erection against her lower back ratcheting up her need. He kneaded her breast with just the right amount of roughness and demand to make what was left of her thoughts dissolve in a storm of sensation.

“Please.” The hoarse word fell from her lips, carrying all the sexual urgency that wrecked her. “I need—”

“This?” He flicked open her jeans and then his hand glided into her panties, his fingers finding and parting her swollen flesh.

“Oh gods, yes…” Her eyelids fluttered shut, and she surrendered to the rush of sweetest pleasure at his intimate caress.

He pushed two fingers inside her, and she gasped at the erotic intrusion. So welcome, so wickedly good. Pumping once, twice, he coated his fingers in her wetness and then used that to circle and tease her clit. Soon her breath came in ragged pants and she reached behind her to hold on to him, because no way could she have remained standing on her own, seeing as he’d turned her legs to rubber with his skillful touch.

“I love how wet you are for me,” he murmured in her ear. “How responsive.”

As if to demonstrate his point, he pushed his fingers into her again, curled them up to stroke over an area that made her moan and shiver.

He kissed her neck, grazed his teeth over her hypersensitive skin there. “I want to see you shatter. I want to feel you clench around my fingers.” He pressed the heel of his hand against her clit, rubbed it hard while thrusting three fingers inside her. “Let go, Lilichka.”

She sucked in air, sexual tension and need curling tighter and tighter—and then her climax razed her like a firestorm. All air left her on a moan, while wave after wave of purest bliss coursed through her.

Trembling inside and out with the best kind of come-down, she slackened. He slung one arm around her waist, caught her before she slid to the ground.

“I’ve got you.” The timbre of his voice was the sort of husky that inspired feminine sighs and sinful fantasies.

Her pulse slowed to a normal level. The sensual haze in her brain lifted, and she found herself on a hiking path in a deserted forest at night, held up by a male demon who was as wickedly appealing as he was trouble.

She cleared her throat and disentangled herself from his embrace. Turning away from him, she busied herself with fastening her jeans and adjusting her bra and top.

“Lily.” His voice was pitched low, almost gentle.

“Hm?” That top was really stubborn. Just didn’t want to be righted.

“Look at me.”

She paused in her fidgeting, sighed, and—skin tight with nerves—faced him. There was a harshness about his expression, tension whispering through his aura. Flecks of red flared in his silver-gold eyes.

“Don’t run,” he said.

She blinked. “I’m not running.” Waving at herself, she added, “Still as a statue.”

“You know what I mean.”

He came closer, gaze fixed on hers with the kind of attention the tiger paid the deer.

“You don’t need to retreat from this.” He gestured between them. “From us.”

Taking one more step, he closed the remaining distance separating them. His heat brushed her skin. His scent curled around her, a most insidious caress.

“Whatever is going on right now in here—” he tapped a finger against her temple, then used that same finger to circle her ear, causing traitorous shivers down to her toes “—stop it. Don’t overthink this. Let’s take things as they come and see where we end up.”

She bit her lip. “I shouldn’t have let you—we shouldn’t have—” Turning away from him, she rubbed both hands over her face, guilt a sour taste in her mouth. “This was a mistake, and I’m sorry I got your hopes up. I didn’t mean to lead you on.”

“Hey.” He took her hand, tugged until she faced him again. “Back up a second, there. You’re not leading me on. I know what I’m getting into. You don’t want to mate with me—fine. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy each other for however long this’ll last. I’m attracted to you. You’re attracted to me. Let’s just go with that and have fun.”

She shot him a dubious glance from underneath her lashes. “So you changed your mind? You don’t want me to mate with you anymore?”

“Didn’t say that.” The sly smile he sent her stirred a low hum in her nether regions. “I’m simply opportunist enough to take what I can get.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to start a casual thing when you want more than that.”

“Are you worried about breaking my fragile heart, Lilichka?” His tone was soft, so soft, but his expression held thunder, his question a dangerous warning.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

He prowled closer to her, backing her up against a tree. “I’ll take my chances.”

“This is unfair to you.” A whisper in the dark, her eyes once more riveted to his mouth. Her lips tingled with the sensual memory of what that mouth felt like while it ravished hers.

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

Their breaths mingled in the night air. Desire rekindled in her lower belly. He placed a hand on each side of her head, caging her in. Fire-streaked obsidian invaded the silver-gold of his eyes. She parted her lips—

Alek gasped and stumbled back, clutching his throat. Witch magic sparked in the night. Again? What the hell? Lily spun toward their attacker—and jerked to a halt.

Merle MacKenna, her best friend since kindergarten, the one person she trusted most beside her twin, emerged from the shadows, hand stretched out in front of her, keeping Alek in a magical chokehold.

* * *

The magic burned Alek’s skin, and he clawed at his throat, trying in vain to dislodge the invisible vise choking him. He stared at Lily’s stricken face as she recognized who had attacked him. The MacKenna witch, older sister to Maeve, whom he’d seen many times over the past few months while watching Arawn’s future asset.

“Merle,” Lily ground out, her voice shaking, “stop. Please.”

The witch’s eyes darted from Lily to Alek and back again. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? What did he do to you?”

Lily exhaled, her aura wavering with relief. “I’m fine. Let him go, please. He’s with me.”

Merle cast a skeptical look at Alek, not releasing the magical hold she had on him. He uttered a strangled sound at the invisible fire still licking over his skin.

“Merle,” a deep voice said from the dark behind the witch, and the next second a male bluotezzer demon walked into view. Rhun leaned close to his mate and muttered in her ear—though still loud enough that both Alek and Lily could hear— “Going by their scent, they’re on very friendly terms, if you catch my drift.” He accentuated the word friendly with air quotes and a wink.

“Oh.” Merle lowered her hand a little. She glanced back and forth between Alek and Lily again, and then her eyes widened. “Oh.” The light skin of her face flushed a blazing red. With a flick of her hand a muttered word, she released Alek from her spell.

Sucking in huge lungfuls of air, Alek massaged his neck. The magical burn receded.

Rhun smirked, glancing back and forth between Alek and Lily. “Hope we didn’t interrupt anything?”

Lily sported an adorable blush of her own as she cleared her throat. “This is Alek. He’s helping me…deal with…with being…” She broke off, her voice cracking.

“Oh, honey.” Merle was at her side in a second, enfolding Lily in a hug. They remained locked for a long moment, exchanging whispered words between what sounded suspiciously like sobs.

Alek shifted uncomfortably and caught Rhun fidgeting as well. Their eyes met over the huddling females. Alek gave a slow nod. Rhun repeated the gesture. One demon acknowledging another.

“So,” Alek said. “How did you find us?”

“I tracked you.”

Ah, yes. Bluotezzer demons had the uncanny ability to trace the energy of other demons. But— “From where?”

“The place where Lily attacked the witch.”

Shit. If news of it had already spread…

Merle and Lily broke apart, and Lily exhaled on a shudder. “The others know?”

Merle wouldn’t meet her best friend’s eyes. “Maybe we should sit down for this. Isn’t there a picnic area up ahead?”

“What is it?” Lily’s aura vibrated with trepidation.

“Well,” Rhun said conversationally, “usually it’s a designated area with tables and benches where hikers can sit down and eat.”

Merle shot him a glare that would have shriveled many a fine male, and walked farther down the trail. Rhun followed, and Lily glanced at Alek, nodding for him to come along. At the picnic area, Merle sat on the bench while Lily perched on the table, her feet on the seat below. Rhun stood behind Merle and crossed his arms, and Alek decided to take up a position close to Lily, leaning against the table with his hip. His arm brushed against Lily’s shoulder, and she pressed ever-so-lightly against him. That reaction, however small and probably unconscious, infused his blood with delight.

“How is Selene?” Lily asked.

“Her nose was broken, but Juneau healed her. No permanent damage.”

Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. What looked like shame and self-recrimination blanketed her aura like a shroud. “Okay,” she muttered, “on a scale of one to John McClane, how fucked am I?”

Merle blew out a breath. “You’re outlawed.”

All color left Lily’s face. “The fuck?”

What Merle told them next raised Alek’s hackles, partly in a visceral reaction to Lily’s shock and devastation that no amount of energy control could hide, and which chafed at his heart, but mostly in outrage on Lily’s behalf at how she was being treated by her own.

“How is this possible?” he asked, his voice raw from the anger biting at him. “Aren’t these your own people we’re talking about? How come the witch community is ready to pile on Lily like this? Aren’t you supposed to stick together?”

Merle shook her head, sky-blue eyes filled with shadows. “Juneau has been fuming ever since I sneaked Rhun in under her nose. It never did sit right with her that I didn’t bind him in the Shadows again, and she’s been looking for a way to pay me back for finding that legal loophole to keep him around as my husband.”

“It’s not just that, though,” Lily spoke up, and cleared her throat, trying so obviously to keep herself together. “Merle fighting for—and winning—Rhun’s freedom kicked off a shift in thinking for some of the witch families in the community. My mom told me about the change in attitude among some of the Elders. There’s now the notion that, maybe, just maybe, we should differentiate more between types of demons and not assume they’re all evil.” She looked at him with a self-conscious glint in her eyes, probably aware of how she’d held quite a few misconceptions about demons herself when she met him.

Understanding dawned on Alek. “And Juneau doesn’t agree with that notion.”

“That’s a mild way of putting it.” Merle grimaced. “She’s grown more and more radical in her stance. She keeps rallying support for her views, and never fails to remind every witch she talks to that accepting even one demon among them is a slippery slope, and sure to be the beginning of the end.”

Alek met Merle’s eyes. “So this is a political issue.”

Merle nodded. “It’s not really about Lily. Juneau wants to make a point. And she has no problem with collateral damage.” She looked at her best friend. “There are others who oppose Juneau and her charges against you, but not enough to sway the vote or start an open conflict with Juneau.”

Lily clenched her jaw and nodded. “You haven’t asked me yet if I really did attack Selene.” She glanced at Merle for a second, then away again.

“Because it’s secondary,” Merle said softly. “Whatever happened, I’ve got your back. Like you had mine when Maeve was kidnapped and I went against the Elders.”

Lily stared down at her knees. “It’s true. I jumped on her. She was going to kill Alek.”

Both Merle and Rhun looked at him then, an assessing curiosity in their eyes.

“So,” Rhun said, tilting his head at Alek, “we know your name, and that the two of you are chummy, but I seem to have missed the tale of how you met.”

Lily filled them in, explaining what they knew so far about how Lily had been turned—which wasn’t much—and the ways Alek had helped her, making him sound like a fucking hero. Which let him inwardly preen like a foolish peacock, while he kept up the facade of unfazed, cool male, nodding slowly here and there. Lily smoothly left out the details of becoming intimate, not that Merle and Rhun hadn’t already read between the lines and filled in those blanks.

But at the mention of Alek’s association with Arawn, an almost visible wave of animosity rolled out from both Merle and her demon husband. Merle sat up straighter, eying him with wariness, while Rhun shifted closer to his mate.

Alek held up his hands, palms out. “Chill. I don’t mean harm to either of you, and right now I don’t represent anyone but myself.”

“But that can change,” Merle said, her tone cooler than before. “Your allegiance is to Arawn. Forgive me if I am a bit bristly about the fact you’re working for the guy who plans to enslave my baby sister.”

“Not to mention,” Rhun added with a softness at odds with the threatening darkness in his eyes, “that this same guy is currently using up Merle’s power for trivial shit, all the while laughing at her, as if she’s his own personal jester.”

Alek clenched his jaw, fighting down the surge of annoyance at being associated with Arawn’s jerktastic behavior. “Fair enough. Just so you know, I have no love to spare for Arawn either, and I’ll be more than happy to leave his service in a month’s time.”

That bit of information seemed to calm some of the anger flowing his way from Merle and Rhun. Still giving him a little side-eye, Merle dug in her purse and handed something to Lily.

“Your cell phone,” she said. “I thought you might want to have this.”

“Thanks.” Lily cradled the device in her hands, her face shadowing. “So you’ve seen Baz? How…is he?”

“Worried about you.” She grasped one of Lily’s hands. “Your mom, too. They’ve been going crazy, not knowing what’s going on with you. After you ran away last night, Hazel cast a locator spell to find you, but it failed…”

Lily gasped. When Alek frowned at her reaction, she explained softly, “Usually, the only time a spell like that doesn’t work is if the person you’re looking for is dead.” She closed her eyes for a moment, her face carved with anguish. “My family thought I had died.”

“Not just your family.” Merle’s voice was low, humming with the sorrow she must have felt. “Until the Elder meeting and Juneau’s account of your attack on Selene, none of us knew you were still alive. And then the only thing we knew was that you’d gone rogue and had been snatched away by some demon.” At the last word, she glanced at Alek. “That’s why I attacked you earlier. I thought you’d kidnapped Lily.”

And in light of her experience with demons abducting her loved ones, her reaction was more than understandable. “No hard feelings,” he told her.

Merle nodded once, then faced Lily again. “I know you feel guilty for what you did to Baz, but I really think you should talk to him. And your mom.”

“Well,” Lily said, “considering I’ve got a huge fucking target painted to my back, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go anywhere close to home right now.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past Juneau to have staked out your house. Mine, too, probably.” Merle shifted on the bench. “Which brings up the question where you’re staying until we sort this out. I talked to Rhun, and he can ask Bahram if maybe—”

“She can stay with me.” Alek stepped closer to the table, every primal instinct in him roaring at the thought of Lily staying with another male—an incubus, to boot.

Merle narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but he added, “I can hide her. I’m a demon, the witches don’t know me, I’ve got no connection to you that they know of, and there’s little chance she’ll be found at my place.” He caught Lily’s gaze. “My offer still stands. I’ll help you, no strings attached.”

She seemed to consider this, her indigo eyes thoughtful. “I’ll need to find the demon who shot me with that dart, so we can get to the bottom of this and reverse whatever he did to me.”

The sting in his chest was instinctual, the idea of her turning back into a witch cutting him deep. He pushed that hurt down as best he could, and masked the pain he knew would show in his energy pattern. He needed more time to win her heart, to make her fall for him to the point where she’d want to stay demon…for him.

“Even more reason to stick with me,” he told her, his voice projecting a calm he didn’t feel. “The jerk who shot you is a pranagraha. Who better than one of his own to help you hunt him down? I know the places our kind likes to hang out, I’ve got resources you guys don’t have access to. Stay with me, and I’ll help you look for him.” Not that he actually wanted to find the guy, but if it meant he got more time with Lily, he’d do it.

She slowly nodded. “No strings attached, right?”

“Right.” He ignored the yearning in his heart. Couldn’t let her know how much he wanted those strings.

“All right.” Lily jumped off the table. “Merle, can you look in your books for any precedent for this happening? What are the chances of reversing whatever it is?”

The ginger-haired witch regarded her for a moment, a crease building between her brows. “If this is magic-born, I’ve never seen anything like it. From what I can feel, there’s nothing left of you that is witch. You seem to have completely turned into a demon.”

Rhun nodded. “Your energy pattern is uniquely demon. I could trace you.”

“And you’ve got all the qualities and attributes of a pranagraha,” Alek added. “You feel like one to me.”

A tremor went through Lily’s aura, but she nonchalantly waved her hand. “All right, I think we’ve established I’m eligible to enter demon pageants and all.” She looked at Merle. “Can you fix this?”

You don’t need to be fixed. Alek bit back that response. Lily would skewer him for it, however true it was for him. If she’d been beautiful before, she was glorious as a demon female. An undercurrent of lethal prowess hummed in her aura, her creamy skin practically glowed in the moonlight, and the dark blue of her eyes seemed to have ripened and deepened after her transition, to resemble a particular shade he’d never seen in human eyes.

He wanted her more now than ever before, and he’d love for her to see herself the way he did.

“Well, if it is magic,” Merle broke in Alek’s thoughts, “then—in theory—there should be a counter-spell. There’s always a way to reverse a charm, the trick is finding out how. If it’s some kind of established magic, we should be able to find it in the books, and possibly a cure, too. I can’t make any promises, Lil, but I’ll search everywhere…and you know me. No stone unturned and all.”

“Thanks.”

“Is there anything more you remember about the attack or the attacker? Any detail could help.”

Lily thought for a second, then startled. “Oh! Of course, why didn’t I remember that? The dart. It got lost when I fought the demon off, and I didn’t have the time to retrieve it, but maybe it’s still at the place where he attacked me. You could analyze the potion inside if you find it, right?”

“Yes.” Merle perked up. “Yes, we could. That’s great. Where exactly is that spot?”

Lily explained it to Merle, who promised to comb the area.

“If we find it, I’ll get right to analyzing it and let you know.”

Lily hugged her. “Thank you.”

“No need,” Merle whispered back. “We’ll make this right, Lil. We’ll keep trying until we get you back.”

Her only reply was an even stronger hug from Lily, before they moved apart.

Rhun snapped his fingers. “I almost forgot.” He walked over to Lily, pulled a small bag from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. “Welcome to the Dark Side. Here are the cookies.”

Merle gasped and smacked his shoulder. “Rhun!”

He turned to his mate, shrugging and holding his palms up in a touching display of wounded innocence. “What? The least we can do is give her the damn cookies.”

“Where’d you even get these?” Merle’s eyes widened. “Wait—that’s what you had to get when you stopped at the gas station?”

Rhun just smirked.

“I swear I can’t take you anywhere,” Merle muttered then turned to Lily. “One more thing before we leave.”

Lily raised her brows.

“Call Basil. And your mom.” Her voice gentled. “They’re desperate to hear from you. And I know all three of you need to talk this over.”

From the look on Lily’s face and the flavor of her aura, one could have thought Merle had ordered her to organize her own execution.