“Sorry to interrupt, ladies.”

I felt the words brush against my bare neck, my hair twisted up in a bun. He was so close that when I spun around, I nearly fell forward right into Devraj. He caught me by the arms.

Oh, my God!

I pulled back out of his grip, practically panting. If I could’ve crawled into a hole and buried myself, I would have because the smile he wore right then was the most salacious and knowing smile I’d ever seen on a man, or supernatural.

Tia paused the screen, which happened to be right as on-screen Devraj was stepping out of the pool, a closeup of water dribbling down his sculpted chest.

Jesus, Tia. Seriously!?

Heat flushed up my neck and filled my cheeks. I was trying to find some sort of excuse as to why we were all so obviously ogling his body on-screen. But leave it to my sisters to make it even more awkward.

“We were just admiring your work,” said Violet unabashedly, her chin on top of her folded arms on the back of the couch. Did she just bat her eyelashes?

Clara sat on the arm of the sofa, her scarf-skirt billowing around her legs. “You’re very talented,” she said sincerely. “I’ve seen quite a few Bollywood movies, but not any of yours. Until now. And you have a beautiful voice.” Clara sighed heavily like a lovesick schoolgirl, which only made me groan.

“Actually,” he added, “I’m lip-syncing another singer. None of the actors are actually the singers.”

“Well, you lip-sync prettily,” said Clara, her cheeks pink.

“Thank you?”

“And move prettily,” mumbled Livvy.

Clara slapped Livvy’s arm, which made me want to hug my sweetest sister. How could they be so embarrassing?

Devraj didn’t appear ashamed at all. If anything, he seemed quite pleased. Especially when he swiveled his dark gaze back to me. I hoped like mad that no perspiration glistened on my forehead because I could feel myself sweating from this entire episode. Then I noticed Jules beside him, frowning as usual, and Ruben, biting his bottom lip to hold in a laugh.

“Did you enjoy the performance?” he teased.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I was speechless with humiliation.

Then Devraj eased closer. I wanted to step back because his intimate proximity wasn’t what I needed right now. I schooled my features into nonchalance, the exact opposite of how I was feeling. Then I gulped hard against the dawning realization of what the scintillating emotion buzzing through my body and tingling along my skin was. Attraction. Intense, sweat-inducing, bone-melting attraction.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concern pinching his brow.

No. I was definitely not.

I nodded stiffly, clearing my throat and my frantic, runaway thoughts. “Fine.”

“We need you to come with us.” His expression sobered as he glanced toward Jules.

My eldest sister nodded.

“What’s going on?” asked Livvy.

“We’ll tell you later,” said Jules. “Right now, I need Isadora.”

“Oh, come on,” complained Violet. “I hate it when you patronize us.”

Jules rolled her eyes. “There’s just no time for your one-million-and-one questions. We’ll have more information later tonight.”

“We need to go,” said Ruben.

That’s how I found myself ushered from one of life’s most embarrassing moments out the door toward Ruben’s car. I froze on the sidewalk when I realized Jules wasn’t driving, my heart doing somersaults for a new reason now.

Too many emotions! I needed to get back to my quiet life of gardening and making herb bundles. I needed to hide in my greenhouse and burn a bonfire of calming incense.

“It’s okay,” said Jules at my side, giving my hand a comforting squeeze. She whispered low, “Ruben is a good driver. We’re going to St. Catherine’s.”

I knew Ruben was a safe driver. But no one could explain that to my phobia of driving and cars. It was just one of those things.

“I could drive us,” she offered.

I glanced over at Devraj holding the door open to the backseat for me and watching me with a quizzical frown.

No. I needed to be a big girl about this.

I gave Jules a little smile. “I’ll be fine. The hospital is close.”

Then I walked over and slid into the backseat, Devraj sliding in beside me just as Jules was about to from the other side. She was forced to round the trunk to the front passenger seat.

Trying like hell to ignore the heat radiating off of Devraj sitting next to me as Ruben drove away, I finally asked, “What’s going on?”

Jules twisted around to peer over the front seat. “Devraj and Ruben found Emma Thomas and brought her to St. Catherine Memorial. The doctors won’t know what’s causing her organ failure other than dehydration. They won’t be able to treat her quickly enough if she’s been bled too long. She’ll need a strong Conduit.”

I curled my fingers in my lap and leaned back against the seat, thankful for something else to occupy my mind and body. Something besides my spike of fear of riding in this car. And definitely something besides the traces of lust that still lingered and charged my skin. I mean, I’d have to be a zombie not to react to Devraj’s acting skills.

“I see.” Then I closed my eyes. “I’ll prepare now. Wake me when we arrive.”

Then I slid my eyes closed and began sucking energy from the air, the night, and the electrified city as we sped toward the hospital.

Chapter 10

~DEVRAJ~

I could’ve stared at the woman all night. Isadora remained silent and focused inward. Her magic whispered in the small space of the interior of Ruben’s car. It felt like a sweet lullaby, a song of old, like footsteps on wooded paths taken only by her, lilting with waves of potent energy that cocooned the witch at my side. If I could reach out and touch that magic that was hers, I would. I wanted to drink it down and absorb her beauty.

My God, she was so beautiful, and I honestly wasn’t sure if she was truly aware. It was her frank honesty that took my breath away. In everything she did.

After her last rejection of my company at my quaint front-porch tea, I figured she truly was immune to my charms. As unbelievable as that was, I was thinking of giving up my pursuit. But not fucking now.

After seeing her reaction to watching my movie, there was no possible way I was letting this go.

Before she’d noticed we were in the room, I’d had at least thirty seconds to catalogue her surprising reaction to watching me onscreen. Chest heaving with deep breaths, her heartrate galloping at a racer’s pace, the sweat shimmering across the back of her neck and the edge of her hairline, but most importantly the scent of her arousal was too strong to hide.

She was turned on. By me. It took me a full minute to remember we were in a hurry to get to the girl at the hospital. And the most shocking fact was that my canines had sharpened to razor points. I’d had a hard time hiding them and my reaction to her.

Hunger. Pure, primal, feral craving. One that still ached inside me, making my gut clench with need. And unfortunately, made my dick twitch with need as well.

This scintillating witch was burrowing under my skin, and she was utterly clueless to the power she wielded over me. I stared at her, her head tilted back against the leather seat, her delicate fingers clasped in her lap. Her irresistible aura sang to my bones, beckoning me to inch closer. To smell and touch and taste.

“Devraj,” said Ruben, his gaze flicking to me in the rearview mirror. “Were you able to read her memories earlier when we dropped her off?”

Ruben already knew the answer to this. He was distracting me. Somehow, he’d sensed my sanity fraying as we silently rode along into the night. Smart move on his part. Grasping for control, I focused my attention out the window to the city blurring by, refusing to look at Isadora, forcing my own pulse to slow.

“She was too fragile then.” Finally gaining control of my buzzing senses, I added, “I’ll try again if she’s well enough tonight. But honestly, I’ll have all we need once we can interrogate the man in custody.”

“What man?” asked Jules, twisting to glance between Ruben and me.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” continued Ruben. “Our stakeout at Barrel Proof paid off. We captured a vampire right before your call. That’s actually how Devraj was able to locate Emma?”

“How’s that?” she asked me, peering into the backseat.

“It’s complicated,” I explained. “Suffice it to say that I was able to retrieve her location through a necklace of hers that our captive had.”

“What did you find out?” she demanded quickly.

“Nothing yet,” I answered. “Getting Emma to safety was the priority when I discovered where she was.”

“And,” Ruben added, “Devraj knocked our captive out cold with one punch. So there was that.” He caught my gaze in the rearview mirror.

I twisted my mouth in a wry smile, “Not a single regret. We’ll deal with him later tonight.”

“I wouldn’t worry about how he made you at the bar,” Ruben continued. “Experienced vampires pick up on signals other than magic. He might not have sensed your vampirism because you were nulled, but it’s not like you look natural watching the bar from the shadowy corners of the room. He sensed you were a hunter like him.”

Ruben was right. When I’d finally locked gazes with the guy, I couldn’t back down as a dominant vampire. That alone told him I was something more than his senses could detect. So he’d cut his losses and taken off. Only, he didn’t know I wasn’t working alone.

“Well, I don’t blame you for the violence.” Jules turned forward as we drove into the parking lot of the hospital. “I’d have been tempted myself if I were there. And you were obviously right that Emma was the priority.”

I finally looked over at Isadora and put a light hand on her arm, not wanting to scare her.

“Isadora. We’re here,” I murmured softly.