“Never?”

My voice had dropped so low I could barely hear myself. But he certainly did, his eyes locking on mine again.

“I would only desire and allow this kind of intimacy with someone very dear to me. I would only take that step with someone I—”

A loud huff interrupted him as someone sat on the other side of our booth. “Sorry, I’m late.” Darren scanned the room, his appearance ruffled, his eyes skittish. “Couldn’t get away from the guys easily. We were at a party on the Westbank.” A devilish smile crept across his face as he perused the club. “Fancy den.”

“Don’t even think about stepping a foot in this place after tonight,” said Devraj, steel and menace in his voice as he straightened next to me. “Not that you’d get past the door.”

“I did tonight,” he tossed back, still grinning like the stupid kid he was.

“Because I gave the bouncer approval,” he said, sounding more than a little condescending. “Tell me the plan.”

I gasped at the pulse of magic that vibrated from his body, rippling over mine and across the table. Devraj eased one hand under the table and squeezed just above my knee. A comforting squeeze, but I felt it in other places I should be forgetting about.

He wasn’t messing around, feeding Darren a high dose of persuasion to get to the point.

“Blake wants to wait two weeks before our next snatch. Says he doesn’t want to grab another girl so close to releasing the last one.”

“Does he suspect you were taken in for questioning?” Devraj shot back.

“No.” He shook his head, chuckling. “Not at all. Matter of fact, he mentioned that his distributor was happy with the girls we’d gotten. He’d never mentioned he had a distributor other than himself. Said we were making good money and we could hold off to get a fresh girl for two weeks. It’ll be on Saturday.”

“So two Saturdays from now, you and the other two scouts will be at separate bars, looking for your target.”

“Right.” He drummed his fingers on the table, his dark eyes finally swiveling to me and taking me in.

A growl vibrated through Devraj, which made Darren snap his attention back to him. The alpha at the table.

“Who’s she and why is she here?” he asked, apparently not even recognizing me from the night he was questioned. Devraj had erased some of his memories, so that wasn’t surprising.

“This is Isadora. She will be your target two Saturdays from now.”

He shook his head, sliding his focus back to me. “She’s a witch. We don’t snatch supernaturals. No one with powers or connection to our world.”

“She’ll be nulled for the night. She’ll appear human.”

He observed me again with a more discerning look than the lecherous one like before. “She fits our profile.”

“You have a profile?” I asked.

He grinned. “Pretty. Shy.” He leaned forward. I automatically leaned back, a little closer to Devraj, which made him chuckle. “Yeah. You’d be the kind of girl I’d snatch.”

The very thought made me want to scratch his eyes out.

He laughed and licked his lips. “Just turn down that fire, baby. And you’ll be perfect.”

Devraj was out of the booth and had Darren pinned in place, his hand around his throat. A few heads turned, but the guards at each door didn’t move to intervene at the sudden violence.

“Hear me, asshole.” A piercing jolt of power vibrated from Devraj. I whimpered and gripped the table, his magic a terrifying force in the room, pouring into the wide-eyed vampire pinned to the booth. “You will be at Barrel Proof two Saturdays from now. At precisely 10:30 p.m., you will text your fucking friends that you have the perfect target. At 10:35, Isadora will slowly head toward the parking lot. You will make sure that you are her handler until we arrive. You’ll stall the exchange to Bellingrath for as long as possible. And you will fight to the death to ensure no one hurts her, bites her, harms her in any way.”

“No one will hurt her,” he spit out quickly, fear seeping from his pores. “We don’t hurt the girls.”

Devraj released him and stood above him. “You’ve hurt every fucking one of them, you prick.” He backed up a step. “Is Blake’s brother Adam in on this ring?”

He shook his head. “He hasn’t ever said so if he is.”

Devraj stared him down for another few uncomfortable seconds before growling, “Get out of my fucking sight.”

Darren immediately launched himself out of the booth and headed for the door. The few heads looking our way swiveled away, the room returning to the normal murmur of voices and low laughter.

“Was it necessary to punch that much persuasion into him?”

Devraj’s gaze snapped to mine, his eyes liquid silver. “Yes.”

I stood, glancing toward the door, suddenly nervous at his burst of violence and fury. “I should probably get home.”

I took a step, but Devraj gently clasped my hand, the anger having rolled away. I froze. He leaned over my shoulder from behind, whispering close to my ear. “Dance with me.” When I didn’t answer right away, he pleaded more softly, “Please.”

Nico strummed his guitar, now singing a heartfelt rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line,” his eyes closed, lost in his own music.

With a stiff nod, I let him guide me onto the small dancefloor. Devraj swept me into his arms, one of my hands in his, his other on the small of my back. He pulled me so close our bodies brushed together with our slow sway to the music. I had no words at the moment, sudden flashes of our night together penetrating my thoughts.

Possessive hands, roving mouth, talented tongue, him moving inside me.

Gah, stop! I squeezed my eyes shut for a second.

“Hey,” he whispered against my temple. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I opened my eyes and met his concerned gaze. “Fine.”

“You sure?” He swallowed hard, a soft expression pinching his brow. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just… I had to be sure the persuasion spell was strong enough.”

A small laugh bubbled up. “I think it’s strong enough.”

His obvious concern for me made me want to press closer. I could easily fall for this man. And what a mistake that would be. To fall for a world-traveling Stygorn who would be leaving New Orleans as soon as the Bellingrath case was solved.

I swallowed against my desperate attraction to him. I tried to convince myself it was only because he gave me mind-blowing orgasms. A night with Devraj would scramble any woman’s brains and make her dream of a heated romance. Even a long-term one. But I was too rational to let that sweep me away. Like Tia had said, he was rarely seen with the same woman twice.

“Really. I’m fine.”

“You look a little…untethered.”

I laughed. “Maybe.”

“You having second thoughts about playing bait? If it scares you too much, I can get someone else.” He squeezed my hand completely enveloped in his.

“No, no,” I assured him. “I want to help these girls in any way I can. I need to.”

He smiled in that tender way that made my tummy flutter. “I understand that need. That’s why I asked you to do it.”

Angling my head to get a good look at him, I realized he saw strength in me that not everyone did. His only hesitation for asking me to play bait was my safety, not that he didn’t have confidence that I could do something dangerous to help catch these guys.

“I’m happy you asked me,” I added, giving his shoulder a squeeze, suddenly remembering how it flexed beneath my fingers when he was coming inside me.

Stop it!

I was completely hopeless.

As if he knew where my mind wandered, he asked, “How do you feel about last night? Was it satisfactory?” Amusement lit his eyes, now sparkling that warm, dark whiskey hue.

Smiling, I admitted, “Well, I certainly enjoyed our, you know, interlude.”

“Interlude.” He rolled the word over his tongue slowly with a steady nod.

“It was amazing,” I admitted, letting him see the truth in my eyes. “I’m happy I took you up on your offer. Took the chance before your business here is done, you know?”

He searched my face, skimming everywhere before landing back on my eyes. He was considering something when he eased me closer till our bodies pressed together, the contact making my breath falter.

“Yeah,” he breathed softly. “I know.”

This wasn’t good. Because it was just too good. A tantalizing reminder of what our bodies could do together. But it was what he was doing under the skin that had me breaking out into a sweat. The emotions beyond lust and desire that he stoked with his magnificent body, his surprising compassion, his tender longing.

His mouth quirked up on one side teasingly. “So. Amazing, huh?”

I rolled my eyes, focusing on Nico as he sang, trying not to blush while the tell-tale heat crawled up my neck.

His rumble of laughter vibrated against my chest. I wanted to rub against him like a cat. I snapped my gaze back to his and frowned at his expression that showed how pleased he was with himself.

“I think you enjoyed yourself as much as I did.”

“Oh, you’re right about that.” He leaned down on a gentle turn to the music, his mouth against my ear. “I particularly enjoyed waking up to the claw marks on my back.”

“Oh, my God. You didn’t just say that to me.”

I knew for a fact that my face was red as a radish.

He just laughed again. “I enjoyed myself immensely. And I wouldn’t be averse to a repeat performance.”

“That’s not a good idea,” I said, meeting his eyes.

“Why not? I think exploring each other is a terrific idea,” he said with some amusement. My heart fluttered with a nascent hope until he added, “While I’m here, we could enjoy each other.”