But then Mammon’s hands tightened on the bars, and his back straightened, displaying a glimmer of the pride he’d once shown.
Hmm…perhaps there was fire left in him still.
“What are you doing here?” Mammon asked.
The stopwatch beeped, reminding Belpheg that he had less than five minutes to get back to the portal, or risk being forced to take on the Council’s entire group of guards in his increasingly weakening form.
“You saved my life once.”
“Yes,” Mammon said, his voice cautiously hopeful.
Belpheg grinned. “I’m here to return the favor.”
Chapter Two
New York City, Early June
Of the few things that Dagan did exceptionally well, sex was on the top of the list, and it was by far his favorite. The heart-pumping excitement of being with a new woman; the adrenaline rush of uncovering those silky bits of flesh normally hidden by her clothes; the musky scent of their mutual arousal filling the air…nothing beat it. Whenever he was with a woman, the never-ending symphony of songs that filled his head quieted down. But sometimes his overwhelming need to get it on was downright inappropriate.
Like now.
He was supposed to be working. His eldest brother Keegan had sent him to Opiate in an effort to track down information on the dark fae the Elden Council searched for. The dark fae he and his brothers might have apprehended last month if they’d done what the Council had ordered them to. Instead, they had chosen to disregard its commands in order to save the woman his brother Ronin loved. In so doing, they’d pissed the Council off, big-time. In other words, they’d seriously screwed up—no matter how pure their intentions.
So now, their only option was to fix things by finding the dark fae before the Council got fed up and deported them back to their hellish home world of Infernum. That was what had led Dagan to Opiate tonight, but what had landed him in this section of the Otherworldly club was another thing entirely—his stupid dick.
You’re such a dumb shit.
“What?” the chick plastered to his body asked.
Had he said those words aloud?
“Nothing.”
The woman smiled and pushed him back against the wall. Her hair was styled into a spiked pixie cut that accentuated the slight point at the top of her ears. Even with her glamour that made her passable as human, it was obvious to him that she was Elven. When he’d wandered into Opiate, he’d immediately noticed her sitting alone at the bar. She’d been wearing a tiny black tank top and low-slung jeans that showed off a miniscule thong, practically an open invitation for male company. Somehow, he’d ended up joining her. And less than an hour later they’d wound up in the back—which was separated from the rest of the club by a filmy curtain—and she had her top bunched up around her armpits.
No mincing words: people came back here to fuck. Dagan had been here himself on more than one occasion. But he was supposed to be asking questions tonight. Rumor had it a few of the patrons who frequented this very club were now in the dark fae’s employment. Dagan’s mission was to find out what the hell he was planning to do with them.
So why are you back here?
“Everything okay, baby?” she murmured.
The woman—what the hell was her name again?—nuzzled his neck while her hand slid inside his unbuttoned jeans and closed around him.
No, everything wasn’t okay. He was doing it again, resorting to sex whenever he got stressed out about something in his life. Lately there’d only been more and more to worry over. But sex wasn’t the answer. They all needed to focus on repairing the strain with the Council. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how pissed his brothers would be if they saw what he was doing here instead.
So why are you screwing up again?
Something cold and angry slithered around in Dagan’s chest like a poisonous serpent poised to strike, and strains of a hard, bitter song pounded his head. Even though his body was on board at the thought of getting it on with this virtual stranger, as evidenced by the hard-on she caressed, he’d never felt so empty inside. Just more confirmation that he was seriously fucked in the head.
What good was sex if you couldn’t even enjoy it?
The woman pulled back to throw him a vaguely disgusted look. Her bare breasts glimmered in the dim blue lighting of the club, and his cock jumped at the jiggling her movement sparked. “Are you down or not? ’Cause I can’t tell.”
Neither could he, and that wasn’t fair to her. Dagan opened his mouth to tell her…what, that he’d changed his mind? He didn’t even know.
Before he could figure it out, hair spun the color of moonlight caught his eye from beyond the transparent veil separating this section from the rest of the club. He jerked his gaze across the room, and his stomach knotted at the confirmation that the hair belonged to who he thought it did.