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Call of the Siren(5)

By:Rosalie Lario


Lina squashed her guilt at the memory of Ronin’s disappointment when he’d had to resort to offering money in exchange for her assistance. Truth was he had plenty of it, and she needed more. Ronin thought she was a money-grubber—that much was obvious from his expression. And he was right.

But he didn’t know why.

Or what she did with it.

Keeping her eyes firmly away from the section of the club where she’d seen Dagan, Lina continued her search for her contact, Sam.

As she neared the bar, a slimy-looking man in tattered jeans took stock of her outfit, from the dusty rose corset top underneath her black leather jacket to the jeans tucked into her calf-high boots, and made a beeline for her. “Hey sexy, can I buy you a—”

“Fuck off.”

He recoiled, anger transforming his face, but didn’t pursue her. Good for him. She knew just what to do with assholes who couldn’t take no for an answer.

Almost instinctively, her hand crept toward the stiletto knives she carried in a hidden interior pocket of her jacket. Weapons weren’t allowed inside Opiate, but she didn’t give a damn. As long as no one messed with her, they would stay sheathed.

She came to a stop in front of Crull, the gold elf who manned the bar. “Hey, Crull, I’m looking for Sam. Seen him?”

Crull snagged a mug and poured some lager into it. “Saw him around earlier. I’m sure he’s here somewhere.”

“Thanks.” She stalked through the club, searching for Sam’s distinctive black Mohawk. Sam was a lorne demon, as well as a kick-ass mercenary. She’d teamed up with him for a job or two in the past, and he’d been there a month and a half ago when she’d banned together with Ronin and his brothers to take down Asmodeus. The incubus creep had had it coming, of course. He’d enslaved Amara, the woman Ronin loved, along with a handful of other succubi, and had forced them to murder for him.

When Lina had called Sam yesterday, he told her he might know someone who’d done work for a powerful dark fae. They agreed on meeting here tonight, hopefully with his contact in tow.

“Lina!”

Aw, damn.

She groaned at the sound of Dagan’s voice. Couldn’t he just have pretended he hadn’t seen her? The last thing she wanted to do was rehash that little incident.

A moment later, a hand closed on her arm.

She took a breath, and turned.”It’s Iolina.”

Ronin and his brothers insisted on calling her by her childhood nickname even though she’d repeatedly asked them not to. Truth be told, Lina was the name she responded to the most, even if it did have so many bad memories attached to it.

When Dagan gave her a look that told her she was fighting a losing battle, she sighed and looked him over. He had rearranged his clothes into some semblance of respectability, and even though she knew what he’d just been doing in that darkened corner with another woman, she couldn’t help but notice how amazing he looked. His dark hair curled over his ears, its color perfectly matching the heavy brows framing his turquoise-glamoured eyes. A five o’clock shadow accentuated the powerful angles of his squared jaw. The black leather jacket that covered his fitted gray shirt and dark jeans was probably a tad too warm for the mild, late-spring weather, but who knew better than she how great jackets were for concealing weapons? Besides, demons and angels didn’t feel heat and cold in the same way humans did.

Damn it, why did he always have to look so good? That just made her even more pissed off.

Dagan took one glance at her face and released her arm. His hand clenched at his side. “Listen, I…uh…”

“Didn’t expect to see me here,” she finished for him.

His cheeks colored, and he edged closer, lowering his voice. “I came to see if I could find any more information about the dark fae. Keegan thinks he might be recruiting help out of here.”

“And yet, somehow, you ended up with some random bimbo’s hand stuck to your dick. Is that part of your cover? ’Cause if so, it’s a damn good one.”

She bit her lip as soon as the words escaped her mouth. Could she possibly sound any more like a jealous shrew? But he didn’t seem to notice. The color on his cheeks spread to his ears.

“I…”

A sheepish expression crept onto Dagan’s face, and he stuttered to a stop. That made her even more mad. The guy couldn’t even rustle up a weak excuse. Not that he owed her any sort of explanation for his actions, but still, the least he could do was refrain from chasing tail for a few hours while he worked.

Or maybe he couldn’t. Ronin seemed to think that was the case, and he often reminded her of it.

She smoothed an errant lock of her long, blond hair behind her ear. “Couldn’t resist fucking around on the job, huh? I’m sure your brothers would be so surprised.”