“I’ll see you later, then.”
She didn’t answer, was distracted by a leopard shifter who was stalking an imp near a bathroom. This was one of the strangest scenes he’d ever witnessed, and he’d been around for over a hundred years, so he knew strange.
Speaking of which… the human from last night was standing near the ambulance bay doors, his gaze full of murder. So it was with great pleasure that Lore grasped Gem by her upper arm, pulled her around, and kissed her.
With tongue.
He kept his gaze locked on the human, and as he stepped back from Gem, he flipped the guy off. Cold rage burned in the male’s eyes, as well as an unspoken threat that promised pain.
Too bad he couldn’t compete with what Lore promised.
Death. And the human male’s was going to be on the house.
Gem stood, stunned, as Lore wheeled around and disappeared into the Harrowgate. Her lips tingled from his kiss, and her mind reeled. He was fiendishly handsome, and had she met him even a few days earlier, she might have taken that kiss and run with it all the way to bed
But no, Kynan had to show up and stir the pot.
“Gem.”
Speak of the human. Heart pounding, because it seemed to think she’d just been caught doing something wrong, she turned to him. And drew a surprised breath. His expression was dark, his gaze seething as he stared at the Harrowgate Lore had disappeared into.
“Okay, stop the jealousy horseshit,” she snapped, even though a part of her was secretly pleased. “You should be sucking up, not acting like a cave devil in a mating rut. And right now, there’s more to worry about than my love life.”
A viper ghoul, a nasty, man-sized cobra-ish thing that looked like it had been dead for a month, slid from behind the triage desk, and before Gem could shout a warning it had wrapped itself around Kynan. Its fangs dripped venom from its open mouth, and its eyes focused on his throat.
Gem punched the thing as Ky struggled in its grip. His face turned red and his breath grew labored as the snake squeezed.
Helplessly she pounded the snake’s face, but the viper barely flinched. It was going to make a meal of Kynan.
Tears of frustration burned her eyes. She had no choice. Like it or not, she shifted into her hybrid Soulshredder form. Her bones popped and contorted, her skin stretched and split, and in seconds she was twice as large, winged, and had nasty, serrated claws. The snake hissed.
She raked her claws down its side, and it struck at her, its fangs scraping her cheek. She swiped at it again, catching it in the eye. It screamed a god-awful noise and uncoiled its body from around Kynan. Ky leaped away from it… and from her.
Instantly, she shifted back, but the wariness still lingered in Kynan’s eyes. It hurt more than she’d care to admit.
“What the hell is that thing doing in the hospital?” He panted, trying to catch the breath that had been squeezed from his lungs. “Shouldn’t it be at a vet’s?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice gravelly from the shift. At least her scrubs were intact. “Must be someone’s pet. E really needs to get this fixed.” She waved her hand at the battling demons, but before Kynan could reply, shrieks of agony replaced the sounds of fighting. Several patients and staff members grabbed their heads, and others fell to the floor, writhing in pain. The Haven spell had kicked back in.
“It’s about time.” Kynan rubbed his sternum. “And thanks for saving me.”
“Big demon hunter like you? You’d have gotten out of it.”
He looked a little skeptical, but he didn’t argue. He helped patch people up, along with all available medical personnel. When they were done, he took her hand, and though she knew she should resist, she didn’t. She was too curious about what he was doing, leading her to one of the patient rooms.
Kynan opened the door. Inside, candles burned, and on the floor was a blanket laden with food, wine glasses, and a bucket of ice containing a bottle of what looked like sparkling grape juice. Around the blanket were IV poles, and from them hung saline bags full of something that glowed with green fluorescence.
“What… what is this?”
He smiled, that killer one that always made her heart do somersaults. “It was partly Tayla’s idea. I wanted to do something romantic, but she said your idea of romance was stitching up wounds…”
“Clever how you combined the two,” Gem murmured.
“Sometimes a guy has to play dirty.” He gestured to the blanket. “Sit.”
This was stupid, and she knew it. She didn’t have the willpower to resist him, and she had no doubt this picnic would end up on the bed he’d rolled to the back wall. Not that getting naked with him would be a bad thing, but her battered heart was tapping out warnings in Morse code against her rib cage.
“I’m not sure,” she said, still unable to erase from her memory the look of disgust on Kynan’s face when he’d seen her in demon form. “This is nice, but…”