“It’s okay.” He relented, grinning. “I’ll get you out of here without them seeing you. Trust me?”
She stared up at him, long and hard, her brow furrowed. As if she was trying to read the secrets of his soul. Again, power surged around her, so strong he feared Stolas’s minions would home in on her. Tilting her head, her lips slightly parted, she drew a deep breath.
“You’re dangerous,” she murmured. “But you don’t intend to cause me harm.” Then, louder, she added, “Yes, I trust you.”
“I have one little stipulation.” That had been rule number two. Find what your target needed and use it as a bargaining tool. Asher wasn’t the only one with a corner on that market. Tempt them with what they wanted most. But hold it just out of reach until they were willing to do anything you wanted, anything you asked to get what they needed. He’d always been one ruthless SOB, willing to fight dirty to get the job done and done well.
Smiling now, feeling like a wolf in the company of an unsuspecting sheep, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the cuff, regarding her suspicious expression with something akin to dark amusement. This was too easy. Dangling the cuff by the tip of one finger to minimize the chance for her to touch—or rather, not touch—him, he said, “You have to accept this, willingly.”
Her eyebrows shot upward as she stared at his offering. “I don’t understand.” She shook her head, clearly confused. “You want me to accept your bracelet, in exchange for you helping me to slip by the…ah, by them.”
“Yep.” He let the breath he realized he’d been holding seep out slowly, unobtrusively.
“But—”
“Better hurry,” he interrupted, feigning a glance over his shoulder. While he could still sense the demonic presence in the building, and he could feel they were moving around, he could also tell they were not moving closer. Yet. “They could head this way any minute.”
She caught the tip of her thumbnail between her teeth for a moment, indecision etched on her face. Gideon wiggled his finger, sending the silver cuff swaying like a pendulum before her eyes, silver glinting in the strobe lights from behind him.
“Okay.” She capitulated, her expression stating that he should be checking himself into the nearest psych unit. Then something behind him caught her attention and she quickly added, “But you have to understand this—the jewelry—it doesn’t mean anything. I have a boyfriend.”
Gideon didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help gritting his teeth. For some reason, the idea of another man claiming her didn’t sit all that well with him. Another man caressing her perfect skin, molding that delectable flesh with his hands, tasting those luscious lips—
The beast living inside him, just beneath his skin, rose up and snarled. Gideon schooled his features and took a calming breath, reminding himself this was a mission. His last mission. And then? Oblivion. He had no business caring one way or the other who touched or kissed her.
Let her father worry about her. The rat bastard. The being who’d taken Gideon’s fall as a personal betrayal. The being who’d sworn to end Gideon no matter the cost.
The being who’d once been Gideon’s best friend.
“Do you accept the cuff?” he pressed, pushing the past aside. Last mission, he reminded himself. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could end his suffering.
Frowning, she met his gaze as she reached for it. “Yes.”
He lifted the cuff a few inches higher, eluding her grasp. “Willingly?”
Now she regarded him as if he’d flat out lost his mind. Like she was beginning to have second thoughts. She even glanced at the dance floor again, as if to gauge her chances of ditching him and slipping out on her own. But the exits were still covered.
Frowning, she reached again. “Willingly,” she added, her voice an odd mix of resignation and determination.
Cocking his head, he lowered the cuff within her reach. Taking the silver in her hands, she fingered the hammered metal, running the pad of her thumb over the carvings.
“What does this say?” But as she glanced up in expectation of an answer, her attention swerved to his side. “Oh, crap. Here they come! Your turn,” she blurted. “How do we get out of here?”
“Put it on,” he prompted.
“They’re coming!”
“Put it on,” he urged.
“Oh, for the love of—” She snapped the cuff onto her wrist, then held it up and shook it so he could see she’d complied. “There. Happy now?” But her exasperation quickly turned to a frown as she examined the cuff more closely, and realized there was no way to release it. “Hey, how does this come off?”
His grin grew far more wicked than it had any right to be. “It doesn’t.”
Her mouth fell open. Alarm flooded her pretty features. Gideon chuckled. Pulling in his power, focusing his energy, he visualized the kitchen in Sebastian’s farmhouse.
Chapter Three