Abruptly realizing his fingers had drifted to the distracting fullness of her lips, Jagr dropped his hand and stepped away.

What the devil was he doing? His highly honed senses might assure him that there were no dangers in the area, but that didn’t mean they weren’t sitting targets.

Where was his ruthless self-discipline? His icy logic? His barren disinterest in others?

When it came to Regan, he was as easily distracted as a dew fairy high on honey.

“A vampire without a clan is always seen as a threat,” he retorted, taking her arm to steer back through the narrow entrance into the cave. “My only hope for a measure of peace was to find a chief who controlled a stable clan with no thirst for war. Nothing is without cost. Even freedom.”

Shaking off his hand, Regan folded her arms over her chest and dug in her heels.

“Well, I’m not willing to become a pampered hostage to my sister in exchange for safety. I’d rather take my chances with the curs.”

His lips twisted at her predictable response. “Hardly a logical decision.”

“I don’t want to be logical. I want to find Culligan and kill him. Speaking of which…”

With a blur of speed, Jagr had moved to block the opening. “Wait, little one.”

A frustration that Jagr fully appreciated tightened her beautiful features.

“Now what?”

“Unless you want to leave behind your clothes, you will need to take them with us. We can’t risk returning here.”

“Why bother finding a new lair? They’ll just track us down again.”

“Trust me.”

Emerald eyes sparked with irritation at his command for her blind faith, but astonishingly, she spun on her heel and marched toward the back of the cave rather than try to rip out his heart.

Jagr wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or terrified as he followed in her stormy wake.

In silence, she gathered the bags that were so obviously precious to her, stoically ignoring Jagr as he placed his own belongings into the leather satchel he’d brought from Chicago.

Tossing it over his shoulder, he moved to halt Regan as she reached for the rumpled clothes he’d peeled from her delectable body such a short time ago.

“Leave a few behind.”

Her brows snapped together. “Why?”

“I thought you were going to trust me.”

Chapter 10

I thought you were going to trust me…

Regan clutched the stuffed bags to her chest, her jaw clenched at Jagr’s soft words.

She wanted to laugh at his words.

She’d spent thirty years being tormented, betrayed, and abused by everyone she had ever known. Now, a lethal vampire she’d met only days ago wanted her to blithely put her life in his hands?

Yeah, right.

So…why wasn’t she laughing?

Maybe because her every instinct told her that Jagr would do everything in his power to keep her safe.

Whether out of fear his Anasso would mount him on the wall of his throne room or for some more personal reason was impossible to say.

“Here.” Reading her conflicting emotions with annoying ease, Jagr moved forward, holding out a silver box in an obvious effort to distract her.

It worked.

Her eyes widened as she took Culligan’s private safe. “I dropped this when you went juggernaut and launched us through the back of the RV.” She met his searching gaze. “How’d you get it?”

“I had Levet retrieve it. There are papers in the bottom we haven’t looked through yet.”

“You think they might be important?”

“We can only hope.”

Contemplating what papers Culligan could possibly have that he considered worth keeping, Regan lowered her guard. A stupid mistake. Before she could blink she found herself hauled off her feet and firmly cradled against his chest.

Damn vampire speed.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, cursing the bulky bags and metal safe that tangled her arms and made it impossible to struggle. “Put me down.”

He ignored her command (big freaking surprise), moving with fluid ease across the cave.

“We can’t be sure that the explosion wasn’t a ruse to draw you out of the cave. We’ll have to sneak out.”

She held herself stiffly, vividly aware of the cool power washing over her skin. Dammit, she wanted to be furious, not…aroused.

“And if the curs are out there?” she snapped. “Won’t they sense us?”

He shrugged, the long hair he’d left free to frame the haunting beauty of his lean face flowing down his back like liquid gold.

“Salvatore was mocking, but Caine has reason to resent the Weres,” he said softly. “Unless a cur has fully shifted, their senses are not equal to most demons. Our scents are already spread through the area, so unless they actually see us leave the cave they won’t know we’ve slipped beneath their noses.”

“Oh.” She abruptly felt like an idiot. “That’s why you made me leave the clothes behind.”

“They should keep your scent lingering for days.”

“Fine, Mr. Smarty Pants…”

“Mr. Smarty Pants?”

She ignored his interruption. “If they’re actually watching the cave, then how are we supposed to leave without being seen? Unlike you, I can’t wrap myself in shadows.”

He paused at the entrance of the cave, an almost smile hovering around his lips.

“You can as long as you stay close to me. Hold still.”

Regan frowned.

Well, hell.

Was there anything vampires couldn’t do?

Walk on water? Unlock the secret of cold fusion?

Create world peace?

Her annoyance at the injustice of vampires’ position at the top of the demon-world was forgotten as she suddenly felt like she’d been dipped in an icy pool of water.

She sucked in a sharp breath.

This wasn’t the cool surge of Jagr’s power.

“Holy crap, what are you doing?” she demanded with a shiver. “I’m freezing.”

“I’ve wrapped you in my shadows. They will hide us from prying eyes, but not from prying ears.” Before she could guess his intention, he bent downward to place his lips against hers. “Not a word, little one.”

Sadie smiled as she watched the expensive Humvee being consumed by flames. Standing several blocks away on the roof of a restaurant that had once been a bordello, she had a perfect view to watch Salvatore leave the cave with his neutered curs scurrying behind him.

Sniffling, spineless dogs.

Their blind subservience to the self-proclaimed King of Weres sickened her. Why didn’t they just put a leash around their neck, and be done with it?

Of course, they had managed to lead her to where Regan was hidden with the vamp, so perhaps they weren’t entirely useless.

Her smile widened as she leaned against the decorative brick wall that lined the rooftop.

“I do love a roaring bonfire. A pity I forgot to bring the marshmallows.”

Standing at her side, Duncan growled with impatience. “Did you also forget to bring a point for this little exercise in futility?”

“Careful, Duncan.” Sophie slid her companion a warning frown. “So far you’ve proven to be as incompetent as you are spineless. Twice now you’ve allowed our quarry to slip through your fingers.”

Duncan’s jaw tightened, his pride obviously still pricked at having been bested by the young, untrained woman.

Again.

“At least I’ve had her in my fingers. Which is more than you can say.”

“Only because I was stupid enough to assume my merry band of morons could manage to capture one little Were.” Sadie shrugged. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

An ugly smile twisted his lips. “Oh, no, you’ve done much better. Now we not only have the most dangerous vampire in the entire world hunting our sorry hides, but you’ve managed to piss off the King of Weres. A real bang-up job.”

Sadie bit back her snarl. It had been an unpleasant shock when the unmistakable scent of Salvatore had invaded her territory. Caine had sworn that the king had no interest in Regan, and wouldn’t so much as lift a finger to help her.

Easy for him to say when he was safely hidden miles away.

Bastard.

And to top it off, she’d followed the scent of the curs to the cave, only to discover that not only was Regan being guarded by a vampire, the King of Weres, and his curs, but there was a damned gargoyle in residence.

A lesser woman would have thrown in the towel. Sadie, however, had always been able to think on her feet, and it had taken only a moment to devise yet another brilliant plan.

“Pissed off or not, I’ve managed to separate Regan from the Weres, as well as the gargoyle,” she pointed out, her annoyance easing as she smugly turned her attention back to the fire below.

Duncan snorted. “That still leaves the vampire.”

Fear skittered down her spine. God, she hated vampires. Bloodthirsty beasts.

“He can be dealt with,” she muttered.

Duncan’s short, ugly laugh set her teeth on edge. “So you’re not only arrogant, you’re delusional?”