Page 83 of Seduce Me in Shadow

Zain drags me into the cluster of hooded figures, his grip on my windpipe crushing as he runs his tongue up my cheek. “Of my little bargaining chip? I think not. She’ll make a lovely sacrifice.”

Panic sets in. I flail and scratch, but I can’t break free. Tears sting my eyes. Why didn’t I listen when Caden and the others tried to warn me of the danger?

With a growl, Caden lurches for me again. “You son of a?—”

“He’s baiting you.” Bram jerks Caden back.

“You think?” Zain buries his face in my neck, inhaling long and loud, before he growls in disgust. “Ugh. You smell like him.” He tosses his head at Caden. “Every pore. Everywhere. The stench of integrity.”

“Enough with the games. What do you want?” Bram demands.

“As if you have no notion.” Zain’s laugh is humorless. “Give me that book you’re holding or the bitch dies.”

I go cold. At the office I got an odd vibe from Zain, but he’s a killer? Apparently yes, given his cruel grip and not-so-veiled threats.

Why would he kill me for a little journal that grants sexual fantasies?

Or is the book capable of more?

“Seriously evil aura,” Aquarius murmurs.

Caden escapes Bram’s hold and charges for me again, his expression fiercely determined. My heart leaps to my throat. He’s doing his best to save me, but Aquarius is right; Zain would think nothing of hurting him.

I can’t let that happen.

“Do I?” Zain asks Aquarius, again tightening his hands on my neck.

Panicked, I wheeze for air, but I can’t breathe at all. I flail as my vision begins to close in.

Leaping over a pair of the freaks in robes, Caden comes to my rescue, elbowing one in the temple, punching another in the nose. They crash to the ground in a heap. He steps over themand leaps for me. Bram and Duke are right behind him, felling more of what must be Anarki.

With a curse, Zain flicks his wrist and opens his free hand. Caden slams into an invisible wall between us. Again, he launches himself at it. Again, he crashes into it.

How the devil did Zain do that?

Magic.

I was right—all these years. The paranormal exists! Now I have to stay alive long enough to write about it.

Bram flicks his wrist, and a ball of blue light heads for Zain—before it stops abruptly and dissipates.

“Oh, you can block magic now. Been learning parlor tricks from Mathias?” Bram taunts.

Zain tenses. “I’m learning from a master. And learning well.”

Caden snarls, still trying to shove his way past the force field once more, his face mottled with rage. His blue eyes drill into Zain’s, vowing retribution. “Let her go! She knows nothing.”

“She wrote the article. Your leader is holding the book in his hand,” he says, then turns to Bram. “It’s a simple transaction: the book for the girl.”

“Give it to him,” Caden barks.

Bram shoots him a long-suffering expression that demands he be reasonable. “Zain may have trained up a bit, but he’s a snot-nosed tot compared to me, inferior in both bloodline and ability. Isn’t that right?”

“The newly transitioned whelp is two seconds from losing his shag if you don’t cooperate.” Zain squeezes my neck a fraction tighter, and I choke, still clawing for breath. “Did you know I have the ability to heat a human up from the inside, boil their blood, cook their organs? I’m a human microwave.”

I would gasp if I had the air. Unwelcome gray dances in my vision. I don’t know if Zain can actually follow through on that threat, but such a death sounds horrific.

Caden looks somewhere between panicked and nuclear as Bram dangles the damn book just beyond Zain’s reach.

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