Page 11 of Wicked Little Tricks

“That is all you have to do, once you find the person you need to collect it from.” He smiled pleasantly.

I wanted to punch him in his perfect, sexy face.

“I suggest different footwear.“ He breezed past me. “I’ll meet you outside the boundary when you’re ready.“

I turned to follow him with my eyes.

He faced me again, his teasing expression wiped away like it had never existed. “Don’tforget the card this time.”

“Wait!” I lifted a hand.

He crossed his arms, watching me.

“Do you have a name?”

“Sebastian.” There was a strange whooshing sound, and a streak of black, then he was gone.

Braxton lightly knocked on the open doorway. I had almost forgotten he was in the apartment. At my nod, he came into the room. “You okay?“

I stomped to my bedside table and snatched up the card, glaring down at it like it had betrayed me. “So what exactly happens when you break a contract with a devil?“

Braxton walked up beside me, took the card from my fingers, then slid it into the front pocket of my oversized shirt. “You don’t want to find out, Eva. Just do the job and getaway from him.”

I turned toward him with a lifted brow. “And how do you know so much about devils?”

He grinned. “Your new boss isn’t the only sexy as the hells devil around. I had a dalliance with a tall ancient female in the past, when I was young and stupid. Trust me, Eva, just do the job and get out.”

I frowned, tempted to ask more about hisdalliance, but maybe I didn’t want to know. Either way, it was good advice. Do the job and get out. But I had a feeling it was easier said than done.

6

The barrierto the Bogs doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary. A high arched fence bordered by mossy stone walls seal most of the greenery beyond away from sight. There’s nothing special about the gate itself, only that it lines up with the magical barrier keeping anyone without goblin blood out of the Bogs. Anyone but me, that is. And other night runners with enough power.

I wore brown combat boots laced halfway up the calves of my jeans—perfect for the mud I would surely be encountering. A blue silk button up shirt let in a nice cool breeze beneath my brown leather jacket. I had my messenger bag slung over my shoulder, even though there would be no delivery. There were certain useful things to always bring to the Bogs. Cheap shiny jewelry and candy for bargaining, and something to produce fire to scare away the less intelligent creatures. But it was the high goblins you really had to worry about. Theywouldn’t care about cheap baubles and sweets. In fact, they were almost as bad as devils. When they bargained, they played for keeps. Or so I’d been told.

I observed the green flecks of lichen covering the arched iron gates. All I would have to do was push my way through, go inside, and find whoever Sebastian wanted me to find. Hopefully it was someone not far from the barrier. I had never gone deep into goblin lands, and I never wanted to. Many of them were harmless enough, but others would sooner eat you than speak to you. The goblin race had more variations than one hundred litters of kittens.

A flash of black startled me enough to make me jump. Once I caught my breath, I glared at the devil standing beside me.

I clutched the strap of my messenger bag across my chest. “Tell me again why you can’t go in and collect this debt yourself?”

He narrowed his eyes at the goblin gate. “I don’t have any goblin blood,obviously.”

“But can’t you do that little popping up where you’re not welcome thing?” I waved my hand in the air, suggesting that his magic seemed a little greater than the goblin barrier.

“No. Not beyond the boundaries.” His tone was caustic. He didn’t like being kept out.

It almost made me feel smug about being able to go in.Almost, because it wasn’t exactly a privilege to go mucking through the Bogs. “So who am I looking for?”

He was still studying the closed gates. “A high goblin named Mistral.”

I whipped my gaze in his direction, suddenly breathless. “No one said anything about a high goblin.”

He calmly lifted a brow. “Are you scared?”

“Absolutely. I’m already indebted to a devil. I don’t need to add a high goblin to that list.”

He smiled. “Then you’d better bargain wisely. Ask him about a woman named Celeste. He’ll know what you’re talking about.”

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