Page 53 of The Incubus and the Bodyguard

Vlad unfroze and bolted for the rear exit, Tarang at his heels.

“Hey! You can’t go through there!” the bartender roared as Delphine grabbed the handle of the staff door.

It was locked.

She kicked it open, the nanorobots in her peripheral vision catching sight of the bartender as he rounded the counter, a baseball bat in hand and a scowl on his face.

Delphine dashed through the staff area beyond and along a short service corridor that opened into the rear alley.

Delroy was running down the passage to her left.

She went after him.

Vlad burst out of a door ahead of the bartender, Tarang a white shape beside him.

Fear squeezed Delphine’s heart when she saw Delroy aim a gun at them.

The army knife strapped to her right ankle appeared in her hand in the blink of an eye.

She never stopped running as she threw it, the metal gleaming dangerously under the sunlight as it left her grip.

Delroy cried out when it impaled the back of his hand a fraction of a second before he pulled the trigger.

The shot went wild.

She was on him in the next moment, anger making her movements harsh as she kicked the back of his leg to bring him to the ground. She slammed his face into the blacktop, breaking his nose. A choked gurgle escaped Delroy when she pinned him with a knee in the small of his back and yanked his arms behind him hard enough to almost dislocate his shoulders.

“Delphine!” Vlad shouted, alarmed.

Air shifted behind her. A draft ruffled her hair and danced across her right cheek as she twisted sharply out of the way of the bartender’s down-swinging bat.

Delroy grunted and groaned when it struck his hip.

Delphine rammed his head into the ground when her hand found purchase on his skull. She pushed off fluidly into the air and back-kicked her attacker in the jaw before he could react.

Bone cracked under the heel of her boot.

Delphine somersaulted over Delroy, twisted, and landed lightly on her feet. The bartender struck the ground with his knees and slumped forward.

Vlad appeared beside her.

“Are you okay?!” He grabbed her shoulders, his gaze raking her from head to toe.

“I’m peachy.”

Delphine startled when he hugged her tightly to his chest.

“God, that scared me!” Vlad mumbled in her hair.

Delphine stiffened. Every instinct she possessed screamed she should be stepping out of his arms and insisting they keep a professional distance. Yet she found herself standing still, the feel of Vlad’s heartbeat pounding against her ribs making her belly clench with an emotion she shouldn’t be feeling about a client.

She pulled back and met his worried gaze, remorse tightening her throat.

“Areyouokay? You almost took a bullet again.”

“I’m fine, thanks to you.” His eyes glittered. “The way you threw that knife was really hot.”

Delphine’s breath stuttered as attraction sizzled in the air between them.

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