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magic ran in her veins as sure as her blood. Marijka narrowed her eyes at him. “No, I’m not afraid. But it’s my turn.”
    He eased from her and rolled onto his back. “By all means.”
    “Hands above your head,” she commanded. The smile on his face was indulgent, as if there were no chance she’d ever hold the power, but he raised his arms as she instructed.
    Marijka was ready to have him inside of her, but she wanted to taunt him and pleasure him just as he’d done to her. She trailed her fingers down the broad expanse of his chest and lowered her mouth to his abdomen, drifting lower still—all the while holding his intense stare with her own.
    Luka broke the connection first as his attention jerked toward the window. Those masterful hands flung her to the floor on the opposite side of the bed and before Marijka could scream, the glass of the window shattered in a brutal spray across the room.
    The enforcer moved faster than her eyes could follow, and when he came back into focus it was as if she watched everything through time-lapse photography. Marijka didn’t even see the beast until Luka held it suspended in the air by its throat, snarling and salivating. It gnashed its teeth at his flesh, clawed at him. But Luka held it aloft as if it were no more than an errant puppy—though she saw his muscles shift beneath his skin, flex and bulge. He seemed bigger, as if that were possible.
    He was already a giant beast of a man, but whereas the creature he held should have been larger and more powerful, it was helpless against him. It continued to thrash to get at Luka until it snapped its own neck with the effort.
    Luka dropped it, disgust carved into his hard features, then narrowed his eyes. He quickly scooped it up again with no more effort it would take to lift a toddler—and flung it back out the way it had entered.
    He stood in the outline of the broken window, the shadows falling over him in a mantle and the moonlight pale and silver on his golden hair. He was fearless, showing the beasts what he’d done—owning it and inviting them to take what action they could. Daring them to defy him. Marijka was struck again with the certain knowledge he was not human, but an elemental thing spawned from the dark places in the earth.
    When he turned his attention back to her, she wished for a moment to be invisible. She didn’t want that intensity focused on her, that power. Luka held out his hand to her.
    “You can come out. You are safe.”
    “You said they couldn’t pass through the walls,” she said as she scrambled for her gun.
    “A little late for the gun, don’t you think?” He cocked his head to the side, curious rather than chiding.
    “What the hell are you?”
    “I told you, I’m an enforcer.” He stepped toward her. “Did I not protect you, Marijka? Twice now, I have saved you. Why do I smell your fear?” His frigid eyes narrowed and he laughed, that low sound still like liquid velvet. “And arousal. The more you fear, the hotter you get.”
    Marijka scrambled away from him, but he was faster. She knew he would be. He slammed her up against the wall roughly.
    “Don’t you know better than to run from a predator?” he whispered against her mouth and then scraped his teeth lightly along the edge of her throat.
    Yes, she knew better. But she liked this. She liked the power that radiated from him in endless waves, his strength. “Maybe I like it when you chase me.”
    Goddess above, what was wrong with her? The wolves—
    He spoke as if he knew her thoughts. “They will not enter here again. I killed one of them, and they did not come for retribution. In fact, they feed on him now, if you care to see.”
    The images his words wrought were like something out of a horror movie. She could almost hear the wet crackling sound of bones crunching in those horrible jaws. “You said they wouldn’t before—”
    He cut her off again, but this time with his mouth on hers, crushing her against him.