feet. She studiously avoided Slayer’s gaze.
“Okay, what was your idea for getting these things safely out of here, Slayer?”
He dragged his gaze from Darma long enough to smile at me. “You’re not gonna like it.”
I sighed. “I’ve known you long enough to be sure of that. But tell me anyway.”
“I’d rather show you.” He closed his eyes and a moment later a lusty roar sounded outside the building. I jumped and glared at Slayer. “Are you kidding me? How am I gonna explain this to my client?”
Right on cue, a male shout split the air. “Hey, lady, I’m payin’ you to get rid of the dragons in my shop, not bring more here. No, scratch that, I’ve decided I’m not payin’ you.”
A massive red head slammed through the mangled entrance and turned toward Slayer. The huge red made a purring noise and inclined its head at Slayer.
He looked at me. “Do you want me to do this, or not?”
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I nodded. “All right. But let’s get it over with, I have something I need to do.”
* * * * *
Fever boiled beneath the surface of my skin. My body thrummed with need. The adrenaline rush from fighting the dragon—and maybe a little bit the close proximity to Slayer—had fired my Settling to a near violent state.
As soon as we deposited the family of greens on Olympus, I popped away, stepping out of my space shift inside a well-appointed, lushly carpeted hallway. I strode quickly toward the golden doors at the end of the hall, ignoring the surprised red faces and beady gazes of Dialle’s guards.
As I approached, I lifted a hand and threw the doors open before me, barely slowing to acknowledge the guards’ attempts to stop me.
They were halfhearted attempts anyway. The guards were terrified of me since I put the pretty little tear-shaped mark on their boss’s neck.
Dialle turned in surprise as I strode into the room, along with several hundred dark-world types who had gathered there for an audience with the newly crowned King of the Royal Devils.
The special guards flanking his throne stepped in front of him, closing him off from view. Without even thinking, I flicked my fingers toward those guards and sent them flying. My steps barely faltered as Dialle’s loyal soldiers smacked hard against the wall behind the throne.
Dialle stood, his impossibly handsome face dark with anger. “Astra!”
I didn’t stop until I stood inches away, only a shallow platform separating him from me as I reached for him, touching his hickey with the tip of my finger. His face went pale. He reached up and clasped my wrist but didn’t wrench my finger from his throat. I need you now.
This isn’t a good time…
I don’t care.
You see, the thing about my Settling is that it isn’t just a sexual thing. The struggle a Tweener deals with at age twenty-five, when her Settling sets in, is with the dark and light sides of her nature. Right at that moment my dark nature had bitch-slapped my light into submission and my devil had come out in a big way.
I’ll take you right here.
For the first time, the hint of a smile curved Dialle’s lips. You wouldn’t dare.
I sent a small jolt of power into the hickey and Dialle’s eyes rolled back in his head. He jerked my wrist and slammed me hard against his body.
My breath escaped from my lips and the burning coil of need I’d been nursing low in my belly tightened, my skin rising in goose bumps under the force of Dialle’s emerging power.
His black eyes swirled with red and orange lights, making me dizzy when I gazed into them. He lifted his head and cast that gaze around the huge room. “Out!”
His power-drenched voice thundered around the room, bouncing off the walls and coming back with teeth-jarring force. He didn’t wait for the room to clear.
His lips descended to mine. His hot, talented fingers grabbed at my clothing, tearing the soft sweater I wore into pieces and flinging it toward the floor. I ripped into his gauzy white