Julian sighed and shook out his tight limbs. Declan had never lost his sense of humor; Julian just didn’t find anything funny anymore.
“I’m not sure about anything other than the fact she wants the portal as badly as we do.” He continued to study everyone and everything. “We don’t have a lot of time, and she may be the easiest way for us to get our hands on the danm thing.”
“She’s not gonna want to work with you.”
Julian smiled darkly, a flash of white against the deep tan of his face. “Well, that would take all the fun out of it now, wouldn’t it?”
Declan rolled his shoulders and exhaled softly. “All right, let’s do this.”
“You got your cloaking charm handy?” He didn’t want his prey to sense a Castille jaguar in their midst. He nodded toward the security cameras. “I don’t feel the presence of any DaCostas, but Nico is around here somewhere and the eagle shifter, too.”
Declan smiled rakishly, winking at several women who walked by the two of them, their hips swaying suggestively. “Piece of cake.”
Julian felt a tingle of energy slide over his skin and looked at Declan in surprise. He was still smiling at the women, but Julian sensed his concentration and saw how his hands were loose at his sides, though the fingers were flared.
The sorcerer’s powers had tripled with their time spent in darkness, but it had been fed by something pungent, evil, and he knew Declan was living too close to the edge. They both were.
One wrong move, and the two of them could be lost forever. The lure from the darkside was incredible, intoxicating. Totally Darth Vader.
The energy tickled his flesh as they moved through the throng of tourists still waiting to check in.
“So, we got a plan?” Declan asked.
Julian shook his head. “Hell, no.”
“Good to know,” Declan answered.
They headed toward reception, bypassing a long line. The young woman behind the counter began to protest, but Julian cut her off with a smile, feeling nothing as she melted beneath his gaze.
She smiled, hesitantly, her young face shy. “Sir, you can’t—”
“Jaden DaCosta is expecting us. Can you tell me where her room is located?”
Surprise fell across the young woman’s features. “Um, sorry we’re not allowed to give out that information.”
Julian watched her closely, saw her eyes shift toward the elevator at the extreme right. It was nondescript, set away from the large bank of them grouped closer to reception.
“I can call her if you like.”
“No, that’s fine. I have her number.” He turned abruptly, instantly dismissing the woman.
He nodded toward the single door, his eyes catching the security camera above and, for the first time, the large man who had been half-hidden by a huge palm tree.
“That gives us access to her.”
Declan nodded. “Yeah, but all I can see is the freaking Neanderthal between us and the door.”
“Don’t worry about him.”
Declan snorted. “You gonna invite him to tea?”
Julian moved away. “Nope. Don’t drink the stuff.”
Declan on his heels, he approached the security guard, the energy inside him gathering deep in his gut. His heart began to beat faster, his jaguar no longer content to be still.
The guard moved toward them, his hulking frame blocking the elevator with no problem at all. He was built like a goddamn tank.
The two of them stopped, and Julian smiled harshly as the scent of otherworld drifted on the breeze. The man was a shifter. He was jaguar, and as his eyes passed over the clan tattoos on his arm, he knew the man was a warrior. Not DaCosta, but dangerous nonetheless.