“This is true.” Darius cleared his throat, as if he were changing the course of his thoughts. “As it turns out, our host has an acquaintance who may be of aid to me.”
“You need a vein as well, my brother?”
“No, a master of the works for my house upon the great hill. I have had no success finding workmen within the species, and moreover, I believe I have gotten ahead of myself. I need plans and supplies first . . . as well as a person who can conduct a crew. All I have is the mountaintop. Yet there is a male here this eve who has built several constructions in Caldwell and also in New York City and Philadelphia. I met him. He seems a fine sort, although he has an odd name.”
“What does he go by?”
“The Jackal.”
I can’t pay you much!”
Nyx shouted the words as she jumped out of the hidden space, just before the panel slid back into place. Then she cursed at how loud she was.
Up ahead, the male with the broad back and the long braid stopped. When he didn’t turn around and look at her, she had no idea what the hell he was going to do. What she was clear on? It was good to have her weapons back on her body. And in her hand.
The male slowly pivoted on his heel. As their eyes met, her breath caught, but damned if she was going to show it.
“Pay me,” he said. “As in give me cash?”
“I have five hundred dollars. That’s all I’ve got.”
The male looked past her and then behind himself. “And just what do you think I shall do with money down here?”
“Isn’t there, like, a black market or something?”
“A black market?”
“You know, bribing guards. Or other prisoners.”
Yeah, like she was such an expert after all those Lockdown episodes she’d watched from her living room armchair.
For a moment, he just stared at her. And as a scent like dark spices entered her nose, she frowned—and so did he.
When he walked back over to her, it was easy to stand her ground considering she was armed and he was not. What was difficult was the way she tracked his movements. With every step he took, there was a powerful shifting from left to right, his shoulders and his hips counterbalancing his muscular weight.
It was the kind of thing that made a female wonder what exactly he could do with his body. If he happened to be naked.
His eyes scanned her face. “You will have to tell me who you’re looking for.”
Nyx’s heart skipped a beat. But not because of what he’d demanded. It was that scent that seemed to come out of every single one of his pores. God, it smelled good, wiping out all the damp earth and mold in her nose.
“It’s my sister,” she said. “I’m going to get her out of this nightmare. She should never have ended up here in the first place.”
“What’s her name.”
Not a question. Then again, they were solidly in rhetorical land, weren’t they.
“Janelle. She was incarcerated fifty years ago.”
“I don’t recognize the name. But that doesn’t mean anything.”
“So you’ll help me. For five hundred dollars.”
His eyes, those incredible, glowing, blue-green eyes, narrowed. “Maybe.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “What’s with the maybe. You’re in or you’re out.”
The smile that curled his lips was calculating. And sensual. “Curious choice of words, female.”
This isn’t happening, Nyx thought. This is not happening.
And yet she focused on his mouth. And thought of where he could put it on her body.
“No,” she said as she caught his drift. Because it was where her dumbass mind had gone, too.
“I would have helped you for free before,” he drawled. “But now that you’ve brought up payment, I find myself with a change of heart.”
“Five hundred. And we keep this professional. That’s what I’m offering.”
The male inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. Then he laughed, the rumble low in his throat. Like a purr. “I think you’re offering quite a bit more, my dear.”
Nyx reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him forward. “Don’t. Call. Me. ‘Dear.’ And I’m never going to be yours.”
Later, she would reflect that manhandling the male was a mistake. Later . . . she would wish she could take that back. But not because she felt physically threatened.
“I will call you anything I want,” he said as he focused on her lips.
“Oh, so it’s like that, huh. I drop two curse words and you figure you don’t need to show me any respect at all. Classy.”
There was an electric pause. “On the contrary. I am more than prepared to show you something.”
“Yeah, you can keep that to yourself.” She punched at his chest and stepped back sharply. “Now do we have a deal.”
“I don’t want your money.”
Nyx laughed with a hard edge. “Well, it’s the only thing of mine I’m offering.”