It was him!
She biblically knew every inch of that solid, gorgeous male body.
"Wulf?"
Wulf was stunned beyond comprehension as he heard his name on her lips. "You know me?"
A becoming blush stained her face and it was then he knew...
Those hadn't been dreams.
She started away from him.
"Cassandra, wait."
Cassandra froze as she heard her name on his lips.
He knew her name...
Run! It sounded like her mother's voice in her head, but the order was drowned out by the part of her that didn't want to run away from him.
He reached his hand out toward her.
Cassandra couldn't breathe as she stared at it, wanting his touch. His real touch.
Before she could stop herself, she reached out to him.
Just as she was about to touch him, a shimmer over his shoulder caught her eye.
She looked past him to see a strange mirrorlike image appear on the dance floor. Out of its midst stepped a man who was evil incarnate.
Standing at least six feet eight, he was dressed all in black with short ebony hair that framed the face of perfection. He was every bit as handsome as Wulf. And like Wulf, he wore a pair of dark sunglasses. The only color on him was a bright yellow sun with a black dragon in its center that was painted on the front of his motorcycle jacket.
In spite of his black hair, he was a Daimon. She knew it with every Apollite instinct she possessed. What's more, he was followed through the opening by more Daimons. All of whom were blond and dressed in black.
They oozed an unnatural attraction and virility. Most of all, they oozed deadly precision.
They weren't here to feed. They were here to kill.
She stepped back with a gasp.
Wulf turned to look at what had startled Cassandra. He felt his jaw go slack as he watched the Daimons coming through a bolt-hole in the center of the club.
Dante came running from the front in human form that shifted to panther as he ran. Before he could get near them, the Daimon with black hair shot a god-bolt straight at him.
The Katagari hit the ground with a yelp as the electrically charged bolt shifted him from panther to human and back again.
The bar went wild.
"Mind-shield the humans!" the DJ shouted over the intercom, alerting the Katagaria who were present that the humans needed to be gathered and their memories of the night reorganized and/or purged, just as they routinely did anytime something "strange" happened in their club.
Most of all, the humans needed to be protected.
The Daimons fanned out, circling the club and attacking any Katagari who came near them.
Wulf rushed through the crowd to attack.
He caught the Daimon with a blond ponytail and swung him around. The Daimon jumped back out of his reach. "This isn't your fight, Dark-Hunter."
Wulf pulled two of his long daggers out from his boots. "I think it is."
He attacked, but to his amazement, the Daimon moved like lightning. Every move Wulf made to attack was countered and returned.
Holy shit. He'd never in his life seen Daimons move like this.
"What are you?" Wulf asked.
The blond Daimon laughed. "We're Spathis, Dark-Hunter. We are the only thing that is truly deadly in the dark of night. While you..." He raked a repugnant look over Wulf's body. "You're just a pretender."
The Daimon caught him by the neck and threw him to the ground. Wulf hit the deck hard. His breath left his body with a vicious woof as his knives flew out of his grasp.
The Daimon jumped on top of him, slugging him as if he were a helpless babe.
Wulf knocked him off, but it was hard. There were fights all over the room as the Were-Hunters engaged the Daimons.
Worried about Cassandra, he looked to see her hiding with a blond woman in a far corner.
He had to get her out of here.
The Daimon he was fighting looked to where Wulf had glanced. "Father," he called out. "The heiress." He pointed straight at Cassandra.
Wulf took advantage of the distraction to kick the Daimon back.
As one cohesive unit, the Spathis disengaged their opponents and jumped from their locations to where Cassandra and the blond woman were hiding.
They literally dropped out of the sky and landed in formation.
Wulf ran for them, but before he could reach the women, the blonde with Cassandra came out of her crouch.
The Daimon leader froze instantly.
The blonde held her arms straight out as if to bar the Daimons from Cassandra. Suddenly, a wind of unknown origin whipped through the club.
The Daimons froze.
Another shimmery doorway opened on the dance floor.
"It's the laminas," the Daimon who had been fighting Wulf said, sneering. He turned toward the blond woman and glared.
Their faces angry, the Spathis disengaged the formation and walked one by one back through it.
Except for the leader.
His gaze unwavering, he glared at the blond woman. "This isn't over," he snarled.
She didn't move or flinch. It was as if the woman were made of stone. Or comatose.
The Daimon leader turned around, and walked slowly through the portal. It vanished the instant he was through it.
"Kat?" Cassandra asked as she rose to her feet.
The blond woman staggered back. "Oh, God, I thought I was dead," Kat breathed, her body trembling. "Did you see them?"
Cassandra nodded as Wulf joined them.
"What were they?" Kat asked.
"Spathi Daimons," Cassandra breathed. She stared in disbelief at her companion. "What did you do to them?"
"Nothing," Kat said, her face innocent. "I just stood here. You saw me. Why did they leave?"
Wulf looked at Kat suspiciously. There was no reason for them to leave. They had been winning the fight.
For the first time in his life, he had actually felt a momentary doubt in his ability to defeat them.
Corbin came up to them. "Did you get any of them?"