Darkness Devours (Dark Angels 3)

“And that is?” Stane asked, when I didn’t immediately go on.

“Well, when we saw Nadler’s body, two things became obvious. One, he’d been held in captivity for a while. He had an almost ghostly tone to his skin—it was almost as if he hadn’t seen any sun for a very long time. And two, I think he was frozen.”

Stane blinked. “Frozen?”

I nodded. “He had a freezer-burn look about him.”

“God.” Stane rubbed a hand across his chin. “Well, most decent-sized box freezers will hold a human body, and they could be put anywhere with power. But searching for it would be the proverbial needle in a haystack.”

“Yes, but you couldn’t keep a body in a freezer just anywhere, could you?”

“Well, no, but any storage facility with power would be suitable.” He gave me a somewhat wry look. “Do you know how many of those there are in this city?”

“Hundreds, if not thousands. But we can still do a search for one under the name of Nadler, just on the off chance that we find it.”

“It seems unlikely he’d be so stupid, but I guess it can’t hurt—and if we do find one, maybe I can raid the security tapes and see who has been accessing the unit.”

“My thinking exactly.” I finished the rest of the bitter coffee and stood. “As ever, let me know if you find something.”

“As long as you don’t forget the dinner you owe me.”

“When this is all over—”

“Forgive me if I’m being a little picky, but this might not be over for months. Years, even. A wolf could starve in that time.”

I grinned. “So, next week then.”

If, I added silently—and somewhat grimly—I was still alive in a week’s time.

“Date,” he said.

I glanced at Azriel. He took the hint and whisked us out of there. Once we’d reappeared at home, I walked into the kitchen. Stane’s bitter coffee had woken me up, but I really needed something to eat if I was going to get through the rest of the evening.

I zapped a large helping of leftover lasagna in the microwave, then grabbed a fork and headed into the living room. Azriel was standing in the middle of it, his arms crossed and his pose watchful. Ever the guard, I thought, and wondered if reapers even knew how to relax.

“Not in the sense that humanity does,” he answered.

I dropped onto the nearest sofa. “As usual, that reply is not very informative.”

He half smiled. It sent a hum of delight swirling through me. “In very simple terms, we mingle energies and recharge.”

“Mingle energies? That sounds almost sexual.”

“There is no ‘almost’ about it.”

So in their free time, reapers basically ran around having sex? And they called werewolves horny bastards. “How different is it from human sex?”

This time the smile was full-blown and sexy, and it didn’t just swirl, it stormed, leaving me breathless and aching.

“It’s as different as night from day.”

A statement that did nothing to relieve the desire raging within me. I licked my lips and tried to concentrate on eating. However much my hormones might rage, now was not a good time for that sort of action. Christ, I was barely even capable of standing.

You don’t have to stand to make love, my treacherous inner voice whispered.

I studiously ignored it and continued to shovel food in until the lasagna was almost gone and I was sure I could speak with some semblance of normalcy. Not that he’d be fooled—there was that damn chi link, after all.

“Is this mingling what you meant when you said you couldn’t make love to me as a reaper, because I wasn’t ready for it?”