Darkness Hunts (Dark Angels 4)

“Thanks.”

He grinned. “You know, a crate or two of Bollinger wouldn’t go astray. I’m almost out of the last lot.”

I choked down a laugh. “Done deal. And cheap at half the price.”

“Then I shall double the price next time.”

He could triple the price and it would still be cheap. The information he kept getting for us was invaluable.

I scooped up the last of the egg yolk with a piece of bacon, then pushed the plate away with a contented sigh. “That was delish. Thanks.”

“You’re lucky. I normally only stock frozen meals, but Mom insisted on having real stuff while she was here.”

I grinned. “Mothers are funny like that.”

“Tell me about it.” His voice was gloomy, but there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “She’s even insisting I meet the daughter of one of her friends before she leaves.”

“The daughter might be hot, you know.”

He snorted. “It’s not the hotness that matters, it’s the nerd factor. Most women these days have absolutely no appreciation of either the fine art of hacking or black marketeering. And they always want to dust.”

“Heaven forbid,” I said, voice dry.

“I know! What is with that?”

I snorted, but didn’t reply as my phone rang. The tone told me it was Lucian, so I excused myself and walked into Stane’s bedroom to answer it.

“Well, hello,” he said, his voice low and intimate. Just the sound of it had desire stirring, and though I suspected it wasn’t entirely “real,” it didn’t seem to matter. Nor did Ilianna’s leafy charm appear to mute that reaction.

But maybe it only worked for face-to-face confrontations. I had to hope so, because if I was going to continue my relationship with Lucian, I wanted it to be because I chose to, not because I was under some sort of compulsion spell.

“Hello, yourself,” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible. “What can I do for you?”

Surprise flitted briefly through the bright depths of his eyes. Obviously, he’d been expecting a stronger response.

“Oh, I’m sure I can think of one or two things, but the point of the call is what I can do for you.”

The emphasis he placed on I and you had all sorts of wicked images floating through my mind. I cleared my throat and said, “And what might that be?”

“Besides the obvious, you mean?”

I half smiled. “Yeah, besides that.”

“Lauren believes she might have an answer to our dilemma.”

My heart began to race a little faster. Now that the moment was here, I wasn’t sure that I should go through with it.

“What sort of answer?”

“She didn’t say. She just said she needs to run a test to ensure it works, and for that she requires your presence.”

I hesitated. “Lucian, I don’t think—”

“It can’t hurt to check out what she has to offer,” he interrupted, in a voice that wasn’t about to brook any argument. “After all, it may not even work.”

I had to hope so, because I really didn’t want to be in debt to a dark sorcerer.

So why even bother going? Azriel’s thought was knife sharp.