Blake sighed as he turned to Kat. “You’ll have to lose the jacket.”
“What?” She glared at him. “It’s freezing out. See my breath?”
“You’re not going to freeze in the seconds it takes us to walk to the door. They’re not going to let you in.”
“I don’t get it.” She clutched her jacket. “So not fair.”
I went to her, folding my hands over hers. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I mean it.”
“If she doesn’t, then this was one huge time waster.”
“Shut up,” I threw over my shoulder, at Blake, and then focused on Kat. “I’m serious. Tell me now, and we’ll go home. There’s got to be another way.”
Kat shook her head and stepped back, unbuttoning my jacket. “I’m fine. Pulling on big-girl undies and all that jazz.”
Big-girl undies? What in… All thoughts vanished as she took the jacket off and tossed it inside the SUV. Holy shit, I wanted to get her up against the nearby tree and I also wanted her to put the damn jacket back on.
I stepped back, eyeing her from the pointy toes of her boots, up the ripped black tights, over the short denim skirt, and then my gaze got hung up on her bare stomach and that cute little belly button.
Oh damn.
“Yeah,” I muttered, shifting so I blocked her from the…the world. “I’m not so sure about this.”
“Wow,” Blake said, admiration obviously in his voice.
I whipped around, letting go of a small pulse of the Source. Whitish-red sparks flew from my fingertips. Douche Bag darted to the side, narrowly avoiding the hit.
Kat heaved a sigh. “Let’s get in there.”
Sending him one more look of warning, I placed my hand on her lower back. We started forward, stalking between the cars as my palm burned from the contact. The building was pretty nondescript. No windows. Only a steel door, but as we drew close, music from inside could be heard.
Kat glanced back at Blake. “So do we knock—?”
I stiffened as a mountain of a man appeared from out of freaking nowhere. Dead of winter, and this dude was wearing overalls with no shirt on underneath. His hair, spiked in three sections, was purple. Piercings were all over his face—nose, lips, eyebrows. He had a planet pierced in each of his earlobes.
And even though he was human, he looked like he could lift a house with one arm.
Kat took a step back, stumbling into me, but Mountain Man was eyeing me like he wanted a piece. “See something you like?” I asked.
The guy smirked.
Blake jumped in. “We’re here to party. That’s all.”
Mountain Man continued to stare at me as he reached for the door, opening it. Music blasted from the inside. “Welcome to the Harbinger. Have fun.”
With my hand still on Kat’s back, we stepped inside. The door shut behind us and Blake said, “I think he liked you, Daemon.”
“Shut up,” I said.
He let out a low laugh as he slipped past us in the tight, dark hallway. A few steps in and then we were in the club.
Jesus, I would never have expected this place to be here.
Dizzying blue, red, and white strobe lights flashed continuously. The dance floor was packed, and there was no escaping the scent of perfume, bitter alcohol, and sweat. Cages hung from the ceiling. Occupied cages. On the other side of the dance floor, near a bar, was a raised stage. People were everywhere, and not just humans. My senses were firing left and right. I could feel other Luxen, but among that, the darkness of nearby Arum slipped over my skin like oil.
Not liking this at all, I went on alert as I scanned the cavernous room. There were a lot of shadows, a lot of couches with…uh, questionable things taking place on them.
I glanced down at Kat and almost laughed at her wide-eyed expression. I spoke in her ear. “A little out of your element, Kitten?”
“I think you should’ve gone with the eyeliner,” she replied.
I smirked. “Not ever going to happen.”
Heavy drums pounded as we skirted the edge of the dance floor, and then everyone stopped—the ones on the dance floor and the chicks in the cages. Their fists shot in the air as they chanted in unison, “Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poisoned devils…” The yells picked up, drowning out everything except the drums.
Alrighty then.
We entered a narrow hall, leaving that mess behind. Kat was doing her hardest to stare straight ahead, studiously ignoring the couples along the walls. We stopped at a door that had the word Freaks scribbled over what used to be Personnel Only.
Sounded about right.
Blake started to knock on the door, but it cracked open. I couldn’t see who was behind the door, but I had a feeling it was a Luxen.
“We’re here to see Luc,” Blake said. There was a pause, and the back of his neck turned red. Nice. “Tell him it’s Blake, and he owes me.” Another pause. “I don’t care what he’s doing, I need to see him.”
“Great,” I muttered. “He’s friendless as usual.”
Whoever was behind the door said something, and Blake growled. “Dammit, he owes me. These people are cool. Trust me. No bugs here.” Finally, after forever, he turned to us, brows drawn tight. “He wants to talk to me first. Alone.”
I drew up to my full height. “Yeah, not gonna happen.”
Blake shook down. “Then nothing’s going to happen. Either you do as he wants and someone will come for you, or we made this trip for nothing.”
Yeah, I was so not cool with that.
Kat rose onto her toes and pressed against my back. “Let’s dance.”
I turned halfway and stared down at her.
She bit down on her lip as she tugged on my hand. “Come on.”
Not a smart idea, but how was I supposed to turn down that lip? Or that sweater.
Or those tights?
I let her guide me back out to the dance floor, around the twisting and turning bodies. Once she found a spot she seemed to like, she stopped in front of me, and I watched her curiously, wondering if we were going to do this.
This wasn’t like homecoming.
Closing her eyes, she stretched up and wrapped one arm around my neck and placed her other hand on my hip. We were close, very close, so I liked where this was heading already.
And then she started moving against me.
For a moment, I was still, because Kat…she knew how to move every part of her body—her shoulders and those hips. My mouth dried as her thighs rubbed against mine. I circled my arm around her waist and my chin grazed her neck. “Okay,” I said into her ear. “I might have to thank Blake for being friendless.”
Kat smiled.
My arm tightened as she swayed against me, the move fluid and sensual. “I think I like this.”
That was the understatement of the year.
A fine sheen of sweat dotted Kat’s face as she whirled around, pressing her back against my front. My hand slid to her stomach, and we moved together. Hell, I didn’t have to do much of anything, because Kat had the lead on this. She danced away from me, and I caught her arm, spinning her back.
We were front to front, her on the tips of her boots and our bodies twisted together. Pure instinct and a near-primal need drove me to lower my mouth to hers. Our lips brushed, and power pulsed through me and over Kat. It created a flash of light that blended in.
Our hearts pounded in unity and our bodies surged with the music, fitting together, and when my lips pressed more firmly against hers, she opened up. We didn’t stop moving, but her hand was sliding over my chest and lower, and mine was coasting over the curve of her back. Static crackled over our skin, and I was thinking about those couches I’d seen when we first came in and how incredibly useful—
A heavy hand landed on my shoulder, drawing me out of everything that was Kat. I let her go and spun, realizing it was Douche Bag. Before I could knock him into next year, Kat caught my arm.
Blake smiled as he yelled over the blaring music, “Are you guys having sex or dancing?”
“Do you want to ever have sex?” I shot back. “Because I’m about to fix it so you never can.”