I made a face, scrunching my nose up. Yep, not interested. As soon as my sister was safely back in Chicago with me, it was sayonara to the sexy-as-fuck wolf from the Shadow Zone, ’cause this nine-to-five lady had no interest in a man who only wanted her because his wolf told him to.
Chapter 17
“Seriously, what the hell is taking so long?” I shivered again as I stood in the alleyway. The Fire Wolf had been gone for at least twenty minutes, and I was freezing my ass off since I didn’t have his heat to warm me. “No way, girl, not thinking about that.”
But as much as I tried to suppress the memories of the passionate encounter we’d shared, they kept forming unbidden in my mind. Scorching tidbits pummeled me. His sweet breath. His large hands. The warmth of his chiseled chest. The feel of him finger fucking me, and then the fantasy of his cock plunging inside me. He would fill me completely. If only I allowed it.
I nearly came again in anticipation.
“Seriously, enough!” I hissed. “That was a one and done. And stop talking to yourself. You sound crazy.”
If anything good had come out of the Fire Wolf’s abrupt need to stamp me as his, it was that it was taking my mind off of what the fuck was happening inside that club.
Because the hunter had been gone for so long. Too long.
I closed my eyes and tuned into the bond with Tess. It hummed and vibrated. She was still there. They hadn’t transported her somewhere else, but maybe the Fire Wolf couldn’t reach her. Or what if he’d been caught trying to rescue her? Or he’d been killed?
“Oh gods.” I pushed away from the concrete wall in the alleyway and prowled on soft footsteps to the street.
The sun had dipped more. Twilight had arrived, and the glow of Manhattan lit the sky. I contemplated simply walking up to the club and waltzing inside. But as soon as that thought came, I paused because Tessa was my identical sister. If they saw me, they could think I was her.
I cocked my head. Could that work to my advantage?
No. Too risky.
But sitting here waiting wasn’t working either. An instinct or sixth sense told me that something was wrong.
“Fuck it.” I whispered a cloaking spell, and it clouded over me, settling beside the shroud that encased my witch scent. That weighted down feeling pressed upon me once more, but at least with the cloak I could move undetected, although if the bouncer was a powerful supernatural it was possible he would sense me.
Moving as quietly as I could, I snuck out of the alley to the club. A small line had formed, only a few people waited in the queue, but the bouncer was carding everyone, which gave off the impression that this was a legitimate business. Which just happened to harbor abducted women.
I stood inches away from a petite female standing on three-inch heels. She kept bouncing from foot to foot as she talked animatedly with her friend. A halter top covered her upper half and a miniskirt her lower. No wonder the chick was freezing. She’d be an icicle if she didn’t get inside soon.
“Can you hurry it up?” she called in an annoyed tone to the bouncer.
His bald head stayed dipped to the driver’s license he was studying from some dude. I slipped past all of them, having to brush closely to the guy waiting to get in so that I could sidestep to the closed front door.
The guy looked over his shoulder as I passed. To my relief, I couldn’t sense a supernatural aura, so if he was a supe, he was a weak one.
“Go on in.” The bouncer handed him back his license and reached for the door. As he did so, his collar dipped down. A flash of that constellation tattoo appeared.
Motherfucker.
Fortunately, he didn’t glance my way when he pulled the door open. As the guy was stuffing his license back into his wallet, I darted inside.
The pulse of heavy music filled the entryway as I walked through a dark tunnel to the club’s interior. I tuned into the bond with Tessa, calling it forth to guide me, and I could only hope that I bumped into the Fire Wolf along the way and figured out what the hell was taking him so long.
The bond vibrated. Down. It was still telling me that Tessa was being kept underground. That hadn’t changed.
With the cloaking spell holding firm, I looked for a stairwell or exit sign. The thump of the nightclub music, slowly coming to life, throbbed around me.
I passed a couple making out near the end of the tunnel, then it opened up to a large dance room with a horseshoe-shaped bar curving along the far wall. Dimly lit sconces decorated the perimeter of the room, and bright strobe lights and dancers in cages hung suspended from the ceiling. There weren’t many people here yet—it was too early for that—but the place had the look and feel of a bazillion other clubs I’d been to.
My eyes stayed peeled and my heart raced as I glided forward. Where was the Fire Wolf and where the hell was a stairwell?
There! My gaze alighted on a corner door. A glowing red exit sign hung above it. Ha, motherfuckers! Even you have to follow fire codes to front as a legitimate business.
I ran toward it, keeping my cloaking spell tight around me, and skidded to a stop at the door. Turning my attention behind me, I assessed the humans. None of them were looking my way.
Whipping the door open as fast as I could, I darted through it and shoved it closed behind me. A slight breeze ruffled my hair. Blood whooshed through my ears. Even though I’d been training with Prisha and her family for more years than I could count, I’d never actually done anything like this. Sure, I could wield a weapon. Sure, I could hold my own in a fight, well, until my magic had gone all kooky.
But trying to find a hunter and my abducted sister in some bullshit nightclub? Yep, all new to me, and given the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I would be lucky if I didn’t blow this.
“Keep your shit together,” I whispered under my breath.
I assessed the brightly lit concrete stairwell before me. Stairs went both up and down. I could only hope I wouldn’t get trapped in the basement.
The bond with Tessa still hummed inside me. She was still very much alive and definitely here.
On hurried footsteps, I took the stairs down as quietly as I could. When I rounded the corner at the bottom, I slowed. Tiptoeing around it, I peeked past the corner to find a short empty hallway . . .
With three doors.
Fucking A.
I inched down the hall, listening intently. But the only sound I heard was the bass above thumping the floor.
All of the doors were closed, which wasn’t helping me to choose, and the flash of a gameshow came to mind. And now our lucky contestant will get to choose which door holds the prize: one, two, or three!
Unfortunately, I knew that a shiny new BMW was not waiting for me.
I prowled to the first door and carefully placed my hand on its handle. Locked. Who would have thought?