“Good thing I do.”

She fell asleep as his amusement wandered around them.

Colors, crazy and bright, filled her dreams, but she slept in contentment, protected after so long. The arms around her were temporary, but the sense of safety seduced her into a deep sleep.

A few hours later, her eyelids jerked open. Wind whistled a pissed-off sound around the building, sliding through cracks in the far wall. The fire had died down to a soft crackle, and rolling thunder moved the earth. Her heart rate picked up, instinct kicking in. What had awakened her?

Daire’s arms tightened, and he set her away. “There’s somebody outside.”

Chapter 7

Daire crouched low on the frozen kitchen floor and concentrated on the vibrations outside. The storm had died down a little bit but still competed with other energy sources. He could detect energy waves better than most witches, and he knew those signatures. Demons. At least two—maybe more. Either way, they waited outside in the swirling snow.

“Stay here and be ready to run out the front. A half mile to the north is an old gas station. I hid the snowmobile behind it,” he said to Cee Cee. “They’re out back.” He hadn’t heard any sort of vehicle, so they’d walked. He pointed to the jacket she’d sat on. “Put that back on.”

Cee Cee stood, her eyes wide, her hair wild around her face. “They’re here for me, not you.”

Yeah. He got that.

“You don’t even have a shirt, Daire.” She visibly steeled her shoulders and tried to move toward the back door.

He planted a hand in the center of her chest, halting her easily. “I don’t need a shirt, and you’re not at full power yet. No way could you be after healing your body like that last night.” Plus, he was a fucking enforcer, and nobody was going to harm her on his watch. “They might not know you’re here, so just stay out of the way until I figure out who’s out there.”

She glanced down at the hand at her chest, and a flush worked over her cheekbones. “I told you I don’t need a protector.”

That was too bad. He leaned down and yanked up the jacket to shove over her shoulders. “Zip it up.”

He waited until she’d complied, pure defiance on her face. She could wear any damn expression she wanted so long as she did what he said. He turned away and opened the door to find two demons to the left¸ and two to the right against a crumbling building of old apartments. “You all about to square-dance?” he called through the lightly falling snow.

One man stepped forward. Curly blond hair, dark eyes, firm but young jaw. Ivan Bychkov looked like a handsome teenage heartthrob and hadn’t seemed to age in the years Daire had read security updates on the Consortia leader. “Bychkov,” Daire said.

Ivan blinked and settled his stance. “Daire Dunne. What is a Nine enforcer doing on my island?”

Daire lifted an eyebrow and kept his stance loose. The odds sucked, especially if the soldiers were as well trained as they appeared at first glance. “I own two of the mines on this island, as you know.”

“Yet I own the actual island as well as two of the working mines.” Ivan smiled, youthful and charming. The soldier next to him was Vadim Deeks, one of the deadliest assassins around, and rumored to be completely loyal to Bychkov. They seemed to have a peaceful alliance with the main demon nation, which was currently being led by Zane Kyllwood, Logan’s older brother. If Daire killed Bychkov, there might be a problem with Kyllwood.

Daire didn’t recognize the other two soldiers. “Well, this has been nice. Go away.”

Bychkov sighed. “Where is she?”

“She?” Daire asked. Instead of letting the exhausted woman sleep all over him, he should’ve demanded answers. Right now, he didn’t know shit, and that was not a good place to be.

Vadim lifted a green gun and pointed it at Daire. A laser gun that turned into bullets as it hit flesh. Immortal flesh.

Daire responded by allowing fire to dance down his arms and morph into plasma weapons in his hands.

“Enough,” Cee Cee said from behind him, crossing to his side.

Bychkov sucked in air. “I’ve been looking for you.”

Anger, female and strong, cascaded off her slim form. “I hadn’t planned to meet up so quickly.”

“Yet here you are,” Bychkov drawled.

She chuckled, the sound low and hoarse. “I’m here to check out Dunne’s mine. Not yours.”

Her voice plus the double entendre rippled through Daire to his groin. When all four men facing her discreetly adjusted their stances, his temper moved from simmer to bring it the fuck on. A chuckle from a woman like her was a dangerous thing.

Bychkov’s gaze raked Daire’s bare chest. “Still slumming it, I see.”

Slumming it? Had the woman been with a witch before? Daire angled his body so he could cover her if anybody fired. “Would somebody tell me what is going on?” If he was going to fight, he wanted to know the reason, damn it.

Bychkov sighed, his gaze remaining squarely on Cee Cee. “We have an agreement, and you’re going to honor it.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Cee Cee spat, glancing up at the thick cloud cover.

What was she looking for? “Agreement?” Daire muttered under his breath.

Bychkov crossed his arms. “We were betrothed decades ago, and you ran away.” He shuffled his feet. “We could’ve worked things out.”

She stretched her neck, her body one tense line. “I’m not property to be bargained with, Ivan. There’s no betrothal.” Her boot made no sound as she took a step forward. “You should’ve let go, and you will pay for what you’ve done. In ways you can’t even imagine with your tiny mind. I will see you dead.”

He smiled. “There are four of us against two of you.”

She chuckled again. “Oh, I didn’t mean today. You get to live a while . . . first.” So much threat lived in the words that the hair on the back of Daire’s neck stood up.

Bychkov frowned. “You’ve forgotten how well I know you. Everything about you.”

Her chin snapped up. “I haven’t forgotten.”

“Then you know you can’t beat me. Can’t come close, in fact.” He finally turned his focus to Daire. “You know she’s damaged, right?”

Daire was more interested in the woman’s preoccupation with the clouds. “What are you doing?” he whispered, the sound slight.

“Time. Can’t see sun,” she whispered back.

The sun? Why did she need time? But Daire could go along for a moment. “Damaged? If you ask me, she’s pretty fucking perfect.”

Cee Cee smiled at him.

Bychkov growled, demon low. “Then she hasn’t told you, Enforcer.” A tickle, one of pain and death, vibrated through the air toward Daire’s frontal lobe.

Daire smiled and threw up a mental shield. His expertise for the last three centuries had been in learning to shield against demon mind attacks, because the Coven Nine had always expected war with the demon nation. “That all you got?”

Bychkov’s eyes turned beady. “No. But it’s more than she’s got.”

Daire kept any reaction from showing. Was Cee Cee incapable of demon mind attacks? Was that even possible? “Regardless, you asked for the lady’s hand, she apparently said no, and it’s over. Tuck your tail between your legs and go home.”

Bychkov shook his head, his face contorting. Emotion, deep and dark, charged the atmosphere. “We have a contract, struck by families, and she’s mine. The Coven Nine will not interfere in such matters, and you know it. You go home, Dunne.”

True. The Coven Nine wouldn’t even think of interfering in another nation’s matters, including betrothals and all that crap. “I guess I’ll just have to interfere on my own, then.” He kept the mental shield in place, although even he wasn’t delusional enough to think he could protect his brain from the attacks of all four soldiers. They weren’t going anywhere, and the matter was about to escalate, so it was time for action. He molded the fire still burning across his hands into smaller projectiles.