By the determined set of her jaw, Thorn didn’t bother to try and dissuade her from following the Dark. She had been doing it for days, and she wouldn’t stop until she found what she was looking for—or they found her.

But it wasn’t in his nature to let her go like a lamb to slaughter.

“If you’re going to follow someone, watch your back as well,” he warned before he walked out of the alley, leaving her and her soulful slate gray eyes behind.

Thorn had learned a very long time ago that he couldn’t save everyone. He had tried. Once. If a mortal didn’t want to be helped, there was nothing he could do about it. And he certainly wasn’t going to stand around and watch her die.

He didn’t stay on the sidewalk long. The Dark had spies everywhere, and the key to the Kings gaining an upper hand in this war was to be as invisible as they could.

Thorn ducked into a narrow side street and stopped. He sighed and slowly turned around. There he waited until he saw the female peer around the side of the building where he’d left her.

He smiled, nodding in approval as she waited for a group of people to pass her. She fell into step with them as if she were a part of them.

That, at least, proved she had brains.

“You just might make it after all, lass.”

*   *   *

Two hours later, Lexi stared down at her knife that rested on the kitchen table in her flat. She thought she had stabbed the stranger in the alley, but he hadn’t so much as flinched.

Was her aim that bad? If so, she was going to have to practice more. In that close proximity, she should’ve hit her mark.

In truth, she had no desire to get close to the red-eyed men, but she didn’t have a choice. A knife was easier to buy, hide, and use than a gun.

She was still shaken by her near run-in with Red Eyes. That’s what she had started calling them. If the stranger hadn’t gotten to her, the odds were that she would be as dead as Christina.

Lexi shuddered to think of it. She feared dying like anyone else, but it was the thought of failing her friend that was the real kicker.

She rose and poured herself a glass of wine. Lexi didn’t bother turning on the TV or the radio. She sat on the couch and stared out the window.

When they first arrived, she had sat in that very spot looking out over the city. It was Christina who had found the flat. Christina had a knack for discovering such places that were always perfect.

If only Lexi had stopped her from leaving the pub the night she died. Lexi had stupidly thought it was her imagination or a trick of the lights when she saw the guy’s eyes change from blue to red.

But a nagging feeling of something dreadful had Lexi running from the pub to find Christina. In the ten minutes it took Lexi to go after her, and another forty-five looking for her, Christina was murdered.

It was by happenstance that Lexi paused on the street, wondering which way to go to look for her friend, when she glanced over her shoulder.

That’s when she saw him. The man Christina had left the pub with walked from an alley with three other men. In the streetlight, she saw that two had black hair while one had blond and another red.

Then, in the blink of an eye, all four had black hair liberally streaked with silver.

She gasped. Lexi remembered that clearly. The shock of it had surprised her so profoundly that she hadn’t had time to realize she made any sound until it was too late.

The man who had lured Christina turned his gaze directly at her as he stood beneath a streetlamp. There was no mistaking his red eyes.

Lexi was thankful she had been in shadows and near a parked car so that she could duck behind it. She waited until the four men were gone, then she ran to the alley.

She squeezed her eyes closed as she recalled finding Christina. The memory was one she wished she could wipe away.

Lexi took a long drink of her wine and felt it burn down her throat to her stomach. For the first time in her life she understood why some people could become alcoholics.

She hadn’t been able to sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time since finding Christina. Jessica and Crystal had checked in on her often, but Lexi was never asleep. She lay in the dark, the flash of red eyes haunting her.

With her wine finished, she rose and poured some more. Then opted to bring the bottle with her to the couch. She held the bottle in one hand and her glass in the other.

Her eyes felt as if the entire Mojave Desert had been poured into them. No matter how much she blinked, they stung. Yet every time she closed her eyes, she saw Christina.

Lexi finished off the bottle of wine. It wasn’t until she was up and opening another that she realized what she was doing. She released the wine bottle as if it were acid and took two quick steps back.

“What am I doing?” she asked herself.

She pivoted and walked to the bedroom. There she stripped down to her panties before she tugged on her nightshirt and crawled into bed.

Maybe that night she would be able to sleep.

*   *   *

“We’re being followed.”

Gorul slanted Vaurin a threatening look. The stupid Dark Fae could never keep his mouth shut. Gorul’s smile was tight as he turned to put his back to the bar and wrapped an arm around Vaurin. He kept the smile in place as he lowered his voice and said, “Keep talking, and I’ll kill you right where you stand.”

Vaurin was using glamour again. Tonight his eyes were green and his chin-length black and silver hair was brownish blond. He shrugged off Gorul’s arm. “You make light of it after so many of our brethren have been slain?”

“If they’re stupid enough to get caught, then that’s their problem.”

It was a brave face Gorul put on. He, like every other Dark Fae in Edinburgh, had been searching for some clue as to how many Dragon Kings were in the city. It was unnerving not to know or see the Kings who had always been so ready to battle.

“Besides,” Gorul said. “It wasn’t a King following us today. It was a human.”

Vaurin downed the last bit of his ale and set the glass on the bar. “Human or King, I don’t like being followed.”

“The human is easily taken care of. If the female wants to know more about us, I’ll be happy to show her.”

Vaurin frowned and turned to face the bar. “We were sent to infiltrate the mortals here just as we do in Ireland. Perhaps we should stop killing for a few nights.”

“Stop?” Gorul asked with a bark of laughter. “How can you ask that when the humans are so tempting? Just look at them,” he said as his gaze roamed the pub. “They sense our sensuality. They know the pleasure we can give them. Why should we deny them that?”

Vaurin looked over his shoulder at two of their comrades who were wooing four females. All it took was a mortal being near a Fae for them to forget who they were. All that mattered to the humans was finding pleasure.

His friends were working the table with ease. A simple touch from a Dark against a female’s face, or leaning close to whisper in a female’s ear had them literally panting and begging for release.

Their friends stood, the four women quickly following. A moment later, all six were walking out the door.

“That’s our cue,” Gorul said with a smile.

Vaurin felt need stir deep within him. It was a curse of a Dark. No matter how much sex they had, it was never enough. The mortals were like a drug. After one taste, there was no turning back.

He tried to remain at the pub, but it was useless. Vaurin walked out to find Gorul waiting for him, a knowing smile on his face.

“There’s no need to deny what we are, Vaurin. We’re Dark. We chose this, and I, for one, don’t regret it. This should’ve been our realm. The Dragon Kings made a serious mistake in not forcing us to leave. Let’s show them the power of the Dark.”

Vaurin walked with Gorul across the street and down an alley to a door. They went inside where all four women stood naked amid boxes and crates.