“Yes,” he said sadly. “People are angry. We need work, and we need it badly.”

“I know,” she said, sinking into the chair. “I’ve been a terrible master.”

His ears twitched the way they did when he was uncomfortable. “Not terrible. Just too nice.”

She gave a startled laugh. “That’s something no one has ever said about me.”

“Glad I could be the first.” He cocked his head and studied her. “So why am I here?”

“First, I need to know who has been trying to kill me.”

“Everyone,” Sunil said simply.

Sin shifted, winced at the poke of some creature’s finger bone in her butt. “Including you?”

“Yes.” His brown cheeks darkened with a blush of crimson, and his nervousness was now fully explained. She had the right to torture or put down every assassin who had tried to kill her. “You know I like you, Sin, but I have a family to feed.”

“I know. I wouldn’t have respected you if you hadn’t tried.” Oh, the assassin code was interesting, wasn’t it?

“So,” Sunil prompted. “Am I here to be tortured? The Peelers have been anticipating your return.”

She shuddered. Those unholy, eyeless demons lived for torture. They were also bound to the den, so Sin hadn’t found a way to get rid of them. “I want you to take over as assassin master.”

His golden eyes flared, the pupils elongating and then rounding out again. “You can’t be serious.”

“Very.”

“But… why?”

“My reasons are my own.”

“There are only two ways to escape the life,” Sunil pointed out.

“I’m aware of that, and I don’t plan on dying.”

Sunil started to reach inside the tattered wool trench coat he’d worn since World War II, but dropped his hands at his side. “I can’t use a weapon against you.”

“I know.” Idess had been the exception to the slave-can’t-harm-master-in-the-denrule. She’d been human when Deth bonded her, and humans weren’t meant to carry the assassin-bond. “But you can shift, and as long as I allow it, it should be fine.”

He hesitated, which was one of the very reasons she’d chosen him for this. Accepting the job meant he’d be stuck, the same way she had been. He’d have to move his family to the den in order to be with them, and he’d have to assign them bodyguards any time they left. But it was better than belonging to someone cruel, who would use your family against you, like Deth had.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll send for Tavin. He’s the only other person I’d approve of.” The blond Sem was new to the den, but his contract was huge—he was an all-purpose, anything-goes slave until he went through s’genesisand was freed from the contract. But he was very young, so he had a good seventy years to go until he went through the final maturation process.

“Agreed. He’d be a good master.” Sunil grinned. “But I think I’d be a better one.”

“Then let’s do it.”

Sunil bowed his head. “It has been an honor to serve you.”

“The mushy stuff is embarrassing. Let’s get it over with.”

Closing his eyes, Sunil stepped back. A sudden stillness came over the dank air in the chamber, and then a massive vibration shook the big male. A moment later, he was gone, and there was a six-hundred-pound tiger in front of her. He bumped his head up against her hand, bucking her palm until she scratched behind his ears.

“You shithead,” she murmured.

She could have sworn he smiled as he rubbed his cheek against her and then took her hand in his mouth as tenderly as he might carry a fragile egg. He used his sharp teeth to tug the ring as far up her finger as it would go, to the very tip.

Then he bit down.

The crunch of bone echoed through the chamber, or maybe it just echoed in Sin’s skull. She clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. Fiery agony shot up her arm, and when Sunil let go, she fell back, clutching her bloody hand… which was now minus the first joint of her left ring finger.

“Put pressure on it,” Sunil said, his voice raspy from his shift back to his human form.

“I am,” she gasped. Fuck, it hurt.

He held up her severed digit. “Do you want it back?”

Sin sagged against the stone wall to keep from falling over. “Keep it… for snack time or something,” she gritted out.

Sunil grinned. “Couldn’t your brother reattach it?”

“Probably, but I don’t have time for that. It’s just a finger. No biggie.”

“Thank you,” he purred. “And, Sin, if you or Lore ever need any of my services, for you… half price.”

Despite her pain, she laughed. “You are a true mercenary. Take care, Sunil.” She paused at the door. “Also, fair warning: If I find out that someone from this den was in on the attack on Lore’s mate, I’ll kill them, so be prepared to look for a replacement.”

Sin hurried down the den’s halls, her thoughts racing. She had to get to Con, but first, she had a warg to grill. The walls were a blur, the people she passed not worth saying good-bye to. She’d liked some of her colleagues while she’d worked withthem, but the dynamic had changed when she’d taken over, and for the most part, they’d treated her as the enemy.

When she passed by one of the two sleeping quarters, she slowed, sensing that the one person she wanted to see was inside. She shoved her aching hand in her pocket and stepped into the room.

“Lycus.”

He spun away from his open chest of weapons, his movement so smooth she wouldn’t have known she’d startled him if she didn’t know him so well. “You’re back. I didn’t know.”

“Clearly.”

His toothy smile nearly made her shudder. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

She cocked her head and studied him, his handsome, hard face, his dark, soulless eyes. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“I don’t know.” He rolled one powerful shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “I’ve made it clear that I want you. If you’re dead, I can’t have you.”

“You can’t have control of the den, you mean.” He shrugged again, but she didn’t expect him to deny it. They both knew the deal. “I’m curious, Lycus… where’s Marcel?”

Something flashed in Lycus’s eyes, but it was gone before she could read it, and in an instant, his expression was neutral again. “Don’t you know?”

“I know he was responsible for an attack on Lore’s mate.”

“Then I assume Marcel is dead?” He narrowed his eyes. “You suspect me of knowing about the attack.”

“You’re a rocket scientist, aren’t you?” She started moving, a slow circle around him that he tracked with his gaze. “What would you say if I’ve decided to hand over control of the den?”

This time, his grin was genuine. He moved to her, slid his hand around the back of her neck, and for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. “I’d say you won’t regret it, baby.”

She pulled her hand out of her pocket and flashed her ringless finger at him. “I won’t.”

Lycus’s eyes shot wide open, his expression filling with rage, his hand tightening on her neck. “You bitch!”

Twisting, she wrenched away from him, settled in a defensive stance, his chest of weapons behind her. “Don’t do it, Lycus. You know the penalty for injuring another assassin in the den.” Not that she was an assassin any longer, but she was entitled to safe passage until she was inside a Harrowgate.

“I’ll kill you, Sin. I will have your head within the week.”

Smiling, she eased backward, next to the chest. Keeping an eye on him, she reached inside, removed a clay bottle. “Infernal fire, huh? For some reason, I’m not surprised to see this.”

“So?” he snarled.

“You know it’s forbidden to use this in the human realm.”

“Which is why I don’t use it there.”

“Oh, I think you did. The question is, why. Why would you want me dead in a way that would mean you couldn’t get my ring?”

He took the bottle from her, and she could practically feel the hatred rolling off him, scorching her skin. “You little succubus whore. You should have taken me up on my offer to become my mate. Now you’re dead. And I think, just for fun, that I’ll have your body stuffed and preserved, and the things I’ll do to you…” His voice lowered to a creepy, shiver-inducing whisper. “You’ll be my blow-up doll, baby. Forever.”