That damn fist was back, but Holly managed to nod.
"I saw it, in your eyes."
Had Niol seen it, too?
"I always wanted you to be safe, with a man who'd protect you." Her mouth lifted into the ghost of a smile. "Guess Niol knows how to protect what's his, doesn't he?"
Holly opened her mouth to answer and-
"He'd better," he mother continued, that smile vanishing, "because if that demon lets anything happen to you, I'll kill him."
Then her mom threw her arms around her, squeezing so tightly that Holly struggled for breath.
Dr. Emily Drake sat behind her desk. Her gaze darted to her watch. Nine twenty-eight a.m. Her first appointment would be checking in soon. A charmer.
She liked the charmers. They were the most easygoing of the Other. Actually, most of their trouble usually came from their creature companions. Communication issues.
She tapped her pen against the top of the desk. Yes, her patient would be here any minute and she was glad for that fact because she needed a distraction.
She couldn't get the demon-hunter case out of her head.
Colin had come to her just before dawn. Eyes stark, the scent of blood on his body. He'd told her about the young demon they'd found and the horror she'd endured. McNeal had already sent orders that as soon as the girl woke up, he wanted Emily in that hospital room with her.
But Emily didn't think Kim would be in the mood for talking right away. No, the rage and the fear would be too strong at first.
She'd survived. Barely.
The first victim to live through an attack by the hunter. She was lucky, but Emily wasn't certain Kim would feel that way when her eyes finally opened. She didn't know if-
Her office door swung open. Emily glanced up, pasting a smile on her face.
"I said you can't go in there!" Vanessa's voice, reaching shriek level.
But the man in her doorway didn't flinch. His legs were braced apart, his arms loosely at his sides, and his black eyes zeroed in on her.
Niol.
Well, damn.
Her palms started to sweat. She hadn't seen Niol in months. She'd stayed out of Paradise and he'd stayed out of her way. Fair enough arrangement.
She and Niol didn't exactly have a good history between them.
And she knew that her wolf shifter lover really wanted to kick the demon's ass.
"Tell the witch to back off."
She wasn't the least bit surprised that Niol knew about her assistant's Other powers. The guy always seemed to know everything.
But he'd never come to her office before.
Emily rose to her feet and cast a glance at Vanessa. The woman was pale, with wide eyes– she knew about Niol's reputation –but she wasn't backing down.
"It's okay. I can talk to Mr. Lapen for a few moments." A glance at her watch, a deliberate and fake one this time. "My appointment will be here soon-"
A grunt. "Shaughnessy won't be here today." A smile that made the hair on her nape rise. "He had a…change of plans."
Niol knew too much.
He glanced over his shoulder. "Treat my friends well, witch."
His friends?
Oh, this couldn't be good.
Vanessa gazed back at her and Emily managed a nod. Her glasses felt too tight, as if they were pinching her nose and a dull ache had begun behind her left eye.
Always happened around Niol. His power was so strong it seemed to lap at her.
The door closed with a soft click. Emily didn't sit down and Niol just kept staring at her.
When he finally moved, stalking across the room toward her, she braced her hands on the desk.
"Why are you here?"
His head tilted. "I came to collect a debt."
"What?" She didn't owe that bastard anything. She knew how he operated and she'd made absolutely sure that she didn't-
"Come now, Emily, don't look so surprised. You had to know I'd come calling one day." He glanced over at her black leather couch. "Interesting. Bet the wolf likes that."
Her cheeks heated. Yeah, Colin did.
Control. "I don't know what debt you're talking about-" She wasn't going to touch the couch reference, "but I've got clients who need my help. I don't have time-"
"I need you, too, Emily."
He said her name as if they were close. Friends. Lovers.
They'd never been either.
After a moment, he headed for the couch. Didn't lay down, just sat, with his legs sprawled before him. "You're such a smart lady. Surely you've wondered…"
His eyes were so dark. Humans could get lost in those eyes. She knew that-she'd seen it happen.
And Holly was dating him? Sleeping with him?
"I remember the first time you walked into my Paradise. You were shaking because you were afraid-"
Terrified might be a better word.
"And because you were so hungry."
Slowly, she sat back down into her chair. The leather creaked beneath her.
"You needed my world, didn't you? Needed to touch it, to feel it in order to keep surviving."
She'd always suspected Niol's mind was razor sharp and that his instincts for people were dead-
on. No wonder the guy was such a fine predator. "Where is this going?" Her voice was cool and perfectly calm. She was good at that, good at pretending. She'd had so much practice over the years.
Niol's gaze said he knew that and his slow smile had her stiffening.
"I let you into my Paradise. Gave you free rein in my world."
Okay, yes, she'd always wondered about that, but-"You also introduced me to the ass**le who tried to shove his way into my mind." Myles. Demon bastard. He hadn't been expecting her to fight back.
His mistake.
The faint lines around Niol's mouth tightened. "When I realized what was happening with Myles…it was too late." His brows lifted. "You took care of the problem before I could intervene."
Lie. Emily didn't buy that one for a minute. "Bullshit-"
"Doctor– language. "
Emily growled.
"Myles was a mistake." A shrug. "But I think he certainly paid for his crime, don't you? You blasted every bit of his power away. Wouldn't have thought it was possible, if I hadn't seen it for myself."
For a moment, she was back in Paradise. The roar of the laughing crowd around her. Smoke in the air. And a demon at her feet. Dizzy, lost, she'd fallen facefirst into the gleaming bar-
And woken in a hospital.
"I've always wondered…" A couple of things. She drew in a deep gulp of air. The whole conversation was surreal, but she'd wanted answers for years.
Answers . She'd always craved them.
And never found them all.