way. There were so many. Wolves, panthers, tigers, hell there were even a few
bears in the mix.
Right when she thought things could get any more bizarre…First it was
demons, then vampires and Andausians, now shape shifters!
“This can"t be happening,” Rayne groaned.
She spun on the bar stool, grabbed the martini, toasted her new blue haired
friend and took down the bittersweet liquid without pause. The metallic tang
combined with sugary alcohol rolled down her tongue and exploded with
deliciousness at the back her throat. Her head dipped back and her lips parted.
The taste was pure ecstasy.
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She placed the empty glass on the marble bar, snatched up Imrie"s drink,
which the woman nursed with elegant restraint, and took that one down too. Her
performance drew applause from the onlookers.
“My bad. That was kinda rude...aaand embarrassing. I promise Mama Piers
didn"t raise me like this,” she huffed. “I"ll order you another.”
Staring with her mouth agape, Imrie chuckled. “Oh my word. You are going
to tip right off of that stool if you keep drinking like that.”
“Good, then maybe I"ll finally wake up from this twisted ass dream I"m
having. And for the record, mine taste better than yours,” she informed, pointing at
the empty glasses. “I should ask him to serve you up the same drink he gave me.”
She smiled warmly. “It wouldn"t suit me. However, if I were a vampire, I
would thoroughly enjoy it, but I am not.”
“So what are you? If you don"t mind me asking. Can"t be a shifter, „cause I"m
not getting that animal vibe from you,” she quipped, snickering tipsily. “This is
without a doubt crazy.” The smile fell away from her as she studied the mysterious
woman. “Know what, I don"t sense anything from you at all. You don"t even have
an aura like everybody else. What"s that about?”
A wicked smile curved her pout lips. “Of course you wouldn"t sense
anything from me. I"ve concealed my spiritual pressure.” She paused and raked a
hand through her bouncy hair. “For personal purposes.”
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“Ohh okay. You got it like that? Gotta say that impressive.” Rayne eyed her
inquisitively. “So, you must be pretty powerful, huh?”
She shrugged. “Some may say so. I"m a Hargist, a demon priestess.”
“Demon priestess,” Rayne drawled. “Hm, sorry to say, those two words just
don"t sound right together.”
“Say it a couple of times. Perhaps it"ll grow on you,” she jested with a
twinkle in her eye.
“I don"t mean to be nosey, but since you"re all in my biznez…I think it"s only
fair you tell me a little something personal about you. Like, who are hiding from,
ma? I mean, that"s the only reason I can think of that you would conceal your spiritual
pressure, as you say.”
“My, aren"t you bright. I"m staying clear of an old abusive boyfriend,” she
murmured dryly with the casual flip of her hand.
“Ah, I feel ya. Your secret"s safe with me.” Rayne motioned to the bartender
for two refills.
His muscles bulging beneath the tight red T, he swaggered over to her all
sultry like and filled their drinks.
“Casey, right? That was messed up how you ignored me earlier. You know
you heard me, playa.”
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Smiling, he tapped the stem of the glass with his nail. “But you enjoyed it,
right?”
Under the surface of his gaze, the fierce lion within him came through.
Fascinating cattish eyes locked with hers. She was held speechless for a moment
then her sights lingered down to the length of his neck. Warmth seeped into the
pit of her stomach.
Rayne cocked her head and leaned into the bar. Casey met her halfway. She
took a deep whiff of him. Beneath the fragrance of cologne, his blood tantalized her
senses. Slow and easy, her fangs extended, both top and bottom.
“Oh, you have two sets of fangs. I"ve never seen that before,” he stated in a
dazed slur. “How astounding and so dangerously sexy.”
“You smell so good,” she heard herself coo. “Mind if I have a taste?”
He shuddered, moved in closer and brushed his lips across her ear. “Feeding
fingers into her hair and pulled it to his nose where he deeply inhaled. “You can
feed on me as much as you"d like.”
“Yeah?” she whispered, her mouth moving in closer to his neck.
“I"m sure Sir Demetri won"t mind. My blood is pure and I"m not afraid of a
Xsonri"s bite, not at all,” he exhaled on a throaty groan.
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Suddenly in her right mind, she jerked back and covered her mouth. “Ooo,
what just―I didn"t mean to say all that,” she mumbled.
Grinning sheepishly, he shifted his eyes back to normal. “Of course, you did.
You can only hold out for so long. Let me know when you"re ready and I"ll clock
out.” He back stepped from her, winked then turned to fill another order.
“You may want to take his offer,” Imrie suggested. “Your hunger affects the
potency of your scent, and the longer you wait, the hotter the shifters become.”
Rayne quaffed her refilled martini. “I can"t believe I almost… You know, I
was halfway alright „til you dropped that bomb on me, and the cat eyed boy―I
could"ve went at least another week without knowing about shape shifters. It
would"ve given me time to digest the other shit that"s been thrown at me in the
last fifteen hours. I"m so freaking overwhelmed?”
Curiously, Imrie tilted her head to the side. Her blue hair fell lazily over her
eye. “I don"t understand. You are a Xsonri. The existence of shifters should not be a
surprise to you.”
Forcing a cordial smile, Rayne tossed the last of the bloody „tini down her
throat. “Right. That"s why I"m sitting here all discombobulated,” she slurred. The
effects of the alcohol started to weigh on her.
“I see…”
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“Uh, listen, as you can tell I"m new to all of this and I"m still trying to find
my way through a world that didn"t exist for me „til, like, yesterday. Honestly, I
came here for one thing, to find my man and then get gone. None of this has to
make sense to me—I just need him.”
“Child, you have bound your demon to this creature. As a Xsonri, you have
the power to find your mate"s exact location and go to him with a thought.”
“You serious?” she asked, her eyes widened in anxiousness. “Well fill me in.
How do I do that?”
Her lips curved into a small smile, Imrie eyed her up and down then giggled
at her expense. She shook her head and her blue mane bounced over her full
breasts. She stood, grabbed her handbag, tossed a twenty on the bar then stepped
in close to her.
“I can"t tell you how to do it, I can only show you,” she said softly in her ear.
“There is so much more you are capable of, so much that lies within you. Part of
your spirit is concealed by the light and it baffles me.”
Imrie reached in her bag, pulled out a pen and paper then scribbled a phone
number on it. “I"ll be at the Hilton for another two
weeks, then I"ll have to move
on. Call me. We"ll get together, have some drinks and talk. I"ll tell you all about this
supernatural world you live in and also about the world which exists outside of
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this one. You have a lot to learn, more so about yourself than anything.” Imrie
patted her thigh.
A flash of heat zipped through Rayne nearly knocking her off the stool.
Gasping, Imrie jerked her hand back. From Rayne"s thigh, a bright blue surge was
attached to Imrie"s palm.
Imrie started to tremble, her blue eyes stretched wide. She clamped her
hand into a fist and the connection broke. She stumbled back, bumping into
people on the dance floor. Sweat beaded her face. Harsh breaths escaped her in
pants.
“Oh my,” she breathed out in an exhausted state. “You must call me. We
have much to discuss.”
Still dazed, Rayne watched her scurry through the crowd until she was no
longer in sight.
Whatever they shared just a moment ago tripped through her system non-
stop. It was invigorating, yet incredibly jarring. She turned to the bar and tried to
concentrate on the feeling. It was similar to the sensation she"d gotten with
Demetri last night, minus the kissing, touching and orgasms of course.
breath.
“Que pasa, baby?”
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She snapped her head in the direction of the unfamiliar voice, then
immediately drew back. This brother was in her face like he was her man.
“Whaddup?” Shifting on the bar stool, she turned her body to the side. The
angle of her legs forced him to move back a few steps.
“Oh, my bad, ma. The music"s real loud in here. I wanted you to hear me
without yelling.”
“You can respect the space, brah. I can hear you just fine over the music.”
Hell, he could be whispering and she"d still hear him over the music.
Chuckling, he took a step back. “I just have to say, damn shawty, you are
killing a brotha with your sexiness. I mean, when I saw you come in—damn girl.”
He flashed a suave half smile, which was probably supposed to soften her
mood, but she couldn"t relax to save her life. She couldn"t even be halfway flattered
by his lame ass pick up line. This man gave her the heebie jeebies to the second
power. His jittery mannerisms, the strange twitch of his lips, the way his eyes
hungrily roamed over her; everything about him made her want to scream, get the
fuck away from me! Showing out in Maurisio"s club tonight wouldn"t make a very
good first impression. Not to mention, she had a reputation to uphold.
“You don"t remember me, ma?” he asked, making steps to move to the side of
her.
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She turned her legs further to block his advance. If he didn"t get the picture
she didn"t want him near her, he was an idiot. “Sorry, I don"t.”
“What? Let me refresh your memory, boo. My name is Armando. I did the
lighting for your shows in Atlanta and Miami and I"m scheduled to do the one for
this weekend.”
“That was you, Armando?” she jested, forcing a pleasant smile. “Good job. I"ll
be sure to look for you this weekend.”
“Why look for me this weekend, when I"m standing right in front of you,
baby?” He posed with his palms out like he was the hottest man in the club. “So
how „bout you run it with me on the dance floor for a song or two?”
She was shaking her head no before he even finished asking the question.
“I"m waiting on someone.”
“Yeah, I know who you you"re waiting on, ma. He"s not gonna be around for
a while, probably not „til tonight. So, in the meantime, why not let me entertain
you?”
She grinned at his persistent attempt to woo her. “Listen, I"m doing just fine.
Don"t get me wrong, I appreciate the offer, but I don"t need to be entertained.”
Especially by a self-absorbed ass like you. “I see plenty of sexy ladies lined up along the
skirts of this place waiting for man like you to sweep them off their feet.”
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His jaw clenched and his wolfish nature shone through his eyes. “C"mon,
shawty! Why you being stuck up?”
Stuck up? She gave him a tight-lipped smile. “If you were trying to get on my
good side, you just screwed that up, brah.”
Annoyance flitted across his face, then was swiftly replaced with a grin.
“Okay, yeah—maybe I"m coming on pretty strong, but I can"t help it, ma. You"re
out of this world gorgeous and I"m just trying to get a dance. Uno danza,” he offered,
inching closer to her.
She had to admit though, the bumping groove from Rihanna, Hard made every
limb in her body want to move. She enviously eyed the people on the dance floor
grooving to the beat without a care in the world. The dancer within urged her to
join the carefree crowd. Maybe she was being a little stuck up and over paranoid.
The man asked for a dance, not her spleen.
She hopped off the stool and adjusted her blouse. “A"ight, just this one
dance. But you"re liable to get a knee to the nuts if you don"t keep your hands to
yourself, okay,” she warned with a squint of her eyes.
He put his hands up, gazing at her body as she moved past him toward the
dance floor. “No problem shawty. Hands to myself.”
She eased into mass of waving bodies with the anxious guy trailing behind
her. She ignored the awed stares of the people surrounding her. As if she wasn"t
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allowed to dance and have fun. The music vibrated through her body, making her
sway with the rhythm. She closed her eyes and allowed the sound to take her
away.
He mumbled something about how good she smelled and how sexy she was,
but she was in the zone, too far gone to even give him the slightest attention. The
music moved her and everything else around her phased out.
This was where it was at. No choreographed moves where you had to sync
with everybody else. Not to complain, but there was nothing like flowing with the
music, dancing like no one was watching. It was a natural high.
Armando"s hard hands moved around her waist and the DJ flipped the
groove to Ciara and Justin"s, Love Sex Magic. She could dig it. The music bumped
through her and the moment was right. If he wanted to cop a feel around her waist
right quick, then that was cool, as long as he didn"t linger.
Rayne spun around, her hips bouncing to the beat, and gave him her back to
look at. He didn"t hesitate to wrap his arms around her and ease his hands down a
little too far. That was when she felt his hard on.
Forget this foolishness!
She grabbed his hands and tried to pull them from around her. His grip
tightened. “C"mon mami, por favor,” he breathed heavily in her ear. “Don"t fight. Let
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me feel you.” His hand swiftly moved down her torso, then under her blouse. The
other hand slipped between her thighs.
Spooling outrage drove her to lift her elbow and smash him in the jaw. The
unexpected strike knocked him back. She whirled around to glare at him. He
violently shook his head, like a dog that had just got kicked in th
e nose.
“You grimy ass muthafucka!” she yelled, her hands balled into tight fists.
Intense rage drummed through her with the beat of the music. Her shoulder
blades began to ache and her incisors came forth.
She took off her earrings and handed them to someone behind her. She
didn"t even look to see who it was, didn"t really care. Her status and reputation
was inconsequential at this moment. She was about to get rowdy and straight up
fight this violating bastard in front of everybody.
“Yeah baby, get mad! Oh yeah, that"s how I like it!” He pressed the hand that
was between her thighs only seconds ago to his nose.
He inspired deeply, taking in her scent with satisfaction. His eyes rolled
back, then he dropped to his knees. With his arms out, he threw his head back. A
deafening howl ripped from his throat, then the record scratched.
At that moment, all of the club"s attention was on them. Massive growls
shot through the airwaves.
She back stepped away from him.
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Then with a movement like lightening, Armando reached out and snatched
her back to him to bury his nose in her crotch. She grabbed hold of his hair, yanked
his head back and jabbed him hard right in the nose. There was a loud crunch then
blood splattered across his face.
Growling, he released her. She scuttled back.
The growls and roars around her did something primal to her being. Deep
within, she felt herself changing. The feeling frightened and exhilarated her.
She had to get out of there, fast. She turned to head out of the crowd, when
his irritating voice bellowed out.
“Where you going baby? I ain"t finished with you yet!”
She spun around to see him bulked up twice the size, glaring down at her
with the eyes of a wolf, a bloody snout and canines protruding out of his mouth.
He was huge.
Her stomach clenched and her mouth dried, but she wasn"t about to run.
She couldn"t even if she wanted to.
“Oh, you ain"t finished,” she heard herself ask in a low sensual yet, deadly
tone.
She stared hard at the scarlet liquid dripping from his snout. Blood. She
wanted the wolf boy"s blood rolling down her throat. Adrenalin pumped rapidly
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