Nightstorm (Nightwraith Book 3)

by Gaja J. Kos

  The name rang a bell, but nothing substantial. There weren’t that many PIs in this small, chicken-shaped country, and while we tended to stick to ourselves—even the ones who didn’t moonlight as assassins or, well, crime lords, as was in Kauer’s case—it was almost hard not to be aware of one another. At least superficially.

  “And my unfortunately dead mark was part of his merry band of scumbags?” I asked.

  Caz’s lips flattened into a tight line. He exhaled, then motioned me out of the room and back into the world of the living. I sat down next to him on the couch, keeping a moderately safe distance, and I sipped my coffee as I waited for him to spill the beans.

  “The missing girl you know about isn’t the only one.” He sighed. “There have been at least six other cases with similar circumstances over the past few weeks, although, again, nothing concrete enough to tie them together. Different place, different time. Different MO altogether. But over the last year, I’ve gotten a feel for how Kauer works. How he organizes his men. He may look like a dull piece of shit, but the bastard is creative.”

  I lifted an eyebrow, finding myself liking Caz’s attitude, then quickly zapped my mind back to the problem at hand. “He’s taunting you.”

  “He’s taunting the godsdamned world.” He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, then placed his coffee cup on the table and pulled a folder from the stack placed on the far edge. “Here.”

  Somewhat warily, I flipped open the file and scanned the contents.

  Photos of all seven missing girls stared back at me. I flinched at how young they looked, none of them probably older than seventeen. I turned the page and my heart sank. They were young. And while they came from various backgrounds, they all struck me as those good kids who never make a false step in their life. Not that I knew what that was like personally, but there had been a time when I would have exchanged all this demonic grandeur for being like them—an extremely brief time, true, but those thoughts tended to stick around even after you move on from the illusion.

  “Are they all Sever’s work?” I closed the folder and returned it to the stack.

  To my surprise, Caz shook his head. Those amber eyes bore into mine, and for the first time I saw the anger within them burning just as vividly as the kind nestled inside me.

  Although, something made me suspect it was fueled by different reasons.

  “I pressured him,” Caz admitted, his voice almost soft, even when underlined with steel. “Beyond legal measures. As hard as I tried, nothing I did was good enough to bring down Kauer. But if I had an in…”

  My eyes widened. “Sever was a snitch?”

  Gods, no wonder Caz was livid when he found me standing over the corpse. It wasn’t the murder aspect, but the fact that he thought I’d cost him his one glimpse into Kauer’s inner workings. Shit.

  Although I wasn’t exactly sure where the words came from, I started to apologize. Caz stopped me with a single shake of his head.

  “Someone must have caught whiff that Sever was a turncoat. They probably followed him to our meeting point in the woods. He—he was supposed to give me a detailed report, possibly even some evidence to push the police, or at least me, in the right direction. But the thing is”—he blew out a harsh breath, shadows dancing in the brilliant amber of his eyes—“I could have pressured him into revealing the location of the girls the first time around. Could have forced him to take me to them. But I wanted more, Lena. I wanted to bring the whole fucking operation down. Because—”

  “Those girls wouldn’t be the end of it,” I finished for him, and before I knew what I was doing, covered his hand with mine. “Look, I know you might not think much of me, given—”

  “That you’re a bounty hunter?”

  I flinched, but wasn’t exactly surprised he knew. “Given that I’m a bounty hunter, yes. But my targets are never innocents. And I know what it feels like to sacrifice someone. Gods, it isn’t fair that you have to choose between saving one life and saving several, but fucking fate still makes us do that precise shit. Caz, I would have acted the same if I were you.”

  “Thanks.” His thumb brushed against my skin. “Sounds lame, but thanks.”

  I smiled. “Maybe if I ever grow tired of bounty hunting I could open up a counseling business.”

  “I’m sure you’d have a steady stream of tormented clients lined up before your door.” He laughed, mirth touching his eyes. “And more than a few who’d be there just trying to catch a glimpse of the hottie.”

  “Detective Zeman”—I looked up at him from under my lashes, my voice dropping into a sultry purr—“are you flirting with your ex-murder suspect?”

  “If said ex-murder suspect happens to be a Nightwraith stunner with a serious disobedience problem—fuck yes.”

  I felt myself draw closer to him, the touch of his thumb still doing little circles across my skin far too sensual than was good for my health. I wanted to slap myself for losing control like this, I really did, but Caz slanted his mouth over mine, and I was once again drowning in his taste, opening up to him just to get more. To feel more.

  Everything about him was intoxicating, the softness of his lips and the demand of his tongue such a thunderous combination that my back arched, and I found myself sliding lower on the couch with Caz climbing on top of me.

  I brushed aside a rogue strand of curls that fell across his forehead, then opened my legs so that he could nestle himself between them. The hardness of his erection pressed against the apex of my thighs, and I could have sworn something inside me shifted. Something that felt so right I didn’t want him to stop even when I knew I should.

  For a brief moment, that last thought almost found voice. But then his mouth claimed mine with a hunger I gladly gave into. Caz slid his hand over my T-shirt, across my abdomen, and all the way down to the waist of my form-fitting pants.

  The low hiss of the zipper nearly unraveled me.

  I writhed as I felt the heated press of his fingers slip beneath the constraining fabric, pulling it down, then teasing my entrance for a few mind-shattering moments before he slipped them inside.

  “I love how wet you are for me,” he growled into my mouth, fingers pumping in a hard, wild rhythm while his thumb rolled over my clit, all but making me lose my mind.

  I looked up into his amber eyes, into the hunger making the color so deliciously dark—and it was enough. I cried out, the orgasm shaking my body as I clung to him, feeling the world around me crumble in an explosion of absolute release.

  Still dizzy and trembling with the aftershocks, I made Caz switch positions so that I ended up on top, and undid his pants before his back even had the chance to touch the couch. I bent over, my tongue leaving a wet trail from his navel to the tempting line of his briefs. I hooked one finger behind the waistband and looked up. Heated expectation was etched in the stunning lines of his face, all of it there because of me.

  A rush of primal desire swept through my core. He was perfect, his energy pulsing with need, bearing my name.

  I flashed him a mischievous smile, then slowly—as slowly as I could with my own hunger riding me as hard as it did—slid the briefs down his hips. That seductive spill of dark hair greeted me first, but just as I brought my mouth lower, wanting to take him in my mouth and taste him the instant he was released, a loud ringing broke the harmony of our breaths.

  Caz swore, his voice laced in equal parts with frustration and need, but more importantly, whatever spell I’d fallen under shattered.

  I scrambled off him, feeling like in impostor in my own skin. What the fuck had I almost done?

  Fuck. That’s what.

  I’d been on the verge of breaking my rule. Although technically, our foreplay had already done that. Motherfucker.

  As Caz ran a hand through his hair and reached for his phone, I scolded myself internally. But despite the harsh mental monologue, I couldn’t help stealing a glance at the sliver of skin still resting exposed just below his waist. Shit, I really had
issues.

  No words penetrated the thick bubble of my own thoughts, but a dialogue must have happened sometime while I was busy gawking because Caz threw his phone down and snarled, “That was the precinct. They need me to come in.”

  As fast as I could, I rose off the couch on wobbly feet and made a beeline for the door. But before my hand could even fall on the handle, Caz spun me around and pressed me against the wall, his body trapping mine in a cage of carnal heat.

  “I still haven’t shown you all the case files, love,” he whispered. “I want to work with you on this, Lena… And I certainly wouldn’t mind if you spent the night. I won’t be gone long. If you wait, we could continue what we started…”

  Shit, I didn’t think anyone had ever mixed an invitation to solve murder and have sex quite as successfully and masterfully as Caz had right then. I wanted to say yes, to all of it. Fuck, I wanted it so much… But instead, all that came out of me and wove through the lust-packed air between us was a nervous laugh, followed by the raspy promise to return tomorrow and work on the case.

  Caz let go, and I bolted out the door. But I felt his gaze burning holes where it lingered on my ass, and all I could do was hope.

  Hope that I wasn’t fooling myself into what that particular promise truly entailed.

  Chapter 6

  The drive back to Ljubljana was filled with bad thoughts of even worse decisions.

  I gripped the steering wheel with enough force to leave little imprints on the rim, and only the fact that I didn’t want to break the damn thing entirely made me loosen my hold. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of losing control of the vehicle, especially when the one on my life was already slipping. Crap, I really did plunge tongue-first into some murky waters.

  For so long I managed to keep myself from straying from my pattern, more than satisfied with the mutual arrangement of a single night’s fun before I parted ways with the person in question. At least intimate ones, since quite a few of my former sex partners remained good acquaintances. Some even friends. But they were always safe, our energies too different to be a threat.

  Not a single one of them had ever tempted me the way Caz did; none of them made me lose all common sense until I was ready and eager to forget about the repercussions just to get another taste.

  Shit, I might have regretted not being able to go for a second round with Tia, but that was just a passing fancy. What I felt for Caz…

  Gods. Felt.

  I hit the steering wheel with the butt of my hand and grimaced. Disgusted with myself. Disgusted with this damned weakness. Maybe it was just that a demon’s sexual nature mixed with the incubus part of a Perelesnyk produced a fucked-up, addictive combination I couldn’t shake. But the thing was, Caz had fed on me the previous night, so I knew he hadn’t used his wiles on me outside the walls of the club.

  No, what drew me in so badly was…him. Just him.

  The whole mouthwatering dragon-detective package, with a heart that really didn’t seem to mind my less than savory profession.

  “Motherfucker,” I whispered into the night air seeping through the rolled-down window.

  Why was it that of all the demonic traits, I just had to inherit the ancient desire of fulfillment—the one that wished to seek out and bind a lifelong mate above all else? The gods must be having a fucking hoot on my account.

  Grouchy, I speeded back into town, flipping off a few drivers that were moving a little to slow for my taste, then pulled into the parking lot behind my apartment. Although we had the gates carded, I still needed to make a full circle before I found an empty spot.

  Naturally, it was the one farthest away from the building and tight enough to make me sweat.

  I managed to squeeze in without hitting anything, then climbed out of the car and pulled the duffel bag behind me. Its contents rattled as I slung it across my shoulder and closed the door with a bump of my ass. The telltale snick of the central locking system cut through the silence as I made the long walk towards the building, absolutely hating the cheerful bounce in my step that hadn’t been there two nights ago.

  Caz was making me perky. And that was unacceptable.

  Especially when I promised I’d drop by tomorrow to work on the case.

  I sighed. The case. I focused on the word, calling on all those mugshots and victim pics to overflow my mind. None of the missing girls had turned up yet—alive or dead, for that matter—and I wondered what Sever’s cronies were keeping them for. Human trafficking, maybe? The dead snitch didn’t strike me as the type, but then again, it wasn’t as if he was going to have a little bell around his neck, chiming about his sex slavery endeavors. The girls were definitely of the expected age, still carrying that bloom of innocence the depraved bastards were willing to pay a fortune for.

  A part of me was thoroughly sickened to even think about it, but I knew all too well that letting my emotions get in the way of a hunt was as good as handing in the towel. It sucked, but it was the truth.

  I frowned, my hand hovering over the iron handle of the main entrance. If I could distance myself from all the fucked-up things I’d seen while on the job, why couldn’t I do the same when it came to Caz?

  Still mulling over the thought, I pushed inside, then climbed the stairs all the way to the fourth floor. I turned right into the dimly lit hallway with its singular overhead light illuminating my way—the other two had been dead for three months, but no one seemed to care enough to change the bulbs—and padded to my apartment. I paused with the keys clutched in my hand, my breath suspended somewhere between my lungs and my throat.

  Great. Just what I needed.

  A damned visitor.

  “You do know I can sense you, Lena?” A smooth voice came from the other side of the still closed door, the words backed by a cool caress of magic that slithered up against mine.

  I cringed involuntarily and called back the vines probing at the interior of my apartment. A sigh left my lips, then dissipated in the gloomy hallway. I could stand here all night, ignoring the chat that certainly couldn’t be pleasant, but what good would that really do me except make me even crankier than I already was?

  So I slid the key in the lock without further hesitation and pushed open the door. Nothing jumped at me from the gentle darkness, but I knew it wasn’t the physical aspect of the encounter I had to be wary of. I placed the duffel bag on the ground, then walked right into the living room where the pulse of demonic energy was the strongest.

  True enough, I spotted a lean silhouette sitting in the armchair by the window, her lovely spill of curled hair illuminated by the lamps erected on the street beyond. She was perfectly still—a queen, waiting for her subject.

  And that’s precisely what I was.

  “Hello, Mother,” I said, adding a little bow to the greeting.

  “Lena, my dear,” Yelena replied brightly, as if I were the one surprising her with a little midnight visit. “I thought you would be home sooner.”

  I wasn’t certain whether she was referring to the Shadow World where I returned after each job to see if she had any demonic business I needed to take care of before moving on, or my personal place here on this plane. But the answer was the same.

  “Got caught up in a case.”

  “Is that so,” she purred in a way that made it clear she could sense Caz’s residual energy clinging to my skin as profoundly as the fragrance of sex we’d almost had.

  I shrugged. “There was a bit of a setback on that Sever case I mentioned the last time we spoke.”

  If she even remembered it or not, Yelena didn’t show, but the glint in her eyes told me it didn’t matter. Right now, she wasn’t a mother chatting with her daughter about life, but my liege.

  She was here with a job.

  An important one, too, if she actually left the confines of the Shadow World with the sole purpose of passing on the information. That kind of conduct wasn’t a regular occurrence by far.

  I studied her for a moment longer, then tipped my head s
lightly in question.

  Yelena stirred in her seat—yet another surprise since her composure tended to be absolute—then folded her hands in her lap. “Tevan is missing.”

  My eyebrows shot up. Tevan was something of a right hand to her reign. He was an old and powerful demon—not a match for Yelena, of course, but high enough on the ladder to make him an esteemed member of her court. He was reliable and just, an excellent lover, too, though that wasn’t the only reason why I liked him.

  In a way, Tevan was the opposite of my mother’s maddening, power-hungry whims. A tether that kept her from going off the charts.

  He was vital.

  “Do you think it’s an attack on the court?” I asked steadily, my arms crossed in front of my chest and back pressed against the doorframe.

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  Huh? My mother wasn’t certain of something? Well, that was a first.

  “Lena, I need you to reach out to Alin.” The name slipped from her lips as if it were some slimy, vile thing, not my sister’s mate. “Maybe his people heard or know something of importance. Perhaps are even missing someone from their own ranks.”

  In all honestly, I wasn’t pleased about the extra work, but given that I hadn’t seen my sister in well over a month, the task didn’t strike me as all that bad.

  I nodded. “I’ll go to Lana and Alin’s first thing tomorrow. I have another meeting scheduled for later in the day, so I might not be able to report back immediately in case things take longer than planned.”

  I half expected Yelena to put up a fight and demand that I drop everything else I had going on until this was solved. But my mother only angled her head and blasted herself into particles.

  I huffed. “Well, good night to you, too, Mom.”

  Naturally, the empty space she’d previously occupied didn’t answer. I wondered if she would have even had she stayed. Probably not. While Yelena was all for theatrics and ceremony, she had the tendency to forgo all pretense when there was a shitstorm on the horizon. And Tevan’s absence… It had shaken her.