Reaper's Dark Kiss by Ryssa Edwards

“it’s dreadlocks, past his waist. Hard to miss.”
    Julian’s beast snarled its rage.
    “There’s something else.” Sky rubbed her hands up her face, then raked her fingers through her hair. “Why didn’t I just tell you?”
    Tomorrow’s sun will rise on Vandar’s ashes . Out loud, keeping his voice light, Julian said, “What didn’t you tell me?”
    Plucking a splinter from the edge of her desk, Sky said, “I’ve seen him before.” Then she told Julian about the night they’d gone to the Old Circle, about how the same man had smiled at her and flashed fangs outside Aunt Millie’s “like it was midnight on Halloween.”
    Retribution is mine . Julian and his beast were in total agreement. But first, he had to get Sky somewhere safe. “You know what?” he said. “There’s no point to this. Pack your stuff.”
    “And go to Montana?” Sky said. “I can’t. Not now.”
    Julian covered the distance between the door and the desk in two steps. He stood between Sky’s open legs, pressed his palms to the desk, and leaned down. When she looked up, he said, “I owe you a real kiss.”
    He pressed his lips to hers, soft and warm, and then he ran his hands up Sky’s back to her neck and threaded soft curls through his fingers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him. Talking against her lips, he murmured, “We’re leaving.”
    Sky put her hands against Julian’s chest and pushed. “I can’t go anywhere. I’ve got Fang Killer readers hanging on every word I write. My sources don’t talk over the phone. They won’t even text. I have to stay in town.”
    Julian let himself be pushed back, but not much. “What you have to do, Sky, is stay safe,” he said in a much harder voice than he’d intended to.
    “I can take care of myself,” Sky said, suddenly defensive.
    It sounded to Julian as if she’d been having the same fight for years. Of course she had, he reminded himself. He was acting like Christian. The one word she always used to describe her brother was “overprotective.” Changing tactics, Julian said, “You told me one time you knew places in the city no one ever heard of.”
    Sky broke into a smile. “I used to hide from CJ. He’d get so pissed when he couldn’t find me.”
    Julian put just the right edge of doubt in his voice and asked, “Think you can hide from me?”
    She looked him up and down. “You think you can find me?”
    “Absolutely,” Julian said, knowing Sky wouldn’t let that go unchallenged.
    “I’ve learned a lot since I was a kid,” she said.
    Julian ran a finger over Sky’s lips. “How much?”
    Sky’s lips were a taunting softness against his finger as she said, “Enough.”
    “You sound sure,” he said, moving his hand to slide slowly down her back. She arched into him, her breasts firms against his chest, her nipples hard.
    Fighting to control her ragged breathing, Sky said, “I am.”
    “Enough to bet on it?” Julian bent his head and nipped at Sky’s neck.
    Her breath was a caress on his cheek as she whispered, “What’s the bet?”
    “Go hide,” Julian said. “If I don’t find you, we deal with the guy with no shadow your way.”
    “What if you do?”
    I make you mine . “We do it my way.” He made himself step back, then glanced at the watch he wore in the mortal world. “You get a five-minute head start.”
    “You won’t follow me?”
    Her face was flushed with desire, and the only place Julian wanted to follow her was into her bedroom, stripping off her clothes as they went. He said, “Not for four minutes and forty-five seconds.” Even if Vandar found Sky in the next five minutes, he wouldn’t dare touch her, not with Julian’s scent freshly on her.
    Sky jumped down from her desk, ran for the door, then darted back. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and tossed it on the desk. “No electronic tracking,” she said, then brushed her lips over Julian’s mouth in a kiss that was over too