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“Your master?”

He pointed to the viewing window above us on the other side of the large room.

Of course, who else could it be?

The vamp tilted his head back, and I got a flash of his face. Vibrant lilac eyes stared back. He was…beautiful, the most beautiful male I had ever seen, looks so stunning I felt momentarily mesmerized. “What are you? Like his Igor or something?”

“I’m known as Pretender, but please call me Ender. And you’re welcome,” he said sarcastically, though he kept his body rigid.

“I’m not sure what I’m thanking you for. I had it under control, the demon was already incapacitated.”

He was silent a beat. “A word of advice, Iris?”

“I’m all ears.” Shit. I needed to tone down the snark, but it tended to come out when I felt threatened, which was a seriously bad personality flaw.

“Leave this place and never come back. The next time, Nero might not be in such a good mood.”

“Your master’s name is Fort?”

“Yes.”

“And how do you know my name?”

He said no more, just turned and walked away, melting into the crowd. I glanced up at the window again, and though the lights were now off, I could still see the outline of that tall, terrible male standing there. I tore my gaze from him and rushed out the nearest exit—

And right into the goddamn alley.

Shit.

A group of males stood there, and they turned. All eyes now on me. I assumed they were shifters of some kind, not wolf, something unpleasant—rodent. My first instinct was to open the door and run back into the club, but I got the feeling if I went back in there, Dracula would make good on his threat. Right now, these guys were the lesser of two evils.

I put my head down and, ignoring the crude things they called to me, tried to rush past. One of them moved in front of me, not letting me get by.

This night just got better and better.

It was late, or should I say early, close to three in the morning, and I’d pumped almost all of my magic into that psycho in the club. I could fight a demon one on one, but shifters were something else. They were strong and even more vicious if they chose to attack in their animal form, which meant I was in serious trouble.

“Let me by,” I said. Why the hell hadn’t I brought Relic with me or called him to meet me here? Though I hated to think what might have happened if he had come with me. Mr. Vamp and Pretender might not have been so accommodating if I brought an aggressive-always-ready-to-fight hellhound into their club.

“No, I don’t think so. You can stay here with me. We’re going to have some fun, you and me.”

I tried to visualize a dim light, my power, then imagined it growing, trying to ignite the dwindling embers of my magic. It didn’t work, I was totally drained. The shifter grabbed my shoulder roughly, and I knocked his arm away and slammed the heel of my hand into his throat. I couldn’t win this, but I wasn’t going down without a fight.

He cursed and choked but didn’t go down. His friends snickered, and he hissed and grabbed for me again before I could run, more roughly this time—

A growl tore through the alley.

I spun as Draven emerged from the shadows and stalked toward us, all sexy and furious and insane.

The rodents turned to him, and the alpha of the Silver Claw pack stared them down with eyes that were terrifying. “Were you about to touch what’s mine, rat?” he said, voice so cold and filled with violence, I shivered.

His?

The rat shook his head.

Draven approached, and the male who had just threatened me tried to hold his deadly gaze then just…dropped to his knees.

“Stay down,” Draven snarled. “You’re lucky I don’t disembowel you where you sit, you fucking coward.”