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I step back into the rain with fresh stardust in my bag and a headache behind my eyes. By the time I get home, the city looks drowned. I try to nap before another evening starts.

I hate daytime activities.

CHAPTER 6

CITY RUN

NERO

I see her leaving the office. The stardust girl from Moon. For a second, I forget about the guy beneath me. He’s basically out anyway. His heartbeat stutters under my hands, slower now, running out of fight. I breathe in the smell of gore sliding down his face, taste the bitterness of saliva in my mouth. His whole body reeks of surrender. I stand, blood dripping from my knuckles, and grip the cage ready to vault over it. I can smell her from here. She cuts through this hot mess like a blast of cold air. More of a ghost than a human.

White hair pulled into a high ponytail, black cap hiding her face, leather jacket sitting sharp on her thin shoulders. The only thing I can think about is grabbing that thick ponytail, wrapping it around my fist, and dragging her down to her knees in front of me.

I know people like her, with that superiority complex. That rich-witch posture. Girls like her used to look at me like I was nothing. They wanted a prince on a white horse. Nobody wanted the boy who worked himself to the ground. They wanted to know what car you drove, what your family owned, what you could buy them. But I am not that young boy anymore. Things are different now. Lara has the same stare, same attitude. We will see for how long.

Then again, I remember her touch. What kind of a witch is she? That shadow magic crawling into my arm, blackening my veins, eating through me like death itself. I’ve never felt anything like it, it was painful, it was torture. But somehow I felt her under my skin. And that got me hard.

She is pretty… I like to break pretty things.

“Nero!” Vito’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “Clean the fuck up and get in my office.”

I watch her one last time as she leaves the hangar, and I go take a cold shower. When I walk into the office, the first thing I notice is the faint dusting of violet powder on his desk.

“I didn’t know you were doing stardust,” I say. “You’re getting old.”

Vito’s eyes lift to mine. “None of your fucking business. And stay away from the girl. I saw you looking at her.”

“The stardust girl?”

“Yes.” He leans back in his chair, jaw tight. “Don’t get into that. There are plenty of girls in the city.”

“Why?” I ask. “Are you fucking her?”

“No.” The growl lands low and hard. “And drop that attitude unless you want to spend more years in the South.”

Vito gets up and starts pacing the office, hands clenched into fists, the way he does when he’s thinking three wars ahead. “The city is changing. I’m trying to move the pack higher in the hierarchy, and I’m going to need you. Present. Under control. So it’s time to get your shit together.”

I say nothing.

“I thought, once the kid disappeared, the Von Battens would be easier to negotiate with. We need this land. But they won’t talk to me. They look at me like I’m some fucking parvenu.” He gestures to himself. “I have more money than them. Fottuti impostori.”

Old money. New money. Humans love pretending there’s a difference. Supernaturals are even worse.

“Get Piro and do city runs,” Vito says. “Check the construction sites. I’ve heard they’re having delays at Horizon Park. I want everything under control.”

I nod and leave the office before he finds another reason to lecture me. When I’m out, I take a deep breath. In there, all I could smell was her scent. It wouldn’t let me focus, and I hate distractions. I wait for Piro in the garage. He arrives with more guys, sunglasses on, dead eyes hidden.

“You look like shit,” I say.

He does. I can see the hangover is killing him.

“Fuck you,” he mutters.

“Maybe it’s time to chill with the partying, huh.”

“I’m not telling you how to live your life,” he snaps back.

“Yeah, like you could try,” I say. “We’re going to Horizon Park. Apparently the kids there are making problems instead of working.”