Page 52 of Wake the Dream

He reached out with his senses, although he didn’t expect to feel anything. Vampires gave off a notoriously soft energy even while awake. Sleeping like the dead—for the most part—during the day, he expected to find nothing, but it didn’t hurt to try.

“Hey, Detective Shanahan!”

The cheery voice came from his left and Kieran swiveled around to see Yelena’s ex-boyfriend Daniel staring at him.

Oh, shit!

“What areyoudoing here?” Daniel continued with a goofy grin, his Frosty King hat askew on his forehead.

Kieran scrambled for an excuse, his brain throwing a million ideas at him and none of them sticking. “I, um—”

He never had a chance to finish. Illaria came around the corner with a gun pointed at her head.

Chapter 13

Illaria

Cold steel pressedinto her temple. A healthy dose of fear swirled in her belly—self-preservation—along with anger and frustration and a weighty sense of time. Wasted time. The more they wasted, the less likely the chance of finding Yelena alive.

Even though technically immortal, Illaria knew a gunshot to the brain would be the final end for her. Even Fae could die with the right kind of bullet.

And here was this human who’d thought she could get the jump on them with a concealed weapon. It pained Illaria to admit it but Mrs. Macy had done just that. What had they been thinking, worming their way inside without a good old wooden stake hidden in a boot?

“You made a big mistake, lady,” Illaria hissed through her teeth, losing the phony accent. It had been nothing, anyway. Seen through instantly. If she’d been able to access her power, this wouldn’t be an issue. A tiny tornado would bring the roof down and let the sunshine in.

“Oh, did I?” Mrs. Macy tightened her grip, giving Illaria a little shake. “Tell me why, Fae bitch!” She drew in a deep breath. Inhuman enough to know Illaria for herself and not the persona she tried to wear.

“Because I’m going to shove your head through the coffee table, blood whore. Andyou.” She tried to raise her free arm to point at Daniel but found the gun pressed even closer to her head. “I have tortures planned for you.”

“Don’t worry,” Kieran interjected, his hands at either side of his head when Daniel proved to be less incompetent than he looked and drew a similar weapon from the waistband of his pants. “I’ll take care of him.”

“No, you need to leave him for me.” She’d been dreaming of this moment since she’d wrangled news of the relationship out of Yelena months ago. Time for payback.

Curious and more than a little ticked off, she saw the planning, the calculation in Kieran’s gaze as she watched the interplay between him and Daniel, recognized the body language. Predator and prey, although the stupid man who’d been dating her sister had no clue what danger he stood beside.

She wondered how she’d missed it in the first place.

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