But he’d learned to focus his powers. Slowly, painfully. “I can bring death with my touch.” His lips brushed over hers. She didn’t flinch. He took that as a sign of progress. “Or I can bring pleasure.” It was all a matter of what he wanted.

With her, he wanted pleasure.

“Still scared of me, Seline?” he asked, even as his fingers sank into her hair. He tipped her head back.

“Yes.” He knew she spoke the stark truth. He could see it reflected in her eyes. “How do I know”—she licked her lips and he wanted that tongue licking him—“that you won’t turn on me?”

Now there was an interesting question. “And how do I know that the next time we f**k, you won’t try to kill me?” Because there would be a next time. He’d found something he wanted, and he wasn’t planning to let her get away.

He caught the faint flash of black in her eyes. Yes, he was rubbing his body against hers, letting his fingers play with the sensitive spot he’d found just on the back of her neck. A succubus’s strength was her passion, but that passion could be used against her.

If her lover knew what he was doing.

I know, sweetheart. He wasn’t above manipulation.

“You need to trust me,” he said.

She exhaled on a soft breath. “And you’ll trust me?”

Not yet. Maybe one day.

“Rogziel will come after you,” Sam stated flatly, but didn’t let her go. “Do you think you’ll be strong enough to stop him?”

“Will you?” she fired right back.

The calculation in her eyes reached him and gave Sam a moment’s pause. Well, well. “Is that what you wanted from the beginning?” When she’d been so eager to serve up his brother and abandon her allegiance to Rogziel?

“I want my freedom. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

But he held her trapped against him then.

“I’ve always known that Rogziel would never just let me walk away.” Her lips twisted into a humorless smile. “He thinks I’m too dangerous to be loose.”

Her curves pressed against him. Her plump lips tempted his mouth. So he said, with certainty, “You are.”

Seline gave a hard shake of her head. “No, when it comes to the power scale, I’m nothing like you.”

His little succubus didn’t understand. There were all kinds of power in this world. Some were subtle, but still damn dangerous.

“When you’re free of Rogziel,” and she’d only be free when that guy was dead, “what are you going to do?”

“Disappear,” she said with soft longing. “I’ll leave this city. Go somewhere with a white sand beach and crystal blue water. I won’t think about death or monsters . . . or anything, but life.”

She didn’t get it. When you were an Other, you didn’t get to close your eyes and pretend that the monsters weren’t real. Not when the humans in the world thought you were the monster. But he didn’t shatter her little dream, not yet.

He needed her. If he told her the dream was bullshit, the woman might tell him to f**k off. “Do you still want our deal to work?”

Her gaze held his. Not black now, but that false brown stare of hers that could look so warm and trusting. “Yes.”

“Then you stay with me.” Because he’d been telling her the truth. Rogziel would come for her, sooner or later. “I get Az, then I’ll make sure you get your freedom from Rogziel.”

He could see the hope light her face. Demons had hope? Yes, they did. Sometimes they had more hope than angels.

But then her eyelashes flickered. “I don’t know where Az is anymore. I can’t help you—”

Ah, honesty. Trust might even be coming soon. “Yes, you can.” He released her and stepped back because if he kept touching her, they’d be f**king soon.

Now wasn’t the time to f**k, no matter how tempting she was.

Hunt.

“Rogziel caught Az,” he said.

“Uh, yeah, I know—”

“How’d he do that? How’d he know where my dear brother would be?” He lifted a brow because he already knew the answer. “Rogziel can always find those on his punishment list, right?” That was supposed to be the way for the punishers. No need to waste time searching for prey; not when you had a built-in homing device for them.

But Seline shook her head. “No, no, we always have to hunt those that Rogziel targets.”

Sam didn’t let the surprise flicker on his face. That wasn’t the way the game worked. Seline wouldn’t know that, though, and the humans that Rogziel had on leashes sure wouldn’t understand how a punisher’s power worked.