Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(17)

“Wow, did you burn a forest down or something?” I asked, thinking of the worst crime a faery could commit.

“No, it’s much worse. I chose to leave the sithein and move to the city.”

“You live here permanently?” Faeries usually can’t stand to be surrounded by concrete and steel. It bothers them on a fundamental level. They can visit if they need to, but they never stay for long.

“I have a great condo.” He glanced my way, a sad smile on his face. “My father was human. I always seemed to be more attuned to my human half than my brother. I was more…fragile. You should have seen my mother’s face when she realized she had given birth to a mortal. My brother takes after her, you see.”

“That must have been hard.” Most halflings took after their Fae relations from what I understood. Dev should have been looking at a long life, but those pesky human genes had screwed him.

Dev pulled the car into a downtown parking garage. “I left five years ago, and I haven’t looked back. I rarely rely on magic. I prefer to use my human talents. Especially since my human talents don’t get me into the kind of trouble I got into earlier.”

“So why did you use them tonight? I mean, not to inflate your ego, but you really don’t need glamour.”

He pulled the car into a slot next to the elevator. He shut off the engine and turned to me. “Dating is hard for me. I’ve tried dating humans, but I have to hide so much of myself it seems pointless. I’ve heard stories about you for years, Zoey Wharton. Ingrid talks about you all the time. It seemed like a perfect solution. You live in the same world I do. You don’t know this, but I saw you once. You were leaving as I came to visit Ingrid. I begged for your number, but she was really cryptic. She kept saying you weren’t ready. I guess you had just broken up or something. Last night she finally relented, so you’ll have to forgive me if I felt the need to look my best.”

I smiled as widely as I could. I wasn’t about to explain why I hadn’t been ready, but there wasn’t anything he could have said that would have made me feel better. After years of ramming my head against the stone wall Daniel had become, it was a balm to my ego to hear someone had actively pursued me. “You’re forgiven.”

Dev flashed a devastating grin. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

I hesitated for the briefest second. This man could be dangerous. I could be tempted to tread into some deep water, and I didn’t know if I was ready for that. I was still in love with Daniel and might be for the rest of my life. But there was something in Dev’s green eyes that compelled me to get into the elevator with him. I let him take my hand, never realizing that something far more dangerous was closing in on us.





The first sign that something was unusual was the way Dev pushed seven buttons, his hands flying across the keypad in a practiced manner.

“Are we going to all those floors?”

“No, just the one, but you have to know the sequence to get where we’re going,” he assured me. “Don’t worry, you’ll like it. It’s one of my favorite places in the world.”

I was surprised when the elevator, which I thought was on the ground floor, started going down. It jerked slightly, and I had to step back to balance myself. Dev’s arm shot out to keep me from falling and I found myself against his firm chest. I was glad for the heels Sarah had insisted I wear. They brought my head almost to his shoulders. Otherwise I would have maybe reached the middle of his chest.

I looked up, and he was smiling down at me. I knew in that instant that he was going to kiss me, and I wanted him to. I wanted those sensual lips on mine. I wanted to want someone who wanted me.

Unfortunately, the doors to the elevator opened, and the loud, insistent thud of music distracted me.

“Here we are.” Dev held his elbow out in a courtly fashion. I threaded my arm through his and let him lead me into the hall. When we turned toward that music, I saw a throng of people held in line by a velvet red rope. It took me a moment, but I realized where we were.

“This is Ether.” I looked around, taking it all in. “This is the nightclub, isn’t it? Sarah keeps trying to get in here, but it’s always packed.”

It was obviously packed again this evening. The line looked to go on forever.

“It is indeed the hottest club of its kind,” Dev said with what appeared to be pride.

Like humans, supernatural species are social creatures and most have gathering places. Weres have their biker bars, witches sponsor some great raves, and demons seem to prefer Starbucks for some reason. For the most part, they stick to their own species.

Ether was different because it welcomed all supernatural species. It was a place where witches danced with little goblins, and trolls shared a meal with visiting brownies. Officially known as a place of peace, everyone was welcome at Ether as long as they followed the rules. Everyone was welcome with one exception.

I stopped in my tracks and knew the expression on my face was one of sheer panic. “There’s no reason to wait in this line, Dev. They don’t let humans in. They’ll turn us away at the door.”

He simply pulled me alongside him. “Who said we were waiting in line?”

I let myself be led mostly because I didn’t want to cause a huge scene in front of so many people. I was dreading the confrontation that would certainly occur when we managed to make it to the front of the line and the man guarding it. I caught a glimpse of him standing in front of the door, and he was impressive. The bouncer was enormous, and from the rumors, he was a half demon with a bad temper and impressive strength. Now that I saw him up close, I didn’t doubt the gossip. His skin had an inhuman red hue to it, and he was at least seven feet tall. I doubted Dev was going to be able to charm his way past that one.