Fuck’s sake.

The smart thing to do would be to cancel the evening’s scouting mission, grab her when she left the bar, and bring her back to whoever had claimed her. It was his duty, and the little fool wouldn’t be safe on her own—especially not here, now, given the recent sightings of female demons.

The Breeder stirred, perhaps aware of his intense scrutiny, and suddenly her chocolate brown eyes flicked up, locking on him.

She stared at him, eyes widening as if she could sense his demonic nature despite the mark blinding her.

Kain held her gaze. It was too late to pretend he hadn’t been looking at her, and he was curious what she would do.

Her chest heaved with every shallow breath she drew, eyes darting from him to the exit.

When she grabbed her bag, tossed money on the table, and nearly ran for the door, he didn’t follow.

Every instinct in his body raged for him to take up chase—to take her, protect her—keep her safe, warm, fed. Fucked. But the way the poor thing had been acting, it was painfully obvious she didn’t want anything to do with his kind, and if he followed her, he’d have to capture her. Bring her back to whoever she’d escaped from.

Fighting back the overwhelming urge to give chase, Kain grunted with agitation and gripped the edge of the table until her lingering scent was too faint to reach his nostrils. He had no desire to force a girl into a lifetime of rapes, and as far as he was concerned, the fact that she’d fled meant that whoever had kept her had missed his chance at convincing her to stay as his mate.

Bringing her back against her will... He huffed in disgust before taking a deep swig of his whiskey, clearing his palate of the remaining taste of her. No, he had better things to spend his night on.

Like capturing the vile demon bitches who thought they could prowl his territory for easy pickings.

Kain’s agitation grew exponentially as he paced along the boardwalk, waiting for his underlings to arrive for the mission. They weren’t late—the arranged meeting time was not for another half-hour—but he’d been unable to focus inside the bar, his thoughts continually circling back to the little Breeder he’d scared off.

He’d thought some fresh air and patrolling might have cleared his mind, but as he stalked the pavement, the faint impression of her scent lingering in the air from where she must have passed more than an hour ago kept invading his nostrils. No demon would have noticed, not even a Lord like him, if not for his previous exposure, and he had to inhale deeply to taste her at the back of his tongue.