He grabbed me before I was able to move four inches. I looked up, worried that I had done something wrong. A familiar strained, tense look was on his face, his eyes screwed up tight. I looked down at his penis. It was no longer in a resting state. ‘‘I thought you were sated?’’

‘‘I was. Until you went and mentioned doing that to me. No! Don’t touch me there, woman! For the love of—grk!’’

A half hour later, Gabriel, his arm wrapped around me because my legs were unusually weak, hustled me toward the house with a grim look on his face.

‘‘I will beat this,’’ he muttered. ‘‘I am a wyvern. I am strong. I will control my needs long enough to give you pleasure, and you will enjoy it, dammit!’’

I said nothing, but I smiled. A lot.

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-four

Deep night—the hours between midnight and four a.m.—is when the shadows are darkest, and beings of such origins strongest. As I walked in the shadow world, carefully avoiding any electronic device that might register my passing, I sought and received strength from the shadows.

On the floor above me, I could feel Gabriel’s presence, a warm, comforting sort of glow that wrapped me in a cocoon of burgeoning love. I smiled to myself as I watched the basement patrol stroll down the hallway, alert for signs she might become aware of what was going on upstairs. The dragons and Aisling had little trouble dealing with the guards, for a few minutes later Jim appeared at the far end of the corridor.

‘‘Yo! Miss Guard! I don’t suppose you brought your lunch with you? You’re not going to need it, and my fabulous form is being positively starved to death.’’

The guard, who had her back turned to Jim, whipped around to stare in momentary surprise. I zipped around behind her, deshadowing the second she reached for her radio. She hit the floor without having time to speak a word.

‘‘Nicely done,’’ Gabriel said as he and the others stepped over her body. ‘‘Why does it not surprise me that you have martial arts training?’’

‘‘I’m mad, bad, and very dangerous to know,’’ I told him with a little smile.

‘‘We will have to compare badness at another time,’’ he answered with a flash of his dimples. ‘‘Is that the vault?’’

‘‘Yes.’’ I stood back as Drake and Aisling approached the heavy steel door. ‘‘It’s just the wards and prohibitions you’ll need to take care of—the arcane magic won’t affect me.’’

Aisling peered closely at the wards. ‘‘I can’t unmake them, but I don’t think it will be any problem to break them. Jim, get to work on the prohibitions.’’

‘‘You and Tipene patrol the perimeter,’’ Gabriel told his two bodyguards. ‘‘Drake and I will shut down any alarm systems wired to the vault.’’