“Rachel …” Anger made Kisten’s voice hard as he leaned out the door after me. “Come back here and tell her to cash one of them out.”

“You gave me the first ones, and I won the rest!” I shouted from the foot of the ramp, my arms wrapped around me in the falling snow. “I’m donating all of them. And I’m pissed at you, you blood-sucking coward!”

The man at the foot of the ramp snickered, steeling his face into impassivity when I glared at him. Kisten hesitated, then closed the door and came down after me, my borrowed coat over his arm. I stomped to his car, waiting for him to unlock the door for me or tell me to call a cab.

Still putting on his coat, Kisten stopped beside me. “Why are you mad at me?” he said flatly, his blue eyes starting to go black in the dim light.

“That is Saladan’s boat, isn’t it?” I said furiously, pointing. “I may be slow, but I eventually catch on. Piscary runs the gambling in Cincinnati. You came out here looking for Piscary’s cut. And Saladan turned you down, didn’t he? He’s moving in on Piscary’s turf, and you brought me as backup knowing I would fight for your ass if things got out of control.”

Incensed, I ignored his teeth and his strength and put my face inches from his. “Don’t you ever trick me into backing you up again. You could have gotten me killed with your little games. I don’t get a second chance, Kisten. Dead is dead for me!”

My voice echoed off the nearby buildings. I thought of the ears listening from the boat, and my face burned. But I was angry, damn it, and this was going to be settled before I got back in Kisten’s car. “You dress me up to make me feel special,” I said, my throat tight and my anger high. “Treat me as if taking me out was something you wanted to do for me even if it was only in the hope of sinking your teeth in, and then I find out it’s not even that but business? I wasn’t even your first choice. You wanted Ivy to come with you, not me! I was your alternate plan. How cheap do you think that makes me feel?”

He opened his mouth, then shut it.

“I can understand you using me as a second-choice date because you’re a man and therefore a jerk!” I exclaimed. “But you knowingly brought me out here into a potentially dangerous situation without my spells, without my charms. You said it was a date, so I left everything at home. Hell, Kisten, if you wanted backup, I would have!

“Besides,” I added, my anger starting to slow since he seemed to actually be listening instead of spending the time formulating excuses. “It would have been fun knowing what was going on. I could have pumped people for information, stuff like that.”