Velvet Haven

worried . . .” She glanced up at Rowan. “I’m afraid for you and what will happen after your surgery next week. It’s all just manifested into these crazy dreams.”
    Rowan backed off, but Mairi saw the doubt in her intuitive eyes. “If you dream of this guy again, or any of these symbols, you let me know, okay?”
    Mairi nodded. Even though she had started it, she wanted nothing more than to end this conversation.
    “I’ve got something that’ll put a smile on your face,” Rowan said as she pulled away from the big hug she was giving her. “You’re gonna love it.”
    “Yeah? What’s that?”
    “VIP tickets to the hottest club in town. Velvet Haven, baby!” she cried, waving the tickets before her. “And it’s tonight. So get your sexy clothes on; we’re going partying.”
    A shiver swept through Mairi’s entire body as a vision of a man shimmered before her. Tall. Heavily muscled. Oozing sex and stamina, calling to the primitive female need inside her. Her body responded to the visual, wakening, craving his touch. Sex . Suddenly it was all she could think about, all she could see in her mind.
    She heard a woman’s voice whisper in her ear, “ You will find the warrior tonight and you will take him inside you. ”
    The image of this man on top of her, driving into her as he pinned her to the bed with his heavy body, swam before her. She saw herself arching, her head thrown back in ecstasy as he thrust unrelentingly deep inside her. She could feel his strong fingers biting against her wrists, his harsh breath against her cheek, the sound of his dark, velvety voice whispering sex words in her ears.
    Suddenly, there was nothing more she wanted— needed —than to have him between her thighs, giving her his body, his strength.
    “You will take him inside you.”
    “Mairi, you okay? You look like you’re zoning out.”
    “I think I just need a nap,” Mairi whispered, finding her way to the door. “See you tonight, Rowan. I’ll pick you up at your place.”
    Outside, she leaned against the brick wall, trying to catch her breath, trying and failing to stop the images of a man on top of her. Her body was trembling in eager anticipation. It had been a while since she’d last been with a guy, but it shouldn’t feel like this. Her urge for sex was as strong and primordial as her need for air.
    Against her denim- clad thigh, her wrist tingled, and she unconsciously rubbed it against her leg, searching for relief.
    Things were getting crazy. First her wrist, and now she was hearing voices and seeing her dream hunk when she was awake. Wishing he was real, despite the danger she felt.
    She didn’t do danger, she reminded herself. But she couldn’t lie; she wanted to do him .

CHAPTER THREE

    Bran had no use for humans, but this one, she was exactly the sort of mortal he was looking for—single, lonesome, and begging for it.
    “This female will give you what you need.”
    Bran looked down at the man standing beside him. Though the music was loud and pounding, he could hear every word, as if they were the only ones in the room. Above the throbbing bass, he even heard the thump of his companion’s heart. Steady, rhythmic; nothing to signal any impending betrayal or tricks.
    His companion’s serpentlike eyes shifted. The slit where the pupil should have been was long, elliptical. More than mortals had been caught up in those mesmerizing eyes, but Bran knew better than to look into them for more than a second.
    Sayer was half-Selkie and used enchantment magic to interrogate and ferret out information, from immortals and mortals alike. Tonight Bran had need of that skill.
    Rolling his shoulders, Bran shrugged off the tension that had been steadily growing inside him since last night, when he’d seen the body of the butchered youngling.
    Tension coiled as he rolled his shoulders once more, his long black hair sliding down his back as his knuckles rapped against the stone balustrade that overlooked the dance floor. Beneath the neon lights, the sigils on his left hand glowed, the pewter and gold reflections entwining like vines, casting shimmering images on the copper-tiled ceiling. Not wanting to draw any attention, Bran dropped his hand from the balustrade, hiding it beneath the sleeve of his coat.
    Ignoring Sayer’s inquisitive glance, Bran turned to look again through the stained-glass window, down to the street below, where hundreds of humans were lined up, vying for the coveted tickets into