“Desdemona.”

She moaned at the sound of her name on his lips.

“I need to tell you something.” His words were accompanied by warm air caressing her skin.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Before my time is done, I will watch the light fade from your eyes as you are sent to the hell you so deserve.” Though his words promised destruction, the cadence of his voice still held her in a seductive rapture.

Just as what he said registered in her mind, Adam flashed from the room back to where he had left Elle. As he left, he heard a soul-piercing scream, a sound that vowed retribution for fooling her. Adam knew what really pissed her off was that she had shown that she was capable of being seduced, that she still had those urges. He grinned to himself as he approached Elle.

“What did you do?” Elle narrowed her eyes at him.

Adam shrugged innocently. “What?  All I did was seduce the wicked witch.”

Elle’s mouth dropped open as she stared at her friend.

“You seduced Desdemona?”            

Adam waved her on to follow him deeper into the forest.

“We need to get to Peri and tell her what we’ve found out.”

Elle still didn’t move.

“You slept with the witch?” she nearly yelled.

Adam turned around and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Elle? Do you really think I’m that desperate? I just distracted her so I could get out. Look, I’ll explain it when we get to Peri. Let’s get out of here.”

Elle and Adam stepped farther into the trees, then both closed their eyes. They reached out through the Fae bond, looking for Peri. Once they found her they let her know they were on their way. She gave them the image of the place she wanted them to flash to and then they were gone. The forest became as quiet as if they had never been there.

~

Peri waited, standing behind the small café. Adam and Elle had let her know that they were heading back and she didn’t want the wolves to know they were here just yet.

There was a slight ripple in the air, and then Adam and Elle stood before her.

“He seduced Desdemona,” Elle blurted out.

Adam huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I did not seduce her into bed. Good grief, Elle.”

Peri’s head snapped from Elle to Adam.

“You had direct contact with her?” she asked, her voice full of concern.

“She knew we were following her, even though we were cloaked.”

“So how did you end up with her?” Peri asked briskly.

“I followed her into a tavern. She went all the way to the back and through a door. I followed, still cloaked, and when I got to the door and tried to listen it swung open and I was dragged inside.”

When he stopped talking, Peri glared. “Do I have to beat it out of you or are you going to get on with it?”

Adam tried to disguise his chuckle as a cough.  Judging by the gleam in Peri’s eyes, it didn’t work.

“She asked me why I was following her,” he continued quickly. “I tried to flash out but she was preventing it with a spell. So I decided distraction was the best course of action.” He flashed Peri with his heart-melting smile, a twinkle in his eye. “So I put the moves on her.”

Peri shook her head. “You put the moves on her?” she asked indignantly. “And it worked?”

Adam clutched his chest as if he’d been stabbed. “Perizada, ouch. You wound me with your skepticism at my seductive abilities.” He took a step towards Peri, his eyes going into bedroom mode. “Shall I demonstrate how persuasive I can be?” His voice, dropping low, was a caress against the skin. Elle shivered and shook her head to clear her mind and pull herself from the spell he seemed to weave.

Peri stood still, seemingly unaffected.

“So that worked, is what you’re trying to tell me?”

Adam let out an exasperated sigh as he went from Don Juan to agitated Fae in the blink of an eye.

“Yes, dammit, it worked. I distracted her enough to get her mind off the spell and onto more interesting venues. She even said please,” he told them with a cocky grin.

Peri was quiet for all of two seconds and then busted out into body-shaking laughter. She was able to compose herself several moments later, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Oh, man, I would give your left kidney to have seen the look on her face when she realized she’d been fooled by a man, and a Fae at that.”

“So glad that you feel comfortable enough with our relationship to pass out my organs,” Adam told her dryly.

Peri waved him off.

“So, please tell me you did more than just try to make skunk head think you wanted in her pants.”

“We definitely have more for you,” Elle began. “She met with the warlock King.”

Peri groaned. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

“But we listened to the whole conversation,” Adam added grimly. “It wasn’t good, Peri.”

“She is asking Cypher to open the veil to the underworld. And in return for his help she is promising him a mate.” Elle paused for emphasis. “A human mate – one who is familiar with the supernatural world.”

Peri’s eyes widened at Elle’s words, the meaning of them hitting her hard in the chest. She knew Desdemona was desperate, knew that there was no light left in her, and still it surprised her, the depths that her depravity had indeed reached.