A Hunter Under The Mistletoe: All Is Bright / Heat of a Helios. Karen Whiddon

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      She wanted him.

      It seemed like such a simple notion, steeped in the increasingly urgent needs of her body and the attentions of the man opposite her.

      But for her, it was a novel thought, unexpected and deeply, crazily potent.

      “Rafe!”

      The heavy, baritone shout seemed to come from outside herself, an abstract thought that took shape and dimension as Rafe lifted his mouth from hers.

      “What is it?” His words were clipped, with a gravelly edge that seemed to match the thickness that filled her own throat as Evangeline came back to herself.

       Oh, no!

      Her first thought was to cover herself, the power of Rafe’s kiss surely branded all over her exposed skin in the revealing dress. That thought was quickly followed by another. Gabe was standing there, his focus fully on Rafe as if he barely even saw her.

      “We have an appointment this evening. I believe we discussed it earlier? You mentioned wanting to take part in the meeting.”

      Something loud—even though it was completely unspoken—arced between the brothers and Evangeline came fully back to the moment. Embarrassment at being caught kissing Rafe in the lobby vanished as she attempted to decipher what neither was saying, even as their silence spoke volumes.

      Rafe spoke first, his gaze flicking to hers before returning to his brother. “I’ll be ready to leave shortly.”

      “I’ll meet you in the security center.”

      Gabe marched off as fast as he’d arrived and she had the distinct impression he’d left an uncomfortable Rafe in his wake.

      “I’m sorry to end our evening early.”

      “It is nearly midnight.” She stilled, their earlier exchanges over the burning man at odds with the liquid desire that still muddled her veins like a thick, delicious milk shake. “An odd time for a meeting.”

      “The casino business never closes.”

      “So true.” She glanced around the atrium, currently filled with a holiday theme she’d spent endless days developing and refining. “Sort of like the flower business. We do what we must, when we must.”

      With that, she took a step back. The desire to follow him and his brother was strong, but the unceasing eyes that followed everything happening in the hotel would no doubt capture her if she attempted it.

      So she’d retreat. Review what she’d learned. And reassemble her arguments tomorrow.

      “Thank you for a lovely evening.” She ran a hand over the skirt of her dress. “A lovely day, as well.”

      With that, Evangeline turned on her heel and left him standing in the midst of her flowers. The urge to look back was strong, but she kept moving forward.

      And wondered how she was going to uncover the secrets he hid.

      The large black SUV rumbled, silent as a wraith, through one of Las Vegas’s poorest neighborhoods. Apartment houses had the look of the abandoned or the damned, and the few souls who loitered in front suggested both. Rafe fought an inward shudder at the evidence of such poverty and despair. He wasn’t immune to the plight of those who lived mere blocks from the Archangel and they had several programs in place to ensure they didn’t further contribute to such problems.

      But none of that stilled the inherent frustration that such horrible conditions existed next to the opulence and refinement of the Strip.

      “Strange place, our hometown.”

      Gabe’s comment was a funny mirror to his own and Rafe shifted his attention from the street. “I was thinking along similar lines.”

      “Beauty and horror, wrapped up in one big package.”

      “The universe does love balance.” Rafe murmured the words, and Gabe picked up on them quickly.

      “Dad’s preached yin and yang for years. Nothing exists alone.”

      “Just like us.”

      The thought lingered in his mind, emotional ballast he was never fully able to shed. Even during each period of renewal, when his thoughts should be on rebirth and rejuvenation, he was innately conscious of the weight and responsibility that rested on his shoulders.

      Their father had seen to that. For all his joviality and easygoing nature, Michael Stavros had always impressed upon them their duties and their responsibilities. Their people guarded the gates of the ancients. And while the Stavros family had made their life in Las Vegas, acting as protectors in the human world instead of taking up arms at the gates, they knew the path to the ancient world.

      The Stavroses understood their destiny wasn’t the Archangel or Las Vegas or even the lives they’d live to the fullest. Their legacy was the fire they carried inside, born of the earliest times and entrusted to them by the very gods that ruled over the heavens, the earth and the lower realms.

      “Are you prepared if there are Hunters in here?”

      “Yes.”

      “Your Rejuvenation came early.”

      “And?” He shot his brother a dark look, the subject still a sensitive one.

      For his part, Gabe ignored the attitude and plowed forward—his style since birth. “Any ideas why?”

      Rafe had no clue and that nagged nearly as much as the fact that it had come upon him so early. They were creatures of the earth. Driven by the cycles of nature as surely as the moon and the tides. Yet instead of his Rejuvenation at the winter solstice, it had come upon him with unexplained prematurity.

      A few days here and there were normal. Shedding one’s mortal form through the most ancient of fires took time, and pending overall mood, health, age and attitude, the process could take a few days. But nearly a month early?

      Hell, he hadn’t been so misadjusted since puberty.

      Gabe pressed on, oblivious—or uncaring—of the lack of response. “You haven’t said much about your date. Were you successful in persuading the beautiful Evangeline that she saw nothing last night?”

      “No.”

      That lone word hovered there, shimmering in the air between them as vivid—and lethal—as his own fire.

      “What are you going to do about it?”

      “I’ll be damned if I know.”

      “No, you’ll be damned if you don’t do something about this.”

      The dark snarl in his brother’s words matched his mood and Rafe had no interest in another lecture. They’d been down this road already. Hell, he knew the stakes and knew what was at risk. He didn’t need a freaking lecture to boot.

      “Gabe—”

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