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heat, his fangs shimmering in the faint moonlight that slanted through a hole in the tin roof.
    “Spring rain.”
    “What?”
    “You smell of spring rain.” “Why are you doing this?”
    He shifted so his erection pressed directly against her most tender spot. She choked back a groan as she nearly came from the mere contact.
    “I’m trying to demonstrate,” he murmured.
    “I’m a Jinn mongrel.”
    His gaze swept over her half naked body, deliberately allowing his lust to blast through the air. “You’re exquisite.” “Tane.”
    He lowered his head to whisper directly in her ear. “You should know better than to run from a predator.”
    It was the shiver of longing, as much as his patronizing tone, that made her release a trickle of her pent-up powers, causing Tane to jerk back with satisfying swiftness.
    “Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking I’m some sort of helpless prey,” she snapped.
    He sprawled on the loose hay, a taunting smile curving his lips as she scrambled to her feet.
    “Helpless? Never. But prey …” He ran a slow, thorough appraisal down her tense body, his tongue stroking his massive fang. “Shall I discover if you taste as sweet as you smell?”
    She lifted a warning hand. She should just zap his ass as she had promised. Unfortunately when she tried to do more than release the smallest trickle of energy, she never knew if she was going to create a bolt of lightning or a tornado or an earthquake or some other wholesale destruction that could wipe out an entire town.
    “No.”
    With the liquid grace only a master vampire could claim, Tane was on his feet, prowling toward her. “You’re sure?”
    “Back off, He-man,” she warned, her outstretched hand clenching as he continued forward. “I’m not kidding. Come near me and I’ll hurt you.”
    He halted, but before she could be stupid enough to think he was frightened by her threat, he folded his arms over his muscular chest.
    “Where’s the child?”
    She flinched at the abrupt question, a stab of self-disgust slicing through her heart.
    Was that the reason for the sexy vampire routine?
    Did he suspect the child she was hiding was another Jinn mongrel who he needed to drag from his hiding place and turn over to the Oracles? Or was it just his attempt to satisfy his twisted curiosity before he was at last rid of her?
    Whatever the reason, the thought of her ready response to his touch made her want to split open the earth and stuff him in the bowels of hell.
    “You have a creepy obsession with this mythical child.” She forced a mocking smile. “Do you eat babies for breakfast or something?”
    He tilted back his head, testing the air with his superior senses.
    “I can’t believe that you left it behind. Not after your panic to rescue it from Caine’s lair.”
    “It? A baby, mythical or not, is not an it.”
    He ignored the dangerous edge in her voice. “But, it’s not here. Unless you’ve hidden it with a spell.” Without warning he’d stepped forward and grabbed her upper arms. “Are you a witch?”
    She glared into the too-handsome face. “If I were a witch you’d already be turned into a newt and stuck in a jar.”
    “Be careful, Laylah. A vampire has no tolerance for magic.”
    “And I have no tolerance for interfering vampires.” She jerked away from his hands. “We’re done.”
    He allowed her to back away, but that didn’t ease her sudden jitters as he stood in the center of the loft, the moonlight sliding with sinuous beauty over his grim features and broad chest.
    He didn’t need the large dagger stuck in the waistband of his khaki shorts or the pearly white fangs to make him dangerous.
    It oozed from every pore.
    “Are you a witch?”
    She instinctively backed away, not halting until she hit a stack of hay bales.
    “No.”
    He moved until he was crowding her, his eyes narrowed as he sensed her lie.
    “You have no magical abilities?”
    “The charm of my personality.”
    His slender fingers