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break it. Come to think of it, he deserved a broken rib or two as well. And maybe a punch to the kidney.
    “What I’ll do depends on what you want,” she told him.
    Still smiling, he took another step back. “You accuse me of being mad for enjoying a good fight. But I saw that gleam in your eyes just now. You were thinking of headbutting me.”
    Yeah, and he’d ruined it by moving out of range. “Let’s just get to the point.”
    “You’re investigating the Orbs of Essence,” he said. “And doing a pretty piss-poor job of it too. I knew what you were after the moment you fumbled your attempt to interrogate the bartender. If almost everyone at Impulse last night hadn’t been completely smashed, they’d have noticed it too.”
    “My speciality is fighting, not interrogating.”
    Logan snorted. “That much is obvious. You’re about as subtle as a punch to the gut.”
    Alex glowered at him.
    “You want to know what’s going on with the Orbs of Essence. Well, so do I,” he said. “Due to the high bounty, there are dozens of hunters after the Orbs. That band of vampire elves were just the beginning. Together, we can stop those amateurs from getting their hands on them. What do you say?”
    “You’re an assassin,” she pointed out.
    “And a thief, don’t forget,” he said. “You’re working with Gaelyn. That old man has deep pockets. He can afford my fee.”
    “I don’t trust you.”
    “I can live with that.”
    “Maybe I can’t live with that,” she said. “I don’t want to be constantly on the lookout, watching for the inevitable stab in the back.”
    “I won’t betray you.”
    “No, you won’t. Because I won’t give you the chance to,” she said, yanking on her chains. They broke off at her wrists and ankles, crumbs of shredded steel snowing down to the ground. “Now, hotshot, let’s see what you’ve got.”

CHAPTER SIX
    The Assassin

    TRUE TO HIS profession, the assassin moved like silk and hit like stone. Alex barely had time to evade the first fist he hammered at her head. She wasn’t quick enough to evade the second; it pounded hard against her ribcage and sucked the breath right out of her lungs. She stumbled back in retreat, gasping for air.
    “This isn’t going quite like you’d pictured it, is it?” he said, the hint of a chuckle speckling his words. He didn’t move in, even though he could have taken her out pretty easily right now.
    “No,” she growled. “It really isn’t.”
    She angled a kick toward his shin. He sidestepped with a fluidity that took years to master—and few ever did. She tried for his head next. When he evaded that too, she switched to his shoulder. That didn’t work either. Logan was too fast and too strong. And he was really starting to get on her nerves.
    “What are you?” she asked. “A vampire hybrid? A shifter mage?” Neither of those sounded quite right.
    “I’m not magical. I’m human,” he replied.
    She could hardly hear him over the pounding drum beat of her pulse.
    “Albeit a genetically-enhanced human,” he added.
    “Enhanced?” she asked. “Enhanced for what?”
    “Strength, endurance, speed—basically everything I’d need to take down a supernatural.”
    “I’ve never heard of such a thing,” she said.
    Not that she was surprised such people existed. Many humans didn’t like the idea of being so vulnerable to the supernaturals. It was only a matter of time before someone managed to develop countermeasures.
    “The world is full of surprises,” he said.
    Grinning, Alex aimed a kick at his groin. Even the badass assassin Slayer was a man underneath it all. He was too experienced to put up a hand for her to kick into him, but instinct compelled him to protect himself. As he hopped back, she swept her leg across the ground, kicking his feet out from under him the moment he landed.
    He fell—but not far. He braced his hands against the floor and flipped back up to his feet. It just wasn’t fair. No one was that