Free A Touch Menacing by Leah Clifford Page A

goes bad, I can’t have this traced back to me,” she said quietly as she stared into the mirror on the counter. “Despite your bribery.”
    “Merely a gift,” Luke said as she regarded him in the reflection. “To remind you how kind I can be to my friends.”
    She tapped a finger against the counter, not missing his threat. If she turned him down, chances were he’d approach the other leaders. She’d be left alone against both the Bound and the Fallen. Or worse.
    “I get Kristen to have a masked ball,” she said. “That’s it?”
    He nodded.
    She tried to picture the world he no doubt imagined, damned and out of control. A world built for Luke and his kind. One that could save herself and her friends.
    She rotated a fraction and the emeralds caught the light. Their sparkle was brilliant. “I think I can do that.”
    At her words, Luke’s snapped his fingers to bring the attendant back. “I’ve changed my mind,” he told her apologetically. “Bring her the necklace, too.”
    Madeline turned to him in surprise.
    A corner of his mouth cocked up. “My clever friend needs something around her neck to remind her of me while I’m away.”

CHAPTER 5

    M adeline squeezed her ungloved hands, trying to coax warmth into her fingers. This close to Christmas, the sidewalks were thick with mortals grabbing gifts for friends and family. The best of her Queens crew were out in pairs, making friends with perfect candidates for new Siders—guys built strong for fighting, girls lithe and clever—and then luring them back home.
    Once Gabe had told her what he’d learned, that creating a Sider was as easy as super-loading the mortals with enough Touch to erode their paths, she’d gotten to work. Only survival mattered. She wasn’t about to face the Bound without the biggest army she could muster.
    The war was coming.
    Of course, Gabe knew nothing of what she’d set out to do. I helped him, she reminded herself. In truth, she’d risked more than she should have to help Gabe when he’d Fallen. Kept him from committing the worst of sins, aided him when he’d spied Downstairs. Using what he told me isn’t wrong. It’s payment.
    Honestly, only time would tell how flawlessly her plan came together, if making Siders actually worked. So far, none of the few mortals they had captured seemed close to going suicidal. Time ran shorter than her patience.
    A dark thought needled its way in, not for the first time. A way to speed things up. Before she could pursue it, an arm curled around her waist, a voice smooth as honey in her ear. “Now where are you rushing off to?”
    Her heart skipped a beat, but her feet didn’t falter. She called up a well-practiced smile as she turned. “Hello, Gorgeous.”
    “Only as gorgeous as the company I keep.” Luke’s arm lifted from her hip. “Goddamn, I must be stunning just now,” he said, and gave his disarming grin. “What have you been up to?”
    She shrugged, the initial nerves Luke always brought out slowly calming. “Oh, the usual. Waiting for the so-called good guys to wipe out me and everyone I know. Bringing about the apocalypse. Shopping.”
    “Nice to see we have our priorities straight, at least. Shouldn’t you be storing Touch?” Without warning, he brushed his hand down her arm and into her pocket, then pulled out her bare hand and held it up. Luke’s friendly farce disappeared, his eyes piercing, black as pitch. “You really should have gloves on, Madeline. You’ll catch your death.”
    She laughed. Any other reaction would be a dead giveaway that something was up. Siders couldn’t get sick, not from mortal diseases, and her death had come years ago when she’d become one. She watched for traffic before crossing the street, not bothering to check to see if Luke’s eyes had lightened, if the danger had passed. Innocent people didn’t check to see if they were being believed. He fell into step beside her.
    Madeline stopped them at the window display of a