Free Midnight's Master by Cynthia Eden

stepping back from this case, okay? I get it—these are your pissing grounds, but they were my friends. They trusted me. I’m not going to drop this case until I find out who killed them.”
    He knew that. He also knew that it was too late for Holly to back off. “You’re the link, love.” A link he’d use.
    She swallowed, but didn’t reply, and he knew she already understood.
    Two dead sources.
    One hit-and-run.
    He would have needed to be blind not to have made the connection. “The killer’s got you in his sights, Holly.”
    She didn’t deny it.
    “The question is…why?” She wasn’t a demon, but maybe, just maybe, she’d learned something about the demon world that should have remained secret.
    “You’re telling me one of the Other is hunting me now?” Her breath came too fast.
    “Great. What? Do I have a vampire on my trail? A crazy-ass shifter? A—”
    “Human.”
    Silence.
    Then, “Run that by me again.”
    “Carl told me a human was dogging his steps.” If only he’d gotten the bastard’s name…but Carl had been sliced to pieces before he could give away that information.
    “This time, the killer is one of yours.”
    “Hel .”

    Hmm…who said monsters were just demons and shifters? Humans had monsters living and breathing in their bodies. Sometimes, the humans were worse than the Other.
    Much, much worse.
    Holly turned away from him and began to pace the length of her den. He could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. Turning, turning—
    She spun around and pinned him with a fierce look.
    And grinding to a halt.
    “I don’t want to be jerked around by you anymore.” The hum of anger vibrated beneath the words. “You should have told me this from the beginning.”
    Maybe, but he wasn’t big on trust, either. “I think the hit-and-run was a warning.” Niol figured there was no other way to look at it. If the killer had wanted Holly to die yesterday, well, she would have been found carved up with Sam.
    His hands fisted and a vase shattered to his left.
    “What? Jesus, Niol, what are you doing?” Holly ran back to his side and bent to pick up the shards of glass. “Nice. This was a gift from—”
    He grabbed her hands, heedless of the glass. Niol pulled her to her feet, kept her close.
    His nostrils flared as her scent teased him.
    If Holly had been the one in that morgue…
    “Niol?” Her gaze searched his.
    He swallowed back the rage. “You still want to team up on this thing?” Because she couldn’t hunt the killer on her own, not when she would be walking in both worlds.
    Human and Other.
    A grim nod. “You know I do. I don’t have your contacts.”
    But she had some. For a human, she’d done a good job of slipping into the realm hidden by darkness.
    Besides, if he was right, they didn’t really need to explore too much in the demon realm.
    “You want in my world. I want in yours.”
    “What are you proposing?”
    Her skin felt so soft beneath his fingers. Delicate. He could hurt her, if he wasn’t careful.
    But he’d be careful with Holly Storm. Very, very careful. He’d gain her confidence, and in time he’d get…her.

    She’d been a fire in his blood for too long. Time to get rid of the gnawing hunger and past time to stop a killer.
    Luckily, he had the perfect plan for meeting both goals.
    He lowered his head. Brought his mouth inches away from hers. “Tel me, Holly, are you in the mood for a new lover?”
    Her breath hissed out.
    “I’ll take that as a yes. The cops already think we’re together.” They could keep thinking that. It would be the perfect cover. “You can talk to the demons this way, find out if any of them know anything about Sam or Carl.” No demon in Atlanta would dare to touch her once he’d staked his claim.
    “And what do you get from the arrangement?” Husky. Dammit. Sexy.
    He got more fantasies. More hard-ons. And maybe, just maybe, the fuck he’d been dreaming of for al these long months.
    If he played the game