Free Chase the Dark by Annette Marie Page A

hadn’t forgotten his violent reputation, though.
    Aside from surreptitiously monitoring Ash, Piper obsessively checked that the ring box was still tightly lodged in her bra. At this rate, she would have a permanent dent in her flesh, but after waking with the box worked halfway out, she wasn’t taking any chances.
    They slept through the following day, taking turns to watch for signs of prefects. Ash’s convoluted trail was working; there was no sign of a search. Maybe the prefects had given up, though Piper didn’t put a lot of hope into the thought. She wasn’t that lucky.
    Shortly after nine o’clock the following evening, Piper crouched behind a dumpster with Ash and Lyre on either side of her, staring across the street at the brightly lit medical center.
    Ash had decided they should start with the medical center closest to the Consulate. Piper’s heart pounded. Aside from the lights, the place looked deserted.
    “Ready?” Ash whispered.
    Piper nodded, glancing at her comrades. Both were unrecognizable in stolen jeans, black t-shirts, and runners. Both daemons had adopted new glamours, opting to look like normal humans with nondescript brown hair and eyes. Apparently, changing eye color required a lot of effort. Ash looked unremarkable, and hopefully forgettable, but Lyre was the same level of mouthwatering gorgeous as usual, only in a different color scheme—all part of the plan.
    She glanced at her own unflattering jeans and blah gray t-shirt. If Ash was keeping his end of the deal, her hair was now tacky bleach blond and her eyes would be blue instead of green. She’d had no idea daemons could apply glamour to other people, but Ash was no regular daemon. Even for him, it was tricky and took a lot of concentration; it also required him to be touching her, which is why they were holding hands. Awkward.
    Lyre took a deep breath, rose to his feet, and strode boldly out into the street. She and Ash watched him vanish through the double doors and into the medical center. They waited. After three minutes, Ash tugged her up and, trying to look like holding his hand didn’t bother her at all, she let him lead her to the doors. Her heart felt like it was beating against the back of her throat.
    Inside, the bright lights made her. A long counter shielded by thick, scratched plastic overlooked a large waiting room full of mismatched chairs. On either side of the counter, barred doors like jail cells offered glimpses of long halls. Patients being admitted were buzzed through the right side door. Patients on their way out used the left side door. A bored security guard sat on a chair inside the right-hand door, reading a tattered book.
    Lyre leaned against the plastic barrier, talking to the middle-aged nurse on the other side of the desk. She was the only other person in the room besides the security guard. Her attention was fixed on the incubus’s face and a bright blush stained her cheeks. Every couple of seconds, her gaze would sweep as much of his torso as was visible before locking on his face again.
    Ash steered Piper to two chairs near the security guard’s door and plunked down, managing to look irritated, bored, and anxious at the same time. Piper perched on the edge of her seat, breathing too quickly and knowing she looked anxious, bordering on panicky. Ash cast an impatient look at the desk as though he were waiting his turn to talk to the nurse. Piper bit her lip and tried not to stare at Lyre. When an incubus really turned on the charm, it was risky to even look at him.
    Lyre leaned against the barrier as if it were the only thing stopping him from swooping down on the woman right where she sat. His eyes smoldered like muted fire, roving across her face as though he couldn’t stop himself, and that sexy half-smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. He murmured through the circle of holes in the plastic that enabled conversations, his words soft and intimate. The woman giggled, pressing one hand to the