When they'd gotten back to the bordello, they'd made love for hours. She hadn't given him a chance to evade. And what choice did he have when she'd squirmed on top of him, wearing nothing but her skin and a smile-a combination of sultry and wholesome that sent his libido into a fever of lust? He took, he gave. She took, she gave.

And somehow, in the hours when he'd slept after the loving, the jagged pieces of himself had shifted until they fit together instead of scraping against one another.

"Well, you've had enough of me for the moment," Lynnea said, giving him her best no-nonsense look.

"I've got to get to work, and you've got to meet with Philo."

His contentment faded as he thought about the folded piece of paper that had been pushed under his door, requesting a meeting. He knew why Philo wanted to talk to him.

"What's the matter?" Lynnea asked. "What's wrong with Philo wanting to talk to you?"

He rested his forehead against hers. "Incubi are welcome in the Den of Iniquity. Wizards aren't."

She stiffened. Did she finally realize why everyone had become so uneasy after he'd killed the purebloods?

When she pushed at his chest, he let her go, let her step back from him.

Then he looked at her face and took a step back himself. Outrage. Fury. His little rabbit was spitting mad and ready to take a swing at someone. Anyone.

"Lynnea." He tried for soothing, placating. If that didn't work, he'd sink to pleading. Maybe.

She bounced. Her hands curled into fists, and she... bounced.

Oh, damn the daylight.

"You're the same person you were before. Now they want you to leave because you have a power that can defend them against bad things? What kind of idiots run the businesses in this place? What kind of morons live here?"

She marched to the door and flung it open before he gathered his wits enough to try to stop her.

Unfortunately, Teaser picked exactly the wrong moment to open his door and step into the corridor.

"Are you an idiot?" Lynnea shouted, jabbing a finger into the incubus's chest. "Are you a moron? Have you exchanged your brains for a bag of manure?"

"What'd I do?" Teaser said, raising his hands in surrender. Since Lynnea was already marching for the stairs at a fast clip, he turned to Sebastian. "What'd I do?"

"She's on a tear."

"What'd you do?"

"Nothing. Just..." He dug in his pocket and handed his key to Teaser. "Lock up the room for me, will you? I've got to stop her before she does something stupid."

"Like punch a bull demon in the nose?"

He wasn't going to consider the possibility.

He raced down the stairs-and still wasn't fast enough to stop her before she got out of the building.

He caught up to her before she got to Philo's but couldn't think of any way to stop her without causing a scene that would be the talk of the Den for years to come.

"Lynnea, wait."

She marched through the courtyard, flung open the door to the indoor dining room, and stopped so abruptly he rammed into her back and had to grab her shoulders to keep her from falling.

At least, that was the excuse he was going to use for holding on to her.

Philo wasn't the only one waiting for him. Hastings and Mr. Finch also sat at a table. Wasn't that wonderful? Exile by committee. Not that Philo or anyone else really had a choice about his staying. He anchored the Den. Didn't matter if they considered him incubus, wizard, or human, he had to stay. And they had to accept it. The Den's survival depended on it.

"Lynnea," Philo said, "maybe you'd like to go into the kitchen and-"

She bounced.

"You want her to go into the kitchen?" Sebastian said, unable to hide his disbelief. "Where there are sharp things?"

Philo looked at Lynnea-and paled. "Ah. A chair, perhaps?" He pointed at the empty chair at the table.

Sebastian shook his head-one sharp little movement. Until his rabbit calmed down, he wasn't letting her near anything she could pick up and use as a weapon.

"Well, then." Philo pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed his forehead. He looked at Hastings and Mr. Finch, who both nodded. "Well. The thing is, Sebastian, after those... creatures... were disposed of, the merchants and business owners got together and talked things over. If you're going to be protecting the Den from now on, you should be compensated. Like... wages."

"All the businesses would put in a percentage of their take each month," Hastings added. "Some credit slips, some coin. A place like the bordello would just reduce the rent on your room for their share."

"Besides," Philo said, glancing nervously at Lynnea, "we all sort of figured you'd retired from your previous occupation."

That was the truth. If he'd had any doubts about being Lynnea's exclusive lover, he was sure of it now after seeing her in a fullblown mad.

Suddenly her body relaxed. She cocked her head. "You want Sebastian to be like a law enforcer in a village?"

"Yes," Mr. Finch chirped. "Exactly."

Sebastian reluctantly let go of her as she turned to face him.

Her blue eyes still flashed with temper. "They wanted to talk to you about protecting the Den, and you thought they wanted you to leave. You moron."

He yelped when she reached up and pulled his ears to bring his head down. The hard kiss on the mouth was nice, but didn't quite make up for getting his ears pulled.

Then she walked out of the dining room.

"Any bets that she'll scare the customers into eating all their vegetables?" Sebastian asked.

"Wouldn't take the bet," Hastings replied. "Not today." He looked at Sebastian and frowned. "Why did you think we'd want you to leave?"

"I'm a wizard."

"Justice Maker," Mr. Finch chirped.

He studied the three men. "Are you serious about this offer?"

Philo chuckled. "A badass incubus wizard as the Den's law enforcer and Justice Maker. What could be more perfect?"

Chapter Nineteen.

With Jeb beside her, carrying a carpetbag and grumbling about the foolishness of making this visit, Nadia switched the basket she'd brought from one hand to the other and continued walking up the main street of the Den of Iniquity. Bursts of music and voices came from various buildings as the doors of taverns and music halls opened and closed. The colored globes on the poles turned the streetlights into something festive instead of providing mundane illumination. It made her think of the seedier part of a harvest fair- the tents and booths that most of the people who attended a fair didn't realize existed. There was an edginess here, and enough resonance of mean to rub at the grain of doubt that had lodged in her heart during the past few days.

"Don't see why we couldn't have left this at the cottage," Jeb grumbled.

"It didn't look like anyone was staying at the cottage," Nadia replied, trying to ignore the uneasiness she'd felt when she'd realized Sebastian had abandoned the place he'd called home for the past ten years. "I want to see how Lynnea is getting on, that's all. And I wanted to see the Den."

"It's been here a few years now," Jeb said, looking at her with the awareness of a man who'd been awakened too many times in the past few nights when the dreams had plagued her. "Any reason you felt the need to see it now?"

Every reason. But she wouldn't say those words out loud, wouldn't give them that much weight. For fifteen years, she had maintained an unshakable faith that Glorianna was not a deadly, dangerous creature, as the wizards claimed. When Glorianna had shaped the Den of Iniquity and altered the way Ephemera's landscapes flowed into one another so that several of the demon landscapes were connected to one another, Nadia had trusted that her daughter, so gifted in her power, had seen some need other Landscapers couldn't.

For fifteen years she had trusted, because to do less might have shaken Glorianna's faith that she had her mother's support-and Glorianna was already too alone in the world. Now a grain of doubt was wearing away at that trust, and she had to see, had to know what kind of dark landscape had been made of this place.

"First-timers?" a voice asked, pulling Nadia out of her thoughts.

The blond-haired man watching them had the cocky grin of an appealing troublemaker, but when she got close enough, she detected a bruised wariness in his blue eyes.

"Why do you think we're first-timers?" Jeb asked, sounding defensive.

The cocky grin took on a hint of mean. "Got the look of it. So..."

Those blue eyes never left her face, but she could have sworn she'd been stroked from breasts to hips, and his hands knew every curve she had. Except for Sebastian, she'd never met an incubus, but she was certain she was looking at one now. The experience was... unsettling... in a way that made her feel ripe and female.

"Who's your friend?" the incubus asked.

"I'm the lady's friend," Jeb growled.

Nadia blinked. Had she just heard Jeb-solid, reliable Jeb-claim her like some meaty bone? As if some young man, even if he was an incubus, would have any interest in having a romp between the sheets with a woman old enough to be his mother.

She looked into those blue eyes again-and felt her heart flutter and her face heat. Guardians and Guides, he was interested!

"Were here to visit my nephew," she said firmly, ready to blame the streetlights or the walk here to justify any blaze of embarrassment coloring her face. When he smirked, making it clear he heard variations of that statement all the time, she added, "Sebastian."

The incubus jumped as if she'd whacked him with a broom.

"You're Sebastian's auntie?" His voice rose to a squeak. I am.

"Daylight!"

"Who are you?"

"Teaser. Ma'am. Auntie, ma'am." He looked around, his expression on the edge of desperate. "Here, now, why don't I take you up to Philo's, and then I'll have a look around for Sebastian. He's here somewhere.

Better be," he added under his breath.

He was even more appealing when he was flustered, Nadia decided as she and Jeb followed the incubus down the street. More... human in a way she understood. And more comfortable to be around.

"What about Lynnea?" Nadia asked. "Where is she?"

"At Philo's," Teaser replied.

"Is she well?"

"She's doing fine. Gets pretty scrappy if I leave the towels on the bathroom floor or forget to rinse out the tub. Do all human women get scrappy about things like that if you're not giving them sex?" Teaser paused. "Of course, she gets scrappy about those things with Sebastian, and he is giving her sex. Uh..."

Nadia sighed. Before he'd known she was Sebastian's aunt, he would have said all kinds of things to her.

Now just the mention of sex had him blushing like a schoolboy. "Being an aunt doesn't make me less of a woman," she muttered.

"It's different," Teaser muttered in return.

"How?"

"I don't know. It just is."

It was astonishing to discover incubi could be... What was the phrase she'd heard Sebastian mutter on occasion? Prissy prigs. Yes, that was it. Prissy prigs.

Maybe in another day or two she'd see the humor in that.

"What are those?" Jeb asked as they approached four large, shaggy, horned creatures standing just beyond a courtyard filled with tables and chairs.

"Bull demons," Teaser replied, then added, "I hope William Farmer brought eggs in that last wagon of supplies."

Before Nadia could ask what eggs had to do with such dangerous-looking creatures, Teaser raised his voice and said, "This is Sebastian's auntie, who's come for a visit and a bite to eat. So you just find a table and wait your turn-and don't go bellowing and give her a sour stomach."

The shaggy creatures stared at her.

"Om-e-let?" one rumbled.

"She doesn't want your omelet," Teaser said. "Just go sit down." He pulled out a chair at an unoccupied table and smiled at Nadia. "This is a good spot."

lor what? she wondered, noticing the closest statue. And also noticing that Jeb's face was turning bright red as he looked around. The carpetbag slipped from his hand and landed on the flagstones with a thump.

Nadia set her basket on the table and just stared at the statues. All those years when Lee had come to the Den and had laughed at her concern that he might be too young...

Mother, if I wanted to be wild and wicked, I wouldn't go to the Den. Sebastian's worse than a spinster aunt twice over when it comes to my doing anything you might disapprove of.

She should have known a son would be less than truthful about things like that. And it didn't look like a young man of tender years would have to do anything but look around in order to have an interesting education.

Dark. Decadent. But...

Her heart jumped into her throat when a bellow was abruptly cut off. "Oh, dear. That bull demon just smacked another one on the nose."