CHAPTER 07

I t’s a strip club,” I said. “I’d bet my left nut on it.”

“I like your nuts exactly where they are,” Ryder muttered under his breath, making me laugh.

The Cove was a giant ass black building with three floors and no windows. It sat in an industrial-sized parking lot with no fucking neighbors and nothing around for a good mile. Talking about one hell of a hunting ground.

Dozens of cars lined the lot, making it easy for Ryder and I to sit at the far end for a stake-out. I chewed on a Twizzler and leaned forward in my seat as I stared at the entrance. Men went in. Only men went in . Two bouncers that made Ryder look short stood at the door, checking IDs and ushering people in.

“I mean,” I clicked my tongue, “ain’t no better place for a siren to hunt down lonely men.”

“Horny men,” Ryder corrected. “Most of them aren’t lonely. They’re just fucking horny.”

I bit back a smart-ass remark at his words. The frustration in his voice was intense. There was only so much he could tune out in a crowd as big as what the building held. From the way he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the poor fucking man had an involuntary hard-on thanks to a bunch of men looking to get off at the sight of a few strippers.

“Sirens have magic, right?” I asked to distract him. I had a pretty damn good idea about what I had to deal with. Sirens were upper-level demons, meaning they were smart and could pass for humans. Most of the demons we hunters dealt with were lower-level—mindless fucking monsters. They required less tact and more brawn. My specialty.

But a siren? She’d look human. Walk the walk, talk the talk. Normal men wouldn’t know the difference. All I had to look for was the way they fucking flocked to her. The draw of a siren was irresistible—or so I’d read.

Ryder may have said horny men but everything I’d read talked about lonely men. Easy to fucking resist when I wasn’t lonely. I had everything I needed in my passenger seat wearing green flannel and looking goddamn edible. I’d have no problem not falling for a siren’s trick.

“The magic helps them look human,” he said and leaned back in his seat. He crossed his arms, never looking at me. “But you knew that.”

“I knew that. Just lookin’ to distract you.”

“You can’t do this alone, Gray.”

“The hell I can’t.”

“Gray—”

“I can handle one siren,” I told him. Those baby blue eyes found mine. The fight in them would’ve been a fucking turn-on if I wasn’t so damn determined to protect him. “Do I need to remind you what the fuck I’ll do if you don’t do this my way, baby?”

Fight me. I was ready for it.

“No,” Ryder whispered.

“Good. It fuckin’ sucks, and I get it, but I ain’t a fan of you even bein’ in this goddamn town. There’s no way in hell I’m lettin’ you be seen.” Fuck, I worried about him being in the car with me on the drive over. I’d never driven the speed limit so perfectly in my life. “Besides… you? In a club like that? Tell me you could handle bein’ around all them people with no issues.”

I wasn’t trying to be mean—I wasn’t. But The Cove wasn’t some shady, hole-in-the-wall place. The car lot alone gave an inkling of just how many people were in there. And that was just guests. Ryder would’ve been swept away by the intensity of it all.

“Still don’t like it,” he grumped, and I smiled.

“You don’t have to,” I assured him, the roughness fading from my tone. “I just need you safe until I find your brother and Tessa’s husband, kill a fuckin’ siren, and we can get the fuck out of dodge.”

“How the fuck do you plan to find a siren?” Ryder asked.

“Baby, I’m charmin’.” My grin widened, and he shook his head.

The real answer: I planned to fucking wing it.