Darkness Rising: The Dark Angel Series: Book Two by Keri Arthur Page A

lady if you never actually leave your house.”
    “I leave,” he said. “And ladies
do
occasionally come into the shop.”
    “Yeah, and then run screaming when they see the mess downstairs,” I said drily.
    “That, unfortunately, is more true than not. Hence the reason I don’t invite many lovelies back.” He paused, then wiggled his eyebrows outrageously. “Of course, there is
one
lady who’s not afraid to brave the mess. I don’t suppose you’d consider taking another lover?”
    “One lover is
more
than enough for me at the moment.”
    “And you call yourself a werewolf?” he said, pretending outrage.
    I laughed. “Half-werewolf. There is a difference.” At least, there was with me. Apparently my Aedh heritage had toned down what society generally considered the “worst” aspect of being a werewolf—that is, the moon heat, which forced us to seek sex or go mad during the full moon phase. And—unlike every other werewolf—I wasn’t forced to shift shape on the night of the full moon. In fact, I couldn’t attain wolf form
anytime.
    But I
did
have a wolf’s keen senses and high sex drive, as well as the attitude that sex was something to be celebrated. Which came in handy when I had a lover like Lucian.
    “So if the consortium is being sued, doesn’t that mean Nadler will have to appear in court?”
    “Not necessarily. The case has gone into arbitration. And from what I’ve seen, his lawyers are handling it.”
    “But isn’t getting the two combatants to face each other across the table the whole point of arbitration?”
    “Yes, unless one of them has money and friends in high places, as is the case here, apparently.” He shrugged. “I’m keeping an electronic eye on the situation. If anything new comes up, I’ll let you know.”
    “Speaking of electronic eyes, did Tao ask you to do a sweep of our apartment?”
    He nodded. “I won’t get there until tomorrow, though. I’ve got several deals going down tonight.”
    I wondered if they were legit or black market, then decided I really
didn’t
want to know. “This nanowire you’re supposedly fitting—care to explain just what that involves?”
    “Ah,” he said, his expression becoming decidedly smug. “These things are real gems.”
    He walked over to a storage shelf on the far side of the room and picked up what looked to be a small plastic container. “This,” he said, holding it out so I could see, “is the very latest development in nano-technology. Not even the Directorate has these little beauties yet.”
    The little beauties in question were no bigger than a pin head and copper in color. “And they’re going to stop vampires from invading my mind?” I demanded. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that they don’t look powerful enough to stop an inquisitive gnat, let alone a vampire with any real telepathic ability.”
    He laughed softly. “Trust me, these work. I got them hot off the military supply chain.”
    “I do
not
want to know that,” I said. “Just install the things, then hit me with the price.”
    He did the latter first, and I just about fell off my chair. Still, we’d said price was no object, and if they actually worked, then it would be worth it.
    He handed me the container, then headed for the small kitchen tucked into the corner of the room. He retrieved a weird-looking syringe-type device from a drawer and then came back.
    “You keep syringes with your knives?” I asked, eyeing the massive thing dubiously. “I really
don’t
want to know where you’re going to insert
that
.”
    “Nowhere interesting, unfortunately,” he said wryly. “One microcell goes into your right heel, the other into your left ear.”
    “You are not shoving something that large into my ear!”
    “Don’t be a baby. Both Ilianna and Tao lived through it. You will, too.”
    “Well, I hope you’ve at least sterilized the needle,” I muttered, almost mutinously. I hated needles nearly as much as I hated