Hotter After Midnight by Cynthia Eden

to talk. Colin figured him for the leader.
    “He cut me, Scott.” The snarled words came from the guy bleeding out a river in the back.
    Colin held up his hands, let them see the claws springing from his fingertips. “And I’ll do it again.” He’d cut the demons apart if they came at him or if they tried to attack Emily. He’d been pissed enough before when they’d first jumped him, but now that he knew they weren’t human, all bets were off. He’d use every bit of his shifter strength to make them wish they’d never stepped into the alley.
    “Let’s kill ’em!” Same demon talking. The bastard who was currently bleeding out in the alley. He was a tall guy, lean but muscled.
    “You can try,” Colin said. “But I don’t think you’ll succeed. Especially considering the fact that I just kicked your asses.” And he’d be more than happy to do it again.
    Emily’s nails dug into his back. “Someone else is here. Someone a hell of a lot more powerful than these guys.”
    The night just kept getting better. “I don’t see anyone,” he muttered, and it was true. The night was dark, but with his enhanced vision, he could see perfectly in the alley. He could even see the snake tattoo swirling around the left wrist of the bastard he’d clawed. That’ll help identify you later, asshole.
    “He’s here,” she repeated softly. “And—”

    “Stay the fuck out of our business, cop!” This snarl came from the leader, the guy who’d been called Scott. “Tonight was a warning. You and the doctor won’t get another.”
    Our business?
    “Stick to your own kind!” Now snake tattoo was shouting his own warning. “Leave the demons alone.”
    Oh yeah, like that was going to happen. If anything, these idiots had just made him all the more determined to plunge straight into their world.
    “Who sent you?” Emily asked, and she sure as hell didn’t sound like she was frightened. She sounded royally pissed. “Who told you to jump us in the alley?”
    Scott stiffened.
    “Was it Niol?” She pushed. “Is he the reason you’re threatening us? Did he tell you—”
    A siren sounded nearby.
    The men cursed, then turned, fleeing down the alley just as the swirl of blue and white lights lit up the scene.
    Two uniformed cops jumped out of the vehicle, guns drawn. “Hands up, now!”
    “Shit.” Colin lifted his hands and watched in disgust as the demons disappeared into the shadows. He’d find those bastards again, he’d make certain of it. “Listen, I’m a cop. Detective Colin Gyth, badge number 2517.” He made no move to reach for his ID. The cops looked more than a little nervous to be confronting him in the alley, and he wasn’t about to give these green guys a reason to become trigger happy.
    Emily had her hands lifted up too. One of the patrolmen approached her, pulling her away from Gyth.
    “Come with me, ma’am.”
    Hot rage still coursed through Colin’s body. He took a deep breath, inhaled the stench of the alley, the sweat from the cops. He needed to regain his control, needed to cage the beast.
    His claws began to recede. Slowly, slowly.
    “Show me your ID, Detective.” The patrolman still held his gun on Colin.
    Carefully, Colin reached inside his jacket and pulled out his ID. The cop took it, stepped back. “Don’t move.” He crept toward the car, and Colin heard him radio in his information.
    “We were attacked! The guys who jumped us are getting away!” Emily still sounded pissed as she raged at the cop.
    He glanced toward the end of the alley. Correction: they’d already gotten away.
    “Okay, Detective, you check out.”
    Colin lowered his hands. “I need you to start a search in the area. Four men just attacked us.” And warned us to stay the hell out of demon business.
    Not gonna happen.
    “They were wearing black ski masks, shirts, pants.” Which would make identifying them damn hard. “But one guy had a snake tattoo on his left wrist. And the leader was a man named