Chapter One

I held the clutch purse in front of me with both hands, itching for something more substantial to put between us, like a mountain or a universe. "I thought you didn't do your own dirty work."

That sparkle in Ramses's eyes flared into a spark. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'dirty' with so much tension in the air. "If it's dirty work you want-"

"Don't go there, Ramses. I agreed to dinner and drinks, nothing more."

He inclined his head, but the look hadn't left him. "What is it you mercenary types say...assume the position?"

"Dirty, position. You just can't help yourself, can you." I shook my head and turned away from his laughter into the car.

When he stopped chuckling, he said, "Well, at least I know we're of like mind. I might have gone there, as you say, but it seems you've already arrived and have stripped and kicked off your shoes."

They call me Jericho. Some say I'm the best bodyguard in Philly, but few know I'm usually the biggest bad in the room. My team of misfit mercs has no idea our clients are bait for my true purpose-to right a wrong before my violent life comes to a violent end. The Citadel's arrival in Philly has put a fork in my dead-end road. People are disappearing, turning up converted into one of Ramses's beasts. The would-be-sex-god is ruining everything. Maybe I can fix the city, too, if my damn libido will stay out of it.