Hotter After Midnight. Cynthia Eden

they were incredibly different. Most demons had psychic powers. Some were amazingly strong, while others were barely gifted. But even those with the light touch of the gift were able to cloak their eye color so humans would not see them for what they really were.

      Emily’s extrasensory power let her see past the glamour, let her see past the magic to the true nature of the creatures. She usually kept her mental shields up around them, though, because she’d once made the mistake of going up against a level-nine demon. The guy had nearly blasted her into a coma.

      Before she’d passed out and slammed face-first into the floor, she’d managed to fight back and burn out the guy’s magic. Turnabout could be a real bitch…as the demon had learned.

      “A demon,” Colin repeated softly. “Like that guy you mentioned, Niol?”

      No, she didn’t think Jake was like Niol at all. She hadn’t sensed any evil in Jake.

      Like people, some demons were good and some were evil. The demons who were good, well, they tended to keep to themselves. But the ones who were evil—those were the bad-asses people knew from history, the ones who’d first made folks think they were servants of the devil.

      A demon who had incredible power and no conscience, well, he was truly a being to fear.

      “I don’t think he’s like Niol,” she told him softly.

      Colin tucked the card into his pocket. His eyes remained locked on hers. “And how do you know that?”

      Time to lay her cards on the table. “Because I’d feel it if he were.” Sure, she hadn’t gone shieldless with the guy to get a full mind probe, but she also hadn’t sensed any of the dark, seething black power in the air that usually signaled a dangerous demon.

      He seemed to stiffen before her. “Feel it? How?”

      “I’m an empath, Colin. My gift is that I sense things. I sense the Other. I can sense their feelings, their thoughts.”

      Yeah, he’d definitely tensed up on her. “You’re telling me that you can read my thoughts?”

      The temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees. “I’m telling you that sometimes I can tell the thoughts of supernaturals.” She’d known he wouldn’t be thrilled by this news; that was why she hadn’t told him the full truth the other night. But now that they were working together, now that her talent was coming into play, well, she figured he had the right to know.

      Colin grabbed her arms, jerked her forward against his chest. “So this whole time, you’ve been playing with me.”

      The sharp edge of his canines gleamed behind his lips. “No, Colin, it’s not like that—”

      “You’ve been looking into my head and seeing how much I want you?”

      “Colin, no, I—” Seeing how much I want you. Had he really just said that?

      His cheeks flushed. “While I tried to play the dumb-ass gentleman.”

      Since when?

      “Well, screw that.” His lips were right over hers, his fingers tight on her arms. “If you’ve been in my head, then you know what I want to do to you.”

      Uh, no, she didn’t. Her shields had been firmly in place with him all day. Her heart was pounding so fast now, the dull drumming filled her ears. She licked her lips, tried once more to tell him the truth. “It’s not like that—”

      Too late. His mouth claimed hers, swallowing her words and igniting the hungry desire she’d been trying so hard to fight.