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"Have you lost your fucking mind?" Jean-Baptiste eyed the petite woman with the foul mouth, quick wit and fiercely sharp brain "You know I have" Isi smacked the seat of the leather recliner in front of her and huffed, "Then get your ass under Derek&039;s needle again because there&039;s no way in hell I&039; foot back in the Wildlands"

"Derek," he uttered blackly "That idiot&039;s cat food"

"What?"

"When I see hi on a pair of gloves "What happened?"

"The guy you hired to perforic-laced tats can&039;t keep his mouth shut He told one of our spies, who inforoes in hed, picked up so "I&039;m sorry Seriously I&039; for froave him a pointed look "Don&039;t you reht, he remembered It was a week after he&039;d realized he had a proble

He&039;d popped a few capsules of the rounded the feline inside his body once again

It had

But not for long

He&039;d known right then he needed soed liked the very ones he treated, he&039;d have to hide it

He&039;d heard about Isi, her incredible h Pantera couldn&039;t shift outside the borders, his cat had Twice

And had nearly taken down a couple of tourists in the process In the end, he&039;d slunk back to the Wildlands and begged Isi to come to him

The attempt hadn&039;t turned out well

For either of the to play down the truth as he watched her shove the autoclave bag inside the lare at hiot was the equivalent of seasickness on land, ti down" She shuddered in remembrance

"I don&039;t care what the reason is or how dire it is, I&039;hed, crossed his arms over his chest "How much?"

"What?"

"How much? We&039;ll pay Even in stones,to get your hands on all that ancient shit below the surface of the Wildlands&039; soil" Baptiste saw a flicker of exciteht her eyes, then a shroud of fear quickly overtake it

"No"

"Isi That could&039;ve been a one-tio I have a client coht about putting up a fight, scaring the shit out of the hu her more than just cash or crystals But he knew her

Kneorked and what didn&039;t

Fear played her hard and often, and if he was going to get what he wanted, negotiation wasn&039;t the way

Unfortunately, the as probably going to get him despised, hunted and, more importantly, cut off from the ink and er simmered below the surface of Genevieve&039;s skin as she watched the two reet each other in the lobby of the swank Hotel Fils de France At first, when Jean-Baptiste had walked out of the voodoun&039;s shop and headed for his car, Genevieve had assumed she&039;d just become the luckiest female in the world Isi had said no to the trip, and the inked Nurturer hadn&039;t put up a fight

She&039;d be ho before the elders at dawn

Her cat had practically purred along with the engine of his Jag

Then he&039;d made a call, and two minutes later they&039;d pulled into the valet line of a beautiful French Quarter hotel

Before she&039;d even gotten a word out, a question, a de on, another eous car and they&039;d all walked inside together

"I appreciate this, Michel," Jean-Baptiste said in a low, almost conspiratorial voice as they entered the sumptuous, violet-hued lobby

"Anytime, mon ami" The suit-and-tie male was extraordinarily handsoly broad shoulders, and piercing green eyes that seemed to move over every inch of the hotel and its patrons "How are things at ho?"

Baptiste&039;s voice dropped to a growl

"You&039;ve heard"

Michel nodded "We&039;re working on it from our end"

"Any leads?"

"I&039; to rest on Genevieve

Though his eyes re, confident snize a fellow Suit when I scent one And you, ht on the bayou"

Genevieve felt a sudden shock of heat hit her cheeks, and she wanted to kick herself She wasn&039;t appreciating this new and eoodness&039; sake, handsome males were a dime a dozen So were

compliments

He reached out "Michel"

She shook his hand It ar his profession outside of the Wildlands, probably able to kill her with just the tiniest of efforts

"No last name?" she asked him

"Oh, now you&039;re into last nanored him

Michel drew closer "I find I don&039;t need one"

"How convenient"

His grin broadened "And your name, cherie?"

"Genevieve," Jean-Baptiste supplied with more than a trace of annoyance

Green eyes raked over her "Beautiful narowl echoed

throughout the bustling lobby, and both Michel and Genevieve turned to look at Jean-Baptiste The male looked ready to rip Michel&039;s head from his body His eyes were narrowed into slits, his nostrils flared, and if she wasn&039;t er than they should be outside of the Wildlands

As a bellboy passed the couple, Genevieve turned back to Michel and said quickly,

"Thank you But I&039;d say I&039;m more of an impatient, annoyed, and confused feaze remained fixed on Jean-Baptiste "Are you the cause of this, mon ami?"

"Probably," the male uttered, his tone so near to menace it actually made the hair on the back of Genevieve&039;s neck lift

With a soft chuckle, Michel pressed so into Jean-Baptiste&039;s hand, then clapped him on the shoulder "You have the entire top floor The owner is a good friend Anything you want, it&039;s taken care of" His gaze flickered toward Genevieve, then back to Jean-Baptiste "And I apologize I didn&039;t know"

Jean-Baptiste nodded, then inhaled deeply, seeet hi at the key in his hand This had better be a joke And if it wasn&039;t, there had better be a cab waiting outside

Hell, if she had to, she could run home

When neither Michel nor Jean-