Page 61 of Property of Crypt Keeper

A pause. Tiny. Nearly invisible. But I saw it. Because I knew him. And because predators recognized predators.

“Oh,” Dorian quietly replied. “That.”

Gideon went still beside me. I sensed it instantly. Wolf. Alert. Watching.

“You know something,” Gideon observed. Not asked.

Dorian’s attention moved to him. Held again. Long enough to be out and out rude.

“Perhaps,” was Dorian’s vague response.

Gideon narrowed his eyes.

“I hate him already,” he muttered under his breath.

I almost smiled. Almost.

Dorian absolutely heard him. Because his mouth twitched.

Bastard.

“Information has value,” Dorian said calmly. “Therefore, a cost.”

Of course.

“There it is,” I sighed.

He had the nerve to look mildly offended. “I am deeply wounded.”

“You are many things,” I drolly replied. “Wounded isn’t one of them. What is your… price… for this information you purportedly have?”

His grin widened as his eyes shifted and landed on me. “I require a favor.”

Immediately, I stated, “No.”

Instead of upset, Dorian looked delighted. “Katalina, I haven’t even finished.”

“No,” I repeated.

“Still no?”

“Yes.”

He sighed dramatically. Then looked toward Gideon. “She’s become difficult.”

Gideon’s face remained blank. Completely devoid of any emotion. Which again, I’d learned was extremely dangerous.

“Get to the point,” Gideon snapped, and I wanted to throttle him. Showing that minuscule scrap of emotion was one of the things Dorian loved.

Dorian coolly studied him for a second. Then looked back to me.

“One future day.”

Silence.

“Um… Excuse me?” I asked with a single brow cocked.

“One day of your time,” Dorian clarified simply before waving a manicured hand dismissively. “Nothing romantic.”