Mistress of Malice and Mercy

Early in the book (release date still pending)
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Duke watched Viola slowly crawl on all fours towards the group of oblivious cat-like demons. He kept one eye on his wife’s wiggling derriere and one on Bert’s face. He was prepared to drive his elbow into Bert’s stomach the second it looked like the older man was paying more attention to Viola than to his poker game.

“Well, hell.” Viola froze in place as a flash of silver on her hands caught her attention. She eyed the still-unaware Chaisans and jumped to her feet.

“What?” His heart skittered to a stop as he performed his customary visual injury check. She wasn’t bleeding and didn’t appear to be in pain. Listening in on her scathing internal monologue only confused him further. “What’s wrong, sugar?”

“I’m a moron. Hold out your hands.”

He obeyed, eyebrow arched in silent demand for an explanation. His other eyebrow lifted when she stood in front of him and stripped off her jewelry. Two pairs of silver hoop earrings followed by a silver watch, charm bracelet, wristlet key ring, silver necklace, silver-and-copper linked belt and five rings filled his hands. He was surprised she could move so quickly weighed down with so much metal.

“Is that all?” he asked dryly.

She bit her lip as she considered the question. Sighing in resignation, she unsheathed the dagger he’d given her for her seventeenth birthday and set it on the tailgate. She still had her gun, but giving it up wasn’t an option.

“Freakin’ kleptos.” She glanced down at Duke’s waist. “You might want to untuck your shirt. One look at that satellite dish you call a belt buckle and you’ll have a pack of Chaisans attached to your jeans.”