“I know. And yet we still have that youthful glow.”

“I turned thirty last week. The glow is starting to fade.” He laughed. “Let’s not make it so long next time, okay? Good friends — people you can really trust — they’re hard to find.”

“You have my card. We’ll do coffee and catch up?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Graham leaned over and gave Eden a quick kiss. She felt Darrak’s presence tense inside of her, even though the kiss was only one of friendship.

However. . something else happened with the contact. A sensation of dread, of fear, of darkness swept over her. As soon as it was there, before she could grab hold of it and analyze what she’d felt, it was gone. That was how her psychic abilities usually were. Totally useless.

“I’ll give you a call tomorrow, Eden. Promise,” Graham said before moving off into the crowd, which seemed to swallow him whole in a scattering of light and mingling bodies.

“I hate that guy,” Darrak said. “Loathe him. And I can’t believe you let him kiss you. I almost made you slap him, but luckily for him he didn’t try to slip you the tongue. It’s obvious to me that he’s only after one thing from you and—”

“He’s gay,” Eden said simply.

“Oh.” There was a pause. “I totally knew that.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“No, actually I didn’t. Huh.”

“What do you think about the six missing women?” Eden asked quietly as she sipped on her glass of white wine and scanned the crowd looking for Darrak’s contact. She felt disturbed by what Graham had told her and from her strange psychic flash.

“All I know is it has nothing to do with us. But he’s right. . sometimes people looking for love will find more than they bargain for. Places like this leave certain people exposed, willing victims driven by lust and desperation. Which, of course, is the vibe I feel here.”

“Which you approve of.”

“My incubus days are long behind me, but I still find it interesting how many people are so quick to mistake lust for love in a desperate attempt not to be alone.”