I stepped closer to her, desperate to feel her skin on mine, but she took a hurried step backward. “Merri...”
“I need you to explain what you mean when you say the house was vacant.”
“Exactly that. The four of us came for you, weapons and horses at the ready, but the house was nothing more than an abandoned shack. The lake was there, now only a dried, cracked pit of rotting fish.”
Merri held up a hand. “Back up. Horses?”
My lips quirked. It was such a Merri point to get caught up on. “Wearethe horsemen.”
“Well, yeah, but . . . Okay then. Sorry, continue.”
“Wherever you are, it’s an illusion. He doesn’t have you at that address. Not even close.”
The color drained from her cheeks as my words sank in. “I... But that’s where I went. That’s the exact address.”
“And I’m sure you’re right about that, Red. But the facts are the facts. The moment you got there, he sprung his trap. Your reality changed. Malice thinks he might have used some sort of portal that teleported you to a different location or plane as soon as you arrived.”
“But wouldn’t I have been able to tell?”
“Not necessarily. He could have had the whole property spelled to look however he wanted it. And stepping through a portal is no different than crossing a threshold, so it would have been easy enough for him to do. Liminal spaces hold their own power. Combined with his, you wouldn’t stand a chance of noticing.”
“Fuck.”
“Exactly.”
Eyes wide and searching, she asked, “What am I supposed to do now?”
“You need to figure out where he’s keeping you.”
“And how am I supposed to do that? It looks like a fucking lake house. It’s not like there are neighbors I can ask. Or like Lucifer will just hand out the information freely.”
“He might. He does love to show off.”
“But wouldn’t that tip him off that we’re on to him?”
A thrill raced through me at her use of the pronoun. She still saw us as a “we.” That had to mean something. If nothing else, there was hope.
“He’s not stupid. He already knows. He’s going to be focused on his goal for you. That’s all that matters to him right now.”
Merri’s gaze had wandered, and she was chewing distractedly on her bottom lip.
“Hey,” I murmured, using the distraction to step forward and tug her lip free with my thumb. “It’s going to be all right. Between the five of us, we’ll figure it out.”
“Sure.”
“You came to me for a reason, Red. I doubt it was to chit-chat.”
She hadn’t slapped my fingers from under her chin. That was a good sign, and as she lifted her bright blue gaze to meet mine, I saw a flare of hunger there.
“You know why.”
My dick stirred to life, the mesh shorts doing nothing to hide the swelling erection. There was nothing more I wanted to do than help her feed and feel that connection with her again. Since she’d been gone, her absence had been a gnawing hole in my gut. A physical ache I couldn’t ignore. I never wanted to be separated from her like this again.
The knowledge should have concerned me. I mean, I’d spent centuries without her and did just fine. But all of that changed. There was no way I could live any kind of life without her in it.
Merri was right. We were mates. It was like that poem. Whatever souls were made of, hers and mine were the same.
I don’t know how the fuck it was possible, but that didn’t make it any less true.
