Do you mind?
He blinked down at Paz, who sat in the spot next to him.
“How did you get in here?”
Rolf was on the phone. “You sure you can’t portal us to the bazaar? Dealing with traffic will get us there a lot later than we need to be.” He swore and disconnected. “Mormo said there’s a hell power blocking him from gating us. We have to drive.” Then he grinned. “No doubt the fucker will know we’re coming. This will be a hell of a fight.”
“As it should be,” Khent agreed from the passenger seat and ordered one of his crows, “Mila, come back to me.”
They squealed out of the garage.
“Paz, why are you here?” Kraft tried again.
I’m hiding from Orion. He keeps calling me Smoky, and it’s annoying.Paz turned serious.And you need my help to face the abomination Sebastian Castle has created.
“What? He’s already made one of them?”
Rolf frowned. “What does the demon say?”
Kraft told them.
“Just perfect.” Khent sighed. “Rolf, turn up ahead. No, left, around two blocks, then right and another left. Mila said we’ll get there faster that way.”
“On it.”
The vehicle fishtailed, but Kraft was more intent on getting answers out of Paz. “What do you know about it?”
It is awash in power. Strong, canine in form but can shift to human. And that’s not good for Riley, nachzehrer.Paz cringed.I’m all for interspecies sex, but this creature likes a little too much pain, even for me. If he mates with her, she’ll have one, maybe two litters before succumbing to the hellfire from the beast. It burns and feeds, its hunger unending.
Kraft repeated to the others word for word what Paz said.
“Why don’t you just tell them, like you telepath with me?”
I...don’t know.Paz frowned.I can’t.He growled.I might not be able to carry your secret too much longer, Kraft.
Kraft started at the use of his name. The demon liked to call him vampire, fanger, nachzehrer, and even, “you there.” Nothing so personal as his actual name. “You mean, the bond?”
Yes. It interferes with my ability to sense others of my kind because the scent is so strong. Keeping it inside me isn’t easy.He swore for a few seconds, impressive for his creativity.This form is too small to fit me. I knew it would be too good to last.
“What?”
Just hurry. If that thing gets to Riley before we do, it might be too late.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
“Is therea reason Talon doesn’t carry a phone or meet anywhere but at the Ribald Unicorn? It can’t be too safe being so predictable.” Riley frowned as she sat with her cousin in the back of the bar, waiting on Talon to show up.
The place was surprisingly empty for an early Thursday evening. They’d been driving all over the place trying to find that lying, backstabbing shapeshifter, only to get a call from a random number half an hour ago to meet at the Ribald Unicorn—the very first place they’d initially stopped.
“What do we do?” Max asked, on alert.
She liked having him by her side. Max might not be a berserker, but as she’d experienced earlier, he had power. Emerging alphas always surprised with tricks even they might be unaware of. Kind of the way mages had of Becoming. Like a belated growth spurt, but with magic.
“Hey, you’re the alpha-in-waiting. You tell me.”
“So now you want to play the all brawn-no brain berserker?” He snorted. “Sorry, Ivan already has that job.” He downed the rest of his virgin cocktail and waved at their server for another.
She laughed. “I dare you to say that to his face.”
