"Oh, just some girl talk and?—"
"Don't lie with that pretty mouth right now," Asher cuts in, perceptive as always. His gaze grows stern. "What's really going on, Heidi? Why are we here at all?"
I start to fidget. What's the point in lying to them at this point? They all hate Veld, so maybe they'll be on board with this plan. I didn't tell them earlier because I didn't want them to stop me from coming to the Seeking, but we're already here, and it's already happening.
So I clear my throat. "I'm here to help take down Veld."
All four of the gorgeous men in front of me swear.
Okay, so they aren't on board with the plan, after all. Oops.
"Help who take down Veld?" Asher demands. "Who would—godsdamn it, is it Crypt? It is, isn't it? I'm going to fucking kill that son of a bitch for getting you involved in this."
"Iwantedto be involved in this. I don't want Veld warning you guys off again and hanging over our heads like some big, threatening doom on the horizon. I want him out of the way so we can just—justbetogether. And anyway, Veld can't just stay on the loose, hurting innocent people?—"
"He could hurtyou," Ian snaps. "He's interested inyou,Heidi. Godsdamn it—is that why that fucking DeLune asked you to do this? Don't tell me you agreed to be bait. Don't fucking sayit, Sunshine," he pleads, half miserable and half furious as his unstable thrall emotions war with each other.
"I did. And it worked," I admit, looking between them. "Veld is here, so I just need to tell Crypt, and he'll help Nivarrah get revenge and?—"
"Nivarrahis here?" Kaenon snarls. For the first time since I met him, he looks so vicious and mad that he looks every bit like a ferocious ancient warrior. "No.No,Heidi, we are leaving. I cannot abide you being in such great danger."
"She wants to kill Veld, not me," I explain.
"You do not know that," he shakes his head stubbornly.
"Yes, I do. Crypt saw her?—"
"Fuck whatever Crypt saw and whatever he said to you," Asher snaps. "We're not?—"
He doesn't get to finish his sentence before my doe is suddenly thrashing inside of me, panicking.
Danger. Run. Run, run, run?—
Suddenly, an arm is around me—and it's not one of theirs. Before I can scream, a heavy sleepiness hits me like another bus.
The last thing I remember is Asher shouting my name.
42
ASHER
Over five hundreddangerous bounty hunter jobs under my belt, and I've never been this scared in my entire fucking life.
He took her.
Veld took Heidi.
Just dropped straight out of fucking Limbo, wrapped his arms around her, put her to sleep, and vanished—but not before using his powerful incubus abilities to knock out the others. They collapsed to the tiled floor, dead asleep.
Now I'm in a blind panic, racing toward the nearest exit of Everbound Castle.
Devil is outside. I'll bring him in so he can track Veld?—
Shit. No. My boots screech to a stop against the floor before I swivel to run the other direction, toward the big ballroom where the Seeking is happening.
Because Devil can't track Veld without a scent to follow, and he hasn't gotten a taste of that fucker's blood. So I'll go to the Amato quintet first. I'll stop the entire damned Seeking and tell them what's going on and wring Crypt's fucking neck until that bastard is?—
Someone steps out of Limbo in front of me. I'm already summoning an attack spell that will rip Veld to pieces before I realize this is Crypt.
