I walked over and sat next to her. “She died because she was in that house. Even if she hadn’t been mistaken for you, she would have died in the house with everyone else.”
She was silent for a long moment. Finally, she leveled me with a hard stare. “Take me with you. Make me a proper part of this investigation. If someone’s trying to kill me, I deserve to be involved. You know that.”
She did. And I knew damn well that I’d be raising hell if it were the other way around. “Okay. I’m going to talk to the wolves in the morning. Selina and I sensed werewolf power at the coven as well.”
“I’ll be ready whenever you need to leave.”
I took a shower and climbed into bed, my mind racing. An hour later, I was still wide awake. I punched my pillow, ignoring the meow of annoyance Lia let out from the foot of the bed.
“Stupid demon.”
I couldn’t fall asleep, and I had a sneaky suspicion it was because Samael wasn’t next to me. All it had taken was one night wrapped in his arms, and I craved him once more.
He probably knew exactly what he was doing. Give me just enough to make me want him, but not enough to truly get my fix.
I let out a low growl and slumped back onto my bed at a knock on my door. Evie cracked it open.
“Can’t sleep?”
“Am I keeping you awake? Sorry.”
“No, I can’t sleep either.” She crawled into bed next to me. “I just keep thinking about how they never saw it coming. They never got a chance to fight.”
“Yeah. It’s fucking insulting is what it is, and when I find out who did this, I’m going to make them hurt. I promise you.”
“I know you will. How come you can’t sleep?”
I chewed on my lip. How exactly did I tell her that it wasn’t because of the dead coven, but because of the demon who drove me crazy?
She let out a low laugh and rolled onto her side to face me. “It’s Samael, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I know–”
“Don’t be stupid. I know you care about the coven. I know you’re doing everything you can for them. But you’re a woman too.”
I heaved a sigh. “Why can’t I just let it go? I feel like every time I decide I’m done with him, something draws me back.”
“I’ve never seen two people with your kind of chemistry. Whenever you’re in the same room together, it just sizzles.”
“Yeah, we have incredible chemistry, and the sex was better than I could’ve ever imagined. But you can’t have a relationship based solely on chemistry.”
“Is that what you think it would be?” Evie shifted and Lia got to her feet, strolling up the bed until she was positioned between us. “I don’t think I ever told you this, but I had to go to Samael’s tower once.”
“When was this?”
“Before you got back to Durham.” Her voice was very careful. Neither of us wanted to open up that can of worms.
“Why were you there?”
“The coven hired one of the accounting firms which rents offices on one of the lower floors in Samael’s tower. Anyway, I was walking across the lobby and I felt all the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was like my body suddenly knew it was prey.”
“Yeah, I remember that feeling.” It was exactly how I’d felt when Samael caught me in his ward.
“I glanced up, and our eyes met for just a second. There was nothing there, Dani. He had the coldest, deadest eyes I’ve ever seen. He was just walking out of the elevator, his eyes scanning the lobby, and that single look made me want to run out of there screaming.”
“Yeah, he’s a scary bastard, all right.”
“But that’s the thing. He’s not with you. Not even with me anymore. Not with those kids either. He was so good with Cil and Zip, and he did everything he could to make us feel safe. The first time I saw him look at you, I almost didn’t recognize him as the terrifying son of a bitch I’d seen in that lobby. His eyes weren’t dead anymore. When he looked at you, they were full of all kinds of things.”
