“Yes, sir,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Take care of my boys.” And then he vanished.
“Holy fuck,” Gage said and looked at the other two.
“He must be feeling anxious to come here like that,” Garret said.
“He said it was to congratulate us,” I said.
The men shared a look, and I felt their meaning through our bond. They didn't believe for one second that Hades had come merely to congratulate us on bonding.
“We'd better get moving,” Gideon said. “If Hades is worried, it means Silas is probably on the verge of flight. We've got to go back as soon as possible.”
“Um, will you . . .” I bit my lip. “Don't take this the wrong way, but please try to save Jake. He's a good guy.”
“We know, Indie,” Garret said. “And part of our mission is to free Jake by taking Michael back to the Underworld. If all goes well, Jake will be fine. Better than fine.”
“Okay,” I said. “I don't suppose you'll let me tag along?”
All three of them leveled hard stares at me.
I held up my hands in surrender. “I get it. But I'm going to worry until you get back.”
“I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you can't come. We just got you out of there,” Garret said. “We're not risking you getting taken again. And Michael could use you against us.”
“I know. I get it.”
“If we weren't sneaking in, probably going spectral, we could wear body cameras,” Gideon said. “But as it is, we'll lose them with our first shift.”
Then a chiming went off.
Garret left the room but returned seconds later with his cell phone, scowling at the screen. “Shit. Jackie's on the move.”
“Jackie?” I asked. “She's still in Helena?”
“Yes, and we've been monitoring her. The tracker I put on her car shows her heading toward the Host.”
“Maybe this is a good thing,” Gage said. “We can use her as a distraction and sneak in.”
“Yeah, the whole 'burst in, guns blazing' thing didn't work out well for us last time,” Gideon said.
“That's because Michael possessed Indie,” Gage said. “They don't have anyone to threaten now.”
“What about Jake?” I asked.
“They won't think to use him,” Garret said. “They'll probably assume we want him dead. Less competition. They don't know that we're mated now and there is no competition.”
“Come on, let's go,” Gage said. “We've got an opportunity that we shouldn't waste.”
We headed upstairs and into the office—all of us. I stood to the side as they opened the panel that hid their weapons. Seeing that, I knew there would be no secrets between us now. The men started filling duffel bags with weapons. Mostly modern ones, but I noticed Gage grabbing a sword.
“This won't take long,” Garret said as he came over to me, carrying a duffel. He set it down and kissed me.
That's when I remembered they had only gotten partially dressed.
“Um, are you guys going to put on some shirts?” I asked.
Even as I spoke, they pushed down their pants. Garret winked at me as he dropped trou. I widened my eyes at that, but then Gage pulled open a drawer at the bottom of the weapons stash. Out came some folded clothes that he tossed at the other two men. Sweatpants and T-shirts.
