I needed to see Ace again. It was the only way I could be sure of what I wanted.
But first, I had to take down Silas. With him handled, Hades might be inclined to let me off the hound-hook. His priority was finding that god. And it was my priority too, because I wanted Wren safe. I mean, shit. If I sacrificed my soul to save Wren's life only for her to be killed by Silas, I'd be fucking pissed. I had gotten torn apart for her. By a fucking hydra! A hydra! You know, the thing with nine heads? You cut off one and two grow in its place? That hydra. That monster shredded my soul. I was not about to let Silas get to my girl after that.
“If we take you back, you have to promise not to see Ace,” Cyrus said.
I met his stare across the dinner table and lied, “Fine.”
Jake made an annoyed sound.
“You're lying,” Cyrus called me on it.
“Am not.”
Jake growled.
“What the fuck, Jake?” I glared at him.
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“He connected with you.” Lex waved his fork back and forth between Jake and me. “That means all of us connected with you, Salina. We can sense you more easily now.”
“And you think you cansensewhen I'm lying?”
Jake grunted.
“Yes,” Cyrus said. “You're not leaving this house without a real promise not to see Ace.”
“How can I promise that? I don't control him. He'll probably show up on my doorstep. I haven't responded to his calls.” I pointed at Lex. “And I know you have my phone, so you know he's been calling.”
“I do,” Lex freely admitted. “But how doyouknow he's been calling?”
“Because I know men, baby.” I lifted my glass to him and took a sip of champagne. It wasn't the cheap sparkling wine crap either. It was the real stuff—Veuve Clicquot, my favorite. “He's been calling all right. He's probably been by my house a few times too.”
“Yeah, because Silas is sending him,” Cyrus said.
Oh, that stung, but I didn't let it show. Instead, I turned that verbal dagger around and flung it right back at Cy. “Which is why you should want me to see him. Silas isn't going to show up at my house now. He's got an ace in the hole.” I chuckled. “Oh, my. That sounded naughty.”
Jake started growling again.
“You're right. We have to deal with this.” Cyrus looked at Jake and Lex. “Maybe we should let her see Ace.”
“No,” Jake said.
“We can follow them. At this point, Silas will want Ace to bring Salina to him. We know that he knows where she's been this entire time and yet he hasn't taken her or tried to hurt her. I don't think he'll hurt her now. He'll think we're on the verge of mating her, and that will make her valuable. He'll want to hold her over our heads.”
“I don't like that we have to risk her to find Silas,” Lex said. “But Salina is right. She's here because she's the key to catching him.”
“And as much as it annoys you, Ace is my motivation.”
All three of them growled at me.
I set my glass down and glared at them until they shut up. “We can't change the past. None of our pasts. Ace was a part of my life once and now he's back. That has to mean something. Maybe he's meant to play a part in this too. He must be. It's too much of a coincidence for him not to. But either way, I have to at least save him. I owe him that much.”
“Tell us why,” Jake said.
“I already told you. He saved me.”
Jake leaned forward. “How?”
