“The hypocrisy.”
“Why do you care what the paladins do?” Nathan countered. “Why is this the battle you’re choosing to fight?”
“I fight for the same reason you do, paladin. Faith in a higher power. I just serve your sworn enemy.”
Nathan’s stomach knotted. “You serve… Hell? You worship Satan?”
“Actually, I serve Amon.” He laughed, throwing his head back. “He’s incredible. Everything has gone exactly as he planned. I can’t believe it was so easy.”
“What?” He was missing something. Something important.
Weston leaned closer, a wicked grin stretching his mouth wide. “He knew you’d find me. He knew you’d bring me here.”
Nathan opened his mouth to speak when a deafeningboompierced the air. The ground shook, and Nathan threw a hand out to steady himself on the gritty bars of Weston’s cage. Almost in the same moment, the lights flickered out.
“What the hell?” Nathan whispered. He fumbled his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight, glimpsing Weston’s smug grin as he wheeled around.
“They’re here,” Weston said. “Just like he promised.”
“Amon? Amon is here?” He turned to look at Weston, his face cut by the shadows of the bars. “They can’t find the compound. It’s warded.”
Weston reached up, unbuttoning the top half of his shirt. His chest was scarred with some kind of pattern, and against his better judgment Nathan stepped closer to look at it, horror crawling up his spine. Sigils were branded into his skin in a circular pattern.
“It’s a tracking spell,” Weston explained. “You led them right to this place. And now you’re all gonna burn.”
Nathan’s mind raced. “The wall is still warded. They can’t cross it.”
Weston leaned toward the bars. “They can if something breaks the wall.”
The wall. The explosion. If the wall was compromised, they were all in danger. The staff, the prophets, thechildren.
“Oh, God.” He raced for the door.
Weston’s ringing laughter followed him down the hall. “It’s too late, paladin! Amon is coming! And he’s bringing the fruit of our labors!”
Chapter21
Storm
No amountof alcohol could dampen the sting of Nathan’s absence. Storm sighed as he took another sip of whatever Wolf had poured him at the snack bar—some new mixture that combined all the hard liquors they’d stocked here. It wasn’t as good as the blood-tainted liquor they used to drink at In Extremis, but it was what the humans could abide keeping in stock.
They hadn’t heard from Nathan since he said he was going in to question the dealer, and Storm knew they were all hanging around to see what he said. For all their sakes, Storm hoped the dealer cracked easy. He just wanted this to be over so he could focus on his human.
With a sigh, he drained his cup and stood for a refill. Ira was sitting on a stool at the snack bar, and he gave Storm a knowing look. Storm set his cup on the glass countertop for Wolf and met Ira’s smug gaze.
“What?” he asked.
Ira smiled at him. “I take it things are going well between you two.”
Storm couldn’t stop his mouth from curling into a smile. “Very well.”
Alex joined them, rounding the snack bar to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. “Yeah, I had no idea Nate was even gay—or bi?” He shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, it’s not like any of us had healthy dating lives while we were with the guild, I guess, so maybe it’s not that strange.”
“He’s not,” Storm said. “Or—he wasn’t. Isn’t?” He shook himself. “He’d never been with a man before me.” There was no hiding his satisfaction, and Wolf rumbled out a chuckle.
“I’m sure you showed him everything there was to know,” Wolf said, sliding his glass back over.
“Well. Some. This stupid case has been getting in the way.”
