“What isit?”
She chewed herlip.
His eyes narrowed, and his gut twisted. She knew something. “Shae?”
Her gaze lowered. She tugged her bracelets, before lining the three in a row and blocking the mark. “When my mom disappeared, I was devastated,” she said quietly. “Aza was at the penthouse the day after. He offered to help me find her, then asked me out on a date. I agreed, only because he was Other and I thought hecould—”
Dagan jerked to his feet, unable to keep still, his fingers clenching so he wouldn’t ram his fist throughsomething.
Her gaze rushed to him, then she continued, “As the weeks passed, he had no news, but he often came to the penthouse. I started to avoid him. Then Harvey said he’d help me find Mom. He told me about the broker demon. It was a sure thing to getting a lead on Mom. I told Aza I couldn’t date him anymore. He was a little upset when I broke it off, but he seemed to accept it. Dagan, I lost one parent, I couldn’t lose her,too.”
He didn’t say anything because if he spoke now, he’d probably yell at her for being so damn impulsive, and now she’d tied herself to a fucking psychoticFallen.
He headed for the door then stopped.Shit. He couldn’t just leave her like this. It wasn’t her fault but that damn fucker. He rubbed his jaw and turned back. She hadn’t moved an inch, her expression pained. “Dagan—”
“It’s okay, baby. I’ll deal with this. I just want you to be careful. Anything that requires you being out of the castle, you call me. If he gets ahold of you, he’ll claim you, and that mark will nullify ourbonding.”
“No!”
“Yes,” he said grimly. “I don’t have the patience to look for a way to remove that damn brand. I’m going to have to killhim.”
