“First wife?” she asked. “What do you mean, first wife?”
“Members of The Children of the Divine can take many wives. But the first one is always special I think. You can be the leader. The one to boss all the other wives around. Make them do all the work. That’s only fair when you are my muse.”
“The Children of the Divine?” Jared repeated. “That sounds familiar. How is she your muse?”
“Because she inspires me. She makes me think. She makes me want to help the Deity more.”
“And who is the Deity?” Zander asked.
“Ahh, I cannot tell you that. I am sworn to secrecy. All members of The Children of the Divine are. But it was naughty of you not to turn up to our meeting. The Deity wanted to meet you.” He frowned at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Was the Deity the person who I was going to interview with? Did he work at that house?”
“Oh, that was a ruse,” he said dreamily. “When you turned up, the Deity would have given his approval and you would have become mine. Instead, you ran from me. That made me very angry.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t running from you. I . . . I was taken.”
His eyes flared open and he glared at Jared. “Taken?”
“Yes, I was kidnapped. I didn’t want to leave you. I was forced to.”
“I knew you wouldn’t leave me,” he said.
“Why did you kill those other women? Is it because you were angry?” she asked.
“Yes, I took them because I hoped they might fulfil my desire for you. But none of them could be my muse. And then I got angry and killed them. That made the Deity mad and he kicked me out. But I thought if I could just get you and bring you to him then he’d understand, you see? Then he could see how special you are.”
“The Deity left?” Zander asked.
“What? Yes, he left along with the others. He said it was my fault, that I brought too much negative attention onto myself and that I was putting The Children of the Divine at risk. So he left and took everyone. But that’s all right. I had already followed you to Chicago. I was glad I put that tracker into your handbag.”
“Why didn’t you just follow me instead of killing those women?” she asked.
“The Deity forbade me. But after taking them, I just knew . . . I knew that no one else would do. So I tracked you down. But I couldn’t reach you. So I sent you messages. Things to let you know that I was watching you. Ready and willing to come for you.”
“By killing Rex and Antony?” she asked, feeling increasingly ill. “How did that tell me that you were there? Waiting for me?”
He shrugged. “I was angry.”
How had she ever thought him a normal guy? How had she been so blind?
He’d creeped her out a bit, but he hadn’t screamed “I chop off heads.”
Really, it would be much easier if he’d get that printed on a T-shirt and wear it around.
“What was your plan?” Jared asked. “To wait for her to leave my property so you could kidnap her?”
“Well, yeah,” he said. “And I’d probably have had to kill you as well. You were keeping my Angel from me. When I heard your name, I knew you were meant to be mine.”
“My name is Angie, not Angel. And North can no longer call me that.” Where was North? She needed him. She moved closer to Jared.
Richard’s eyes narrowed, fury filling his face. “Let her go! She’s mine!”
“No, she’s not!” Jared snarled, pushing her behind him gently and moving toward Richard. He leaned over him. “She’s mine. And she’s North’s. She’s not yours. Never has been.”
Zander huffed. “She was mine first. Until you guys kidnapped her.”
Jared shot him a look. “You weren’t protecting her well enough.”
