I slammed down the menu, not needing to look at it a moment longer. “I’m absolutely getting that.”
A deep chuckle rumbled from Gage’s chest and made me shiver. There was something extra sexy about a man who knew his way to your heart was through your stomach.
“Thought so,” he said, and then ordered two of them when the waitress returned, as well as a soda for me.
I sucked down my cold drink, sneaking glances at Gage.
“So, getting back to your rough day,” Gage started, shooting me a meaningful look.
I sighed inwardly. I was hoping to get through our date without discussing the heavy issues that had come up today, but it was probably a good time to tell him about Harley. That’s what couples did after all, right? Shared their burdens with each other and all that junk?
“Right, my day…”
I blew out a breath and then explained to him about how Skye took me to the Hall of Angelic Records to search Apollyon’s memories in his life book to look for a clue about Tartarus. His face pulled down in a frown, and I had a feeling he might have agreed with Cael about not letting me search them because of how dangerous it could be. Good thing he didn’t get a vote.
“Did you find anything useful?” he asked.
“I found my sister,” I said, and both of Gage’s eyebrows shot up.
He already knew what Apollyon had said about having a “backup plan” child when we’d battled in the Netherworld, but this was proof that I did have a sister.
“Well, not really found her,” I quickly went on. “But found a starting place to look for her and verification that she exists. She was born in Los Angeles. Her mom dropped her off at a Shade Compound to keep her from Apollyon, and then overdosed a few days later.”
Gage leaned back in his seat, silently taking in all the information as I told him about seeing my mom with Apollyon when she was pregnant with me and then following Apollyon to Sam’s apartment. I admitted that I’d tracked down Sam’s soul in LA when I got back from Avalon and how out of it she’d been.
“But she was with it enough to give me the location of where she dropped the baby off. I’m hoping when this is all over, I can find a way to help Sam. Maybe get her soul to Tartarus or something.”
“Thatwasa day,” he said when I’d finally stopped talking.
I nodded. “Now I need to get to LA and figure out where to start looking for Harley. With any luck, we can find her before Apollyon.”
“Dash could help with that,” he offered. “He knows LA like the back of his hand, and probably most everyone in the Shade Compound there since his family runs it. He would know exactly where to start and every place that should be checked. Heck, he might even know your sister already.”
That had occurred to me too, but there was something I was worried about. “Maybe. But I don’t want to put Dash in any danger. He told me that if he ever went back to LA his family would try to kill him. I can’t let him take that risk.”
“I think that’s a decision you should let Dash make for himself.”
I chewed on my lip. Maybe Gage was right. But could I live with myself if Dash’s family found out he was there and tried to hurt him? I’d been in this position before, and Gage had almost died for me.
“I’ll talk to him in the morning and see if he knows of her, then head out there for a little recon mission,” I told him.
He nodded. “I’ll go too.”
My heart pinched, and a wave of concern for Gage washed over me.
“Gage, you’ve got a lot of your own stuff going on right now. Taking a trip to another city might not be the best idea. I’m sure Drea and the others would come if I asked.”
Gage’s brow furrowed, like he didn’t understand exactly what I was trying to say. “Of course if you’re going I’m going too.”
He leaned forward, brushing a hand over my cheek, and tangling his fingers in my hair. Something about the way he looked at me suddenly felt more intense. I held my breath, the air around us thick with a delicious sort of tension.
“Tate,” Gage said, his words coming out soft but rumbling deep in his chest. “I would do anything for you. I’m in lo—” Gage froze, going unnaturally still and cutting off whatever his next words were going to be.
I reached for his free hand on the tabletop, desperate to know what he was going to say, but he snapped his head to the side at the same time someone brushed by our table and dropped a piece of paper on the checkered tablecloth in front of us.
Sliding his hand from my face, Gage lifted his upper lip and a low growl worked its way up from his chest as he watched the woman who swept by our table head toward the hallway at the back of the restaurant that led to the restrooms.
“What is it?” I asked, starting to get worried as I looked at the note and then back at Gage. Something had triggered his hellhound senses, and that made me really nervous.
