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“Ren? Is that you?”

Some choppy breathing echoed down the line.

“Ren?” Had the spirit released him?

An awful laugh filled the space between us. No, not him, it was the monster living inside him.

“Let him go,” I gritted out. “Release him.”

He giggled, then someone screamed, and the line went dead. Goddammit. I couldn’t even find him through his GPS because he’d turned it off when he went to train with the hounds, just in case his mom looked him up and freaked out.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I bit back a cry of rage, of fear, of utter hopelessness. My best friend was missing, possessed by an evil fucking spirit, Rose was sick with a mystery illness, someone had tried to kill Magnolia and was possibly planning to free Azel’s soul from Hell—the monster who had tortured and almost killed me—and I didn’t know what to do, how to stop any of it.

Nothing was fucking working—and the shadow seeking had given me nothing but nightmares. I’d contacted the knights, since Azel rising would affect them as well. But they assured me he was still in Hell, where he was supposed to be.

But for how long?

Shoving my door open, I climbed out.

Music traveled from Bram’s tree house, and I heard Mags laugh from inside. The carefree sound hit me hard, and suddenly I was finding it hard to breathe. She trusted me to keep her safe, they all did, and I had no idea how to do it, other than keep them here, and never let them leave, secure behind the wards I strengthened daily with the help of Else.

I wasn’t ready to tell them about Clayton, but now I had no damn choice. Isaac would more than likely be blabbing all over the city, or his mother would be anyway, in her outrage.

Laughter and voices traveled from the kitchen, and I slipped past. I needed a moment, just a few minutes, to gather my thoughts. I walked past Roe’s door and peeked in. She lay on her side, frail, eyes closed, asleep.

Tears stung my eyes, and I rushed past and shut myself in my room, the weight of everything crashing down on me. I fought against it. I had to be strong for them. One thing at a time. One step at a time.

There was a tap at the door. “Dove?”

I took a step back, looking for a place to hide. I couldn’t face him right now. The door opened before I could make an escape, though, and Warrick walked in, huge and untamed and utterly gorgeous. My stomach zapped, and my heart fluttered as his gaze ate me up.

“You’re back. You told your brothers about Edric?”

He nodded.

“That must have been hard.”

He grunted and advanced on me, and before I could get the words I needed to say out of my mouth, his lips were on mine. He kissed me in the way only Warrick could, possessive, hungry, giving, and demanding everything in equal measure. No games, just need, raw and honest.

When he lifted his head, a rumbling sound came from his chest and he dipped his head, his nose moving along my jaw, my cheek, and his head jerked back. “Someone touched you. Put his mouth on you,” he said, rubbing a spot on my cheek with his thumb like he was trying to rub Clayton’s kiss away.

“Yes, a friend of mine. We met for lunch.”

His brows dropped. “Your scent is different, dove, I can smell your fear. What the fuck is going on?”

I didn’t want to have this conversation with him. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d be angry, but what else could I do? I had to put my family first, not whatever this thing between us was. This wasn’t real. This was heat and sex and desire, nothing more.

Liar.

I closed my eyes and breathed through the pain filling my chest. He’d moved closer, backing me up, and I forced myself to look up at him as he trapped me between the wall and the heat of his body. He pressed his hands to the floral wallpaper on either side of me, caging me in. “Talk, dove. Now.”

I pressed my hands to his chest and looked up at him, needing him to understand, for him to make this easy on me, because I was cracking down the middle, and I didn’t want to shatter in front of him.

He scented me again and his nostrils flared. “You saw Whitlock.”

“You remember his scent?”

“He smelled like desperation and money and too much cologne, still does.” His eyes narrowed on me. “Why did you meet with him?”