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Dima dips his chin. “He’s soulless.” His icy blue eyes meet mine.

A chill comes over me as it dawns on me. Why I couldn’t read him. Why I never knew what he wanted. Until now. He has no soul and I have two. I think he wants Frank.

Not in this fucking lifetime.

Gabe

“Um, are you sure this is necessary?” Brenna asks as if I’ve gone mad.

It’s not mad to barricade your woman into the house so a soulless fucker doesnt come and steal her away. I feel like it's a totally valid way to protect her.

“Bren, there ain’t no way I’m letting any fucker harm a hair on your head.” I grunt out and I pull all the blinds.

“Um, you do know that I have to go outside every now and then, right? Like, to work?”

I know that she has a life. A full one. She works and helps people and visits Grammy on a Wednesday and bakes and does all those things, but I’m crawling out of my skin at the thought of that creepy little fucker taking her soul. Or Frank’s soul.

“Gabe.” A warm hand lands in the middle of my back, soothing me. “I know you think I’m in danger. Hell, me and Frank both know that we need to be wary, but we also need to live. We can’t stay holed up here forever. You have work. I have work. It’s Halloween and there’s displays to see and Krewe of Boo will be passing by tomorrow. I can’t miss that, especially this year with Grammy’s soul and I get to see all the other souls I would normally miss!”

“Bren, a parade is the exact time and place a bad guy will try to steal you away!”

“Well, duh,” she says, looking at me like I’m an idiot. “But Percy doesn't know about you. Or Grammy for that matter. Or Kristie or Dima. I have got a bunch of badass paranormal peeps on my side. Besides, Frank thinks it’s the perfect time and place to turn the tables.”

I stare at her, long and hard. And at Frank who stands just behind her. Just. They’re still one being, Brenna’s light a bright glow around her, Frank’s soul melding and mixing with Bren’s.

“I’m not saying Frank is right, and maybe Frank should sometimes butt out -” Frank pokes her tongue out at me, “But, she may be onto something,” I concede.

It may take a little planning, but tomorrow night, in the French Quarter, which is my sister and her husband's stomping ground, well, it just might work. Maybe. What we do with him after that, that’s the tricky part.

I think about calling Vito. He’s the one person I know who can clean up a scene to make it look as though nothing was out of place. Problem is, it’s not like he does random call outs. He’s strictly La Madrina’s cleaner.

“She’s right, Gabe,” Grammy says from the couch where she’s been unusually quiet. “You can’t start your lives together living in fear. I say we get rid of that little twerp and move on with our lives.”

“Twerp?”

“I’m a classy lady. I’m not going to call him an asshole.”

Bren snorts and a chuckle rumbles out of me before I can stop it. These women will be the absolute fucking death of me.

“Fine. I’ll loosen up, but only a little.” Bren claps her hands. “And I’m coming to work with you.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Bren salutes and I can’t help swatting her on the ass for being cheeky. “Oh! Do that again.” She waggles her brows at me before tipping her head back and laughing as she heads out of the room.

My gaze follows her down the long hall until she dips into her bedroom. Turning back to Grammy, I hit her with a serious look. “We need to stay alert. No bastard is taking her away from me.”

A smile grows on Grammy’s lips. “I knew I chose right.”

“What do you mean?” I ask with a frown.

“Come on Gabe, there’s a reason I chose you.” She looks at me as if I should know the reason, and when I clearly don’t, her brows pull together. “I actually chose you before I died. Finding you again was the hard part.”

“Huh?”

Grammy looks up at me with her shrewd gaze. “I was pulled toward, like, three soul seers before I found you.”

I stare at her like she’s lost her mind. Or maybe I’ve lost my mind. But Grammy doesn't make any sense. “I’m the only soul seer.”

“Oh, Gabe. You’re not that special, honey. There are five of you in the city. I had to go through three of them before I finally landed here.”