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For fuck’s sake. I was thinking about him again.
I gulped my drink and stared at the dance floor, finding Logan swaying to the music while surrounded by sexy men and women. A snort slipped out. The high demon had been gone for a few minutes, and they already circled him like wolves on the prowl. His crooked grin said he enjoyed every bit of their attention.
As I continued to peruse the crowd, my spine stiffened when Kourtney and her friends, Tasha and Mark, emerged within the mass of gyrating bodies. I slinked back into the shadows before they saw me and leaned against the corner, tremors racing through my hand that gripped the half-empty glass.
This was only the second time I’d encountered any ravens since leaving Earth and traveling to the Underworld for that ill-fated mission. There was no love lost between Kourtney Tran and me, but did any of the other ravens think of me, or had they all forgotten about me, assuming I’d perished in the line of duty?
Hawk couldn’t have forgotten me that quickly. We’d been inseparable for the last few years. Roxie or anyone else couldn’t have taken my place yet.
I swallowed a massive lump in my throat and blinked away the burning, unshed tears as I thought of the time Kourtney and her friends hustled Hawk out of all his money during a poker game in the rec room. That boy didn’t understand the meaning of a poker face.
Good thing I did.
A watery smile pulled at my mouth when I pictured Tran’s expression after I swooped in, bought into the game with all the money I owned, and took her and her friends out one by one so fast they all got whiplash.
I’d become Hawk’s hero that night even before I split the pot with him.
“This moment will go down as one of the greatest in my life, Tate.” He threw his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side, grinning from ear to ear. “You will forever be my hero.”
I laughed at him, trying to ignore the blush heating my cheeks. “How about partner?”
“Hell yeah.” He squeezed me. “Partners in crime for now until forever. My aunt will have no choice. I’ll bug the shit out of her.”
We were already working together on most field exercises, but after that night, Hawk pleaded with Coltrane to officially assign us as training partners. And she did.
I shook the memories off and chugged the rest of my drink, brushing away the stray tear that had fallen. What I wouldn’t give to go back to that time in my life and savor every moment before they were all ripped away.
The Infernal Sol stirred within me, knowing I blamed it for the shitshow my life had become. It was the damn amulet’s fault. And Fane’s. They both deserved a seat in hell with—
A familiar figure shoving people out of his way on the dance floor had ice pouring down my back.
Son of a bitch. What was Mykel doing here?
My pulse spiked as I searched the crowd for the new ruler of Vlehull, Princess Venna. If that oversized demon was here, she could also be slinking around, looking for Fane or me.
I spun, pulling up short when I came face to face with a pair of burning blue eyes.
“Look what I found.” A vicious smile twisted Venna’s red lips, and this close, the power throbbing off her had my bones straining under the weight of it. “Just the little murderer I’ve been searching for.”
Her hand snapped out and wrapped around my throat.
ChapterNine
My airways shrankto nothing as the royal demon’s fingers dug into my neck, panic ripping gouges in my chest. This close, she looked nearly identical to Ziva, but her features were sharper.
Crueler.
Meaner.
Spots popped across my vision, and the shock of seeing her finally abated. I lifted my foot to kick her off, but she blocked it with her leather-covered knee and laughed at my attempt while my brain screamed for oxygen.
“I am going to make you suffer for—”
I angled around just enough so that her thumb slid over the tattoo on my neck. Electricity zapped her, and she yanked her hand away, hissing.
Air rushed into my lungs, and I staggered into a table, knocking over a chair as dizziness swarmed me.
“What in the fuck was that?” She shook her fingers out, snarling. “No protection spell will keep you safe for long.”
