Before Az could answer, Nicole stiffened. “Seline.” She glanced back. Stared at the quiet house. “I thought . . . she screamed.”

When Sam looked over his shoulder, Az broke free and leapt away.

No, Az wouldn’t escape this time. “Check the house,” he told Nicole, never taking his eyes off Az.

“No need.” The rumbling voice came from the left.

Tomas walked from the brush, his steps slow and his face grim. “Your Seline isn’t inside.”

Az wasn’t moving. Nicole and Keenan were eyeing Tomas with suspicion, and Sam—his guts were twisting. “How the f**k do you know that?”

“Because I’m the one who took her.” A shrug. “You shouldn’t have trusted Mateo, you know. Once he saw your death, he figured it was time to align with someone stronger.”

“You?” From the corner of his eye, Sam saw Nicole run into the house. Checking to see if Seline was still there. No need for that. Angels, even Fallen, couldn’t directly lie.

“No.” Tomas’s lips twisted. “I’m just the errand boy. Guess it was my turn to play messenger.”

Sam’s blood chilled. “Rogziel did catch you, didn’t he?”

A sad, regretful nod of Tomas’s head. “You didn’t arrive soon enough.”

Sam could smell the blood that still coated Tomas. He couldn’t see the wounds, but he knew they were there. “Why are you still living?” A brutal question but one that had to be asked.

Nicole appeared again and shook her head. No Seline.

“Rogziel wanted me to trick you—to get you to come in willingly with me.”

Sam waited.

Tomas held his stare. “I agreed.”

“You traded your life for mine?” And to think, he’d once saved Tomas’s sorry ass. A pack of vampires had closed in on the Fallen just days after he’d hit earth. The angel blood was often a lure for the undead—the taste of it made them feel alive again.

I should have let him die.

But he’d been in the mood to kick vampire ass then.

“Something like that,” Tomas muttered. He glanced at Keenan. “You need to get out of Mexico, K. Get out.” His jaw tightened when he saw Nicole. “And make sure you take her with you.”

Tomas hadn’t been real keen on vampires since his attack. But then Tomas said, “The last thing you want to do is leave her unprotected.”

And Sam understood. What was said . . . and what wasn’t. Some angels couldn’t even twist the truth that well.

Tomas was such an angel.

“You know Rogziel’s crossed the line,” Sam said. Az was still there. Not moving. Just watching, waiting. Because he understood what it was like to be Rogziel’s captive?

Because he wanted to find out where the bastard was so he could rip him apart first?

No dice. Rogziel’s mine.

“Yes, I know . . .” Tomas lifted his shirt, and Sam saw the deep claw marks that crossed his stomach. “He let his pet play with me for a while.”

“The hound?” Keenan demanded. “The hound is back?”

“He doesn’t just have one hound,” Tomas told him, shoving his shirt back down. “He’s got two. The second bastard is even bigger than the one I saw at the motel.”

That wasn’t good to know. Sam took a step toward Tomas. “Where’s Seline?”

“Two hounds?” Az muttered. “Two?”

Kill him. The spear was still in Sam’s hand. It would be so easy.

“If you want her to live, you’ll come with me now.”

Angels could twist the truth . . .

“We’ll all come,” Keenan snarled, and his shadow wings flared.

But Tomas shook his head. “Sorry, that’s not how it works.”

Then he lunged forward and grabbed Sam. “When it comes to angels, you were always too trusting.” Then a familiar chant filled Sam’s ears.

Mateo.

Sam didn’t fight. He could have broken free. But if he had, then Seline might suffer. In the instant of time that he had, Sam broke the head off the spear and curled his fingers around the claw. The wood fell to the ground.

Az’s tense face vanished. Keenan shouted his name.

And the world became a swirling vortex of dark gray smoke.

“Something you should know,” Sam grated as wind howled in his ear like demons screaming.

Tomas grunted.

“Mateo knows better than to sell my ass out.” He slammed his hand into Tomas’s chest. “He’s too smart for that.”