“What happened to you?” I demanded, forgetting my friends and our captive and even the edict that we should maintain our distance.

“Carrow.” He nodded, his voice strangely cold.

What the hell?

I looked at Mac and Eve to see if they sensed the change, but they were looking at me like I was crazy.

Shit. I needed to get my head in the game. I turned back to Grey, who was suddenly reminding me more and more of the Devil I’d first met. I shoved the thought aside and gestured to the unconscious man. “This is a member of the cult that is kidnapping Guild City’s people. He’s immune to truth serums, but we were hoping you could use your power to question him.”

Grey nodded. “I can try.” He gestured to one of the two guards who stood back by the wall. “Get him in a chair.”

The two men approached, retrieving the unconscious man, and binding him in a chair. I couldn't take my eyes off Grey as they worked, but he didn’t look at me.

“What is it that you would like to know?” he asked, slipping on a thin pair of leather gloves. Why the gloves?

“If the victims are still alive,” I said. My bet was that they were, but I needed confirmation so I could stop vibrating with worry. “And if Anat has risen.”

“What else?”

I listed off all our questions, and he went to stand in front of the unconscious man, whose chin once again rested on his chest. I’d feel a little bad for him if I didn’t know what he’d done. But kidnapping by a cult was the kind of trauma that didn't just go away, and he was partially responsible.

Eve stepped up to the chair. “I have the serum to wake him. Tell me when you’re ready.”

“Now is fine,” he said.

She poured a few drops of a potion on his shoulder, and the man jerked awake, his wild eyes traveling around the room.

Quick as a snake, Grey reached out and gripped the man’s chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. That was why he put on the gloves. No doubt he didn’t want to touch the miserable bastard. As he spoke, power radiated in his voice, making me sway toward him.

I straightened, pulling back.

“Tell me if the kidnapping victims are still alive.” His magic made the man’s gaze go foggy.

Thank God.

“They’re alive.” The red cloak’s voice was wooden and tense, as if he fought Grey’s power. “For now.”

“Will you kill them?”

“We won’t have to.”

I frowned.

“What does that mean?” Grey asked, as if reading my mind.

“They’re meant to serve a greater purpose. They will be grateful when it is all through.”

Grateful?

I highly doubted that.

“Has the goddess Anat risen?” Grey asked.

The man scowled and shook his head. “No. Not yet.”

Thank fates.

Grey

I stared at the miserable little worm in front of me, working hard to keep my attention off Carrow. Looking at her made my brain feel like it was trying to tear itself in two. I could remember some of our interactions, but the blank spaces in my memory were screaming to be filled. A pounding headache had set up in the spaces where the memories had once resided.

I forced my attention back to the young man who sat in the chair, his chin tilted up defiantly.

Moron.

His voice had turned less wooden though, more passionate. He liked talking about his purpose.

“What’s your purpose, exactly?” I asked.

“Our purpose. We are the Servants of Anat, and we seek to serve her will.”

“So, you’re a cult?”

“No, we are servants to the great war goddess herself.”

“She is a goddess of balance,” Carrow said.

The man scoffed. “Misinterpretation. Her desire is blood and war and destruction.”

The fire of bloodlust gleamed in his eyes, and distaste seethed through me. I could all but feel his lust on the air, a slimy film that was exceedingly vile. “No, that is your desire. The goddess’s true wishes don’t seem to factor into this.”

His face turned red, and rage filled his eyes.

“What are you doing with the kidnap victims?” I asked, squeezing his chin tight. “What role do they play in all of this?”

He tried to twist his head aside, but I gripped him harder and imbued my voice with all my power. “Tell me.”

He spit out the words, unable to help himself. “The ones we’ve taken all have a purpose. The goddess has many magical skills—each person taken has one of those skills, and they will play a role in the final ceremony.”

“What kind of ceremony?” That couldn’t be good.

“Ritual killings. For every murder they commit with their power, Anat will regain that magical gift. When all of them are done, she will be powerful enough to rise again.”

Well, bloody hell. I believed it was possible. Rituals like this had been performed throughout the breadth of history. If it worked and she returned to earth, no doubt she’d do so as the bloodthirsty half of an otherwise balanced god.

“Why don’t you and your friends commit the murders?” I asked. “Surely you’re not too squeamish.”

“Hardly. We just don’t want to die, of course. We need to be here to witness the rise of Anat. To receive our just reward.”

“What do you mean, die?” Carrow said. “They’re doing the killing, not the dying.”

He resisted answering her, so I repeated the questioning.

“The murders must end in suicide,” the man said. “The greater violence will provide the energy that Anat requires to rise again to the earth.”

“And you aren’t willing to sacrifice your miserable life for your goddess,” I said.

“The Goddess Anat needs us.” His eyes gleamed with passion.

“She doesn’t need you. You’re a plague.” I shook my head, disgusted. “Have any of these murders been committed yet?” I could nearly feel Carrow’s desire to have that question answered. Had we lost any of the victims?

“No. They must all be done at the same time. The board is not yet set, but once we have the final piece in place, everything will happen at once.”

“It’s not a game,” I snapped. Carefully, I drew in a breath. My normal icy shell was harder to maintain while staring into the eyes of this lunatic, and it was made harder by my mind’s desperate attempt to remember the parts of Carrow that I’d forgotten. “How many more people will you kidnap?”

“One more.” He grinned widely, clearly pleased with himself.

“When?” I demanded.

He tried to fight, pressing his lips together, but I gripped his chin tightly, disliking the touch even though I wore my gloves. “When?”

“Tomorrow, we will make the request of Anton. He should find a suitable target that night and, once we have them, we will begin.”

So we had a little bit of time. I looked at Carrow, my eyebrows raised. Anything else?

“We need you to get us beyond the barrier, into the temple,” she said.

I repeated her command, and the little bastard laughed. “I can’t. There are only two ways to get in. One of the transport charms given to the kidnappers, or via a lever that temporarily lowers the boundary. But that lever is located inside the temple.”

“So you’re useless to us,” I said.

“I would never let you use me against my brethren.”

If I were the sort of man to roll my eyes the way the youth did, I would have. Instead, I released his chin and brushed off my hands, rising and turning to face Carrow. Looking directly at her was like looking at the sun during the most beautiful sunrise. Painful, but I wanted to keep doing it.

“Do you have what you need?” I asked.

“For now. We just need to make a plan.”

“You’ll never beat us,” the chained man said.

Carrow turned to him, spitting words. “We will, you little cretin.”

She was a glorious, vengeful goddess, and something in my chest swelled. I pressed a hand to it, confused. In pain. I couldn’t remember why I liked her so much, but I could feel it. I tightened my jaw and removed my hand, looking at the guards behind me. “Take him to a cell.”

The two nodded and approached the cult member, dragging him off. He hissed curses as he was hauled from the room, his robe trailing the ground behind him.

Carrow rubbed her hand over her face. “God, this is a lot.”

Instinct surged inside me to get her a chair, food, a drink. Discomfort followed in its wake. Why the hell did I care about that?

Yes, she was supposed to be my mate, but we’d broken that bond. I’d forgotten her—or at least, the things that might make me care for her. We should be nothing but acquaintances.

And yet . . .

The instinct remained.

I resisted.

“In a way, this parallels the ancient documents I saw on a desk inside the palace at Ugarit,” Carrow said. “The ghostly remains of the palace appeared as soon as we entered and, thousands of years ago, the leaders were dealing with a similar cult who was attempting to pollute the will of Anat.”

“Do you think they are the same people?” Eve asked.

Carrow shrugged. “He looked modern to me.”

I nodded. “He was not immortal. I would have felt it. I think that the desire to misinterpret the will of a god to serve your own ends is something that never goes out of fashion.”

“So we have a modern bunch of psychopaths holed up in a temple about to cause chaos,” she said.

“That’s what it sounds like.” Mac began to pace the room, her short blond hair growing ever messier as she dragged her hand through it. “We need to get into that temple.”

“The only way to do it is with one of those transport charms,” Eve said. “Which only Anton’s kidnapper will have.”

“The security on Anton’s casino has doubled, according to my sources,” I said. “But I have found his contact in Guild City.”