“I know you can’t help it.” Kellan put me at ease, sitting next to me and then reaching for my hand. “I just don’t want you to ever loathe me. That’s all I worry about.”

I was relieved. I could do that. Hell, loathing was the opposite of what I felt for him. Then I grinned, resting my head against his shoulder. “That’s the last thing you need to worry about with me.” I squeezed his hand for extra reassurance.

“I have something to tell you, something that you’re not going to like.”

My stomach twisted again, curled into a ball once more. I forced myself to ask, breathing out, “What is it?” But my teeth gritted together. I wasn’t going to like it.

“They took your aunt. They have her, and they sent them after us. They wanted to take us too.”

I closed my eyes, feeling a ball of fury roll over on itself inside of me. Something started to take over me… Then I grated out, “Tell me that you found out where they’re holding her.”

“I did. I know.” He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. I felt his hesitation as if it were my own. And I hated it.

“Well?” I snapped out.

Kellan sighed, his hand now lax in mine. “I’ll take you there.”

“Fine.” I scrambled to my feet, ready for war, but I asked first, “Who took her? Who sent them after us?”

Kellan hesitated before answering. “I don’t know. He wouldn’t say.”

He was lying. I felt it. I knew it. I could taste it, but I held my tongue. This wasn’t the time or the place to demand answers from him. All I cared about was getting my aunt back. Kellan would tell me. I would make sure of that, but he could wait. That was fine, but he would tell me. As I watched him leave the bathroom, my eyes stuck to his back, feeling his lie within me. It was a betrayal, but there was more in me, a sense of determination.

I followed behind, and I couldn’t squash the hope inside that there would be more demons to kill. It was becoming a favorite hobby of mine. The thirst was almost too powerful for my liking, but I couldn’t stop the desire. It throbbed inside of me, almost as much as my desire for him, but of that, I held my tongue. I was sure we’d finish what he had promised to start in the kitchen. When that moment happened, I could only hope I wouldn’t end up begging at his mercy, but something told me that was what Kellan wanted. It seemed up his alley, and I couldn’t stop the shiver of excitement in me.

“You coming?” He came to the doorway, dressed in black clothes that were tight on him. My eyes wandered over him, unable to stop myself. Each abdominal muscle was outlined by the material, tucked inside his pants that showed how trim his waist was. Then he bent and grabbed my hand. He lifted me over his shoulder, and my hand fell out, feeling how his skin shifted over his muscles there, each rippling as he moved me back inside the bedroom and then placed me onto the bed.

Need throbbed inside of me, for him and for vengeance. I couldn’t battle both of them, so I let him see the hunger in me when he dropped some clothes onto my lap.

He stopped, frozen, and I felt his desire explode inside of him. Then he retreated, battling his primal side back down. His voice came out strangled. “We can’t. Let’s go. We have to get your aunt now, before it’s too late.”

“What will happen?” I scrambled into my clothes, trying not to dwell on my disappointment. How could I even think about my desire in that moment? Aumae could already be dead or worse.

“They could go back to the underworld. She can’t go there. The mere entrance will be enough torture for her. They’re still here, but not for long. They’re waiting for their comrades to return with us, once they don’t, they’ll go without them.” Then he grabbed my arm and whisked us down to the car.

When we got in and Kellan started the car, I looked around with an odd feeling in my gut. “We’re…driving there?”

He bit back a smile, but gunned the engine, spitting dirt behind us. “We have to. They won’t be attuned to human transportation. They’re waiting for anything supernatural to come at them. We can get close and they won’t know we’re there.”

That made sense, but… “What about us? Don’t we give off vibes? Won’t they feel us, just being there?”

“Grab those bags. I put them in the backseat. Inside are cloaking medallions. Give them to me.”

I twisted and saw the paper bags he had brought into the kitchen. When I reached inside, I pulled out a small bag with gold coins inside. They looked the size of a quarter, but weighed what a small child might. As I dropped the bag in Kellan’s hand, I could hear whispers of an incantation, in a language that I didn’t know, but they quieted in his hands.

He brought them to his mouth and began whispering the same incantation, then as something was building in the air, his other hand grabbed mine. His fingers entwined with mine and he brought it to his mouth, kissing it as he kissed the coins in the same moment. I felt the explosion around us, the air spread out in a whoosh, but there was no difference in us. Kellan looked the same, so did I, but he’d just done something.

“What happened?”

He put the coins back and then put the paper bag behind us. “Our presence, to humans and other beings are now cloaked. No one should be able to find us until the spell ends. We can’t cloak ourselves. It has to come from the outside world for it to work.”

None of that made sense to me, but I sat back. Kellan knew what he was doing, which seemed too easy. However, I’d keep my mouth shut for now, until we got Aumae back and dealt with my father, not to mention Vespar, too.