The fact that he didn’t know whether his words were being heard as he intended them to was terrifying.

“Sahvage,” Tohr pronounced. “We need Sahvage. Whatever metaphysical protection shit is going on, he’ll handle it. And he’s agreed to help.”

Balz looked around at the faces that were so open, so trusting. For a thief and a liar to find this kind of love?

Well, in anyone other than a stone-cold tough guy, it would have brought a person to their knees.

“I need a cigarette,” Balz muttered.

V’s black-gloved hand pushed through with a hand-rolled. “Me, too,” the Brother said.

As they lit up together, Balz stared at the front of the battened-down mansion and thought about the brunette. “Sahvage and I go alone. I don’t want backup. If things are going to get bad, losing me won’t matter.”

“That is not true,” Xcor interjected.

Syn, Balz’s other cousin, and Zypher, his fellow bastard, spoke up as well on that one.

But all he could do was shake his head. “It is true. And what’s protecting it is . . . we can’t take chances with that demon. Trust me.” He met all the sets of eyes, one by one. “If Sahvage and I can’t get the Book and bring it back, it’s not get-able.”

Xcor spoke up. “But how do we cure you?”

Rehv answered that before Balz could. “The Book. We use the Book to get him clean.”

“That’s what I’m thinking, too,” Balz said on an exhale as he went back to looking at the mansion. “Or at least . . . that’s what I hope.”

Lying in the dark, holding Mae in his arms, Sahvage was about as calm as he was before a bareknuckle fight: He was knife-edged aware, eyes moving ceaselessly around the shadowed contours of the room, ears primed for any sound, senses reaching out. While beside him, his female—

No. She was not his.

This female, he amended, was safe. For now.

“Sahvage?”

“Yeah?” He hoped she wanted something to eat so he could do something. “You hungry? I can get you a little food?”

“I feel like I should apologize.” She pushed herself up on his chest. “I feel like . . . I wish I could stop myself. But I can’t. I’m hoping you can understand that, especially because you know what the loss feels like.”

Without thinking, he brushed a strand of her hair back. Then touched her face. As her breath caught, he did not approve of where his mind went.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I’m so grateful you’re still here. Still with me.”

“I’m not leaving until this is over. For better or for worse.”

A ghost of a smile played over her face. “That’s a human thing.”

“What is?”

“For better or for worse. It’s what they say when they’re getting mated for life.” She looked away. “Anyway, I’m grateful you’re here.”

“Loyalty is pretty much my only virtue.” His voice grew wry. “And even so, I’ve managed to turn it into a sin.”

They stared into each other’s eyes. And then she said, “When I was trapped in that place . . . I was so angry. I felt totally cheated. I had tried to do so many things right over the course of my life, but there I was. I knew as soon as the brunette got back, she was going to kill me—and I was going to miss out on everything—which is pretty rich considering I live with a dead male and I work from home.”

Sahvage thought of the wasteland of his life. “At least you know you have an end.”

“The Fade again,” she said with resignation. “You really need to leave that alone.”

“So that advice is a one-way street with you, huh. You expect others to drop shit, but you don’t have to.”

“Yup.” She sat up. “Kind of like you refusing to respect boundaries. No matter how many times you’re told to lay off. ”

Abruptly, she glanced at the door like in her mind she was walking through it. And then she let her head fall back and started muttering curses toward the bedroom’s ceiling.

“If you’re going to yell at me,” Sahvage remarked, “you might as well let me in on the lovefest. Seems only fair—and hey, I can always use pointers on how to properly use the word ‘asshole.’”

She shot a look at him. “Actually, I’m yelling at myself.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t believe you were one of the things I was angry at.”

“Oh, come on.” He laughed out loud. “That’s not a news flash. You’ve been pissed at me since you met me. Which is pretty rich considering you distracted me in that fight—”

“Do not bring up that whole cut thing again.”

“Cut?” He sat up as well so they were on the same level. “You’re calling that arterial bleed a cut? Just out of curiosity, what do you consider a wound. Total evisceration?”

“You lived!”

“I always live,” he said roughly.

“Right, because you’re such a hard-ass.”

“Wasn’t that what you were going to put on my name tag?”

“Actually, ‘badass’ was what I was thinking. And that was only because ‘asshat’ was already taken.”

Sahvage started to smile. He couldn’t help it. “I get under your skin, don’t I.”

“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Not at all.”

“Okay. I believe you.” He put his palms out. “Honest. I’m just curious, though . . . what in particular were you so angry with me about? I mean, it can’t be my charming personality.”

As she turned to face him, there was a pause—and abruptly, the air in the room changed. And even though it was dim, he could tell her eyes had dropped to his mouth, and in spite of her injuries, her scent shifted. Deepened.

“G’on, tell me,” Sahvage murmured. “You know how much you enjoy listing my shortcomings. There are so many of them in your book.”

When she still didn’t look away, even after he taunted her . . . that was when his blood started to thicken.

“Back when I was stuck in that place, I was angry . . .” Her voice broke. “I was angry that I was never going to know what it was like.”

“What is ‘it.’”

There was a long silence. Then she said, “Do you think we’re going to survive this?”

Unlike the “it,” he did not want her to struggle to define the “this.” There was no reason for her to say out loud that they were facing that brunette, searching for a Book that was a black-magic catalogue, and trying to raise the dead.

Yeah, ’cuz what could possibly go wrong with all that shit.

“I can promise,” he said, “that I will do everything in my power to get you out alive.”

Like they were in a dogfight.

Like they weren’t?

“Will I ever find the Book?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “But if that summoning spell worked to bring me to you . . . I’m going to bet it’s going to work to bring the Book in. It’s just taking some time to arrange the handoffs.”