“Stay in touch,” she added, giving Ashlyn’s foot a gentle squeeze. “If you look up my name, you’ll find me.” To the kids, she said, “I’m taking the dogs with me. You can visit—”

“You’ll take the dogs over your dead body,” Urban snapped.

“Yeah.” Little Ever nodded, her golden curls bobbing at her temples. “Your dead body.”

“Children.” Ashlyn sighed. “What have I told you about intimidating others?”

“Make sure the situation really is life or death first,” Urban grumbled.

“That’s right.”

Katarina fought a grin—until she felt a familiar heat press against her backside. She stiffened, Baden’s scent teasing her nose, her nerve endings suddenly buzzing with sensation...with the need for more.

I’m furious with him. I shouldn’t crave him.

“I’ve spoken to Galen,” he announced to one and all. “He and I are leaving. For the safety of everyone I love,” he added as protests rang out.

“Not this again,” Lucien said.

“You need us,” Sabin said, “and we need you, too.”

Reyes, the keeper of Pain, glared at him. “We’re part of the war whether you’re with us or not.”

Baden remained unmoved. “You need time to heal, and I’m going to get it for you by keeping Lucifer busy, unable to spare a soldier to hunt you. I can flash into the underworld. You can’t. Even Lucien is blocked.” Amid the strained pause that followed his words, he said, “I know I don’t have the right to ask you to let me go—to accept this—but I’m asking, anyway. For me...for your women.”

Gradually, the warriors got on board. As stubborn as he was, they must have accepted what Katarina had known from the beginning. He would move heaven and earth to get his way.

He whispered in her ear, “You, krásavica, won’t be going home. You’ll be coming with me.”

What! His arm snaked around her waist, a hard band of heat and strength. A pleasure as much as a pain. “You are so wrong it’s laughable. I am going home.” And finally starting over.

“I once said I’d take you anywhere. But you picked me. Now you’ll face the consequences of your decision.”

She stiffened. “So I’m to be your captive again?”

“If that’s the way you want to play it.”

“I don’t want to play with you at all.”

“Well, I can’t have you running around, trying to help your precious husband, now, can I?”

“You’re an idiot. You know that, yes? If you lock me away, I’ll...I’ll...” What? She couldn’t rail at him for his violent ways one day, and threaten him with bloodshed the next.

Maddox jumped to his feet, red flickering in his gaze, reminding her of Alek and Baden at their worst. “You court Violence.”

Baden swung her behind him and pointed a finger at the man. “She’s mine. No one else will touch her. Or terrorize her. Or even look at her.”

First, he’d accused her of wrongdoing. Now he defended her? Confusing man!

As soon as Maddox backed down, Baden turned toward her. Glaring, he said quietly, “I might be an idiot, but you still desire me, so what does that make you?”

“I don’t—”

He bent down and grazed her earlobe with his teeth. “Your blood is rushing so fast I can hear it. Your nipples just hardened and the scent you’re giving off...” He trailed his nose along her neck, inhaling deeply, perhaps forgetting the pain he felt at skin-to-skin contact. “Delicious.”

Shivers betrayed her, arousal drenching her panties. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation here.” With witnesses. Or at all!

“Agreed.” To the others, he said, “I’ll text you often.”

The room disappeared, a new one taking its place. The walls were papered in lace and velvet, and portraits of a gorgeous blond—Galen—with massive wings hung here...there...everywhere. The warrior must have lost those white-feathered beauties at some point; they were basically nubs now. The furniture was a mix of polished wood, ivory and wrought iron while plush carpets led to a spectacular fireplace made of sapphire-veined marble; cherubs were carved along both sides, framing panels of stained glass.

Her new gilded cage?

She wrenched from Baden’s embrace. “How dare you leave my dogs—”

“They are yours now?” He strode to the wet bar and poured himself four fingers of what looked to be whiskey yet smelled much sweeter. “How quickly my female changes her mind.”