Page 109 of Hounded: Ashes to Ashes

Sully closed the gap to me, and the determination on her face faded into the soft sympathy we’d shared minutes earlier. “And I’m not letting you give yourself to him, Loren,” she said, quiet but with no less resolve. “He’s taken enough.”

I glanced past her at Gunnar, Dottie, and Abigail, and it seemed hopeless. I felt lost, alone, and adrift, but the part of me that wasn’t quite ready to lay down and die agreed with her.

Nero and demons like him had made a sport of demeaning and degrading me for most of my existence. They wanted to take something as perfect and precious as my phoenix and destroy him. Now, Indy was gone, Whitney was dead, Sully was in danger, and maybe it wasn’t such a stretch to blame someone besides myself.

Still, I had to tell her, “I’m sorry we brought you into this.”

Sully’s brown eyes shimmered, and her lips curved a wavering smile. “Don’t be. Knowing you and Indy has been the highlight of my life. I wouldn’t change a minute of it.”

She stepped in and threw her arms around me, pulling me forward then down so she could kiss my cheek.

After we broke apart, she smiled up at me with her eyes shining. “You know I love you, right?” she said.

It stung like a needle prick in my chest. I did know, and I loved her, too, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. So, I let my head rise then fall in a nod.

Sully gave me one last squeeze around the middle before spinning toward the rest of our group. She placed both fists on her hips with a sort of swagger I couldn’t help but admire.

“All right, guys and gals,” she announced. “We’re gonna face this fucker head-on.”

Dottie flashed a malevolent grin while Gunnar pounded his fist into his opposite palm. Abigail appeared less certain, but Sully’s confidence must have been contagious because it took only a few seconds for Abigail to join in agreement.

Sully gestured broadly to the room around us. “I have enough arcane bullshit to turn this apartment into a trap Nero will wish he never walked into. If he leaves, he’s going out in pieces. Sound good?”

“Fuck yeah!” Gunnar crowed and thrust out his hand like a football player in a pregame huddle. Abigail frowned while Dottie and Sully stacked their hands on top of Gunnar’s. Wild grins spread from one face to the next.

When Abigail reached in, all four of them looked at me.

It’s a losing fight, I wanted to warn them, but I supposed it always had been, and that had never stopped me before.

Walking forward, I slid in beside Sully and laid my hand on top of the pile. I might have even smiled a little when Sully boldly declared, “Let’s give ‘em hell.”

Indy

I landedon a patch of low-pile carpet. It knocked the wind out of me, or maybe that was from being whiplash-dragged out of Earth. Rocket-launched past space all the way into fucking Heaven, which looked—my head made a slow swivel—a lot like a business office.

Desk, potted plants, a dinosaur of a desktop computer, and an assortment of wall art. Some of it might have merited inspection, but I couldn’t focus on anything with vertigo busily making me its bitch. So, I stayed down, dazed but far from confused because I knew exactly what had happened.

I’d been played. Conned. Angel-snatched.

And the motherfucker responsible was standing beside me, dusting his hands down his clothes like some of the stratosphere was still clinging on.

Indignation should have been enough to propel me to my feet, but the head spins fought just as hard to lay me out flat, so I settled to tip my chin back and scowl until Evander finally deigned to look my way.

“You tricked me!” I snapped.

More than that. He made me a deserter.

Twice in one day, I’d been dragged away from the battle that was, by rights, mine to fight. This time, though, I’d abandoned Loren. Left him like bait in a trap, except that he was the one fit to be caught.

Evander rubbed the shaved side of his head. “I said you would survive, and you will.”

“What about Loren?” I asked, insisting on the point he seemed keen to ignore. “And Sully? You said the hounds were coming for them. What are they supposed to do?”

His expression pinched. “If they’re wise, surrender.”

“Anddie?”

“Swiftly,” Evander replied, entirely too dismissive for my liking. “Assuming the demons are merciful.”

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