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Evan stilled. “Who am I talking to then?”

Aaronsmiled. Flipping the golden spear, he caught it mid-air, then swung it sideways. There wasn’t any visible force in that throw, but when the spear flew, energy crackled in its wake. It struck Zeev square in the chest, with enough strength that a crack formed on the tree trunk behind him.

Other than a sharp exhale and spurting a mouthful of blood, Zeev didn’t make a sound.

Those glowing purple eyes shifted to Evan. “Knox.”

The rock fist holding Evan up seemed to tremble slightly. A few of the cult members faltered mid-chanting before quickly recovering.

Knox.

So this abomination of a creation—neither human nor ghost, neither god nor demon—had, in fact, possessed a name.

Evan slowly nodded. “Okay then, Knox, why don’t you tell me what exactly you’re trying to do here? I understand you captured those fifteen men for sacrifice. But why abduct those three kids?”

According to the requirements for a sacrifice, the person had to be a male in his twenties and physically fit. Rumi—being a girl—was already out of the picture. Wren and Nick wereonly seventeen, so they didn’t qualify either. So why had Knox captured them? And whyjustthem? Celie and Elysia had been spared, even guided to Evan by Rhea’s clone.

It almost sounded like KnoxwantedEvan to come and find the kids. To find him.

Knox chuckled, folding the sleeves of his shirt. “You’re right. I have no interest in those three,” his eyes crinkled. “The one I wanted is already here. Thanks to you.”

The color drained from Evan’s face. He wasn’t the one who Knox truly wanted? But hadn’t Knox gone out of his way to create Rhea’s clone, to lure the kids away, knowing Evan would come looking for them?

“You see, the certain someone I wanted was attached to your side like a leech, refusing to come to me even after all the kind gestures I extended to him,” Knox clicked his tongue, then patted his pocket with a smile. “I even took away something precious to him, but he simply wouldn’t heed my urging. So, I only had one way to bring him here: through you.”

Another wave of tremor wrecked the fist holding Evan, but this time due to the spiritual energy oozing from Evan’s body without his notice. His wide eyes were glued to Knox as blue light shimmered from his skin, scalding the Hellguard’s palm.

Those words, “attached like a leech” and “took away something precious” were connecting dots in Evan’s mind that he hadn’t even realized had formed. Recently, only one person had glued to him like a leech. He’d even sucked out his blood like one. And that personhadlost an important relic, something precious to him.

Evan’s heart lurched as realization dawned.

No…

Accurately guessing where Evan’s thoughts were heading, Knox clapped, seeming impressed. “Looks like you already know who I’m talking about.”

“A sheep in disguise, a fox to hunt…”Delos’s voice swirled in Evan’s head.

A fox to hunt… A fox.

Xen.

Then Delos’s hushed warning right before they’d parted earlier surfaced. He had not understood what those words had meant until now.

“A sheep in disguise is always a pawn.”

Cold sweat broke out across Evan’s nape. When the last dot clicked in place and he looked at the whole picture, something cracked inside his skull.

Xen was the one being hunted. And Evan was the pawn who’d led him into the beast’s maw. To Knox. Xen was the fox, and Evan was the sheep in disguise. He had always been, since the very beginning.

He had released Xen from containment, allowed him to tag along on cases, and forced him to help find the missing people even when Xen was visibly reluctant.

Of course he was. He knew where those people were taken, why they were taken, and by whom. He knew what would awaken. Those penetrating scarlet eyes that seemed to go on forever must have known.

Xen must’ve known from the beginning that he was the real prey. Yet, he readily followed Evan into the predator’s den.

Why?

Evan shook his head, forcefully dismissing the long string of thoughts. It couldn’t be. His mind had to be making up things. Either that, or that thing controlling Aaron was trying to sow seeds of confusion in his brain.