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“I said I’ll follow,” she vowed.

“You’ve got school, Dal. I’m not about to wreck your future.” It wasn’t just her school that made him reluctant to agree—it was what just happened in that damn building. She was a Fleet trainee, and she’d got her ass handed to her. Clearly, this path he was walking was filled with the kind of enemies none of them were properly equipped to handle.

“You’re not wrecking anything,” Dallas said. “This is as important to me as it is to you.” She grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to a stop. “You are my future, Max,” she told him. “I know how badly you want to find Maya, and I want to help you do it. Please let me help you.”

He brought his hand up, his knuckles gently skimming the wound on the side of her head. “Dallas, you’re a brilliant student. You’re a kick-ass Fleet soldier—”

“Trainee,” she corrected.

“With a huge opportunity ahead of you. If the Fleet doesn’t kick you out for missing this much training, then your dad’s gonna give you the boot.”

Her throat bobbed. “I don’t care.”

“Well, you should.”

“No one has ever asked me what I want. My whole life has been laid out in front of me in stepping stones marked with numbers. I’ve never been allowed to skip anything, never been allowed to set my own stones. I’m a witch—I’ve got centuries ahead of me. I can always catch up.”

“Some opportunities don’t come around more than once.” And the love he felt for Dallas wouldn’t come around more than once.

He couldn’t lose her.

“Neither will this,” she said. “I’m not throwing anything away—I’m just deciding what’s most important to me in this moment, and that’s you.”

“Goddamn.” He swept a hand down his filthy face. “You can’t say shit like that to me.”

“Why?” She flashed him a playful smile. “Does it turn you on?”

“Actually, right now, it’s making me want to cry. And I’m not supposed to cry—I’m a Darkslayer.”

Her smile grew. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry.”

“And you won’t—not if I can help it.” He gestured toward the SUV. “Get going.”

They joined the others who were waiting either by or in the SUV, doors open.

Malakai said, “I can’t follow you to Yveswich, if that’s where you’re going. I need to get back to Angelthene.”

Max nodded. “We’ll all go. We should speak to Travis—make sure everything’s okay in Angelthene. I’ll decide what I’m doing after.” He glanced among the group. “Good?”

Malakai gestured for Aspen to get in the back seat. “Ladies first.”

She snickered. “You just don’t want to be stuck in the middle.”

“I need access to a door so I can roll out if I decide I can’t handle you guys anymore.” He looked at Max over his shoulder. “The next time I tell you to stay in a fire-resistant chamber when some infernal asshole is going to town on us, you listen.” Right—he was likely alive right now because of Delaney.

He owed him a thanks, but it wasn’t something he wanted to acknowledge. Especially not when he knew the Reaper had thrown him in there because he was aware that Max was afraid of fire. Malakai had learned a lot about the Devils years ago, back when he and Darien were friends. But…

Max said tightly, “Thanks.”

The Reaper merely nodded.

73

The Morgue

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

Metal clanged as Finn pulled out a temperature-controlled mortuary drawer at the morgue. Cold air billowed out of it, partially obscuring the body inside until it dissipated.