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That was the last of the immediate threats. Which gave them approximately five seconds to talk before they needed to fuckinggo.

“Shay!” Ivy exclaimed. She sprinted across the blood-slick lot and caught Shay in a spinning embrace Roman found himself envying.

It had been hard as hell to keep his hands to himself, not just when he’d seen his thief coming around the corner, alive and well and as breathtaking as ever, but when the earthquake happened, too. When she’d grabbed onto the chainlink and dropped to the ground, he’d wanted nothing more than to shield her. Keep her safe, like he had Pax.

The relief he’d felt when he first saw her was short-lived. Entirely forgotten the moment he recalled the threats that his trash excuse for a father had made on her life.

‘If you step out of line again,’Don had said, his cruel words echoing now in Roman’s memory,‘she will be raped bloody by several of my men.’

Roman would die—break his own heart—before he let that happen.

“How many vehicles do we got?” Roman asked as everyone—panting and sweating—formed a group. “How’d you get here?” he asked Tanner, who Roman was just noticing. Apart from some dried blood and bruises, he was fine. Darien would be happy to hear it.

“Beats me,” the hacker replied, breathless. He tucked a pistol into his weapons belt—empty apart from that single firearm. “I woke up in the back of that truck with Shay.” He pointed down the road, at a black truck with a canopy.

“Long story short,” Shay said, “that truck belongs to Wyverns. They were looking for Pax, and they thought we might know where to find him. Apparently Don has every Darkslayer house out looking for him.”

“Wyverns?”Kylar repeated. He cursed. “How’d you get away?”

Shay waggled her fingers in answer, pale violet lightning crackling at the tips.

Kylar’s head whipped in Roman’s direction, his eyes so wide the whites showed. “Lightningandillusion?”

“She’s got a built-in taser!” Eugene boasted, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Roman shrugged in response to a still-gaping Kylar. “She’s incredible.” The statement slipped out before he could stop it, and he didn’t miss the way Shay’s body tensed in response.

Eugene was still bouncing. “She cooked Trey like a wiener!”

“Trey got away,” Max said to Roman, his unfortunate news causing Eugene to cease his jumping and stomp his foot. “He booked it out of the building the minute we pulled up.”

“Back to the plan,” Roman interrupted. The addition of that truck gave them a total of three vehicles. There were nine people here altogether, which meant… He tallied up the seats. It gavethem more than enough room. “We need to evacuate,” he said, his next words for the benefit of Shayla and Tanner. “We ran into the Red Baron at the hospital. They’re putting up a new forcefield at noon tomorrow, and once it’s up no one will be allowed through.”

“Dare’s already gone,” Kylar chimed in. “Loren’s body is reacting funny to the portal, so he’s taking her back to Angelthene.”

“Lace, Art, and Jack left, too,” Ivy added.

Tanner blinked. “Wait a sec—they’re already locking everything down? What about all the people? There must be millions?—”

“They aren’t waiting,” Max said. “And I need to find Maya and warn her, or I won’t be able to live with myself.”

“Hold on,” Ivy shouted above the din, explosives going off several blocks over. She had her phone out, her face suffused by the glow of her phone screen. “Hold on—everybody quiet, Darien’s calling me.” She answered the call, plugging her free ear with a finger as yet more explosives went off. “Hello?Darien?I can barely hear you!”

The group fell silent as she spoke, the city shaking all around them.

“If you’re going looking for Maya, I’d do it now,” Roman shouted over the noise, addressing Max. An abrupt cease in fire gave them a moment of false calm, allowing Ivy to hear better. “People are already panicking. I bet the highways are jammed?—”

The ground trembled as something landed just behind him.

He whirled, hand drifting toward his gun?—

It was Dominic, black wings spread. In his arms, he carried Blue.

He set her on her feet. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys,” the Angel said, breathless. The blood smeared acrosstheir faces and battle-suits suggested they’d encountered more than one obstacle along the way. “What the hell happened?”

Roman said, “Long story.”

“Guys,” Ivy interrupted, her voice high with stress.