Page 174

He chuckled. “Ivy prefersHeaven’s Gate.”It was a back-up house they’d purchased a few years ago. It was fully furnished and equipped with the same spell system as Hell’s Gate, but they’d never been pushed to the point of having to use it.

Why was he not surprised that Donovan would be that first push?

“The Devils at Heaven’s Gate,” Roman mused. “I like it.”

“I’ll have to meet you somewhere when you get to the city. It’s safer that way.”

“No problem. We’re wearing talismans, but I need to buy more. You got any?”

“I need to buy more, too.” He’d given the very last one to Loren, and the talisman he wore around his own neck was turning brittle, his skin dusted with gold. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to find them ifsomeonehadn’t bought them all.” The price had been jacked up so high, Darien might be forced to take some jobs soon just to pay for them all. It was no longer Loren who needed to wear one—it was everyone.

“Who, me?” Roman asked.

“Yeah,you,you fucking hoarder.”

“Oh.” Roman chuckled. “Well, I need them.”

“So do I,” Darien said.

“Tough. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Don’t let your guard down.”

“Same to you.” He hung up, and Darien had just slid his phone into his back pocket when he picked up on the murmur of voices—frantic with worry—coming from inside the house.

He looked in through the blinds and saw Ivy, Tanner, Kylar, and Logan gathering around the couch.

Around Loren.

Atlas caught Darien’s attention through the glass and waved him in.

Darien was already moving. The blinds on the back door rattled as he whipped it open and slammed it shut. “Fuck’s going on?”

Everyone cleared a path for him as he pushed through to the couch.

To the girl sitting beside Sabrine. Loren looked up at him, her eyes wide with terror. Her hand was flattened over her chest, her mortal heart beating as rapidly as it had her first night out of a coma.

Her tattoos were flashing.

Both of them.

67

The Wanderer

ARBOR, STATE OF KER

Itzel would not comeout of the fridge.

It was late, and Shay was fast asleep. This was Roman’s only chance to get out of here. To save Shay from Donovan and his henchmen by forcing her to go her own way.

And if Itzel didn’t smarten up and get in the backpack right this instant, Roman would lose that chance. And Shay would be brutally tortured. Raped. Murdered in cold blood.

He refused to let that happen.

So this damn Hob had to move.Now.

“Itzel!” Roman whisper-shouted. He pointed at Pax’s backpack—at the main compartment zipped open on the floor in front of the fridge—with a stern finger. “Get in the bag.Now.”