Page 175

A shield of magic shimmered around him, preventing Shay from picking up on the hissing, the whispering, thespitting. Yeah, the Hob wasspitting. Like a distressed cat with her back up. Paxton stood nearby with raised brows, his wide eyes flashing between a slumbering Shay and the absurd scene playing out in front of him in the dark motel room.

Thiswasabsurd, wasn’t it? Itzel was making a complete ass of him.

And his brother looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh, take out his phone and start recording, or intervene.

Itzel bared her sharp teeth with another hiss and crammed herself into the back corner. As if there were anywhere to evengo.She had flattened herself back there so thoroughly, she was practically a pancake.

Roman growled and clawed his fingertips down his face?—

“Roman?” Shay croaked.

Fuck.

He froze. So did the Hob.

Sheets stirred. Roman muttered, “Nice going, Itz,” and dropped the barrier of silence as Shay sat up in bed.

“What’s going on?” She squinted into the dark.

Roman straightened out of his crouch and slapped the fridge door shut.Hsssssss!“We’re leaving,” he declared. He zipped up Pax’s backpack. “You can have her.” He gestured to the fridge—to the Hob still throwing a temper tantrum inside.Thump. Thump. Hss. Hss.“She’s your problem now. Let’s go, Pax.” He swung the strap of Pax’s backpack over his shoulder, grabbed his own bags, and made for the door.

Pax followed, dragging his feet.

“You’re leaving?” Shay’s question was a tired crackle.

Roman opened the door. The harsh light of the bulb mounted outside slanted into the room, the shadows of bugs flitting about.

Head down, lower lip extended, Pax walked out into the cool night.

Roman didn’t dare look at Shay—at the hurt he’d no doubt see on her pretty face—as he stepped out, said, “Don’t follow us,” and closed the door.

Gravel crunched under his boots as he made for the car. He wanted to get this over with—now. Before he could do something selfish. Like storm back inside, grab Shay by thechin, and kiss the breath out of her, which he hadn’t stopped fantasizing about since he’d laid eyes on her in the warehouse.

He crammed their bags into the back seat, leaving as much room as possible for Paxton. It was late, and Roman had woken him up shortly after ending his call with Darien. He would need to sleep.

‘Are you sure about this?’Sayagul asked. Her question was heavy with guilt.

‘We’ve already been through this. Would you rather she be safe or dead?’

The dragon fell silent. A moment later she admitted,‘Safe.’

‘It’s settled, then.’

‘She’s upset.’

‘She’ll get over it.’The only thing Roman cared about was Shay’s life.

No, that was a lie. He cared abouteverythingwhen it came to Shay. It deeply bothered him that she was in that room by herself, slowly waking up and probably confused as hell as to why they were ditching her in the middle of the night. But caring for her would get her killed.

This was better. No matter how much it utterly destroyed him to leave her behind. Abandon her. Roman suspected Shay had been abandoned by someone important in her life in the past—it would explain her trust issues. Which made this all the worse.

“All right, Pax,” Roman said on a heavy exhale. “Get in.”

The kid was standing by the closed door to room nineteen, squeezing the handle of his comic book-print suitcase with white-knuckled fingers. “No,” Pax said, lifting his chin.

Roman sighed. “Pax, come on, don’t do this to me. We have to go.”

“I don’t want to.”