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She ducked her head?—

But he was soon lifting her chin with a knuckle placed gently beneath it. Then he brushed a tendril of golden hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. Heat blossomed everywhere he touched. Lower, too, in her belly. “What can I do?” he asked her. His question was a broken whisper.

“You can’t…” She trailed off, because in all honesty she didn’t know the answer—and because there was nothingDariencould do. Not willingly, at least. The bargain was sealed—he’d said so himself. It was a done deal, and there was no going back.

“Look at me,” Darien said softly. It wasn’t until he said it that she realized she had dropped her gaze again. He took both of her hands this time, his thumbs brushing across the fine bones in the backs of them. It never ceased to amaze her that someone as dangerous as Darien was capable of being so gentle. “I love you.” The statement, said with so much heart, made her blood sing, her pulse skipping for a reason unrelated to her health. “Anything you want, Loren, I’ll do it. You want me to get down on my knees, I’ll get down on my knees, I don’t care that theseassholes are watching,” he said of Logan and Tanner, who pulled their eyes off them and found somewhere else to look. “I’ll do it right here.” He began to lower himself to the floor?—

She squeezed his hands, stopping him. “Darien. No.”

“Then name it. Whatever it is that’ll make you forgive me, I’ll do it, Loren. I’ll even lick the floor at your feet, if you want me to.”

“If you lick the floor, I’ll be even more mad at you,” she said sternly.

“Fine, no floor licking. But I mean it, baby, I’ll do anything.” He grasped her hands a little tighter, thumbs again grazing the backs of them as he awaited her response. Her forgiveness.

Her eyes burned, and her throat was so tight she could hardly breathe. But she managed to choke out, “I want to go for a swim.”I want to keep myself—andyou—alive,she added mentally.

Her response—or lack of one, really—upset him. She could tell. But he said tightly, “That’s what you want?”

“Right now,” she said evenly, “yes.”

A pause. And then he resigned with a stiff nod. “Okay.” His pupils were large enough to suggest that he was fighting a Surge, but he managed to keep the black at bay. “Can we talk after?”

Her throat was closing. Gods, the way he was looking at her…

She nodded—just to appease him. The last thing she wanted was to talk about this. Ever.

They completed their walk to the pool steps. She grasped onto the steel handrail with her free hand and dipped her right foot in the water first, the temperature so cold she drew in an echoing gasp through her teeth, her body exploding with chills. Darien didn’t let go of her until distance forced him to—until she was too deep in the water for him to keep holding on. The absence of his touch—and the desperate look lingering in hiseyes—was so agonizing, Loren almost turned around and got right back out.

The men kept watch as they swam in the dark. But while Tanner and Logan made themselves comfortable on a couple of chairs, Darien stood poolside, utterly transfixed by her. Her tattoos were still glowing beneath the rippling water, but the gaps between flashes were getting longer.

It was working. Even with just blue magic, it was working.

Apart from the pearly moonlight and the glow of Tanner’s tablet, her ink was the only source of light in the spacious room. Tanner was working on restoring the spell security systems for both houses, a task that was proving to be more of a challenge than they had anticipated. A Hob’s magic was so strong, you hardly needed anything else when you had one of those remarkable critters living under your roof.

Mortifer had spoiled the Devils, and all he’d asked for in return was access to their ice machine. Now, the poor little guy was gone. Missing. Stolen. Discussions on how to go about finding him had arisen at the house and during the drive here, but Hobs were untraceable, even with the Sight. They were similar to the Arcanum Well in that way—the Devils had told her that if they were to try tracking Mortifer, they would feel him all around them. It simply wouldn’t work.

And so they were forced to bide their time. Until they found out who had him and where. The security footage from the break-in had revealed several suspects, namely the imperator, Gaven Payne, and Lionel Savage.

By the sounds of things, the Devils would be picking them off one by one. The only challenge was how to find them. Lionel, being Head of the Hunting Grounds, should be easiest to locate, as all Darkslayer Houses knew where to find each other.

But as for Quinton Lucent and the weapons dealer… Finding them wouldn’t be so easy.

Angelthene Recreation Center had everything Roman’s house had, and more. Three big swimming pools, a hot tub, a sauna, a steam room, two gymnasiums—one for the immortal population and one for mortals—and waterslides. The pool they were in had a diving board, a rope to swing from, and a ring for shooting hoops with inflatable balls.

“What are your plans for tomorrow?” Loren asked Sabrine as the wolf tossed a volleyball above her head. She was desperate to talk about something normal. She didn’t care what, as long as it distracted her from everything bad that was going on. From her heart that was still fluttering so fast, each beat was almost painful.

From Darien’s stare she could feel everywhere she went—and from the longing to forget why she was angry with him, pull him into the pool with her, and kiss him.

“Besides school,” Loren added, remembering what day it was.

“I was thinking of visiting Tamika at the hospital. Maybe bring her some flowers. She’s not awake, but I know if it was me in her position, I’d want people to visit me. You can come with, if you want.”

Loren slid her focus to Darien.

He was already looking at her. It was hard to see him in the dark, but she swore she saw sweat gleaming on his forehead.

She frowned. What was going on with him? It wasnotwarm enough in here to be sweating like that.