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A surprised chuckle slipped through Roman’s lips. “No way. You’re giving me this? You’re giving meStacey?”He walked over to the car, Paxton following so closely on his heels he was nearly stepping on them, the backpack that held Itzel swinging from his shoulder. The rest of their group followed. Shay refused to check and see if Nash was still watching her.

Stacey was nice. Really nice. The car was such a perfect fit for Roman, it might as well have been made for him. It was an older model that had been restored to pristine condition, paint sparkling like liquid night, the chrome of the bumpers shiny as mirrors.

“Get in,” Dean said, opening the driver’s door for him. “Try her out.”

Roman promptly put his smoke out and got in the driver’s seat. Dean shut the door, window already down.

Roman turned the key in the ignition?—

The engine fired up, a deep, sexy growl ripping through the night-cooled parking lot.

Paxton beamed. “Rev it!”

Roman smiled and revved the engine, the candle smoke of the magic that powered the car thickening the air. “Sick,” he said, that smile growing so big his dimple showed, his big, scarred hands doing thatthingwith the wheel again.

Shay gulped. Hereallyneeded to stop doing that. Every time he did it, she had to stop herself from jumping his damn bones.

“What do you think?” Dean asked him, walking up to brace a hand on the roof of the car.

“I think…Stacey’s going to blow my fucking mind.” The way he said it, in that low, growly tone he usually reserved for the bedroom, made Shay’s mind short-circuit, her mouth drying out.

Dean grinned. “Feel like racing to Blue Gables?”

Roman looked up at him, that adorable smile tipping his lips up. It made Shay smile too, despite how frustrated—for multiple reasons, one the sexual kind—she’d felt a moment ago. Gods, she wassofucked, wasn’t she? “Really?” Roman asked.

“Yeah, why not? Let’s have some fun.” He pushed off the car and made for his own. “Loser buys everyone breakfast tomorrow.”

It was such an odd thing to say, with everything going on—let’s have some fun.But fun was exactly what these two brothers needed.

Shay let Paxton have the front. She squished into the tiny back seat, where she watched their smiles more than she watched the road as they raced against Dean, the other Death Dealers following behind, down the dark, starlit highway.

84

Heaven’s Gate

ANGELTHENE, STATE OF WITHEREDGE

“Darien,”said a female voice. Echoey and distant.

He kept his eyes shut, watching with his Sight as neon grid-based street patterns, fluorescently colored buildings, and multi-hued trees zipped through his mind. So many colors, so many shapes and symbols and coordinates, all passing by at a speed so swift it was dizzying.

Behind closed lids, his eyes rapidly flicked about. Sweat beaded on his upper lip and temples, but he hardly noticed. His physical body was miles away, his mind elsewhere. Drifting. Searching.

“Darien,”the voice said again. Little louder this time.

Something snapped. Two fingers pressing together, somewhere close by—right in front of his face.

Several male and female voices said his name all at once?—

“Darien.”

His black eyes flew open. He was sitting on the couch at Heaven’s Gate, elbows on his knees. Ivy stood before him, the glowing shades of her multicolored aura accentuating the frown on her face, fingers poised to snap again if need be.

Now that his eyes were open, she straightened and dropped her hand.

“You say something?” He blinked the Sight away. His eyes were on fire, and his head waspounding.How long had he been tracking?

Without the glow of her aura getting in the way, his sister looked even more concerned than she had a moment ago. “Your nose is bleeding,” she said.