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Relief sent his breath out in a whoosh. “Thank God,” he whispered.

“But I’ve got only seven days to gather as much power as I can to face whatever is coming out of her. You are here to help me do that.”

“Of course, anything you need. Wait, did you see this in some kind of vision?”

“See what in a vision?”

“That I’m here to help you with that? Is that why you called me? It seemed you were calling me.”

She picked up her pace. “I don’t know about all of that, Kollaborator. I just know that I’m to protect her and you’re here with your gifts which I am in need of. I don’t need a vision or a road map to know I’ve been handed the tools necessary to secure this commission.”

Yeah. Logical enough.

“And since I do not have time to make another Nephilim, I’ll have to use other methods. If we work quickly, I can obtain an equivalent. I’ll need human clothes suitable. Do you have money?” she asked as they reached the top of the hill. “Is that your transportation?”

He looked in the direction of her single nod. “It is,” he huffed. “And yes, I do have cash.”

“Perfect.”

He mentally organized the data she’d scattered about as he followed her brisk pace down the hill. Having her on their side had to be Raviel’s intention. It was too perfect not to be. Too miraculous.

At the SUV, his die-hard-chivalry reared up and he hurried ahead of her and opened her door.

She smacked him with her fierce bright eyes as she climbed in and sat, yanking her gaze off him before pulling the door shut on her own.

He made his way to the driver’s side, her curious scold still burning his face where those eyes had raked. She was brutally independent. Understandable given her role. He’d have to tread carefully around her toes while everything hung in the balance. She was the last person he wanted to piss off.

He again attempted to penetrate that wall around her, finding it maybe denser than before. What sort of powers did the Warrior of Mothers have? “Just point the way,” he said after starting the SUV and getting it turned around.

“The city is north, fifteen miles. We’ll need a room, and I’ll need clothes. Do you have the means for these things?”

“I do,” he said, glad he’d brought plenty of cash. “When you say room, you mean a hotel?”

“Yes,” she said, sounding weary of his questions already. Or maybe just weary, considering what she’d just been through.

He allowed for a respectable amount of time before asking one of the questions burning in his Kollaborating brain. “So…. how is it giving birth to a Nephilim?”

“As horrific as you’d imagine,” she mumbled. “But the suffering it incurs is worth every drop of power it gives.”

He glanced at her serene expression in her window’s reflection, wondering over that equation. “How do you… measure such a thing? The power?”

“I don’t. But if I were to convert it into man-made energy, it represents two thousand megatons of antimatter discharge. Enough to erase a city and rewrite its map.”

Wow. “What do you do with this power exactly?”

“Purchase that which is rare in this hour. Mercy. And time.”

He studied the landscape, sending his own powers out to ensure they were well cloaked. “I didn’t know you could purchase such things. How much do you need to protect the Queen do you think? And… what about the other mother you were going to protect?”

“To your first question, I do not know. And to your second… I pray you will know that answer, for I do not.”

His gifts absorbed the power in those last words, producing something he’d never felt before. With every second, it grew dense and hungry. When it got to be too much, he managed to release it around them and he discerned it racing in every direction, gobbling up time and space before turning into a wall. Holy shit, he’d just built a massive barrier. No, a shield. Around her.

He considered her last statement and wondered over his role. This figure-it-out-as-you-go business with their mission was wearing on his every exposed nerve. And they were all exposed.

She placed a bare foot on the dash and released a quiet sigh. The small sound and the sight of her dirty toes sent a shower of sparks along his powers. He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel in wonder over it. Was she causing all these things? Did she know she was? He’d been testing her powers from the moment they’d met, partly on purpose, partlyaccidental. She was an impenetrable fortress. Even more so than Kaos had been to him.

But could she readhim?