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“What does that mean?” His beautiful face started to twist from anger to agony.

“Oh, shit.” Hel’s brows rose.That explains his reaction,Hel said to her mind.

“What is it?” Thane demanded.

“I believe Katana is your soulmate, and,” she had to take a steadying breath, “Atlanta wasn’t alone when he attacked us… Synick escaped.”

He stared at her, fury and agony and terror, warring for dominance. “No,” his voice broke. Those emerald-green eyes watered and he tore his gaze away. “No. She’s terrified of him, she’s… I promised her I wouldn’t let him hurt her again. I swore it.”

Valeen held back tears. “Have you felt her? Can you speak to her?”

His hand ran down his face and he started pacing. “No, I don’t know how. I haven’t seen a mark on me… are you sure?”

“No, I’m not sure, but… it doesn’t matter right now. We can spare some soldiers to go house to house until she is found.”

He curled his hands into fists. “Iwill go house to house until she is found,” he snapped. “I will find her and kill both Synick and Atlanta.”

“We are about to be invaded.” Hel crossed his arms. “The High King needs to prepare his people for battle. That is your duty.”

“And that would stop you from finding Valeen?” Thane shook his head and marched inside the city.

Hel smirked, watching him walk away. “Well, she’s definitely his mate. He just chose her over… everyone else.”

“We need to go with him. My walls will hold until we find her.”

Thane stopped and whirled on his heel. “How do you two speak to each other’s minds?”

Chapter 54

KATANA

Atlanta turned and snatched Katana before she could back toward the door and shoved her into a small recess in the wall with a suit of black armor. To make it out the front entrance would mean she’d have to get around Atlanta, and Synick stood on the path of the back exit.

“Calm down, Atlanta. Put the trident away.” Synick held up a palm and grasped the Sword of Truth in the other. “You don’t want to do this. We can still work together.”

“I don’t work with demon cohorts.”

“They tortured me for centuries. Believe me, I am not with the demon princes. But we are trapped here, and Valeen will eventually find her sister. What then? She has Hel, War, and an immortal weapon. We need each other.”

There had to be a way out. She peered around the suit of armor’s leg. There was a window in the wall directly across from her, but she’d have to run between them to get to it. There was a hallway around the corner to her right. Maybe she could slip unnoticed…

Katana.

She jumped, clutching her hands to her breast, startled by the male voice in her mind.

Katana, can you hear me?

Pressing herself against the wall behind the armor, she rubbed her temples. Surely, she was going mad. This wasn’t another one of her panic attacks, was it? Her heart was beating hard, but that was because she was trapped in a house with the two males who’d tormented her.

Katana, I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise. Where are you? Please tell me. I will find you.

Thane?she thought. It was his voice certainly, she’d recognize it anywhere. He was in her dreams almost every night after all… the one respite between nightmares. The trauma of being taken must have broken her mind again, and of course she would think of him. She loved him.

She heard his sigh of relief.Yes, Katana. Where are you?

Are you truly talking to my mind? Are you real?She’d asked him that once before when he stood right in front of her. She’d felt as silly then as she did now.

I’m real, and I’m coming to get you. Is Synick there? Or just Atlanta?