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“What the fuck do you think I have been doing these past few years?” Axel demanded.

“How the fuck could you not know of the unrest among the Night Children?” Theon countered. “We walked into a godsdamn trap tonight. We shouldn’t have been surprised like that. You should have known it was coming. It’s your only fucking job.”

Axel stared at Theon, completely at a loss for words. The only thing he could muster was, “Fuck you, Theon,” before he was striding for the lift.

“Cienna said to tell you to take the Fae with you,” Gia called over her shoulder.

“That’s a bad idea right now,” he called back, repeatedly pressing the button for the lift until the doors opened.

“Do with the information what you will,” Gia replied. She sounded so unbothered, as though she truly didn’t care what Axel decided to do.

He looked back over his shoulder. The Witch held her hand over Tessa’s wound on her chest, a faint glow emanating from her palm. Her eyes were closed as she concentrated on her work. Luka was back to saying nothing, and Theon was still pacing, refusing to look at Axel like the utter prick he was.

Already regretting his decision, he looked at Katya. She was standing off to the side, her hands clasped in front of her. There were smudges of soot on her brown skin from the fight, and her shirt was torn where she’d ripped the strip of fabric from it.

“Come on,” Axel said, jerking his chin to the open lift, but Kat hesitated. He couldn’t really blame her. With another heavy sigh, he said, “Kat, come with me. We’ll go get…supplies.”

She nodded, tucking curls behind her ear as she moved, stepping into the lift behind him. No one said anything else to them as the lift doors slid shut, but when Theon met his gaze at the last moment, Axel lifted his middle finger in goodbye.

The two story suite spanned the entirety of the tower that stretched high into the cavern. The ride down the several levels was silent and filled with tension. Kat’s scent assaulted him. Jasmine and citrus, something smoky. He was leaning against the back wall, his fingers curled tightly around the railing that ran the perimeter, breathing through his godsdamn teeth as desire warred inside of him.

Desire for blood.

Desire to punch something.

Desire to fuck.

Desire for her.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He practically burst out of the lift, the doors not even fully open when he pushed through them. He could hear Kat’shurried footsteps to keep up with his long strides. It wasn’t until they were outside the tower that he took a full breath. It wasn’t quite fresh air being inside the mountains and all that, but at least it felt open and spacious. The sounds of the Charter District assaulted him, grounded him. People yelled to each other across the make-shift roads. Passersby ducked their heads, pulling hoods down over their faces to avoid being recognized. There weren’t vehicles down here, but there were animals. Horses. Dogs. Griffins and even some birds of prey. And, of course, the Shifters. But they ran the Leisure District and tended to stay there.

Right now, though, he needed to get to the Dispensary District, not only for the blood, but to talk to the four people who ran the District— the leaders of the main four Night Children clans.

Because while Theon had been an absolute dick about it, he’d been right. Guilt churned in his stomach. This was his territory. This was his only job. The spare heir whose only purpose was to secure their foothold in this domain.

And he’d failed at it.

The sound of Katya softly clearing her throat had him turning towards her. He’d just been standing there, staring at nothing. She peered at him from beneath her thick lashes, clearly uncertain of what she was supposed to do, if she should say anything. All that time drawing her out of her shell, and he’d scared her right back into it.

He wanted to touch her, reassure her, but he didn’t trust himself to do either of those things right now. The problem was, he also couldn’t risk having her trail behind him. Not here.

Gritting his teeth, he grabbed her hand, his grip tight. “Keep up,” was all he could muster as he towed her along behind him.

“Slow down,” she hissed in return.

But he didn’t. He didn’t acknowledge her again as he led her through the Charter District. Main roadways connected all five central districts, but the Dispensary District was on the opposite side from the Charter District. They’d have to pass through the Leisure, Apparel, and Apothecary Districts on their way. It would take more than an hour to move from one end to the other on foot, and he could only assume there would be hold ups along the way.

In short, he would never make it to the Dispensary District without needing at leastsomeblood to hold him over.

It didn’t take them long to cross out of the Charter District; it was the smallest of the five. The main road divided the next two districts— Leisure to the north and Apparel to the south. He could likely find a dealer in the Leisure District, but he was leery of trusting anyone at the moment. Not until he spoke with the clan leaders to find out exactly what the fuck was going on down here. The Shifter Alpha and Beta that ran the Leisure District were fickle. They’d side with whoever would give them the best deal.

The Fae ran the Apparel District, and while that seemed fundamentally wrong compared to how the rest of Devram was run, these were Fae that had been sent to the Underground for some heinous crime or another. They were Fae the ruling families had decided were not worth their time to correct and tossed to the Arius Kingdom to deal with. There was a male and female who ran the District that specialized in apparel— not just clothing, but the weapons that a person could adorn themselves with as well.

With a frustrated sigh, he turned south. He’d have better luck in the Apparel District, especially with?—

He sighed again. Especially with a Fae at his side.