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I leant in, my head angled to one side as if I were contemplating kissing him. I could feel Damyr’s hard gaze burning a hole in the side of my face, but I remained calm, hoping he could feel it through our connection. Considering he hadn’t jumped over his desk to manhandle me like a caveman, I was taking that as a yes.

“Byron,” I groaned as I wrapped my hand around his waist. I left it a moment before I squeezed hard against the wound on his hip. He winced and pulled back, a sneer on his face. “Don’t play games with me. I’m not a toy for your amusement.”

I dug my thumb into his hip bone again but the guy just grinned. “That’s a shame. You’ve got more backbone than I’d given you credit for, little bird.”

“It wasn’t you I was trying to distract.”

I laughed as I leant back against the sofa, I knew the only way to really get Byron to piss off was to play him at his own game. Byron looked at Wilder and found the guy grinning at him with an unsettling smile. The people around here were fucking weird.

“If you’ve all quite finished,” Damyr said, his words clipped. But there was a warmth in his eyes when they met mine, and I almost preened a little.

Damyr clicked his mouse and sound started to play from his monitor. It was like a hum, the buzz from a microphone picking up faint background noise.

“Well, Damyr, we aren’t off to a great start, are we?”

The voice was like a low rumble with a harsh edge to it, his words laced with anger.

“I hear there was a little explosion down at the docks yesterday. Oops. My bad. But can I let you into a little secret? I’ll do much worse before the week is through. I’m going to take everything from you. Just like you took everything from me. You were warned, Damyr. Time to pay the price. Oh, and Byron? Say hello to your brother for me.”

“What did he just say?” Byron said as he shot to his feet and strode behind the desk to look at the screen. “Motherfucker!”

He turned on his feet and headed out of the room.

“Byron, wait,” Damyr called.

“No, Damyr. He’s got my brother.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Damyr said sternly, his hand halting the door. “Look at the picture. It’s a grainy snapshot of some CCTV footage. I’m sure your brother is fine.”

The look on Byron’s face was murderous. “No one stalks my brother but me.”

Excuse me, what? Did I just hear that right?

I glanced around the room but the only one who seemed remotely perturbed by Byron’s comment, was Wilder. Guess this was normal for the psychopath then.

“I need to go. I need to check. It should be impossible to find Bishop, and somehow this guy’s managed to get a shot of CCTV from across the fucking street. I don’t like it, Damyr.” Byron looked at the floor and I realised this was the first time I’d seen a hint of real emotion from him. The guy looked panicked. Seems like he did have a heart where his brother was concerned.

Although I’m pretty sure stalking was probably Byron’s love language.

“Okay, go.” Damyr opened the door for him. “Be careful.”

Byron nodded on the way out and then he was gone.

Silence descended and Damyr’s eyes met mine across the room.

Worry churned deep in my gut, and it made me feel a bit nauseous. Had I got in too deep? Was I in over my head? It was moments like this I really wanted to speak to Maya. She always had good advice and always knew how to make me feel better about any situation. She fought in my corner and was on my side. I needed someone like that right now. Someone who wasn’t a part of all this criminal underworld bullshit.

“What now?” Aleksey asked.

“Acheron, Wilder. Check all the wards. Every property, every location we own.”

The blue haired wizard looked pissed, but he grabbed Wilder and vanished without another word.

“Vlad, reach out to the other Families. Let them know what’s going on.”

He nodded his agreement and left the room, phone already by his ear as he made a call.

“And me, Boss?” Aleksey asked, his face hard and eyes cold.