Page 140 of Ballad of Nightmares

“Down, kitty,” he teased as he, too, pushed off the desk.

“You know… once she’s settled…” Millie’s brows wagged at him as he moved around to the other side and felt his smile heightening at the suggestion.

“Maybe if you’re a good little demon,” he said, voice dropping.

She leaned over the desk, palms pressing into the wood. “Ooo… Daddy, let me play,” she pouted. “Pretty please.”

And this time, Sam actually chuckled out loud. “Begging from your feet doesn’t suit, Mills. You know I prefer you on your knees.”

“So do I,” she grinned. “You know, speaking of your lover… Rolfe has been gone a while now,” Millie said. “Think he skipped off with her?”

“Or perhaps had his head snapped,” Sam grunted, thinking of anything that Ana might do.

“That’s one of the reasons I like her so much,” she said. “Ready to strike at any moment. Did you find out how she killed the guards?”

Sam smiled fondly. “I’ll let her tell you.”

The door opened slowly, the creak of it like an awaiting pin to drop. A grim-faced Rolfe appeared in the door, and Sam shot to his feet, his stomach plummeting to the ground.

“Fucking—Roll—“ Millie was out of the chair and helping him in the room.

Sam hardly moved. He couldn’t. Something was wrong.Ana…

“Where is she?” Sam demanded.

“Boss, I—“

The shadowed fog trickled over the floor, filling up every square inch of the ground as it traveled to Rolfe. Rolfe swallowed, his hands running through his hair. “Boss…”

Sam took one step around the desk. “Where… is she…”

And finally, Rolfe found the courage to look Sam in the eyes. “She’s gone.”

Sam tried to stifle his rising rage. He tried to stop himself from sending shadows around his friend’s throat and strangling him until he couldn’t shift anymore. He tried not to snap the entire castle in half with a lightning strike.

“Where is she?” he asked, his voice coming out like the rattle of Death himself.

“Someone snatched her in the garden,” Rolfe said fast. “There’s—“

Sam lost it.

Shadows dove around Rolfe’s wrists and ankles, and before Sam could stop, his hand was around Rolfe’s throat, teeth bared, and he threw him into the wall.

“How could someone get to her?!” Sam shouted. “How—How—“

Rolfe struggled, his body stretching and flashing between himself and his hound form. He writhed beneath Sam’s grip, but Sam only grew more enraged as images of Ana going out into that garden, someone snatching her away, filled his mind. Rolfe’s claws scratched his arms, his torso, his face.

Sam didn’t care. Rolfe could rip his flesh to shreds.

His hand tightened on Rolfe’s throat. “Where is she?”

“Sam, stop!” Millie shouted, hitting Sam’s arms.

Shadows swirled around Millie and threw her back. But Millie didn’t stop, and neither did Sam.

“I followed—“ Rolfe couldn’t breathe.

“Samarius, let him go so he can tell you!” Millie shouted. “He can’t breathe!”