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“ You have a girl?” Titus sneered. “Any girl who’d choose you probably isn’t worth saving.”

I exploded through Jax’s hold and swung the blade of my katana right for Titus Wray’s throat.

Then power, heavy and absolute, stilled every cell in my body.

“I thought it’d be a good idea to stop time.” A voice spoke in the darkness of my mind. “So you could make a better choice.”

Gigi .

“If you kill him, Josef will fight you. So will Mimi. We need them to help find Gemma, remember?”

“But he said—”

“Does it matter, if you know the truth?”

“I don’t like when people talk bad about her because of me.” The sharp blade drew a tiny line of blood along Titus’ throat. “She shouldn’t be stained because of my sins.”

“Is she stained? You know her as well as I do. Maybe better on some levels. Has she been stained in any way over the past few months?”

I scowled. She knew the answer to that as well as I did.

“Then what is the issue? Let Titus Wray believe what he wants. You know the truth.”

I took a long, slow breath— one, two, three, four —and let it out in a rush.

“All right. For Gemma’s sake, I’ll spare him. Can you take us back a bit?”

“Maybe a few seconds.”

“Do it. Please.”

And the world blinked.

“The only thing I’m interested in, demon-taint, is finally putting you down like the rabid dog you are.” Titus struggled against Jax’s hold. “Before you can hurt or kill another soul.”

“You may have to step in, Josef.” Mimi’s voice was far away.

“I will get down on my knees and beg you if that’s what you want, Josef, but I’m asking for your help.” I looked over at him and tried to pretend Titus Wray wasn’t there. “I need to talk with a spirit to rescue my girl.”

Josef cocked his head to one side and narrowed his eyes at me, then swung his gaze to Gigi. He probably had a fair idea of what happened.

“Who took your girl?” He looked back at me. “And how long ago?”

“A djinni. Four days ago. He’s a slave for the Alchemist known as Fire, whose real name is Reginald Hubler.”

“ The Reginald Hubler?” Josef’s eyes opened wide.

I had a feeling we were gonna get that reaction a lot in the coming days.

“And what do you want with Mimi?” Titus growled.

“We need to talk to one of the Alchemists’ victims.” Gigi eased her way in front of me, then explained about Kasparian’s daughter.

As she talked, I slunk back until I was next to Rome and Mira.

“Even if all Astrid Kasparian can tell us is where she was murdered,” Gigi said, “it’s a place to start looking.”

“Is her name enough for you to go on?” I looked at Mimi.

“No.” Titus crossed his arms. “ You don’t talk to her. I don’t want your voice polluting her ears. You’re lucky I’m allowing you in her sight. No decent person should have to look at something like you .”

I knew Titus was only speaking the truth, but the words sliced into me like claws.

“Titus! Don’t be cruel. I told you, he’s not possessed anymore!”

“That doesn’t mean he’s untainted,” Titus snapped, “or suddenly trustworthy.”

“Actually, it does.” Mira stepped forward. “In the short time I’ve known him, Kerry Harker has treated me with respect and, along with Rome, saved my life twice. I’ll vouch for him being trustworthy.”

“Honey, the only thing I know about you is you reek of as much taint as he does. How often do demons get inside of you ?”

“ Titus !” Mimi hissed.

Too late. Rome towered over Titus, who was no small guy.

Wrong thing to say, buddy . Heh. I half-smiled. At least it’s not me looking to throw down this time.

“Even the lowest level warrior could smell that it’s coercion taint.” Rome didn’t raise his voice, but his eyes were chips of ice. “Apologize.”

“Ladies,” Mimi huffed, “how about we leave the Neanderthal here to beat each other over the heads and we go take care of business elsewhere, hmm?”

“They can’t help it.” Gigi giggled. “They come hardwired to protect.”

“It’s SOP in the girlfriend manual, actually.” Jax stuck his nose in the air.

Neanderthal? Oh, right. Caveman.

I remember Jax calling me that. It was the day I tossed Gemma over my shoulder, then kissed her until we both ran outta air.

Gemma…

I missed her so much, it was a constant ache in my gut. I missed playing with her hair and touching her face and watching her laugh. Missed her emerald eyes, her gentle teasing, her slow blushes. Missed daydreaming with her about all the things we would do after high school.

I felt eyes on me and met Josef’s gaze while Rome and Titus locked horns. He looked a little pale and a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. I frowned. As a muse, he had to use protection charms so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the psyches of people around him.

Maybe the current one is worn out. Or it can’t handle all of us at once, especially me.

“Stop.” Power rolled through his voice, and everyone froze. “Step away from each other.”

Rome and Titus did, then Josef told Titus he’d been rude. Titus rolled his eyes, but turned to Mira.

“I apologize. I know it’s coercion taint, and no one asks for that.

” Then he looked at Mimi. “And I’m sorry for interrupting, Mimi.

You had everything under control. And to make it clear, this isn’t about me thinking you can’t take care of yourself.

It’s about that punk and what I’ve seen him do to others even more powerful than you. ”

Mimi glared at him for a few seconds, then launched toward him, and he had to move fast to catch her.

“Thank you, Titus!”

It was obvious her smile rocked his world, and my heart squeezed up tight in my chest. I remembered the first time Gemma gave me one of her sunshine smiles. Idiot that I was, I’d scowled at her in return. It had taken me weeks to earn another one.

All at once, no warning, my walls fell, and terror swamped my chest.

Oh, my angel. What are they doing to you?

“Harker!” Josef pressed his palms against his temples. “Pull yourself together before my head explodes!”

“Sorry.”

“In for a count of four,” Jax said, “and out for a count of four. Try five if you can.”

“I guess that’s proof enough you’ve changed.” Titus crossed his arms. “The Harker I knew would’ve tried to rip out Josef’s throat, not apologized. And he certainly didn’t practice yoga to calm down. For that matter, he never calmed down.”

“Ti, you were rude to Harker, too,” Josef said.

“No. That’s asking too much.”

Josef glared at him.

Yeah, good luck with that.

“It’s not important.” I felt more stable now that the rest of the tension in the room was gone. “Let’s move on.”

“It is important,” Josef said.

“Titus.” That was all Mimi said as she looked up at him with big, sweet, innocent eyes.

He made a noise that sounded like he was strangling.

Wow. So not even the mighty Titus Wray can hold out against puppy-dog eyes.

“Harker,” he muttered, “I apologize for treating you like the piece of Hell-rot you were the last time I saw you.”

“Thanks.”