Page 9 of Forbidden (Dark Delights #3)

Ira, soaked in sweat, collapsed to the padded surface of the floor, gasping for breath. “No more,” he pleaded. “Mercy. Mercy!”

“Ira, that was the warm-up ,” Alex said with a laugh.

“I wasn’t made for this kind of torture,” he despaired.

Luke snorted.

Angela laid down at his head, and after a moment, Zachary joined them, laying with their heads together and their feet out like spokes on a wheel.

“Fine, ten minute break,” Alex said begrudgingly. “But then we’re putting a sword in your hands and teaching you to swing it.”

“Torture,” Ira declared, staring up at his own reflection on the ceiling. They’d replaced the broken lightbulbs and taken out a loan to cover the costs of the remodel, despite the protests from the demons that a loan wasn’t necessary. Knowing they were beholden to a bank made the whole thing feel more legitimate.

Zachary and Angela’s uncle and cousins were hard at work during the day on the bigger parts of the remodel that they didn’t know how to do themselves, and at night, they trained. Alex and Luke often patrolled in the evenings after training, assuring the trainees each time that eventually they would join them for actual field work. The kids were eager to get started. Ira, not so much.

In the last two weeks, they’d fallen into a routine. Wolf would drop Ira off at the Rink at sundown and go to work at In Extremis. Ira would hang out at the Rink and help with cleaning or organizing. If they weren’t working, they were training. It was harder, more physical work than Ira had ever done in his life, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. For the first time in his life, he felt truly good. He didn’t force himself to endure long fasts anymore. If he had a vision, so be it, but the pressure to provide them regularly was gone. For the first time in his life, he was in charge of his own body and mind. After Wolf’s shift, he’d join them at the Rink until sometime after dawn, when they would all shuffle home. Even the humans kept to a more nocturnal schedule these days, thanks to their demonic companions. He fell asleep each morning in Wolf’s arms.

“So, is it true?” Angela asked, bumping his head with hers. “You get messages from God?”

“I receive visions,” Ira corrected. “I don’t know where they come from. The guild says they’re from Him, but I can’t say for sure.”

“I’m not convinced,” Talon said, strolling across the padded floor to join them.

The padded floor was another recent addition. They’d covered the skating floor with interlocking mats for their training. The Rink was starting to look the way it was meant to. The knowledge filled him with satisfaction. He’d made the right choices.

“Well, of course you’re not,” Ira replied, and Talon grinned wolfishly, sliding an arm around Alex’s shoulders.

“What do you think, then?” Angela asked him, rolling onto her stomach and kicking her feet in the air like this was gossip at a sleepover.

“I believe he sees the future,” Talon said. “There are stories from all cultures of people with clairvoyance. It doesn’t mean the visions come from any god, though. I don’t think they’re religious visions at all. I think he just sees things.”

“Why does the guild have so many prophets, then?” Alex asked.

“Because they have a lot of money and resources to help them find people who have that particular talent. They find them from a young age, indoctrinate them, tell them they’re receiving special messages from a god who cares, and voilà.” He gestured to Ira. “Their modus operandi continues, because they have people who see the future telling them what their next move should be.”

That… was an uncomfortable thought. Was that really what they were doing? Was it intentional or subconscious? Was it not really about protecting people but maintaining the status quo? Did they care more about their power and their position of authority in the supernatural realm? It would explain why they were so willing to let Luke go back into the field alone after his squad was killed, and why they’d fixated on the pair of paladins who’d left and found happiness elsewhere. As large and powerful as they were, going up against them would be no mean feat. If they truly wanted, there was nothing stopping them from coming out in droves for their little group of misfits and ending them once and for all. The fact that the guild wasn’t unified about how to deal with them seemed to be the only reason Sloan hadn’t ordered such a move.

“Ouch,” Alex remarked to Ira, who nodded forlornly. Their minds had obviously gone down a similar path.

Luke kicked the bottom of Ira’s shoe. “Come on. Up, you three. Let’s get started.”

They trained into the night, practicing steps and swings with the sword and then moving on to strength-training. They’d found some old weights at a secondhand store and put them on the far side of the training floor.

Ira was grateful that they cared enough to train him, but he wasn’t sure he was cut out for this physical lifestyle. Swords were heavy . That wasn’t something he’d ever really thought about before. The paladins made it look so easy. They swung them around on the training yard like they were extensions of their arms. Ira knew, logically, that they were solid metal, but he’d never even lifted one until they stormed the Rink.

When Wolf joined them at dawn, he was sprawled on the padded floor again, glistening unattractively with sweat and panting for breath. Zachary and Angela were in similar shape, so at least he wasn’t alone in his misery.

Wolf strode over with a low chuckle and came to a stop with a foot on either side of his head, peering down at him with an amused tilt to his mouth. “Did they kill you?”

“Yes,” Ira croaked. His arms were so sore he doubted he’d be able to push himself upright.

“Should I avenge you?”

“Please.”

“I brought food. ”

“ Yes , food,” Zachary said, rolling to his feet. Angela followed with a groan, leaving Ira alone. He wasn’t sure where they found the energy to stand.

“You have an addiction,” Ira said.

Wolf frowned, his eyes glittering with mirth. “To what?”

“To feeding me.”

“Oh.” Wolf barked out a laugh. “A cross I’m willing to bear—religious puns aside.”

Ira snorted out a laugh.

“Come on.” Wolf hauled him to his feet and then leaned down to kiss him soundly on the lips.

Ira sighed into it, tipping his head back and pressing closer. When they parted, he smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi. Come on, I got you a sandwich.”

Ira let himself be led, and when they reached the old air hockey table where the food was spread out, he absentmindedly checked his brand-new phone for messages, surprised to see he had one.

It was from Nathan.

Just heard they’re looking for a missing prophet. Been to your place. Paladins instructed to keep an eye out. Haven’t told anyone I spoke to you.

“Crap,” he muttered. He’d been gone less than a week. He’d known the guild would notice his absence quickly, but being away from them, it was easy to put them out of his mind and focus on things like Wolf and building their new life together, which included the Rink and their friends. In all the excitement, he’d forgotten what a threat they still posed.

“What is it?” Wolf asked, leaning over him. Ira angled the phone so he could read it. “Shit. ”

“Share with the class?” Talon drawled, bracing his hands on the air hockey table beside Alex, who sat on a stool with his mouth full.

“The guild has noticed my absence,” Ira said. His stomach knotted with anxiety, but they’d done a good job making him disappear. He’d left everything behind they might’ve been able to track, and he hadn’t even used a credit card since meeting Wolf. They couldn’t possibly know he was with Wolf or that he’d been in contact with Alex and Luke. They would probably suspect and come looking for him eventually, no matter how well he hid his tracks. It was too big of a coincidence that he was the third person to leave the guild in less than a year. Even the thickest idiots at the guild would assume they were related.

“What do you think they’ll do?” Wolf asked. “They don’t know where you are, and they have nothing to track you with.”

“They’ll…” He blew out a breath, considering what the guild’s next logical step might be. “Nate said they went to my apartment already, so that means they’ve seen that I left my phone and ring behind. They know I don’t intend to come back. Then, they’ll probably ask my neighbors if they’ve seen me. I didn’t speak to the landlord or anything before I disappeared, so they’ll probably take care of all of that. They won’t want the police getting involved. They’ll probably check my bank statements, but I haven’t used my debit or credit cards since I disappeared. They might resort to bullying information out of halflings from the club, if they start to suspect I’m with you guys—which they will, eventually, if they don’t already.” He fidgeted. He didn’t want them going after anyone else. “Maybe I should call my old supervisor or something, tell them I’m quitting, make it official? ”

“You said they wouldn’t just let you go,” Wolf said gruffly.

“Yeah, but I don’t want anyone else getting caught in the crossfire.”

Talon waved a hand. “There’s crossfire in every direction at this point. The best thing to do is choose a side and hunker down.”

Ira knew better than most that he was right, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“Don’t worry about people at the club,” Wolf said. “We’re used to random paladins showing up occasionally to bully us with questions we don’t want to answer. Luckily for us, not many halflings know who you are, and the ones who do won’t talk. This will blow over. We just have to stay the course. Keep being careful and covering our tracks.” He gave Ira an imploring look. “Don’t give them any more information than necessary.”

“Right, yeah.”

Wolf nudged him into taking a bite of the sandwich before him, but he had a feeling things were going to get worse before they got better.