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Jolene pursed her lips. “He might. It depends on what exactly it states. If it doesn’t in any way impact him, probably not.

Unless he feels that preventing the birth of the Antichrist would please whatever deity he worships—a deity that may or may not be real.

Some of the ones they revere are actually completely fictional. ”

“One of the clerics quoted more of the prophecy,” Naomi told them, “but not in the ancient tongue, so I don’t know what the exact translation of it is.

But they believe I’ll birth the child of the devil, who’ll then lead an army of demons.

” She let out an aggrieved sigh. “I need to somehow get my hands on that prophecy so I can hear it in full. We have way too many unanswered questions.”

Jolene made a sound of agreement. “I’ll relay all of this to Khloe; it might help her narrow the search she’s running on old-ass prophecies. We’ll get answers soon—I believe that. Khloe’s never let me down yet.”

Opening a smoothie the next morning, Naomi glared at Tobe over the rim of the bottle.

“It’s your own fault that you didn’t hear about it sooner.

I tried telepathing you last night. Others did as well.

But you’d closed a mental door—probably because you didn’t want me bugging you to let Luka deal with Iain. ”

His arms folded, Tobe leaned back against her cherrywood kitchen counter. “You could have left me a text or something.”

“It wasn’t as if I’d been hospitalized or anything. My wounds were minor, and they healed fast.” Naomi knocked back some of her drink. “Where were you anyway?”

“I went to a house party.”

“A house party?”

“Yes. I needed to wind down. It did the trick. Now, tell me the full version of what went on last night. I only heard the ‘appropriate for people who don’t know Lou’s your dad’ version—it’s circulating around the lair like wildfire.”

Between swigs of her smoothie, Naomi relayed the entire event to him. “Though the cleric said he has many more brothers, a person’s definition of ‘many’ is subjective. It could mean there are a dozen more clerics. It could mean double that number. Or it could be that there are many, many more.”

Tobe dug his teeth into his lower lip. “At least we’re now aware that they’re directly working with a dark practitioner, however unknowingly. That’s something.”

Naomi stiffened as a mind brushed hers—familiar, masculine, edged with dominance —and then Luka’s voice flowed into her head: I recall you saying you won’t be working tonight, so I’ll come to you earlier than usual. Will six p.m. suit you?

So formal, she thought. It almost made her smile. Works for me.

Good. A pause. Just so you are aware, I will be keeping Iain under lock and key until I’m satisfied that his obsession with you has worn off.

Taken aback, Naomi double-blinked. Uh, okay. Wasn’t expecting that.

It’s necessary. Even after the ordeal he endured at mine and Belial’s hands, he swore point-blank that his feelings for you are real. I don’t trust that he won’t seek you out again if he’s free to go about his business.

“Who’re you talking to?” asked Tobe.

She held up a finger, urging him to wait.

He wouldn’t be able to return home anyway , Luka went on, since it somehow caught fire last night. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?

Naomi felt her lips flatten. No, not at all. But she had a very good idea who would.

If you say so , he said, all skepticism. Six p.m., Naomi.

Six p.m. , she echoed.

His psyche lightly bumped hers, and then he was gone.

She refocused on her anchor. “I thought you said you went to a house party.”

His brows dipped. “I did.”

“Really? Because Luka just told me that Iain’s home went up in flames last night.” There was no way he wasn’t responsible.

“Yeah. House party.”

She shook her head. “Unbelievable.”

“Chill,” said Tobe with an unconcerned flick of his hand. “Belinsky has no reason to connect it to our lair.”

“ Common sense ensured that he connected it to our lair.”

“Well, he can’t trace it back to anyone, so he can’t prove whatever he suspects.

” Tobe’s expression turned dark. “I still think you letting him into your life is a seriously bad call. But . . . I thought on what Lachlan said. He’s right.

You don’t have to defend your choices to me or anyone else.

So I won’t go confronting Belinsky or anything.

I reserve the right to be disapproving and moody about you sleeping with him, though. ”

Feeling her lips twitch, Naomi dumped her empty bottle in the trash can. “Very mature of you.”

He grunted. “You’ve got enough problems in your life right now; you don’t need me adding to them.

And Jolene made a good point—opposing Luka will only create holes in your security.

No way would I ever be down with that. Especially now, when you have not only Iain but those damn clerics targeting you. ”

“Speaking of Iain . . . Luka just informed me that he’s keeping the guy locked up until my song no longer has him in its clutches.”

Tobe’s head twitched to the side. “Really?”

“Yup. Not even under the strain of whatever torture session Luka and Belial put him through did he drop the whole ‘I love Naomi’ thing.”

Her anchor winced. “That’s bad.”

“I know. And it’s why Luka doesn’t trust that he will stay away from me. Hence his decision to keep him detained.”

“It’s the right decision. I approve,” Tobe added grudgingly, clearly annoyed that he agreed with any decision that Luka made.

“It’s just a shame it had to go this far,” she said with a sigh.

“Now all we have to deal with is the clerics. I don’t think it’ll be too hard to remove them from the picture. Even with a dark practitioner’s aid, what’s the worst they can do?”

Famous last words.