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“It isn’t so surprising that Sela quit either, when you think about it,” said Mikhail, beside his brother. “It was getting on top of her watching newcomers join all happy and excited but then, after years of being regulars, eventually turn miserable and hopeless because they can’t stop.”

“Yeah,” muttered Nikandr. “Then she had to watch her friend’s partner repeatedly come here and gamble away his wages when he had a family to support.” He refocused on Luka. “You cut him off, but it didn’t stop him from blowing his paycheck—he just did it elsewhere.”

“I heard he threw a tantrum at a different venue, swearing that his car had been stolen from the lot,” Mikhail threw in. “Turns out it got repossessed while he was busy playing blackjack.”

That was the frustrating thing. Luka could ban someone from his club to prevent them from losing their funds, home, or other possessions, but they’d only submerge themselves in debt at another casino.

“Are you going to attempt to track down Draya?” Nikandr asked him.

Leaning back in his chair, Luka arched a brow. “She confronted and insulted Naomi. You think I’d let that slide?”

“Draya must think you will, or she would never have done it.”

Mikhail pursed his lips. “She probably figures Maddox will protect her from you.”

“He can try,” said Luka. It wouldn’t work. Neither he nor his demons were willing to ignore this.

Too many fucking people seemed to be under the mistaken impression that it was acceptable to upset his mate. He needed to make it abundantly clear that—

Konstantin’s psyche crashed into his. East corner of Shaler Road! Clerics!

Luka’s stomach dropped, a chill racing down his spine. He shot to his feet. Daniil, my office , he ordered.

“What’s wrong?” asked Mikhail as he and his brother stood.

“Clerics.” An acute sense of urgency clawing at him, Luka quickly reached out to his mate. Naomi? Naomi, tell me you’re all right.

Her psyche slid weakly against his, and he sensed that she was barely conscious.

Dread clutched his gut. Fuck, baby, hold on.

Right then, Daniil materialized.

“Take us to the east corner of Shaler Road,” Luka ordered.

Their surroundings blurred . . . and then darkened. All he could see was blackness. No, wait, there were brief flashes of hellfire and magick. And a loud cacophony of sounds.

Sounds of battle.

Sheer panic shuddering through him, he conjured a ball of hellfire to break up the darkness, but it didn’t help much. It did, however, gain him the attention of someone, because ribbons of magick sailed right at him.

He dodged them fast and then tossed the flaming orb. A loud yell of pain sounded, moments before the darkness abruptly lifted, like someone had snapped open blackout curtains.

Luka swept his gaze over his surroundings, searching for Naomi. Bodies littered the floor, some of them clerics. Several people stood around, including Jolene, Tobe, and Ciaran. Since the trio made no attempt to attack the others, he was assuming they were also imps.

He dismissed them, his only concern Naomi . . . but she was nowhere to be seen. He touched her mind again, immediately sensing that she’d passed out. Fuck. “They took her.” The words were torn out of him.

Blood rushed to his ears as rage, panic, and dread flooded his system, blindingly intense. There was another emotion. It had been so long since he’d felt fear that he almost didn’t recognize it. Cold and near-overpowering, it seemed bottomless; he could so easily drown in it.

“She’s alive?” asked Nikandr, his face creased in concern.

He nodded hard. “Unconscious, but alive.”

Crouched beside a fallen Konstantin, Mikhail grimaced. “He’s gone.”

Another pulse of anger coursed through Luka.

“Where’s Naomi?” Tobe demanded as he, Jolene, and Ciaran hurried over to them.

“The clerics seem to have snatched her right off the street,” Luka gritted out, feeling his skin stretch as his demons writhed beneath it, furious beyond measure, their minds leaping to the worst-case scenario, ready to burn the fucking world.

Tobe growled at him. “I thought you had a man on her.” The tension in his jaw made the words come out clipped.

“I did. The clerics killed him to get to her.” Luka could hear his heartbeat thrashing in his ears, fast and hard. It hurt to breathe; it felt as if his chest was being squeezed so tight he couldn’t get enough air. “The monastery is the likeliest place they’ve taken her.”

“It has to be somewhere we haven’t already looked,” said Jolene, her eyes blazing with ire, her voice as stiff as her posture.

Having pooled their resources, she and Luka had managed to narrow it down to three locations. But when they’d investigated them, no building had been uncovered. There hadn’t even been signs of life—each area had been barren and uninhabited by anything other than wild animals.

Nikandr shoved a hand through his hair. “I don’t get it. Why would they take Naomi rather than just kill her here and now? They want her dead.”

“I have not one clue,” Luka bit out resentfully, his chest still weighted, his breathing harsh and uneven. Wake up, baby , he urged psychically. I need you to tell me where you are.

But she didn’t.

A craving for vengeance heaved through him and pounded at his insides, threatening to cloud his thoughts.

He breathed through it, held himself in check by sheer force of will—Naomi needed that from him right now.

Later? Later, when he had the bastards who’d taken her in his custody, he could let that rage fly.

Hurting them wouldn’t be enough. Making them bleed wouldn’t be enough. He wanted to torture them. Dismember them. Castrate them. Whip them. Skin them alive . . . only to have a healer tend to their injuries so that he could do it all over again.

Daniil cursed, standing at a spot a few feet away. “What the hell is Iain doing here?” He squatted, examining the psi-demon. “Dead.” He tipped his chin at a nearby unfamiliar male. “So is he, whoever he is. A member of your lair?” he asked the imps, standing upright.

Briefly glancing away from his cell—and what the fuck was he doing on his phone, as if Naomi wasn’t the priority? —Tobe stiffly shook his head and said, “That’s Stefan. He hired the PI.”

Mikhail looked at Luka. “You think Iain was working with the clerics?”

“I don’t know. It could be that he was following Naomi again and attempted to help her.” Naomi, talk to me, baby , he pled.

Her psyche stirred. I’m . . . Don’t . . .

Luka’s pulse jumped, relief lancing through him. Where are you? Tell me.

Going by . . . symbols . . . monastery . . . temple . . .

He frowned. “She’s awake, but she’s psychically weak. And there’s something off about the connection. As though it’s being muddied—likely by magick.”

“I can barely understand her,” said Tobe, his gaze inward. “She’s saying something about . . . a temple?”

I’ll find you, Naomi. Some-the-fuck-how, Luka would find her. “I’m going to search the places where we thought the monastery might be again, starting with the first one.”

“Whoa,” began Tobe, “wait a second. The prophecy might state that you and Naomi take down the Lemures , but we want our pound of flesh too.” He waved a hand, gesturing at himself, the other imps, and Tia.

“Fine,” Luka bit out, “you can come along.”

Tobe pursed his lips. “Or . . .”

“Or what?” Luka pushed impatiently.

“Or we use the GPS tags that I put on her shoes without her knowledge. Yeah, I know she’s gonna rip me a new one, but I regret nothing. I already have the phone app trying to lock onto the tags as we speak. It won’t give us her exact location, but it’ll give us a general idea of where she is.”

It was better than nothing. Later, Luka would be pissed at the imp for putting trackers on his mate. Right now, his priority was getting to her. Just hold on for us, baby, we’re coming.

Jolene sidled up to him. “Don’t worry, Luka. Naomi will be fine. Truth is, it’s the clerics and their angel who are in the most danger.”

Luka felt his brow crease. “What does that mean?”

She spared his bodyguards and Daniil a quick look. Do they know about Naomi’s parentage? she asked Luka telepathically.

Daniil knows nothing. I told the twins only that her biological father is a fallen angel and then swore them to secrecy , he replied.

The Prime pressed her lips together, hesitating to continue.

Luka turned to his demons. “Give us privacy for a moment.” Once the three were out of hearing range, he refocused on Jolene. “Speak freely.”

“You have an honorary niece who’s half celestial,” began Jolene, “so you’ll know that demons like Naomi are . . . different.”

“Yes, I’m aware,” said Luka.

“It also often means that their inner entities are different. Sometimes even unstable to some degree.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Presumably you’ve met Naomi’s demon?” Tobe probed, though it wasn’t really a question.

“Of course,” Luka confirmed.

“I’ll bet it’s made brief appearances here and there to warn you to behave but hasn’t really involved itself in anything happening around it,” Tobe hedged.

“Sounds about right.”

“It doesn’t give a shit about anything except its own survival and that of the person with whom it shares its soul.

Naomi’s demon will protect her to the death, but it won’t do that cleanly or carefully.

It won’t be subtle, won’t show an ounce of mercy, won’t be leery of attracting human attention.

Because, in truth, there’s nothing low-key about that demon. ”

Luka narrowed his eyes, his own entities locked on the male imp, sensing there was more.

“She and her demon have a deal,” Tobe added.

“Unless she’s in the gravest danger, unless her life is truly at risk, it won’t interfere; it will let her handle it.

But if the threat is too big, if she’s outnumbered, the entity gets to take charge and eliminate the danger. Naomi has to take a back seat.”

Luka felt his brow furrow. She’d told him nothing of this. “And if the demon gets to take the wheel?”

“We’d better hope she’s somewhere isolated.

Somewhere no humans will stumble upon anything they shouldn’t.

Somewhere no random demons might witness what she can do and just how much power she carries.

Because if they do—human, demon, child, adult, innocent, guilty—the entity will kill them all. It allows no witnesses to live.”