“That’s right,” someone said.
“Fuck yeah.”
“We gotchu.”
The next thing Balz knew, all the bodies that had been at the mansion’s grand entrance were down around him. And the warmth he felt was about so much more than that cold wind getting blocked.
As Xcor’s heavy arm reached across his shoulders, Balz wiped off his face. Not that he was getting teary. He was a stone-cold bastion of tough guy over here. Stone. Cold.
“Tell us about the Book,” Tohr said. “We need to know.”
He coughed a little to compose himself. “I, ah, I went to do a little of my side hustle. Just my regular thing. I was walking through the place after I—” Did some hustle on the side with that wife. “Anyway, that’s when I saw it. A book that commanded my attention in ways I couldn’t—I still can’t—understand. It’s ancient and it smells bad, and it’s like it’s alive. I didn’t know exactly what it was the first time I saw it, but when Syphon told me about what you were seeking, I had to go back and see if maybe . . . there’s no question. It’s the Book. I know it in my soul. And I tried to get it tonight, but it’s protected by the brunette that Butch saw. The woman who is the new evil.”
The fact that he didn’t know whether his words were being heard as he intended them to was terrifying.
“Sahvage,” Tohr pronounced. “We need Sahvage. Whatever metaphysical protection shit is going on, he’ll handle it. And he’s agreed to help.”
Balz looked around at the faces that were so open, so trusting. For a thief and a liar to find this kind of love?
Well, in anyone other than a stone-cold tough guy, it would have brought a person to their knees.
“I need a cigarette,” Balz muttered.
V’s black-gloved hand pushed through with a hand-rolled. “Me, too,” the Brother said.
As they lit up together, Balz stared at the front of the battened-down mansion and thought about the brunette. “Sahvage and I go alone. I don’t want backup. If things are going to get bad, losing me won’t matter.”
“That is not true,” Xcor interjected.
Syn, Balz’s other cousin, and Zypher, his fellow bastard, spoke up as well on that one.
But all he could do was shake his head. “It is true. And what’s protecting it is . . . we can’t take chances with that demon. Trust me.” He met all the sets of eyes, one by one. “If Sahvage and I can’t get the Book and bring it back, it’s not get-able.”
Xcor spoke up. “But how do we cure you?”
Rehv answered that before Balz could. “The Book. We use the Book to get him clean.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, too,” Balz said on an exhale as he went back to looking at the mansion. “Or at least . . . that’s what I hope.”
Lying in the dark, holding Mae in his arms, Sahvage was about as calm as he was before a bareknuckle fight: He was knife-edged aware, eyes moving ceaselessly around the shadowed contours of the room, ears primed for any sound, senses reaching out. While beside him, his female—
No. She was not his.
This female, he amended, was safe. For now.
“Sahvage?”
“Yeah?” He hoped she wanted something to eat so he could do something. “You hungry? I can get you a little food?”
“I feel like I should apologize.” She pushed herself up on his chest. “I feel like . . . I wish I could stop myself. But I can’t. I’m hoping you can understand that, especially because you know what the loss feels like.”
Without thinking, he brushed a strand of her hair back. Then touched her face. As her breath caught, he did not approve of where his mind went.
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m so grateful you’re still here. Still with me.”
“I’m not leaving until this is over. For better or for worse.”
A ghost of a smile played over her face. “That’s a human thing.”
“What is?”
“For better or for worse. It’s what they say when they’re getting mated for life.” She looked away. “Anyway, I’m grateful you’re here.”
“Loyalty is pretty much my only virtue.” His voice grew wry. “And even so, I’ve managed to turn it into a sin.”
They stared into each other’s eyes. And then she said, “When I was trapped in that place . . . I was so angry. I felt totally cheated. I had tried to do so many things right over the course of my life, but there I was. I knew as soon as the brunette got back, she was going to kill me—and I was going to miss out on everything—which is pretty rich considering I live with a dead male and I work from home.”
Sahvage thought of the wasteland of his life. “At least you know you have an end.”
“The Fade again,” she said with resignation. “You really need to leave that alone.”