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Max tossed it onto the bed. “Payback,” he replied, “for the last time you decided to wake me up with one of your pillow fights.” If they were both in a playful mood, those pillow fights led to heated moments that were worth sacrificing sleep for. But right now, sex was the last thing on his mind—and the sour look on Dallas’s face assured him it was the last thing on hers too.
“Get dressed,” he said. “We’ve got shit to do.” After the others had left Hell’s Gate, they had gone back to bed, both of them too tired to start the day when it was still dark out. But Max hadn’t meant to sleep until nearly noon.
Dallas, on the other hand, slept until noon quite often.
She looked out the window. “Now? The day’s barely started.”
“It’s almost noon.”
She threw the quilts over her face and burrowed deep.
“Get your ass outta bed, Dallas. Now.”
Soft snoring was his only reply. There was no way she had fallen asleep again that fast.
Max sighed. She was asking for this.
He ripped the covers off the bed, sheets and all, exposing a half-naked Dallas to the crisp air.
She squealed, drawing her knees up to her chest. “You are such a jackass!” she hissed, goosebumps prickling across her legs. Damn, those legs looked good. So did the curve of her ass, visible under the hem of her oversized shirt…and her lacy black underwear.
Focus, Max.
“You have ten minutes to get ready if you want to come with me.” He grabbed his keys and wallet off the dresser. “Go ahead and sleep the day away if that’s what you want, but don’t try to tell me I didn’t offer to include you.”
He vanished into the hall, walking slowly to see if she would take the bait.
A couple seconds later, she bit with a defeated groan. “Include me in what?” she called.
Max picked up his pace, and when he reached the staircase he thundered down the steps and into the foyer. With over half of the Devils gone, the house was quiet. Lonely. He was so used to a full house that anything less than that felt like an empty shell.
His sharp hearing picked up on the sound of his bed creaking as Dallas stood, followed by the slap of her bare feet on the floor.
“Include me in what?” she called again.
Max went to the closet to grab his jacket and boots.
He had been up nearly all night, thinking. About his past. About Maya. About the house that had burned down, and the mother he hadn’t spoken to in years.
Now that Darien was practically forcing him to solve the mystery surrounding his sister, he would waste no time in looking for her. He wanted answers. More than that, he wanted to see her again, wanted to see for himself that Maya Jane hadn’t died in that house fire seven years ago.
The situation had been believable. Perfectly fabricated, now that he thought about it. No one had suspected the truth back then, not even Max. But what he’d learned these past few weeks, not just about Maya but about himself as well, had changed things. Turned out, he didn’t know himself nearly as well as he believed, and if that were possible then he hadn’t known his sister as well either. Maybe even at all.
The thought irked him. But if Maya had been keeping secrets, then Max trusted she had a good reason for it.
Max shrugged into his brown leather jacket and zipped it up. He took his boots with him to the staircase and sat down on the bottom step. As he shoved his feet into his boots, he realized the reason the house sounded extra quiet today was because Mortifer wasn’t eating his ice chips.
If he leaned forward, he could see the Hob from here, his silhouette tucked behind the cereal boxes on top of the fridge. His small back was facing Max, his shoulders slumped, head hanging low.
“He’ll be back soon,” Max called, knowing exactly whose absence was causing Mortifer to mope.
The Hob glanced over his shoulder, his sad red eyes meeting Max’s. He slid himself over a few inches until he was fully hidden behind a box of fruit-flavored cereal.
Dallas hurried down the stairs in jeans and a t-shirt, a rain jacket slung over an arm. Her wings were concealed with a spell she’d purchased on the Avenue of the Scarlet Star—a legal one. Her days of visiting the Umbra Forum were behind her now.
“Alright, big guy,” she said, side-stepping him as she went in search of her own shoes. “Time to fill me in.”
“We’re going to find Maya.”
