“I appreciate your honesty.”
Josiah moves. One moment he’s in front of us, the next he’s across the room at Layla’s side, so fast my shifter eyes barelycatch the blur. He catches her wrist before she dips into the paint again.
“What?” She tilts the panel toward him. “I want to get this finished before sunrise.”
“My love.” His thumb brushes her wrist. “I hate to interrupt your project, but there’s something I need to take care of.”
She frowns and then she smiles, fangs flashing. “Date night?”
“I’ll dance with you over their bodies.”
“Oh, Jo.” She straightens his tie for him. “You’re always so romantic.”
I scrunch my nose and Aaron catches my expression.
“If the last place you saw Eric was in Downtown Detroit,” Josiah says, turning back to us, “then he’s still in Downtown Detroit.”
Aaron frowns. “I don’t understand.”
“Your father will be easier to track than you think. If he’s still with Henry, that makes him easier to find.”
Josiah kisses Layla’s hand and snaps his fingers. A portal opens in front of us, swirling, dark, edged in light that doesn’t belong to any magic I’ve ever seen. My lion presses forward inside me.
“How did he do that?” I look up at Aaron.
“Are you coming?” Josiah asks him. “It would help. You can track Eric much better than I can.”
“You want to go now?” Aaron questions.
Layla walks into Josiah’s arms and presses a kiss to his cheek. His eyes close, and when he opens them the red has faded.
“‘To wait for the perfect moment is to wait for a moment that never arrives. Action, imperfect and immediate, is the only honest response to urgency.’ Chapter twenty-one.”
My tail switches behind me, fast, agitated. My lion is pacing, every instinct telling me this is a very bad idea.
“Would you prefer to take your lioness somewhere safe?” Josiah asks.
Aaron’s hand tightens around mine and pulls me into him. A purr rolls out of me.
Aaron looks down at me and my lion stills.
“I’d leave you with your father, your pride, if I wasn’t so selfish,” he says.
My lips part and he leans in and presses his lips against mine. I lean into it and my tail curls around his hip.
“But after almost losing you,” he murmurs against my lips, “I can’t do it. I need you to stay with me.”
My lion purrs so hard my chest vibrates. “Okay.”
“I swear I’ll take care of you.”
“Okay.” It comes out softer than I want it to, but his eyes light up and his mouth curves.
“Love.” Josiah squeezes Layla one more time and she melts into him. He looks at us over her shoulder. “How sweet.” He releases her and gestures toward the portal. “Shall we?”
Aaron kisses me again, quick, then turns me toward the portal. I see the other side before we step through—dim colored lights, the outline of a long counter, bottles lined up against a dark wall. My lion’s ears go forward. It’s not any kind of place I’ve been before. The air coming through smells wrong.
Aaron stops on the figure behind the counter. Blond hair, pale skin glowing, a glass in one hand, a rag in the other.
