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She eyed me, then shrugged. “Fine.” She pulled a vial from her pocket and tossed it to me through the barrier between us. “Your blood, fill it. Not risking you going back on your word.”

I sliced my arm and filled the vial, pushed the stopper in, and tossed it to her. “I won’t go back on my word.”

She put it in her pocket and tilted her head, looking at me in a way that I didn’t like, not at all. “Taking this information to her won’t earn you forgiveness, you realize that?”

I wanted to tell her to mind her own damn business, that she didn’t know what she was talking about, but she saw right through me. “I don’t expect forgiveness. I just want to help her.”

“That’s good, because you’re too late.”

My fox’s ears pricked at the eerie note to her voice, the look that shifted through her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She shrugged a bony shoulder, her eyes flashing red, her demon side coming through. “Only that you missed your chance.”

The old witch was fucking with me and enjoying it.

She pointed to a glass jar hanging off the tree. There was a small piece of folded paper inside it that hadn’t been there before. “There’s your information. Get that feral taken care of.” Then she turned and headed back up the path.

I stared after her, my heart in my throat. You’re too late. Those words echoed through my mind and kept on doing so as I took the piece of paper from the jar, shoved it in my pocket, and headed for home.

This was the last place I wanted to be.

The line to get into The Vault had been down the street. Thankfully I knew the bouncers, and they’d let me through. I’d been trying to find Jasmine, to give her the message from Agatheena, but she wasn’t home or at the clubhouse. Warrick said some of the hounds had come here, Iris, Mags, and Rose as well. Jasmine would be with them.

It didn’t happen often, but there was a band playing tonight. The vampire cover band played older music and were a favorite around the city, which meant the place was packed. I worked my way through the crowd, but it wasn’t hard to find who I was looking for. The hounds stood head and shoulders above everyone else. There were a lot of pack members from Silver Claw here as well. Bram stood to the side, talking with Ronan and Draven. Bram’s three brothers, Payne, Rook, and Talon, were with them as well.

The band was playing, so I knew exactly where I’d find Jasmine. I searched the dance floor. She and Rose with their pale blond hair made it easy to find them in the crowd. They were at the edge, so Iris, Mags, and Rose could stay close to their mates.

The song ended and I started toward them. Jaz had turned and was talking to Rome and Relic, a huge smile on her face.

“Hey, Roxburgh, you wanna get Close to Me?” the singer called out.

The crowd cheered as they started playing The Cure song. Jasmine did a little jump and grabbed Rome’s hand. The big male grinned down at her and shook his head. I could see him mouth, “I don’t dance, Jazzy,” from here.

A growl tore from my chest. I didn’t want her near Rome. No fucking way.

You threw her away.

Because I didn’t have any other choice. That didn’t change the way I felt, though.

She danced anyway, right in front of Rome, still holding his hand, moving around him while he stood there with a fucking huge grin on his face. Jaz laughed and sang and moved between Rome and Relic as if they were living, breathing fucking poles for her to swing around.

My fox wanted to break free, and my claws pressed against the tips of my fingers. Before I could reach them, Bram’s brother Talon was there. He took her hand and led her out onto the floor, the cocky crow pulling her into his arms, laughing and dancing with her, with my Jasmine.

Mine.

I planted my feet to the floor, not knowing what the fuck to do. I wanted to kill him, tear him limb from limb, but I’d given that right up. I’d given her up, and there was no going back, so I watched them, rooted to the spot, not sure what the fuck to do, feeling like I was dying inside.

I may have given her up, but I needed her to look at me. Selfishly, I still needed that from her. I wanted her eyes on me. I missed it, craved it. I needed it. I’d been without it for almost a week.

As he spun her around, her gaze finally found me. Usually, I’d see a change in her. A multitude of emotions would flash through her beautiful eyes, because she’d felt the pull toward me like I had toward her. But this time, there was nothing. Her gaze skittered over me like I was anyone else. There was none of the hurt or disappointment I’d seen before she left my place a week ago.

There was just…nothing.

Jasmine

* * *

Talon laughed when I spun around him. All I was feeling in that moment was happiness, a release, blowing off some steam after a week of reading from the demon library, of combing Nightscape for any reports of unusual spiritual activity, of driving around aimlessly and walking the city with my sigils off hoping they’d just pop out and show themselves, and coming up with absolutely nothing—and that sense of freedom, just for a couple of hours, didn’t change when I spotted Ren across the room. The pain didn’t come. The feeling of wanting him so bad it was like an open wound was gone.