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“She’s dead because of you!” Sebastien screeched. “Come back to me, stay with me, and nobody else gets hurt.” Sebastien struggled to brace Reynard off him. “The fucking whore deserved it. They all deserve it. And they will all die, one by one, until you kneel to me.” Reynard growled. “Get this fucking leech off me!”

Zee glanced to me again, and there was that resignation, that moment when he surrendered. For his friends. For me.

“No, Zee.”

His eyes said sorry for him. “Reynard, let him up. Take Adam, and go,” Zee said.

“No.” I marched toward him. “I am not leaving you here. Not again. I can’t leave you here with him.”

“This isn’t about you, Kitten.” He sounded calm, but the way his wings flared and his tail whipped back and forth said he was far from it. “It’s about keeping people safe. If I’m here, they are safe, and so are you. Victor,” Zee growled, turning away from me. “Don’t make me fight you in a fluffy gown.”

“Zee, please . . .” I sidestepped, putting myself between him and the battle on the bed. “What about the hotel, about us? Isn’t that worth something?”

“It was fun,” he said sadly. “But it’s not for me.”

“No!” I slammed my hands into his chest, rocking him back a step. “You’ll fight for Reynard, you’ll fight for everyone out there, but you won’t fight for you?”

“I think we both know I’m nothing special, Adam. But you are.” He grabbed my face in his hands. “Go, be fucking amazing. I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

My heart cracked and my voice came out broken. “You’re supposed to be with me.”

“I’d have liked that, but this ain’t no fucking fanfic, Kitten.” He slammed a bruiser of a kiss on my mouth, then shoved me back so hard I almost fell over a coffee table. “Victor, get the fuck off Sebastien,” Zee ordered. “Don’t make me wrestle you buck naked. Neither of us is ready for that shit.”

Reynard eased off a ruffled Sebastien and stepped back. He clicked his fangs away and adjusted his clothes, then smoothed his hair. They eyed each other, glaring daggers.

No. This wasn’t right. The contract was just a piece of paper. “You could fight for us, for you, here and now, but you won’t. And that’s on you, Zee!”

His face fell, and a horrible stab of guilt twisted my guts. Oh no, I’d hurt him.

I hated him, even if I knew why he did it—to save everyone else. But I admired him too. He was doing the right thing, instead of hiding or running. It might have been the bravest thing I’d ever seen, and I was ashamed of how weak I was. Because I couldn’t stand to leave him here, but I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

I fled the room, and only stopped to breathe when I stumbled outside the club. Velvet didn’t dare ask if I was alright. And the other demons cleared a path, moving out of my way.

Reynard reappeared a few minutes later, and used his phone to summon his car.

He didn’t say a word.

Slumped against the wall, I closed my eyes, and breathed.

Once upon a time, in a land, far, far away, I would have leveled the club and everyone in it. I’d have burned all of Demontown to the ground. I could take Sebastien and crush him like the bug he thought me to be, but then they’d come for me—the humans, the hunters, vampires, demons, sorcerers, witches, all the Lost Ones. They’d come for me, and they’d tear out my heart. Just like Zee had done.

“Adam?”

I bent double and grasped my thighs, trying to hold myself together. It hurt, inside, all over. It hurt like I was breaking open and spilling out.

I wanted to explode.

See how they treated me then.

“Adam? The car,” Reynard said gently.

The car was here. I opened the rear door, and scooted along the back seat to slump against the other door. Reynard climbed in, and we were away, leaving the neon lights and chaos of Demontown behind.

I propped my chin on my knuckles and stared out the window. “He left me, Victor.”

“I’m sorry.”

Zee had chosen Sebastien. The hotel wouldn’t be the same without him. I missed him already, missed him like he’d made a hole in my heart.