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I tried, but breathing while being crushed by a seven-foot incubus wasn’t easy. I gulped, trying to suck in air. Zee felt me struggling, and spun me in his arms so my ass thumped his crotch. Next, his clenched fists slammed up into my middle—my lungs spasmed, my hot eyes bulged.

Was I dying?

“Zodiac, what are you doing?” Victor’s smooth voice sounded nearby.

I tried to reach for him, but my arms were pinned too.

Help.

“The fucking Himmler maneuver is what I’m doing,” Zee grunted.

“Fucking Himmler?” Victor paused for what felt like forever. “Do you mean Heimlich?”

“Whatever, Adam is dying from air!”

Crush. Spasm. Help!

“I suspect he needs air to breathe, of which you appear to be starving him.”

Yes, that! Like Victor had so calmly pointed out, I did need to breathe and Zee was crushing me. Spasm. Wheeze. Could humans die from breathing backwards? That seemed like a terrible design flaw.

“Stand back, vampire! I’m saving him!”

I loved Zee, I really did, but someone needed to step in.

“Just so everyone knows, for legal reasons, he asked for whiskey,” Tom drawled, back to casually drying a glass. I eyed him through swimming tears. “I advised against it. This is what happens when you don’t listen to the bartender. Terrible shame, he was so young.”

I wasn’t dead! But I would be soon if Zee didn’t let up.

“Looks like you’re pounding his ass,” Sebastien’s drunk drawl joined the chat.

“That’s how—” Zee grunted again, still trying to punch my lungs through my ribs. “I know—” Crush. “I’m doing —” Heave. “It right!” Zee must have only then realized who’d spoken, because he freed an arm and flung a finger at Seb. “Back the fuck off!”

With Zee momentarily distracted, I tore free of his death hug. The counter rushed up, and I clung to it like a life raft, gasping and wheezing, filling my starved lungs with precious air.

“Kitten?” Zee made a move as though to rush in and scoop me up again.

I thrust out a hand, stopping him. “I’m good! You uh . . . You’re real strong, Zee. I just . . .” I coughed, and Zee and Victor both flinched. “Just give me a second to catch my breath here.”

Tom slid my barely touched whiskey away from me, down the counter and out of reach. “And the barman was right all along.”

I mourned the loss of my drink, then caught sight of Zee’s concerned face and lashing tail. “It’s alright, I’m fine.”

“What a bunch of fuckin’ losers,” Seb crooned, slumping against the counter. “How the fuck have you survived this long when your so-called leader—the demon bait—chokes on fuckin’ air. I’ve never seen a more pathetic display in my fucking life and I used to watch desperate fucks pay to fuck more desperate dumb fucks.”

What happened next took place so fast I only saw its outcome, but I figured Zee had lunged for Seb and Victor got between them, probably thinking he could prevent Zee getting hurt by the wards. Unfortunately, the wards activated fast enough to stop Zee getting to Seb, but not fast enough to stop him from colliding with Victor. As Zee was still intent on violence, Victor braced, and in that second the wards lashed out at everyone having bad thoughts. Zee was flung, swearing and wings flapping, into Victor’s table of paper animals, scattering it and the entire zoo, and Victor clutched the counter next to me, visibly panting from the wards slapping him down.

Untouched, Seb calmly picked up my whiskey and downed it in a single gulp. “Losers.”

I straightened and surveyed the chaos. Zee lay on his back on the floor, among the fragments of table and paper zoo animals, clutching his head.

Victor growled through clenched teeth, one wrong word away from lashing out at Sebastien too.

Enough was enough. “Sebastien, you’ve got two minutes to tell me what you know or we’re done here.”

Seb snorted. “Stupid human, I just saved your useless life. You owe me.”

“Fuck you,” Zee snapped, still staring at the ceiling and massaging around his horns. “I was saving Adam.”