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“I am now.” I leaned back to get a look at his face. He had a scuff under his right eye, and his leathers were dusty, but he seemed fine. No broken bones or bloody stains. “Did you uh . . . did you . . .”

His face fell. “There were guards everywhere. Alarms going off, cameras all over, security lights going batshit. Tom Collins really fucked up Cain’s electrics, but when Daddy Spice tried to sneak in there were too many people around, and the mansion is huge. Sorry Kitten, we didn’t get the bead.”

“That’s okay.” It had been a long shot, just like I’d said. I was just glad to have them back.

“But we did get something useful.” Zee brightened. “Which I will show you. But imma ask again, why are random people in my room?”

“Oh, I erm . . . We had sort of a rush, and I ran out of rooms to rent, so I figured you guys could sleep with me for a few nights?”

“Huh, silver lining.”

“I moved your collection of dildos and array of sex toys first.”

“Good thinking. Gotta charge extra for add-ons.”

“Wait. What?”

He fluttered innocent lashes. “So where did the guests come from?”

I told him about Noreen’s article, which I still hadn’t seen, but assumed had done a grand job of making the SOS Hotel out to be the only safe place in San Francisco. Zee nodded along, guiding me out of the bar, into the rear of the hotel, and out the back door, where the Love Wagon waited with Victor leaning a hip against the driver’s door.

“I apologize, Adam,” Victor said soberly. “We did not succeed.”

I slipped from Zee’s arms and instantly slotted into Victor’s. “I only care that you’re back. And safe.”

“Fancy Daddy, while you and I were gone, Adam filled the hotel with paying guests,” Zee explained.

“That is a welcome surprise.” Victor’s smile soothed my strained heart. But then his smile fell away, his eyes narrowed, and the fangs glinted. “How did you get bruises on your neck?”

“The fuck!?” Zee lunged, and gently tilted my chin. “Who the fuck touched you?!” His wings unfurled behind him, and already wrapped in warrior leathers, Zee’s body language went from Fun-Zee to Murder-Zee in the blink of an eye. Purple lightning blazed through his wings, his tail lashed, his nails glinted, and fury blazed in his beautiful eyes. “Who did this, Adam?” he growled.

Static sparks danced around him and even a rumble of thunder started up in the distance.

“Oh, this? Uh . . .” I rubbed my tender throat. “So, don’t get mad.” They were already mad. “I dealt with it.”

“Dealt with what?” Victor snarled.

In that moment, the two of them, standing side by side, Zee aglow in purple and Victor radiating killer energy? They had to be two of the most dangerous and powerful Lost Ones in the city—Zee was even altering the weather.

They were amazing and they were mine, and I loved them. “Aw, you guys are the best.”

Zee bowed his head, and glared through glittery lashes. “Who are we brutally butchering?”

“Sebastien came back.”

Silent purple lightning split the sky. “Where is he?” Zee’s voice was all ice now. If Sebastien had still been with us, Zee would have torn him apart. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.

“Uh, he’s not here anymore, or technically anywhere. He’s a little bit . . . uhm . . . dead?”

Zee blinked, his wings drooped, and the building energy fizzled out. “Wait, did you eat him and I missed it?”

“No, not that.” I smiled innocently and stuffed my hands into my pockets. “Oh, what have you got there?” I asked, spotting something boulder-shaped under a grubby sheet in the back of the Love Wagon. They must have brought it back with them from Gideon’s mansion.

“Adam . . . Kitten?” Zee grabbed my hand and pressed it over his warm chest. “Just tell me he can’t hurt you or anyone ever again.” The pain in his eyes wasn’t for him, but for all the people Sebastien had used and abused for years.

I nodded. “He cannot hurt me or anyone ever again.”

Zee sighed his relief. His face briefly paled, but after a moment’s grief he smiled, gave his wings a shake, and was over it. “Vengeance, thy name is Adam Vex.”