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He was eating up the attention I was giving him, so I took it away. I started on my second burger, refusing to even glance in his direction as he hummed along to the stereo. He hadn’t ordered any food himself, just a large soda that he sipped as he bobbed his head.
“What’s our first place of attack, little wolf?” he said, as I finished my second burger and leaned back in the seat, obnoxiously full but perfectly satiated. “Where do we hurt your enemies first?”
I had to think for a moment. I hadn’t planned this far. Beyond selling my soul and getting a demon on my side, I wasn’t sure what to do next. Anger and grief were still clouding my thoughts, so it was difficult to contemplate how best to go after the Hadleighs when…
When Marcus hadn’t even been safely laid to rest.
“My brother’s body was stolen from his grave,” I said. “The night of his funeral, someone came and stole him. I watched it happen.” I turned to him. “Kent Hadleigh has a demon that works for him. That’s who took my brother’s body. I need to find out where his body is and get it back.”
Zane nodded. “I know that demon. I’ll ask him about it.”
“Kill him after you’re done speaking with him. We need to get him out of the way so Kent doesn’t have his protection.”
Zane laughed, and started the car’s engine again. “Sorry, but I won’t be doing that.”
My eyes widened as I looked at him, my heart pounding. “We made a deal. You agreed to help me kill —”
“I agreed to help you destroy the Libiri,” he said. He didn’t keep his eyes on the road as he drove. He looked out the window instead, as if he were merely a passenger watching the world go by. It was unnerving as hell. “Leon has caused you no harm, nor will he. He’s not one of them.”
My heart was hammering against my ribs in fury. This was exactly what I was afraid of: the demon twisting words to get out of his bargain.
“No harm?” I snarled. “No fucking harm? He was there the night they threw me down in the dark! He chased me, he fucking chased me for hours! He would’ve dragged me back if he caught me, and would have thrown me down there again todie!”
I braced my hands against the dash to stop their shaking. The burgers were threatening to come up, my stomach twisting.
“Juniper, listen to me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Deep breaths, deep breaths. Ten seconds in, ten seconds out.
“I’ve known Leon a long time —”
“Stop fucking saying his name,” I hissed. I wanted to curl up into a ball. I wanted to scream. I hated feeling so irrational, I hated that I couldn’t make this panic calm. “I want himdead. I’ll do it myself —”
“No, you won’t.”
I opened my eyes, glaring at him across the seat. I wanted to strangle him. I wanted to stab him again. How dare he do this to me? How dare he takeeverythingI had left and thenrefuse—
“Leon hates the Hadleighs as much as you do, Juniper,” he said, and his voice sounded strange, almost...sad. But that couldn’t be. “I know, I’ve heard the story. Kent Hadleigh sent him after you once you escaped the mine. But he couldn’t find you. He couldn’t catch you and he paid for that dearly. He didn’t have a choice.”
“He’s a sick, sadistic monster.”
“The Hadleigh family has kept him enslaved for nearly a hundred years. Imagine enduring Kent Hadleighevery fucking day, for years upon years. Imagine him having the power to hurt you, to magically break you again and again. No hope of escape, no hope even of death. Leon would kill that family in a heartbeat if he could.”
I couldn’t deny it this time; his tone was sad,painedeven. I didn’t get it.
“Why do you care about him?” I snapped. “What does he matter to you?”
“We’re bonded.” I frowned in confusion, and he stuck out his forked tongue, pointing to the two metal bars pierced through his flesh. “Bonded, Juniper. We marked each other. We were mates...brothers...lovers…” He waved his hand. “Fucking semantics. There’s not a human word for it. You’ll just have to believe me when I tell you he isn’t your enemy, as much as you may hate him. You’re not going to kill him. Neither am I.”
I was too angry to think logically, too furious to take the deep breaths I so desperately needed. The moment we were back at the house, I stormed out of the car, slamming the door behind me.
Zane caught me before I could get inside.
Darkness surrounded me, as if someone had snuffed out the sun. Phantom tethers coiled around my ankles, rooting me in place. Out of the corner of my eye, Zane loomed up behind me, a dark figure with bright narrowed eyes glaring down at me.
“You’re a fucking bastard liar!” I said, fists clenched at my sides. I refused to turn and face him. “You’re going back on your deal —”
“I’m not going back on shit.” His teeth clipped together close to my ear, and the sound sent a jolt of fear through me. “Let’s reiterate a few little rules, Juniper Kynes. You do not command me. We have a deal, apartnership. As much as it may disgust you that you sold yourself to a monster, you’re with me of your own free fucking will. Now stop holding your breath, you’re going to make yourself pass out.”
