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“We don’t havetime for explanations or pleasantries. Right now, there are at least a dozen police officers and detectives on their way here, a warrant in hand, eager to tear this place apart. All based on the word of two shady men searching for her and set on taking you two down for kidnapping.” History is repeating itself, and the pressure weighing on my chest threatens to break me. But this time, the ending will be different. I’m making sure of it. I point at the doe-eyed blond leaning against the doorway across from me. “We need to get her out of here.”
As I expected would happen, they stand, staring at the near stranger in their front doorway, unmoving. “Now,” I bark.
Lucifer’s eyes darken on me as he takes a protective step forward, crowding my space and becoming an impassable barrier between the girl and me.
“I’ll take her with me, and we’ll ride around awhile. You can call when the coast is clear,” Edward says, placing a quelling hand on Lucifer’s forearm. The old man always did have a way with the big hardass.
Lucifer blinks at the contact, tearing his gaze away from me and looks down to our father. “Thank you,” he says, his tone light and appreciative, even if his expression is impassive.
“I should go with them. Keep her safe.” Kain’s fists tighten at his sides, the possessive anger radiating from his body is thick and suffocating. He’s known this girl all of a day, and he’s displaying this level of possessiveness. She must be a witch, casting a spell on them all. I snicker at my thought, if only witches were real.
“You can’t.” A soft, almost shy, lyrical voice rings through the large open space of the foyer, and all eyes turn in her direction. With the heavy weight of our collective gazes, she visibly shrinks into the arch holding her up.
“Like fuck I can’t. I’m not leaving you unprotected,” Kain snaps, taking four long strides in her direction, coming to a stop when he’s nearly chest-to-chest with Angelica. The flinch that passes through her is small, nearly imperceptible, but the groan from my brothers tells me I’m not the only one who noticed it.
Kain cups her face in his two large hands and his tone softens when he speaks, like one would with a frightened animal. “I don’t like the idea of you being out of my sight.”
A soft smile takes hold of her lips as she peers up at him. She places a hand on his chest and whispers, “I’ll be with Edward. I’ll be safe. Besides, if you leave, it’ll look like you have something to hide. I won’t have anyone getting into trouble because of me.”
“She’s right, Kain. You need to be here,” I tell him.
Kain doesn’t look at me, but his deep, primal growl warns me to stand down.
“Enough, Kain. He’s here to help. Daemon could have let this play out, but he didn’t. He put his job on the line coming here to warn us. Wewillfollow his lead on this, and when the search is over, we’reallgetting answers.” Lucifer’s gaze shifts from me to the lone woman now tucked securely behind Kain. “All of us,” Lucifer repeats, his eyes locked on hers. A heartbeat passes before she nods, a look of defeat passing through her large green eyes.
A sharp stab of remorse lances through me, shredding my insides into tiny imperceptive pieces. Guilt. It weighs heavily on my shoulders, rooting me in place. Brown eyes with a similar look of despair shine back at me in place of the watery green. An innocent girl stuck in a war between my brothers, the devil, and me. I shake my head, dispelling the horrid visions from the past. Now is not the time to dredge up those memories. Though something tells me that time will be coming sooner than I’d like.
“All right,” I bark with a clap, louder than I meant, the sound ricocheting off the marble walls. “We need to get moving. Edward, you take the girl, along with anything that might indicate her presence—” The phone in my pocket vibrates against my thigh, cutting off my words.
A message from Jax covers the screen as it lights up.
“Shit. You need to move quickly. They’re five minutes out. Once they hit the main gate, there won’t be a chance in hell of getting you off this property,” I tell Edward, tucking my phone back into my pocket.
“I’ll get her stuff,” Lucifer tells Kain. Kain nods in return and without a word, spins around and scoops Angelica up into his arms.
“Kain, I can walk,” she protests, her cheeks flaring a bright rosy pink.
“Doesn’t mean you should have to, Eden.”
Eden? Her name is Angelica.
* * *
Sirensin the distance grow louder, resounding off the trees and drifting in on the cool evening breeze as the police cars draw nearer. The taillights of the old blue Ford Focus disappear into the horizon, carrying my future inside.
I turn around and look up, Lucifer and Kain stand shoulder to shoulder, blocking the doorway that leads back inside. I point to the car cresting the hill and vanishing from sight. “There goes my career if this blows up in my face. Tell me I’m not risking everything for nothing.”
“We didn’t ask you to risk anything. So why don’t you tell us why you’re here,” Lucifer counters, raising a single, perfectly arched brow and crossing his arms over his chest in challenge.
At only five-foot-eleven, his extra six inches should be frightening, but we both know I can take him down. Kain, on the other hand, well … he fights to live, and there’s nothing more deadly than a will to survive. If he holds back, it’s only to toy with his opponents.
“Something about the men that are looking for her just didn’t sit right with me. Jax either. They claimed you kidnapped her. They brought in a picture of you carrying her into the house. She was wrapped up in a blanket, covered in blood, and unconscious.”
The muscle in Kain’s jaw pulses with unfettered anger before exploding seconds later. “Fucking assholes,” he bellows, punching the frame of the front door and leaving behind a trail of blood. “We rescued her from a party Donovan was catering at Marco’s. You know what his form of catering is. Some shithead was cuttin’ on her, and no one fucking did a damn thing about it. We walked out with her, got her looked at, and cleaned up. She’s been here the last two weeks healing and coming down off the shit Donovan had her hooked on.”
Kain’s anger visibly vibrates down his arms and through his fingers. His bloody pointer finger twitches on an imaginary trigger. The action reminding me I never want to be the one in his crosshairs.
“So, these men—the ones that showed up at the precinct—they were following us?” Lucifer asks, drawing some of my attention away from the trigger-happy man now pacing the lawn two feet to the side of us.
