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“Hey. There was no way to know he’d arranged for the building to explode out the way it did. Explosives don’t do that—the building should have pancaked. Now we know not to underestimate him.”
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”
In the end, Nathaniel, Hunter, Ryker, Aubrey, and Kyla went with me. Nathaniel ordered everyone else to move back at least a hundred feet. I spotted Neana coaxing Virtus out of the car.
Digging deep, I poured every drop of my magic into my ward. Any further explosions, and my friends and family would be safe.
The room was standing untouched. Even the door was still on its hinges—making it obvious just how much Gabriel wanted us to see whatever horror he’d left in there.
Aubrey opened the door. We followed him into the room, and all of us were silent for a long moment as we surveyed the seelie on the wall.
Nathaniel glanced at Aubrey. “One of yours.”
Aubrey nodded. Bile rose as I took in the seelie, who’d been torn into several pieces, those pieces arranged in a macabre pattern that didn’t come close to resembling a humanoid body. This explained why Gabriel was usually a hermit. The guy was a psychopath.
“What was the seelie doing here?” I got out.
Aubrey rolled his shoulders. “His name is Mydian. And he must have been betraying me. Taraghlan has infiltrated my people with his own. Since he is working with the mages, he obviously instructed Mydian to tell Gabriel our plans to take him down.”
And now Gabriel was on the run, likely with complete knowledge of those plans.
“How much did this guy know?” Nathaniel asked, reading my mind.
Aubrey sighed. “I gave him limited information. He knew about our plans for Gabriel, but nothing else. I suppose some part of me knew to be careful.”
Aubrey looked depressed as hell. I couldn’t blame him. There were few things worse than being betrayed by someone you’d trusted.
* * *
Nathaniel
Evie wasquiet as we drove back toward our territory. She’d tightened her hold on the bond between us, shutting me out.
It was normal. We weren’tsupposedto be able to feel our mate’s emotions every second of every day.
That didn’t mean I didn’t miss it.
I didn’t exactly need the bond to guess how she was feeling anyway. We all likely felt the same. Frustration, fury, and wrath.
Now Gabriel was in the wind. And—if the seelie he’d left behind was any indication—he was pissed off.
“At least he doesn’t know we’re planning to hit HFE,” Evie said softly.
I glanced at her. “Exactly. We might get lucky and find something in one of the labs that leads us to him.”
“How is it going with blackmailing the guards?”
“All of them have agreed to open the first gates except one. And one of Samael’s demons took him out. His replacement was more than happy to cooperate.”
Evie stiffened. She slid her hand into her pocket, and she pulled out the lapis lazuli.
It was glowing.
“Get me home,” she breathed. “I need a map.”
I put my foot down. By the time we pulled up outside my house, the stone was glowing so brightly, it almost hurt to look at it. Evie shot out of the car and into the house. I was a few steps behind her. Within a couple of moments, Tobias had found her a map of the United States and placed it on the table.
“What if they’ve taken her somewhere else?”
