“What the hell time is it?” Rival barked as he gripped Jeremy and stumbled through the broken wall.

Leather straps hung from the young wolf’s wrists and ankles, but that’s all the poor guy wore. He wobbled on weak knees and then hit the ground, his pale ass pointing to the sky.

Titus winced and looked away. Rival turned toward the sight and yanked his hand over his eyes. “Dude…come on now.”

“Sorry,” Jeremy rolled, now sitting bare-assed on the grass, but the new sight wasn’t much better.

I turned away as Titus yanked his t-shirt off. “Here, do your best, there’s a lady present.”

My heart gave a quiver and then a throb as Titus dropped his shirt onto Jeremy’s lap. “We need to get you some clothes and then head down to the station.”

“They’re waiting for me,” the wolf whimpered. “They’ve got people everywhere. And, anyway, there’s nowhere we can hide, not now that the Elders are here.”

I flinched with those words, and turned. He fumbled with the shirt, yanking it over his skinny arms. Titus’s shirt swam on him, falling to his elbows, and then to mid thigh. “What do you mean?” Titus asked.

“That’s why they wanted you out of the way. I don’t know what they’re going to do, but whatever it is…it isn’t good.”

The Elders were here…every alpha, every leader of the supernatural community had come to meet my so-called father.

I wanted to see this. “We need to take him back to our place, at least to shower and dress.”

“You want to go to the bar, don’t you?” Rival muttered, and threw his hand into the air. “I know that look…and it’s fucking dangerous.”

But there was no other way. The drugs, the attacks…they all pointed to one place…and one night.

The white ticket stubs filled my head as Titus fumbled with his phone. “It’s almost four p.m. We’ve been in that house all damn night and most of the day?”

“Told you, spelled,” Jeremy moaned and yanked the leather bindings from his wrists. “Five minutes in there is like five hours in the real world.”

“I don’t like this, Lorn,” Gabriel cut in. “I don’t like it at all.”

And standing on the outside looking in, I had to agree.

But I had no choice. I wouldn’t run, and I wouldn’t damn hide. “I’m not asking you to come with me. But I’m no one’s toy, Gabriel. I won’t be used. I won’t be discarded, and if, by chance, my father wants a damn reunion, how pissed off do you think he’d be if I wasn’t there?”

“She’s right,” Titus shook his head. “You think he’s not going to hunt her down if she’s not there? Can you imagine the chaos?”

“He’ll destroy everything,” Jeremy answered and shoved from the ground. “He won’t leave, not until he sees her.”

“So we make sure we’re well prepared. Go in there with a damn plan.”

I couldn’t stop from staring as Titus paced, muscles rippling as he moved. He dug into his pocket for his keys. “While Jeremy takes a damn shower, we can talk, and try to figure out a way to keep Lorn safe and stop Armageddon from happening.”

* * *

“So how many of these Elders are we dealing with here?” Titus eased down on the soft pink sofa.

Cups clattered in the kitchen and the fresh smell of coffee filled the air. In the bathroom, the shower hissed, muffling the sound of the young wolf’s whimpers.

I counted the communities; some were small and refused to be counted, instead, surrendering the fate of their line to the more powerful in the community…those like Raven who lied and manipulated. “Nine…or so.”

“And these are powerful, I take it?” he muttered. “So no guns…maybe SWAT?”

“No SWAT, brother,” Rival sniggered from the kitchen. “This goes far beyond your tiny human capabilities.”

“So a bloodbath, then?”

I turned my head and listened to the young wolf weep in the bathroom. He was afraid, and had good reason to be. “I have to be there, but you don’t…any of you. Maybe you could all sit this one out?”

Titus leaned forward, holding my gaze. “And what, stand by with a mountain of fucking body bags?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m not going to speak for the others, but where you go, I go.”

“Then there’s only one way this can happen without destroying half the city…I find my father first.”

Gabriel shifted, drawing the long bones of his wings high before he settled and stared out the window to the threatening sky. “Lucifer’s my brother. I love him. I owe him loyalty, and I’ve done my best over the years to honor that. But if he’s the one responsible for this drug,” he lifted his gaze to the hallway and the hiss of the shower spray, “then maybe it’s best we step aside and let the Elders take control.”

“If you believe that, then you don’t know your brother as well as you think you do.” Cups clattered against the silver tray as Rival cut across the living room and placed it on a small golden table. “He’s the Lord of Hell, the one true master of pain and terror. You don’t just sit out when he’s around. Whether you like this or not, you’re involved.”

Silence settled in the bathroom. I turned my head as the familiar creak of the bathroom door sounded through the air and the young wolf stepped out of the hallway.

Long dark hair was raked from his face. The oversized shirt stuck against sodden skin. I’d expected an animal, a ravenous beast that went rogue and attacked anyone in his way—and what I found was a kid.

“Feel better?” I leaned forward, grabbed the bottom of a cup, and held it out.

Jeremy met my gaze and then nodded. I had to make a decision, take the kid with us, or leave him here. Either way, he was trouble. I couldn’t risk taking him anywhere else, not the police station, not to the alpha of Ruba’s pack.

“You want me to come, don’t you?” He took a sip and stared at me. “I can almost hear your thoughts, like an emotion I can’t quite switch off.”

“I think it’ll be safer if you’re with me.”

There was a sense of resignation in his gaze as he murmured, “They used me back there, had me tied to that floor, fed me more of that drug just to make a connection with Lucifer, and I’m scared, scared more of them than I am of the Lord of Hell. But if I run now, then I’ll always be running.”

He was showing some balls, more than I expected. Even in the oversized clothes we’d grabbed from Titus’ place, he looked stronger, solid.

“Then we’re decided.” Rival drained his coffee in one long gulp as the thunder boomed overhead. “We’re going together.”

Jeremy wrenched his gaze from one to the other. “You mean now?”

There was nothing funny as Rival smiled. “That’s right, son. Now.”

* * *

Dark gray clouds tinged with black moved in as we pulled the car alongside the curb across from the bar. Titus killed the engine and eased back against the seat. “This is the place?”

I couldn’t take my eyes from the building, especially the sigils that made up the graffiti-covered walls. “This is it.”

I’d been here twice before. Both times, the place hadn’t left much of an impression. What had once been a shifter bar was not demon central. There were certain groupies that caused The Circle trouble, but none of them were bad enough to close the place down.

But the place had most definitely changed. I leaned forward and cracked open the window. I could smell the spells from here, sage, dragon’s blood, and something else…something bitter and foul—a ward of some kind, one to keep something out…or trap something in?

Lightning lit up foreboding clouds above. But it was the walls I watched. Painted sigils moved on their own, rolling, slipping, moving lower, as a different summons moved higher.

Red blended with green and black. The mural whispered. If I closed my eyes…if I stilled my breath…I could almost hear them.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Titus growled, and stared through the windshield as the streetlight in front of the car flickered and came alive.

A shudder chased through my bones. It was going to be one helluva night.

“Maybe I could just wait here,” Jeremy murmured behind me in the back seat. “I could be the lookout.”

I shook my head and then reached for the visor, flipping it low and checking my makeup.

“I’ve never seen you wear lipstick before,” Gabriel murmured outside my window. “Got someone you’re trying to impress?”

I flinched with the surprise, ground my teeth, and touched the outer edge of my bottom lip before I met his gaze. “You know, it’s rude to sneak up on people.”

“Sneak? Look at me, I don’t sneak…I can’t sneak.”

“It’s true. He’s a flying turkey,” Rival muttered behind me. “Completely stuffed.”

There was a savage glare from Gabriel before I broke in. “Save it, you two. There’s going to be enough bloodshed tonight.”

Black cloaks caught my gaze, four witches huddled together as they moved, slowing at the front door of the bar, and stepped inside.

The neon lights above the bar came alive. Wicked burned neon red in the fading light and I felt the conjuring of this place to my very soul.

The sign buzzed and glowed like a thousand cicadas on low volume. I could almost be there, step inside the door. I’d feel so much better inside, so much more comfortable. I didn’t have to leave…not ever…

“Christ on a stick. Can you feel that?” Rival snapped.

A low growl followed, reverberating inside the car. The sound wrenched me from the spell’s hold. The boom of thunder roared in the distance, and above us the sky mirrored the sign.

Blood red clouds moved in. A witch-storm, feral and deadly, ending the rival’s threat. “Looks like we’re up,” the hellhound growled and reached for the handle.

Titus jerked his gaze toward me as I, too, reached for the door handle. “But no one’s here.”

“Oh, they are,” I answered, and shouldered the door open. “You just won’t see them. But they’re in there.”

Doors opened and closed around me. Gabriel lifted his head and stared up at the sky. “I can feel him, Lorn. I can feel his presence coming.”

My stomach tightened with his words as I shoved the door closed behind me. I hated that I was nervous—I lifted my fingers to my lips—hated that I cared.

The sonofabitch walked out on us…I was told he was a drifter, a hippy who took a shine to my mom for a while and then moved on. But now I knew different.

Now that I knew who he really was…it stung more. I wanted him to come. I wanted answers to question that had haunted me my entire life.

Questions my grandmother had refused to hear.

My fingers trembled…sweat gathered in a slow drip along my spine. I shifted, rolling my shoulders, trying like hell to catch that bead, and felt more like a child than a woman. What if he didn’t like me?

What if he didn’t recognize me?

What if I was the reason he left?

“You okay?”

I flinched and cut my gaze to Titus as he rounded the front of the car. Blue eyes darkened as he narrowed in on my face. I forced a smile. “Sure.”

But underneath, I was trembling.

Underneath, I was terrified.

Pain flowed like water in this city. I closed my eyes and felt that dark power rise. I wanted to take it, to tap into the ocean of greed and need, and use it.

My cup overflows.

“You feel different,” Titus murmured.

He lifted a hand, wanting to touch, to comfort.

“She’s caught by his power.” Rival stepped around the back of the car and closed in. “You can feel him, can’t you?”

I nodded.

“Me, too.” The hellhound took a step, pulled by something deeper than a spell. Something born of more than DNA and genetic comparisons. This was kindred…this was soul.

“Then let’s go.” Gabriel rolled massive shoulders and adjusted the floor-length white coat around his wings. “Tonight will be a family reunion like no other.”

I surged forward, leading the tide as we stepped down from the curb and crossed the street.

The faint throb of a familiar beat grew louder as we reached the building. The spray- painted mural shimmered, sigils blending into one another. I could hear them now, hear those whispered words calling, urging, closer…closer…let me tell you a story…of a little girl with no one to love.

I winced inside with their words and focused on the door.

No mother…no father…nothing but lies…lies…lies…

“Lorn?” Titus murmured.

The faint brush of his fingers quickened my pulse, but this wasn’t desire—not this time.

“You okay?”

“I just need this over,” I answered, and lifted my gaze to the door.

My boots rang out as I stepped, stepped again, and then shoved the glass door.

The off-key twang of a butchered Metallica song was the perfect fucking introduction as I stepped inside. Jeremy whimpered but followed behind me, sandwiched in between Rival and Gabriel.

“I’ll get us a table,” Rival growled and broke away as I scanned the chairs and tables around the empty dance floor.

A squeal cut through the hideous sound. The high-pitched torture only grew louder as a dark blur shot across the dance floor and headed my way.

“Oh my God. I knew you’d come. Bernard told me you wouldn’t, but I just knew you would!” Melanie screamed as she threw her arms wide and ran in stilettos toward me.

Panicked thoughts filled my head. I tried to think…knew you’d come…Bernard told me you wouldn’t… I dragged my gaze higher and stared at the bass guitarist as he waved.

Fuck.

The band… “Melanie,” I muttered as my stomach sank. “Sure, of course I came.”

Her eyes widened, lips curling as her gaze slipped behind me. “And you brought friends.”

I wasn’t proud of the flare of jealously as her gaze slowly drifted over Titus, and then rose to Gabriel. She balked at Jeremy, though, her brows tightening as she went from Titus, to Jeremy, then to Gabriel, and back again.

“Scotch, neat. I reckon we could all do with a little steel in our spines,” Rival growled as he approached with a tray of shot glasses.

“Oh my,” Melanie muttered, her words nothing more than a slow exhale.

“Lorn,” Rival lifted the first glass and leaned in.

His lips met mine, tongue a sudden invasion before he broke away. Flames were alive in his gaze as he broke the kiss to murmur, “Don’t forget I still have that IOU. I’m cashing that baby in, first opportunity I get.”

“Not so fast,” Titus murmured, and tried like hell to squeeze his two-hundred-and-forty-pound physique between us. “I think a long hot bath first, champagne and bubbles…with us…and then you can have your IOU.”

Titus’s arm closed around my hips, drawing me harder against him. He moved close, eyes closing, lips pursed, until he met thick, ivory feathers.

Gabriel carved a path…where there had been none before. Amber liquid sloshed against the rim of the shot glass as he pushed and shoved, cleaving the other two aside.

I couldn’t stop the smile, even as I raised the shot glass to my lips and swallowed.

“It needs to be fair…” Gabriel muttered. “If she’s not going to choose, then it needs to be fair for all of us.”

“All of us,” Melanie sputtered as she paled.

Her gaze drifted to all three, and then cut to Jeremy. She just couldn’t figure it out, and I could see it was killing her. “Melanie, this is Jeremy. He’s a good friend of mine and has the most amazing ability to shift on the fly.”

“Shift on the fly?” she repeated. But her interest was piqued.

I turned my head, gave the kid a wink, and jerked my head forward. “He also has a cute ass.”

Rival reached around, handed him a shot glass, and grinned. “Bottoms up.”

The young wolf blushed, muttered something under his breath, and ushered Melanie back the way she came.

I scanned the filling tables and couldn’t help but feel a twinge of responsibility. “He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?”

“With that hideous racket?” Rival muttered, and glanced to the band. “No one will dare come close. They’d have to be tone fucking deaf.”

He was right. Most of the ‘fans’ sat at the front tables, but no one else came near. A peal of thunder swallowed the guitar solo, and for that I was grateful, until a bitter breeze cut through the room, and a darkness followed.

Rival glanced around the room. Titus followed, as did Gabriel, one by one others in the bar reacted, humans shivered and rubbed bare arms…witches stiffened and sought dark corners.

A hungry growl followed the sharp crack above. I downed the last of the scotch and felt it burn all the way to my belly.

“Looks like playtime is over.” Rival gave a sigh and then downed his glass in one swallow.

The others followed, filling the tray with now-empty glasses.

I caught the edge of a black robe in the corner of my eye and turned. Raven swept across the room behind me. Her cold, emotionless gaze stilled on me for a second before she was gone. I followed her movement, finding Ruba’s Queen, Neon, standing in the corner.

“They’re here,” I scanned the darker corners along the other side of the bar.

The lights above flickered, heavy boots vibrated the floor as Thander North cut across the floor in front of me.

He turned his head, dark eyes giving nothing away as he met my gaze. Titus stiffened beside me. “What the fuck is he doing here?”

“What the fuck, indeed,” I muttered, watching him head for Raven and the other witches.

“Jed is here,” Rival muttered.

And a second later, the hinges howled from the front door. A lone man stepped through, ankle-length black leather coat flaring around his ankles, and then stilled.

He scanned the room, stopping on Rival before he turned away a heartbeat later.

“Did you know he was coming?” I muttered.

“No. Didn’t even know he was topside,” the hellhound answered, and stared at the alpha of the hellhound army as he took a seat on the opposite side of the bar, in full view of the growing witch coven.

So, our calculations were a little off. Nine leaders had now turned into a fucking free-for-all of every supe with a little swing. The bar…the bar wasn’t going to survive.

Thunder roared and the lights flickered, casting us into darkness for a second as lightning lit up the sky.

Moans and calls filled the bar.

“It’s okay, everyone!” The bartender yelled. “It’s just dodgy fucking wiring. They’ll come back on in a min—” Fluorescent bulbs blinked and then came back on. “See, it’s all good!”

I scanned the growing crowd, catching the Walker as he nodded to Raven and the other supes.

“Bloodsucker is here,” Rival growled, nostrils flaring with the scent.

“There’s only Walker.” I scanned familiar faces milling around the bar, some spilled into the dark area around the band. “But he brought along his entourage.”

The drums thundered in my head. Guitar howled just that little louder.

“Jesus, what the fuck,” Titus snapped. “How the hell did he get out?”

The icy breeze seemed to come alive as I jerked my gaze toward the door. Redemption strode into the bar, looking clean and perfect…as usual. The unseelie warrior’s gaze met mine. Sadness echoed through…sadness for him or for... “No…no, it can’t be.”

Alma pushed through the front door, following close behind Redemption. My heart leapt at the sight of her long, flyaway dirty-blonde hair tinged with silver…my pulse sped, thundering inside my ears…I wanted to run, to sweep her bony frame into a hug. “That’s my grandmother.”

But she never turned her head—she never looked. I took a step forward, a shout ripping like lava from my chest as Rival’s hand clamped around my wrist. “Lorn…no.”

I cut a gaze to him as Alma headed toward the witches. Pain lashed my chest, deep and savage…I tried to blink as slick tears welled. I couldn’t speak…couldn’t find the words.

The heavy thud of my heart was swallowed by the roar of the band. I winced and jerked my hand high, feigning cupping my ears, but swiped my eyes instead.

She never looked at me.

Not once.

Not a hello. Not a how are you, are you okay?

Nothing.

I tried to breathe, tried to push past the fucking hole in my chest as the singer in the band bordered on a scream.

“Fucking hell,” Rival snarled and winced at the sound.

But the sound grew louder, morphing into the squeal of the guitar. Speakers hummed with the amps, shuddering and shaking glasses on the table.

Glass shattered somewhere behind me as the bar erupted in shouts of anger and pain. I slapped my hands over my ears, Titus and Rival followed.

Above, muffled under the hideous sound, the unmerciful crack of thunder followed, and the bar was plunged into darkness once more.

I stared into the gloom, my ears ringing with the sound.

Lightning fractured the darkness.

And in the flash of blinding glare, a figure stood in front of me.

I lifted my gaze, meeting blue flames in his eyes.

Silver slashed through midnight black hair combed back from a soft widow’s peak. He was older, taller, towering above me. Imposing, not in a cruel, dominant way—but in a powerful way.

When he knew there was no one to oppose…no one who could come close.

He lifted a hand, gave the sweetest hint of a smile, before he captured my wrist and gently drew my hand from my ear.

“Lorn,” his midnight voice rippled with power. “It’s so good to find you…I’m your father.”