“What you in for, buddy?” I slumped down into one of three chairs that lined the hall outside the king’s “official” headquarters. He had a personal office. I’d seen the inside of that, too, but this time I got to do what I like to call the “sit of shame.” And I was doing it looking like a drowned cat.

Trent had turned me over to the king, but he’d helpfully left my friends out of it. His gorgeous tattletale ass was currently in Donovan’s office, probably making me out to be the second coming of Satan, and I was here watching the world go by.

But I wasn’t doing it alone. I wasn’t the only person in trouble.

“It wasn’t my fault. Dustin is an asshole wolf and he deserved what I did. And he’s bigger than me. He’s in the sixth grade,” Lee Donovan-Quinn complained. His sneakers didn’t even touch the floor. He was the king’s nine-year-old son. Well, one of them, but his twin Rhys didn’t get into trouble the way Lee did.

I love Lee with all my heart. I can do that. I’m not his parent so I can totally play favorites, and I adore that kid in a way I simply don’t the others. Don’t get me wrong, I like them all, but Lee is special to me. He’s named after my biological father and we have a connection I can’t quite explain. It might have something to do with the fact that we both get in trouble with Daniel Donovan on a regular basis.

“What did the asshole do?” I wasn’t going to chastise him. He would get enough of that soon.

Lee finally turned my way, his mouth a stubborn line. “He told me I didn’t belong at school. He said I should go and hang out with the humans or I would get hurt.”

Oh, maybe Dustin would get to meet me and then we’d have a talk about bullying and how it ends poorly. “So you hurt him. Did you get into a fistfight?”

It was kind of how Lee worked. He was so young and there was a shit ton of anger in him. Don’t get me wrong. Lee’s a happy kid, most of the time. He likes candy and playing basketball and watching movies, but there’s a darkness in him I can’t explain. I think sometimes that’s why Lee and I fit together. Somehow Lee feels like family to me. I wish I could explain it better, but I care about him in a way I care about very few people.

“Like I said, he’s bigger than me.”

I had to smile because Lee was also smart. “What did you do, you little deviant?”

His lips curled up slightly. “I broke into his locker and rubbed wolfsbane all over his gym clothes.”

I bet that baby wolf had howled. It was like rubbing poison ivy all over the kid’s junk. It was mean and kind of brilliant. I smiled back at him. “You’re in so much trouble, buddy.”

“She’s right.” The queen was standing in the hallway, her red hair pulled back in a ponytail and a stern look on her face. Zoey Donovan-Quinn looked far younger than her thirty-six years thanks to the regular taking of the king’s blood. The entire royal triad looked like they were gorgeous mid-twenty-somethings, but there was zero question that the queen was one pissed-off momma. “Let’s go home. We’ll talk there. Now.”

Lee’s face turned sullen and he shoved his body off the chair, turning and walking down the hall without another look back.

It was hard to be the only human in a family of supernaturals. His biological father was a faery prince, his other dad a vampire king. His mother and sister were companions, not the strongest of creatures but so rare and prized that they were honored everywhere they went. And his twin brother had gotten their dad’s Green Man powers.

I worried it would only get worse as he grew up. What would be waiting for Lee? He would age in a way the rest of them wouldn’t. He would watch everyone around him stay gloriously young and beautiful and he would be human.

“I know I don’t have any right to ask you this, but go easy on him,” I said as the queen frowned after her son.

She stood watching him stride down the hall and her expression softened. “I never mean to be hard, Kelsey. He’s my son and I adore him. I honestly have no idea what to do sometimes. I can’t make the other children accept that he’s human.”

“No, you can’t. If you try you’ll only isolate him more, but you can support him. I wasn’t the world’s best student. I got in trouble a lot. I remember how crappy it was to get in trouble at school because some asswipe kid started something, and then I’d go home and get in trouble all over again. I was the kid everyone else picked on. When I stood up for myself they labeled me violent and destructive. My adoptive dad would show up and agree with everything the teachers said. I would sit there and hear about how awful I was. My mom would cry and tell them she would try harder to teach me how to fit in.”

The queen’s mouth firmed stubbornly. “He doesn’t need to fit in. He only needs to be Lee. Have I been going about this all wrong? I’ve been trying to work with the school. They keep telling me we have to show him a united front.”

I bet they had. “Against him? I can imagine that makes him feel alone. Is he wrong to stand up for himself? For the people he loves? That sounds an awful lot like his mom and dads, and yet they’re praised for it while he gets punished.”

I could see tears hit her eyes and I couldn’t imagine how shitty it must be to be a parent. Especially a mom. I bet no one called Donovan in and tried to make him feel bad about his parenting techniques.

“I told him he couldn’t hit anyone,” Zoey explained.

I shrugged. “So he found a creative solution.”

“I hope that little shit still hurts.”

That was the queen I knew. “He deserved it. Look, I get that you have a fine line to walk. You don’t want to use the fact that you’re kind of the be-all, end-all authority figure to all these people, but you’re also Lee’s mom. He needs to know he doesn’t have to fight you, too.”

I’d done that for most of my life. I love my mom, but when I was younger I heard a lot about why I couldn’t be more like my brothers. Why couldn’t I fit in? Why couldn’t I be quieter so I didn’t irritate my father?

The queen was in a shitty position, but I couldn’t care about the politics of the situation. In the end, she really couldn’t either. She might be the queen, but she was Lee’s mom and that trumped all in my mind.

The queen looked down at me. “So I wouldn’t be a horrible queen if I called that little shit’s parents and explained the way of the world to them?”

I would love to listen in on that conversation. “Or I could do it.”

“Where would be the fun in that? Good luck with Danny, Kelsey. I’ll put in a good word for you tonight.” She winked my way and then looked back down the hall. “Lee Donovan-Quinn! Let’s take this home. We can talk it out over Albert’s milkshakes.”

I watched as the queen joined her son and took his hand.

“I’ve been wanting to bare my fangs at a couple of those fuckers for years now.” Donovan stood in the doorway to his office, a smile on his face as he watched his wife and kid walk away. “Zoey’s worried the other parents at school will accuse me of using my position to keep my kid out of trouble. What the fuck is my position worth if I can’t protect my own son?”

I turned to the king, giving him my most positive, please-don’t-execute-me smile. “I’m glad I could put you in a good mood, Your Highness. Might I point out that I can be helpful in many ways?”

He sighed. “Inside, Owens. Now. And don’t sit on the couch. I just had it cleaned.”

Luckily there was a leather chair in front of the king’s desk. It wasn’t like I was soaking wet. I’d dried out in Trent’s truck, for the most part. After he’d put on a pair of way too small for him sweatpants and refused a T-shirt that actually was more like a crop top on him, he’d lectured me all the way back home. Jamie had driven Liv and Casey back, and Trent had kindly pretended to not notice when Casey snuck into the Jeep.

In exchange for him keeping quiet about my peeps, I got to listen to all the ways I’d fucked up. Trent is usually not a big talker, but when he’s pissed off, he can seriously get going. He’d marched me right up here and left me sitting outside Donovan’s office like a kid waiting to see the principal.

Trent was still here, too. He was sitting in the chair next to mine, still wearing nothing but his capri sweats. I wish I could say he didn’t look superhot in them, but he’s got a really nice chest. It’s all muscled and he’s got an eight-pack, though a whole lot of that came from his wolf DNA.

Trent wasn’t the only one waiting for me.

“Kelsey, it’s good of you to join us.” Marcus Vorenus was wearing his customary tailored suit and polished dress shoes. My trainer glanced my way, a frown on his incredibly beautiful face. His arms were crossed over his chest as he stood in the back of the room. Behind him was a painting of some kind of wheat field with a forest in the background. Apparently it was a new addition to Donovan’s office, and Marcus seemed a bit obsessed with it. Any time we were in this office in the last few weeks, Marcus stared at it as though he couldn’t quite look away.

Though now I wished he would study it instead of flashing that disappointed look my way.

“I didn’t know you’d gotten home.” There had been a time when I would have felt it the moment he’d gotten into the city. He would have called me and put in his lunch order. Sometimes when an academic bonds with a woman he can taste what she eats when they’re in close proximity. Marcus loved dark roast coffee and a nice rare steak. He hadn’t asked me to eat anything lately, and I wondered if we were losing that connection between us, too.

“I flew in last night, but it was late so I stayed at a hotel. I didn’t want to wake you,” he said, his voice a low monotone. “Though I should have since perhaps then you wouldn’t have had the energy to call a demon to your hand.”

“I can explain.”

Marcus frowned. “Were you or were you not calling a demon? I received a warning from a local coven two hours ago that a powerful incantation was being worked in the mid-cities area. They were able to use a spell to find the location of the magic. Would you like to guess where it was? Or are you going to give me the same story Mr. Wilcox gave me?”

Trent had told them something other than the truth? Trent was like Captain America.

He turned in his chair. “I explained that I’d driven you out to your old place because you had a neighbor complain about the fire alarm beeping. It can be hard to remember you need to change those batteries. A simple mistake. You don’t actually live there anymore. It might be time for you to find some tenants.”

He was good, but I feared Marcus would prove better. I looked to the king, who Trent kind of owed an oath of fealty to. He took the king’s blood. I didn’t want to be the reason he lost his position.

“I asked Trent to take me out there and then I called the demon when I sent him to Home Depot. You know he can get lost in there. I thought I would have enough time.”

Trent’s eyes rolled. “Damn it, Kelsey.”

The king slapped a hand on his desk, the sound jarring. “Stop it, both of you. Trent, I know you’re lying, and Kelsey, you couldn’t call that demon on your own if you tried. Liv was involved and I would bet Jamie was, too. I won’t even fucking mention that little academic’s name because if I had proof he was there I would have to punish him severely, and I don’t want to do that.”

My stomach turned at the thought of getting Casey in serious trouble. If Donovan knew, then Marcus had already talked to Henri and Hugo about the incident. Henri was Casey’s mentor. He would have to do something about it because Casey’s behavior could blow back on him.

Why didn’t I ever think?

Trent sat forward. “Your Highness, you know why she’s doing this. It’s nothing you wouldn’t do if this were your father involved. Tell me you wouldn’t have killed the fucker yourself if you’d gotten a hand on him after he murdered Lee Owens?”

“Technically, the demon Nemcox did not murder Mr. Owens,” Marcus said in an altogether too reasonable voice. “He did nothing at all to the wolf. He sold a bit of information and took Neil Roberts as payment for tipping off the Council as to the whereabouts of the renegade king.”

My heart twisted at his words. There was a reason we hadn’t discussed this. I think I knew deep down that Marcus wouldn’t see things the way I did. Marcus could be quite the politician at times. I was incapable of being reasonable about this subject. “Nemcox is the reason my father is dead.”

“No, Louis Marini is the reason your father is dead,” Marcus shot back, irritation flavoring his every word. I could tell he was pissed off because his Italian accent had deepened. “He is the one who fired the shot. He is dead. The queen herself killed him. You should thank her and move on with your life.”

This was what we fought about. He couldn’t understand why I blamed the demon I’d known as Matthew for my father’s death. Apparently, since I’d never actually met my biological dad, I was supposed to shrug off the fact that Stewart/Nemcox had sold out my father to the old Council, and it had led directly to his death. It also didn’t matter to my mentor that the same demonic fucker had nearly killed the king several months before. I was supposed to understand that it was all about politics and keeping the peace.

I didn’t give a fuck about peace.

That twitch I felt lately was rumbling through my gut. It made me antsy. It made me remember that Marcus and I had slept in separate rooms the last few months. Oh, he claimed it was because I needed my rest, but I could feel him pulling away from me.

Yeah, that made me antsy, too.

“I think I’ll keep my appreciation to myself,” I replied. “And you know if you’re not happy with me, you should feel free to walk out the door. Italy’s that way.”

I couldn’t help it. Lashing out is what I do. Months of therapy had made me aware enough that I felt bad about saying it, but not bad enough to take it back. This is what I do when the beast inside me starts to hate her cage. I get mean and nasty, and if I let it go too long I get violent.

Marcus’s jaw firmed and he stared at me. “What do you intend to do if you actually manage to call Nemcox to your hand? He is immortal.”

“Everything dies if you cut it up enough, baby,” I shot back, well aware of the nasty tone to my voice.

Marcus shook his head as if he couldn’t quite believe what I was saying. “And when his family comes for you? Do you expect Lieutenant Sloane to protect you from them? I do not see him here. You are attempting to start a war you cannot win, and you’re determined to bring your friends down with you. I will be the one who has to discipline Mr. Lane. I’ve already reached out to the head of Ms. Carey’s coven and she will be dealt with as well.”

“I told you they weren’t with me,” I lied, feeling a bit savage. Marcus was supposed to be my lover, but more and more we found ourselves on opposite sides, our tempers sparking against each other. Simply being with Marcus at one point soothed me, but I couldn’t feel it now. What I could feel was something nasty building inside me. The she-wolf who lived in my soul was restless and angry.

“It was just me and Owens.” Trent stood beside me.

It was nice to have one person on my side, even though I didn’t completely understand why he was doing it. Trent put a hand on my shoulder and I immediately could breathe again. I could feel his warmth even through the thin fabric of my shirt, and it seemed to work some magic on me.

Marcus’s eyes narrowed, looking at the hand touching me, and Trent pulled away. I hated the fact that I immediately stiffened up again.

“I think given our lack of real evidence, we’re going to have to forgo the punishment, Marcus. I’ll also talk to the coven since we can’t be sure Liv was with Kelsey.” Donovan watched us all with a grim look on his face. “Owens, please sit down. Trent, I know why you’re doing this. Believe me, I truly understand.”

Trent’s hands fisted at his sides. “You can’t possibly.”

Donovan’s left eyebrow rose as he stared at Trent. “Seriously? You think it’s not the same?”

They were having a whole conversation I didn’t understand, but I was too busy being wicked hurt over the way Marcus dismissed my feelings.

Donovan put a hand on Trent’s shoulder. “Exile is the worst punishment I would ever dole out for this particular crime and I believe I’ll prove quite tolerant. Put your mind at ease. Now stop fighting. We’re not at war, you and I. I am not your enemy. I’m someone who understands exactly where you are and I will help you.”

Trent seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Donovan shook his head. “No apologies necessary. Now go and put on some damn pants that fit. Keep a fresh set in your car, man. You can’t run around naked. This is not the set of Magic Mike Three.”

Trent’s lips curved up. “Yes, sir. And she totally called a hurricane demon thing. You want to punish her? Feed her kale salad for a solid week.”

“Hey.” There are some things worse than death. “I thought you were on my side.”

“I am, Owens,” he said with a wink. “But I told you I loved those jeans. Unlike your boyfriend over there, I understand the need for revenge.”

He turned and strode out of the office.

Marcus turned to the king. “Vengeance is meaningless in this case. It will only serve to harm my charge and to weaken our position when it comes time to deal with the situation we find ourselves in. Your Highness, this cannot be allowed to continue. You must go to the table with the demons and sign a new contract.”

Donovan’s eyes darkened. “You’ve made yourself plain, Marcus. I understand your point of view.”

“And yet you do nothing,” Marcus replied. “You allow the situation to fester. Have you thought of what a war would do to this plane? It’s what you’re courting. You’re thinking about all-out war with Hell. We vampires might be stronger on the Earth plane, but there are so many more of them. You cannot keep a war between our tribes from the humans. Have you thought of that?”

“I think of everything.” Donovan’s voice had gone deep.

Marcus kept pushing. “Then think about the fact that since we cannot win a war with the demon plane, what you are actually doing is courting Armageddon. The Heaven plane will have two choices. They will sit back and do nothing or worse, they will take over. If you think the demons can do damage, you’ve never seen a vengeful angel.”

Donovan’s eyes narrowed, the tension in the room ratcheting up another notch. “I think I know exactly what kind of damage an angel can do. I’ve felt it. Marcus, if you’re merely here to discuss my shortcomings as a king, you should feel free to leave.”

Marcus sighed, his anger seeming to flee. “Daniel, I understand why you’re doing this. I understand why she’s doing what she’s doing, but I can also see that it will not work. Kelsey, I will study Nemcox with you. We must find a way he is breaking our laws and then we can have him punished. Legally, honorably. Your Highness, you must push through your own emotions and do what is best for your people. We depend on you. That is all I will say on the subject. You will make your decision and we will follow. I’m going to my rooms. If either of you needs me, I will be there studying.”

He turned but stopped at the sight of the painting. He was still for a moment.

“Marcus?” Donovan’s anger seemed to have fled as well, replaced with worry. “Are you all right?”

“It’s the painting. It calls to me. The painter was obviously a sorcerer.” Marcus seemed to force himself to turn away. “The woman in the painting moves. Very slowly, but she is moving from the forest to the field. I find her…intriguing.”

“Wow, I hadn’t noticed that.” Donovan stared at the painting for a moment. “You’re right. A few days ago, she was closer to the tree line. Interesting.”

“Like I said, the painter was a sorcerer,” Marcus repeated, his voice dull and flat. “The story he wishes to tell will play out over several weeks. The girl in the painting…she feels familiar somehow. It will be interesting to see how she fares.”

He never turned back, simply walked away.

And I was left alone with the king.

He sighed and settled back. “What am I going to do with you, Owens?”

“I’m not going to stop. Whatever you’re going to do, you should do it.” I can be stubborn when I want to, and I usually want to. It’s my default position.

But I needed a new plan because I couldn’t get Liv in trouble with her coven and I didn’t want to get Casey on Marcus’s bad side. He wasn’t a good liar. He would wilt like a hothouse flower the minute he was questioned, and he wouldn’t do well in supernatural jail. Or any jail for that matter.

Donovan groaned, his head falling back. “You’re fucking just like him. You know that, right?”

“Like who?”

His head came back up, his eyes on me. “Your father. He could be the bane of my existence at times. You know we got into a fight once. It was so bad, I had to bite his ear off to get him to let go.”

“You bit his ear off?” Of all the stories I’d heard about my father, this was one they’d avoided.

Donovan smiled as though remembering good times. “Zack found it and held it on your dad’s head until it reconnected. He was a pain in my ass and there was no one else I would rather have watch my most precious blood. I loved your father. I didn’t realize how much until he was gone. Marcus cannot understand. He wasn’t there.”

“I don’t know that it would matter,” I replied. “Sometimes I think Marcus is too practical to ever truly understand me.”

“He understands you far better than you think. Better than you understand yourself. He realizes how quickly your training is progressing and he’s not ready to give you up yet. The fact that you’re arguing with him at all is proof that your training is moving more quickly than he would like.”

I didn’t completely understand the training thing. I got that it went past learning how to fight and use weapons. Marcus’s presence could soothe me. He could feel when I was upset or frightened. So why couldn’t he understand how I felt about the demon whose selfishness had caused my father’s death?

Unless…

“He can’t feel me at all anymore, can he?” He’d had to ask a coven to locate me. I was emotional this afternoon and I hadn’t bothered to cover it up, yet it had been Trent who came after me, not Marcus. Marcus had been waiting here because he hadn’t known where I was.

“I don’t think it’s completely gone yet. I think if the two of you would stop being stubborn, the spark might flare again. You can build the connection, but the fighting doesn’t help.”

He was slipping away from me. “I love Marcus.”

“But you love Grayson Sloane more,” Donovan said.

I knew Gray wasn’t the king’s favorite person, but I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t going to lie to him about it. “I don’t know that I would say more. I need them for different reasons.”

But I often felt the distance with Marcus more. Marcus was older than me by a couple of millennia, and I think my emotions often stumped him.

“And that is why Marcus is afraid. He thinks your need for him will fade. It’s the way of Hunter and trainer.”

“Not always.” I’d heard stories of at least one Hunter and her trainer that had worked out. Sometimes I wanted that so badly because being with Marcus seemed like such a happy thing. When Marcus and I were in harmony, the world seemed like a perfect place. He was the kind of man I could count on for everything. Marcus was solid. I just couldn’t seem to hold on to him.

“Hunters tend to end up with wolves.” Donovan stared at me across his desk. “The she-wolf inside you will seek her wolf mate, and that’s a relationship that tends to be for life. When wolves aren’t impatient assholes, they tend to find their other half. The bond between two wolves can be something incredible, and I believe you’ll find it satisfies the wolf inside you. Tell me something. Have you thought about what will happen after Sloane’s contract comes due?”

It wasn’t something I liked to think about. I loved Grayson Sloane. I didn’t even lie to myself anymore about it. I didn’t lie to Marcus. But Gray had a specific expiration date. He was a legacy, and by that I mean his mother sold his soul to the Hell plane before he was even born. She’d been a witch with some natural talent, but her true power had been given to her when she’d agreed to give birth to the child of a lord of Hell. Gray had gotten the shitty end of that stick. He’d received prophecy powers he hadn’t wanted and a whole thirty-five years on the Earth plane before he was obliged to go to Hell and serve his father.

I didn’t like Papa Sloane much. I liked him even less since earlier this year I’d met the man and watched as he’d gambled his son’s life to turn him into a dark prophet. It had worked, but barely, and the incident had almost taken me out, too.

Besides, Papa Sloane had also sired my mortal enemy. Stewart, otherwise known as Nemcox, the asswipe who had killed my dad—no matter what Marcus said—was Gray’s half brother.

“I don’t know. I can’t let Gray go to Hell, but I haven’t found a way to stop it yet,” I admitted.

“You understand the trouble you’ll be in if you’re not with Marcus and Gray isn’t around.”

The trouble with my kind is we need to be grounded. Hunters can turn extremely violent if we’re not emotionally attached, and the best way to be emotionally attached is to have intimate relationships. My she-wolf liked to get her freak on in seriously physical ways. Even now, given how Marcus and I were at odds, she was twitching inside me, desperate to get what she needed. I’d ignored her up until now. I had more important things to worry about. Like revenge.

Yeah, my she-wolf liked that, too. She needed blood or sex. Either would do. Lately, I’d been placating her by running with the Dallas pack, but she wouldn’t be satisfied with that forever. And if I didn’t feed that part of my soul, I feared she would take over, and I wouldn’t like how that scenario ended.

“I’ll handle it.” I said it with way more confidence than I actually felt.

Donovan shook his head. “You won’t, and then you’ll start taking out civilians and I’ll have to put you down. I know you deserve a private life, but if you go too long without, you will literally explode and kill people.”

Sometimes it was awesome to be me. “Look, if it all goes south with Marcus, I’ll let you parade a bunch of himbos in front of me. I’ll pick the least offensive one and ride him to sweet, sweet sanity. Can we agree on that? I won’t allow inner horniness to turn me nuclear.”

Donovan shook his head, chuckling. “I think we can find a proper way to handle things. I hope you and Marcus can work it out. I think he’s worried about losing you.”

He didn’t seem worried. He seemed preoccupied. He seemed annoyed. Lately, even when we made love, he was somewhere else. Gray was definitely somewhere else. More and more, I was alone.

“I’ll try to handle it.” The last thing I wanted to do was end up in some weird sex therapy the king imposed. The therapy I was already in was embarrassing enough. I didn’t need more.

“We need to talk about the demon calling.”

Well, of course we did. That was why I’d been called to the office in the first place. “He killed my father.”

“I agree with you, but it’s obviously not working, Kelsey,” Donovan said. “Nemcox has got some kind of spell on him. In the last eight months you’ve managed to call two hell hounds, a succubus, a pissed-off satan—who is suing, by the way—and whatever hail monster came out today.”

The succubus had been hard to get rid of, but Jamie had a good time. That incident had taught me I couldn’t bleach my eyeballs and some things can’t be unseen. I also figured out why all the girls loved big brother.

“Then I need to figure out what mojo he’s working and deal with it.”

“Do some research and tell me the next time you’re going to try.” Donovan sat back. “There are plenty of rules governing us, but what’s the point of being the king if you can’t bend a few?”

Sometimes Donovan wasn’t such a bad guy. “I will. You’re not worried about what Marcus was talking about? Gray managed to get a message to me.”

A single brow rose over Donovan’s eyes. “A prophecy?”

I nodded. “Yeah. You know how those go. I’m supposed to convince you to do something that will stop a war blah, blah, blah. You’ve got two crowns or something and some dude’s trying to unite the lower planes. I’m supposed to look out for spawn of some kind.”

Donovan sighed and slid a piece of paper and a pen my way. “I fucking hate prophecies. I’ll need you to write everything down as well as you can remember it and I’ll have some experts take a look at what Sloane said. Dev knows some people who can give us clues as to what it could mean. Spawn? Someone’s having a baby and it’s going to go bad?”

I shrugged and started writing what I could remember. “No idea. Apparently Heaven also tricked someone and he’s going to be pissed about it. But I think I know what he’s talking about when he says there will be a war unlike anything this plane has seen before.”

Despite my need for vengeance, I also could see Marcus’s point. We didn’t need a war with Hell kind. I wasn’t sure it was something we could win.

Donovan’s eyes slid away from me. “I’ll deal with it when I have to. For now, lay off the demon calling. It’s giving me hell. And we’ve got other things to worry about.”

Other things seemed like a good idea. Lots of other things to worry about. Things other than my sad-sack love life and the demon I couldn’t manage to kill. Yeah, I was ready for other things. “Like what?”

“Like murder,” Donovan said with a frown. “I got a call from the DPD an hour ago. They’ve been looking into a series of what they call ‘odd crimes.’ It’s the type of thing Lieutenant Sloane would have handled, but he’s gone, so I need you to call your brother and we’ll go down and meet with the police department rep and take over the investigation. We’ll have to report to Sloane’s CO, but they’re fairly certain this is one of ours.”

It probably made me a bad person that a crazy corpse lightened up my day. I passed Donovan the prophecy as I remembered it. “Let’s go.”

My life was pretty sucky. I was ready to think about death for a while.