14. Rylan

The next day, we sat silently around the living room, processing our epic failure the night before. When we got home last night, we went straight to our rooms, not knowing what to say about it. I was wracking my brain to come up with a new plan. Zabiza will have moved on from Club Bamboo, which meant we would have to track him down again. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but the alternative wasn’t an option. We had to find and deal with him, or Lucifer would be dealing with us.

A sound from the fire escape got our attention, and we watched in shock as Evangeline pried the window open and started to climb through. She paused halfway through to look up at us.

“What? You can let yourselves into my place whenever you want, but when I do it, it’s weird?” she asked. The window only opened about halfway, so she didn’t have a lot of room to work with. We were still stunned to see her as she struggled, and finally, I was jolted out of my state by her cursing. I rushed forward to help and caught her as she fell the rest of the way into our living room. I steadied her and then stepped back to feast my eyes on her. After over a week without seeing her, she was a sight for sore eyes. I never wanted to go this long without seeing her again, but I knew it wasn’t up to me.

She straightened her clothes and dusted herself off before looking around the room at us again. I wanted to pull her into my arms, but I resisted. “This is a surprise,” I drawled.

“That was the point, big guy,” she winked.

Was she flirting with me? That was a good sign, right? I glanced at Jett to see what he thought and saw he was smiling, so it had to be.

“I got a new contract offer today, and I think you guys might be able to help me with it.”

I puffed my chest out and stood taller. My mate wanted our help. That felt unbelievably good. “Who’s the mark?”

Evangeline held a black business card out to me. When I took it and read the name on the card, my blood turned to ice. No way in hell did I want her near Zabiza ever again. “Absolutely not,” I growled, trying to rip the card in half. My frustration grew to dangerous levels when no matter what I did, the fucking thing wouldn’t tear. What the fuck was with this card?

Evangeline stepped forward and plucked the undamaged card from my hands, looking at me like I was insane and had completely lost it. “Does that mean you won’t help me?” she asked. “If you aren’t interested, I’ll figure it out on my own. One million is hard to pass up.”

“One million dollars?!” Jett blurted. “Who the fuck is the mark?”

“Zabiza,” I growled.

“Who would have taken out a hit on Zabiza?” Kase asked, “And why would they have assigned him to you?”

Evangeline shrugged. “I have no idea. I assume it’s because I’ve already hunted him down once, so we have a history. Maybe they think I’ll be more invested in killing him or want to give me a chance to make him pay for his part in my fall. Whatever the reason, the job is mine. I thought we could work together on this since you also hunted him before. With such a big payout, he must be involved in something that very influential and rich people disapprove of.”

I looked at my pack. Did Lucifer take a hit out on Zabiza? It wasn’t his style; he had hounds to handle his dirty work instead of hiring the work out to The Guild.

“Lucifer did say that he didn’t care if Zabiza lived or died,” Kase said. “Someone else must prefer death.”

“How does this work?” Jett asked. “Does the Guild tell you his location? How do they know where he is?”

“The Guild knows all,” Evangeline chuckled to herself. “But to answer your first question, yes, that’s usually how it goes. I accept the job, and all the information they have gathered is zapped into my head. I suspect this one won’t be as straightforward.”

I thought it over. Evangeline has already made it clear that she would be taking the job no matter what, which would mean we would be after the same demon, not that she needed to know that. Even if we weren’t, we would have still helped her because she asked. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t twist this to our advantage to get closer to her. “We’ll help you, but I have one non-debatable condition,” I finally said.

“And what would that be?” Evangeline asked.

“We live together for the duration of the assignment,” I stated. I saw Kase and Jett straighten with interest in my peripheral, but I kept my eyes on my mate’s gray ones.

They narrowed slightly, the purple flecks brightening. “Who’s place?” Evangeline asked, wrinkling her nose as she looked around our crummy apartment.

“We could get a new place,” Kase suggested. “A neutral space big enough for all four of us.”

“But not too big,” Jett adds. He licks his lips as he devours Evangeline with her eyes. She gasps quietly, likely feeling his hunger through their bond, and glances at him as she blushes.

“What about the case Jett said you were working on?” Evangeline asked, returning her gaze to mine. “If I’m going to live with you, I want to know that all of your time and attention will be on me— I mean my case,” she corrected quickly, her blush deepening.

I grinned at her slip-up. “Trust me, angel, all of our time and attention will be on your case,” I assured her.

“So you finished your case then?” she pressed.

I resisted the urge to look at Kase or Jett. I wouldn’t lie to her outright, but I wouldn’t overshare. Not if it meant getting her under the same roof as us. We can tell her the complete truth after we move in together. “We had a setback in our case that unfortunately put us back at square one. We’re unsure what our next steps will be, so we can help you until we figure that out.”

Evangeline nodded as she accepted my answer, but then her head snapped in Jett’s direction. “What was that?” she asked.

Jett met my eyes, and I could tell he was on the brim of panicking. “Could you keep your head out of the bedroom for two fucking seconds, pup?” I asked, adding an extra heap of annoyance to my voice.

Evangeline looked at me, considering my explanation for whatever she felt through her mate bond with Jett. Her eyes moved to Jett and then Kase before settling back on Jett. “No, that wasn’t it,” she said as she approached him. She studied him carefully, and I knew she was analyzing his emotions through the bond. “What are you hiding?”

“So, do we have an agreement?” I asked, refocusing her attention on me to give Jett a few seconds to get his shit together.

“Why do I feel that I’m getting much less out of this arrangement than you’re proposing?” Evangeline asked.

“You asked for our help, Evangeline, not the other way around,” I reminded her.

She looked between us suspiciously again. “Fine,” she finally said with a shrug. “I can’t figure out what your angle could possibly be, but ultimately, I trust you.”

I pushed down the tiny bit of guilt her words evoked in me. I didn’t lie. I just withheld a little information.

Evangeline opened her hand and summoned her blade. Using the tip, she pricked her finger and squeezed it to push out a drop of her blood. Evangeline let the blade return to wherever it went when it wasn’t needed and pressed her finger to the business card. As soon as she did, she released the card and stumbled back as if something had just slammed into her.

“Her eyes,” Jett said, sounding concerned.

“I see them,” I replied as she stumbled toward the side. Kase and Jett rushed forward to steady her, but I kept my gaze fixed on her bright white eyes. I waved my hand in front of her face, but she didn’t react.

“I don’t think she can see or hear us right now,” I said.

“Does this happen every time, or is this just a Zabiza special?” Kase asked.

“I’m not sure, but I don’t like it,” I replied. I brushed the beads of sweat forming on her brow away. “She’s burning up,” I informed them. She had about thirty seconds before I tried to break her out of whatever trance she was in.

Suddenly, Evangeline gasped like she hadn’t been breathing, which she hadn’t been for all I knew. I was so focused on her other symptoms it hadn’t occurred to me to see if she was breathing. Her eyes closed, and Jett and Kase caught her as her legs gave out.

“It isn’t usually that intense,” Evangeline groaned as she slumped between them. The need to make sure she was indeed back and ok was too great, so I tipped her head up and smoothed the hair out of her face. Her familiar gray eyes looked back at me, though they were a little more tired than they had been mere minutes ago.

“Are you ok?” Evangeline nodded as she gathered herself and stood on her own steam. “What did you learn?”

Confusion flashed in her eyes briefly before she got a faraway look as she reviewed the information she had been given. The color drained from her face, and I could see fear and shock swirling within her eyes. Evangeline blinked and then looked at me.

“Oh, fuck. This is bad. So fucking bad,” she whispered in horror.

“Start at the beginning,” I ordered as I set a cup of tea in front of her and sat beside her at the kitchen table. Jett sat on the other side of her and rubbed her back to try to soothe her. I didn’t need the mate bond to see that she was close to losing it.

“Zabiza is stronger than we thought—stronger than we could have anticipated. He’s been recruiting paras under the radar,” Evangeline explained.

“Lucifer did say he was hearing rumors that Zabiza was building an army to usurp him,” Kase said from across the table.

Evangeline shook her head. “You don’t understand. This isn’t just about Hell. He has Angels on his side, too. This isn’t about good versus evil, Heaven versus Hell. Zabiza wants to rewrite the very structure of the world. No good. No evil. No balance. Just Zabiza.

She looked at us with terrified eyes. Were her eyes glowing brighter than usual? “Without balance, Earth will become a wasteland, and humans will go extinct,” she said in horror. “We can’t let that happen!”

“We won’t,” I assured her, pulling her into my arms. She shook in my arms, and I vowed to stop Zabiza at all costs. Which meant I was going to have to fill Lucifer in. This meant she would soon find out that we had also been after Zabiza. Oh, well. Saving the world was more important than saving my ass. “We will stop him together,” I promised.

I felt her relax in my arms briefly before she stiffened. “Right!” she said, standing suddenly. “We have shit to do. Can someone figure out where we’re going to live? I’m going to go home and pack. The sooner we get moved, the sooner we can get to work.” She walked toward the front door with purpose and determination, leaving us to catch up from the one-eighty she had just done, practically running out the door. “Text me an address when you have one.”

“Don’t you want to help pick out a place?” Kase asked, recovering first.

“No, I trust you to find a decent place,” she replied over her shoulder as the door shut behind her.

“You heard her,” I told Kase, feeling a little shell-shocked. “Get to it.”

“And remember,” Jett said with a grin. “Not too much space.”