CHAPTER 05

T he woman standing outside our motel door didn’t look like my sister. Not really. She was softer somehow—happier. Whatever the hell she was doing with her life, it suited her. Her auburn hair was shorter than I’d ever seen it, tossed up in a clip with wild flyaways everywhere. Those pale blue eyes that matched mine sported a few extra laugh and worry lines. She dressed more comfortably than before, wearing a hockey sweatshirt and leggings. But that smile? That same big smile lit up her face when I answered.

“I’ve missed you,” Tessa said tearfully as I pulled her in for a hug. The intense emotions rolling off her were overwhelming. That was new. She’d always been reserved and organized with her feelings.

“I’ve missed you too,” I replied. “You look good.”

“You look better.”

“I look best,” Gray chimed in as he exited the bathroom. I shook my head, but Tessa laughed and crossed the room to hug him. “How you doin’, darlin’? Holdin’ up okay?”

“That depends on your definition of okay,” she admitted. “I just… keep going through things.”

Her voice cracked as she faltered, eyes watering all over again. I frowned. Tessa wasn’t a crier—even as a kid. The last time I’d seen her cry was at Zeke’s funeral.

“They don’t tell you just how much having a baby will fuck up your feelings.” She gestured to her face before rubbing her eyes with the edges of her sleeves. “I cry at everything. Everything! I cried at a dryer sheet commercial. Don’t you laugh at me, Grayson Charles Harper.”

His smirk vanished under her menacing glare. Oh, having a kid really fucked with my sister’s emotions. And I’m sure her power wasn’t helping any.

“Okay,” I interjected. Taking my sister by the shoulders, I led her to a chair. “Let’s just sit and talk this out, okay? We need a plan, but we need to know everything you know.”

“Crap!” She popped right back out of the chair. “I forgot everything in the car.”

“I’ve got it,” Gray said and waved her back into her seat. “I’ve got it.”

“I’m sorry,” Tessa whispered when he was gone. “I’m not usually so much of a mess. It’s just…”

“You’re fine, Tess,” I told her, taking her hand. The wild emotions rolling off her were intense, and I wanted nothing more than to soothe away some of it. I couldn’t begin to imagine the thoughts going through her head. “We’ll get them back.”

“What if we can’t?” Tears gathered on her bottom lashes. “What if it’s too late? What if—”

“No, what-ifs,” I interrupted. “They won’t help us. Let’s just start with the facts, and we’ll go from there. If we treat it just like any other hunt—”

“But it’s not any other hunt!”

“It is. There’s a demon, it’s hurting people, and it needs to be killed.” Maybe I sounded cold, considering it was Mal and her husband on the line, but it was a fact. Making it too personal would cloud our judgment. “We’ll get Mal and Jake out of whatever hellhole those two have found themselves stuck in.”

“Promise?” She chewed on her lower lip. Fuck, the sadness in her expression killed me. I always was a sucker for my baby sister. There was a reason she got away with literally everything as a child.

“I promise I’ll do whatever I can,” I said. “We both will. Do you have any pictures of Jake? I’m pretty sure I remember what Mal looks like.”

That earned me a wet laugh. I’d take it . Anything to distract her. She pulled her phone out from her bra of all places—I wasn’t about to ask how the hell she hid it in there.

“Here.” She scooted the chair closer so I could see the picture on her phone. I took it from her, studying the man my sister decided to marry without so much as calling me once. Okay, I fucking judged him. He had unruly blond hair, blue-green eyes, a clean-shaven face, and a smile too wide for his face. The man wore casual firefighter gear as he held Tess tight to his side, beaming like he’d won the lottery. The expression on my sister’s face in the picture matched. I couldn’t remember ever seeing my sister so happy.

And then it dawned on me.

“Do not tell me the man is a descendant of Uriel,” I muttered and glanced up at her, watching her nod. Of course. The man could control fire like Gray could control the earth and the air. It made him a prime fucking firefighter. “Fire and what?”

“Air.”

Of course. Two elements that’d make for great tools in fighting fires .

“He doesn’t hunt much, does he?” I guessed. “This was Mal’s hunt, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Tessa said. “Jake hasn’t hunted in years. He doesn’t like hunting. His job is stressful enough, you know?”

“I do. And Mal? How long has he been in town?”

“Maybe a year? A little longer,” she replied. “He failed out of a few colleges. He’s struggling, Ryder. He was okay for a while, but… I think he just doesn’t know where he fits in. He’s been hunting a lot in the general area. But he’s not always smart about it.”

“Mal never was.” I sighed and handed the phone back to her. Mal had always been reckless. A real hot head. The world was fun and games to him. That plus demons was a dangerous combination. As I got comfortable in my seat, she kept talking.

“He’s made a lot of mistakes, almost gotten hurt a few times, and just… I don’t know. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.”

“That sounds like Mal,” I murmured. And I planned to hand him his ass after I rescued said ass .

“He’s just a little lost, Ryder,” she explained. “It’s not that we’ve been out of touch with Dad. Dad can’t prove it but knows that we helped you. He cut us both off completely, hired someone to take over the house from him, and some… really ugly things were said. I think Mal feels like he has to prove himself.”

“But you two are safe?” I asked. Dad’s warped sense of what-the-fuck after Zeke’s death had only grown worse over the years. I wasn’t sure what he had to prove to who, but as someone who’d been on the receiving end of his twisted thoughts, I didn’t want to think about what would happen to my siblings if he turned it on them. “Present circumstances aside, of course.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tessa assured me with a nod. “I mean, honestly… we have our inheritance. There’s nothing he can do about that. Neither of us wanted to take over the house, so it’s a relief anyway. I hate not knowing what’s going on with you—”

“You don’t need to worry about me, Tess,” I cut in gently. “Gray and I are just fine.”

“I know.” She smiled. “I’m glad you two stuck together.”

“Don’t you start that shit.”

“What? I didn’t say anything!”

“Go back to the situation with Dad,” I ordered, knowing full well my sister would grill me about my relationship with Gray until the sun set if I let her.

“We’re fine,” she promised. “I mean that. Jake may have suggested we both get spelled to know if we’re being stalked, but it’s never been an issue.”

“You don’t actually think Dad’s watching you to get to me?”

“Dad’s not in his right mind, Ryder. I have no idea what he’ll do. Truly,” Tessa said. Pressing my lips together tightly, I nodded and glanced out the motel window. That didn’t bode well for anything . Admittedly, there was a small part of me that had hoped for good news in that department. This wasn’t good news. It’d also make this job more difficult. I couldn’t afford to be caught. Paranoid? Maybe. But it was smart. It meant I had to rely on Gray to handle the brunt of this case. I was about to get real damn comfortable with this fucking motel room. “I locked the car. He can’t get into it to get the stuff I brought.”

“I’m sure he knows that by now. But if I know Gray—and I do—he’s giving us a few minutes before he comes barging in with some smart-ass remark.” I chuckled. “Or he breaks into your car…”

“He wouldn’t.”

“He still holds a grudge over the ew comment.”

“That was nine years ago!” she exclaimed while I smiled. Oh, she had no idea the limits of Gray’s ability to hold a grudge. “God, I’m going to pay for this forever, aren’t I?”

The door opened, and Gray hurried inside. His clothes were wet, his hair stuck to his forehead, and he had a Twizzler jammed between his teeth. And shoved under his t-shirt was a tablet and some kind of folder.

“Fuckin’ Seattle and all its rain,” he commented. “But I saved the file. And the tablet.”

“How?” Tessa exclaimed. “It was locked!”

“I broke into your car.” He shrugged.

“Grayson Charles Harper!” she snapped. “You did not!”

“You ain’t got a clue how easy it is to break into a minivan,” he told her. The waves of anger rolling off her had me scooting back the chair. There was no stopping Tessa when she was riled up. And there was no way in hell I was stepping in to save him from her either.