Ciro’s eyes grew round with excitement. “Of course! A demon cannot harm itself with its own magic. The magic in the spell protected her from the brunt of his power.”

  I held up a hand. “Great theory, but Alaron or Kai, or whatever we’re calling him, was able to choke Hamid with his magic.”

  The warlocks considered this, muttering among themselves for several minutes.

  Orias looked from Hamid to me. “Were you two touching when Alaron used his magic on Hamid?”

  “No, I was still in the hallway when he grabbed Hamid,” I said.

  “And what about when Alaron went after you?” Bastien asked me.

  My brow furrowed as I tried to remember. It had all happened so fast. “I’m not sure.”

  “Yes, we were,” Hamid spoke up. “I had my hand on Jordan’s leg the whole time.”

  The three warlocks smiled triumphantly.

  “That’s it then,” Orias said. “When you are physically touching, you are protected from his magic.”

  Hamid and I exchanged a disbelieving look before he turned back to Orias. “How confident are you about this?”

  “Very confident based on what we witnessed. The only way to know for sure is for you to face off against Alaron again.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” I thought about Kai’s misshapen face and body. “Is it normal during a possession for the body to start looking like the demon?”

  “No,” Orias said. “But Kai is possessed by an archdemon, and we can only guess what will happen to the body.”

  Ciro looked at me with sad eyes. “Our bodies are not strong enough to host an archdemon. Kai’s body will deteriorate until it can no longer hold the demon. When that happens, Alaron will be forced to go back to his own body.”

  “That’s something, at least.” We just needed to thwart the demon’s plans long enough for that to happen.

  “It looks like we were correct in our assumption that Kai has been using this place for a home base,” Ciro said. “But it’s highly unlikely he will return now that he knows we have found it.”

  Orias nodded. “I agree. Still, it would be wise if Hamid and Jordan stayed together and near one of us while we are here.”

  We spent the remaining daylight hours going through the house and barn for any clues about what Kai was up to and where he might go now. The warlocks spent the time either running tests on the barn or discussing their findings with the rest of the team in excited whispers. At least someone was enjoying this little excursion.

  Hamid was on edge after our showdown with Kai, and he didn’t let me out of his sight all day. I drew the line when I tried to go to the bathroom and he insisted I leave the door open. I got that he was being protective, but a girl needs her private time.

  When dusk came, he suggested he and I drive into town to get dinner for everyone. I hoped the time away from the farm would help him relax a bit. It did until we returned with the food. As soon as the farmhouse came into view, he tensed up again.

  We worked late into the night. When the team said they wanted to stay there overnight, Hamid vetoed it immediately.

  “We don’t know for sure that Alaron won’t come back here, and I will not take that risk,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “We should all stay together while we are in this area.”

  Everyone darted glances at me. We all knew I was the reason Hamid refused to stay here, but no one mentioned it. Before we left, the warlocks placed multiple wards on the farm that would hopefully trap Kai if he returned. And then we all drove to a hotel in town.

  I didn’t argue when Hamid told me we were sharing a room again. After the way he’d been acting all day, I wasn’t going to push it. I relaxed when we entered the room and I saw the two queen beds. At least, there would not be a repeat of this morning.

  He was quieter than usual as we took turns showering. I sat on my bed and waited for him to come out of the bathroom to talk about it.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him as he turned down his covers.

  “Yes,” he said without looking at me.

  “Liar.”

  He got into bed without answering me, but I wasn’t about to let this go. If he insisted on sharing a room with me, he could put up with my questions.

  “Are you still mad because I got between you and Kai?”

  He turned his head toward me, and I could see the anger in his eyes. But there was also something else. Fear.

  “You put yourself between me and an archdemon,” he corrected me tersely.

  I huffed out a breath. “What was I supposed to do? Let him kill you?”

  “You could have run for help.”

  “Right. And I’m sure he would have spared your life until help arrived.” I crossed my arms. “I won’t apologize for what I did because I’m right, and you know it. Any other warrior would have done the same.”

  He looked up at the ceiling and scrubbed his jaw with a hand. “It’s impossible for me to treat you as any other warrior,” he admitted.

  We’d been bonded over a month, and his protective instincts had to be riding him hard, especially after I’d nearly died a week ago. I’d gone a little crazy myself today when he was in danger, so I understood what he must be feeling. But I couldn’t allow him to treat me like some fragile thing to be bubble-wrapped and handled with kid gloves.

  “I know this isn’t easy for you. It’s not fun for me either,” I said. “But I’m not going to stop being a warrior, so we have to find some middle ground we can both live with.”

  He frowned. “I am not good with compromise.”

  “There’s a shocker,” I joked lightly.

  “You must promise not to take unnecessary risks,” he said. “And I will try to give you more freedom.”

  I smiled. “I’ll watch where I’m stepping, but I won’t promise not to jump in again if I see you in trouble. You may be a pain in my ass most of the time, but you’ve grown on me.”

  He arched his eyebrows.

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” I said wryly. “Do you know how hard it is to find a good sparring partner?”

  He grew serious again. “I’m sorry about your sword. I know you were attached to it.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I saw how well you cared for it, and you were rarely without it,” he said, surprising me. He’d noticed that?

  “It was a gift from Sara.” I told him the story of how I had come to own the beautiful sword. “Anyway, it’s not like it was a Muramasa, and it’s silly to get sentimental over a weapon.”

  “You are familiar with Japanese swordsmiths?” He rolled to face me with an interested gleam in his eyes.

  “I’ve read up on them a bit, but I’m no expert.” I laid on my side, facing him with my head propped on my hand. “How about you?”

  “I spent a year in Japan a long time ago, and I met a swordsmith who enjoyed teaching me about his craft.”

  “That must have been amazing,” I said eagerly. “I plan to go to Japan someday and train with one of our samurai warriors. Did you ever train with them?”

  “Yes, for almost a year.”

  “What was it like? I hear their training regime is a lot stricter than ours is.”

  Hamid smiled. “It is. They start physical training at a young age, as soon as they learn to control their Mori. They have a strong spiritual discipline and a code of ethics that is as much a part of them as being a warrior.”

  He went on to tell me about his time in Japan while I listened with rapt attention. I asked him a ton of questions, and he answered them all.

  “I think we should try to get some sleep,” he said some time later.

  “But you haven’t told me about the swordsman.” I didn’t want our conversation to end. I loved hearing his stories.

  He chuckled and reached for the light. “Tomorrow.”

  The room plunged into darkness, and I lay back with a troubled sigh. Talking to Hamid tonight had brought two things into clarity for me. The first was that if there really was a perfect match for each of us, mine lay a few feet away from me. The second was that it was going to hurt like hell when I had to let him go.

  * * *

  We stayed in Tallahassee for three days while the team went over every inch of the farm. Hamid kept busy going between calls with the Council and consulting with the team, but there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do. I soon grew so bored that I almost hoped Alaron would show up again just for some excitement. Then I remembered how he’d hurt Hamid, and I felt shame for my selfish thoughts.

  Hamid and I continued to share a hotel room, although we only went there to sleep. Each night, we lay in our separate beds and I asked him questions about his travels. He asked about my life among the humans, but I didn’t like to talk about that part of my past. I always found a way to steer the conversation back to him.

  The more we talked, the more I looked forward to the end of the day. I told myself it was a bad idea to spend time alone with him, but a loud inner voice insisted I should enjoy it while it lasted. So what if the moment he turned out the light, my chest squeezed painfully and I lay there berating myself for my weakness?

  On the fourth day, Hamid informed me we were returning to Chicago. I was happy to leave Tallahassee but sad to see the end of our late-night talks, even though I knew it was for the best.

  Upon our return, we fell back into our old routines. I went on patrols, and he did his own thing. We still sparred every evening, but that was the extent of our interaction.

  That all changed on our third day back in Chicago.

  I was in the control room writing up a report from the night before when Nikolas called to me from the office doorway.

  “Jordan, have you heard from Hamid today?”

  “No, was I supposed to?”

  Nikolas frowned. “He told me he was going to talk to Seraphine and he’d be back for a Council call at two. It’s not like him to miss a call.”

  I glanced at the time on my monitor and saw it was almost four o’clock. Nikolas was right. This wasn’t like Hamid.

  “Did you call him?” I asked.

  “Half an hour ago, and I got his voice mail.”

  I picked up my phone and called Hamid. It rang three times and went to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message and stood. “Let’s go.”

  “I thought you might say that.” Nikolas held up a slip of paper. “The address.”

  We met up with Sara as we were leaving the control room. “Where are you two off to in such a hurry?” she asked.

  Nikolas filled her in, and she said she was coming with us.

  “Maybe it would be best if you stayed here,” he said.

  Sara hit him with a hard stare. “Don’t you try to pull the pregnancy card on me. I barely leave here as it is. And if Seraphine has done something to him, who else here is qualified to deal with her?”

  My jaw clenched. If that witch hurt Hamid, she was going to need a lot more than magic to protect her.

  I rode my bike, and Nikolas and Sara took one of the SUVs. Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to a small blue bungalow, and I didn’t know whether to be relieved or concerned when I saw Hamid’s bike in the driveway. It was possible his interview with Seraphine had run long, but there was no way he’d ignore calls from Nikolas and me.

  We parked on the street and walked to the front door. Sara and I stood a few feet back while Nikolas rang the doorbell. I could sense Hamid inside, but when I heightened my hearing, I couldn’t pick up any sound.

  Nikolas turned to me with an odd expression on his face. It wasn’t alarm, but it caused a tiny knot of apprehension to form in my stomach.

  “What?” I asked him.

  He put a hand on the doorknob. “I’m going in. You two stay here until I give the all clear.”

  “I should go first.” Sara moved to stand beside him.

  “That won’t be necessary,” he said. “I think this is something I should handle.”

  He glanced at me, and I saw it again. That look. What was he not telling us?

  A sense of foreboding filled me, and I knew I had to see what was happening inside. I pushed past Nikolas, who didn’t try to stop me, and turned the knob.

  The door opened to a small entranceway from which I could see right into the kitchen and living room. I stood frozen to the spot when my gaze took in the sight before me.

  Hamid was sitting on the couch, shirtless, with a woman straddling his lap. Her long red hair fell to the small of her back, but it could not hide her nudity from the waist up. His hands were on her breasts, and he and the woman moaned as they kissed deeply. They were so wrapped up in each other they were oblivious to the fact they were no longer alone.

  Pain tore through my chest, stealing my breath. Hamid was kissing another female, touching her intimately the way he’d touched me. I’d always heard bonded males couldn’t be with other women, but that didn’t seem to be a problem for him.

  Now I knew why Nikolas hadn’t wanted me to come in here. I wished I’d listened to him.

  “You bastard,” I choked out. My pain gave way to the anger bubbling up inside me, and my next words were shouted. “You fucking bastard.”

  I was across the room in a heartbeat. My fingers grabbed a fistful of red hair, and I ripped the bitch off his lap, sending her crashing into a curio cabinet. I heard glass shattering and shouts, but I was too focused on him to give a shit about her.

  Hamid’s face twisted in anger, but my outrage eclipsed his when my eyes fell on the open button of his jeans. I drew back my fist and punched him so hard in the jaw that pain shot through my wrist. I welcomed it. It was better than the other kind of pain.

  “You son of a bitch,” I spat at him. All he did was stare at me as if he hadn’t done a thing wrong.

  Nikolas’s arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me backward. “Calm down, Jordan. This is not what you think.”

  I laughed harshly. I was no innocent, and I knew exactly what this was. I sent Hamid a look of pure loathing. “You come near me again and I’ll castrate you.”

  I wrenched out of Nikolas’s hold, and he let me go. Storming out of the house, I ignored Sara’s calls for me to wait. I was driving away when she ran out onto the front step, but I didn’t stop. I had to get away from this place before I lost it.

  Solmi, my Mori wailed.

  “He’s not your goddamn mate, and he never will be,” I ground out.

  My phone rang when I was a few blocks from the house. I reached into my pocket and turned it off without checking to see who was calling. There was no one I wanted to talk to, not even Sara or Beth.

  I rode around the city for hours with no destination in mind. No matter how long I rode, I couldn’t get the image of Hamid and that woman or the sound of their moans out of my head.

  When I spotted a neon sign for a dive bar, I pulled in, intent on finding someone to help me forget for a few hours. If he could do it, why couldn’t I?

  I shut off my bike, but that was as far as I got. Just the idea of touching another male made my stomach turn. I swore in frustration and rode off.

  Night fell, but I couldn’t bear the thought of going back to the command center. I started patrolling, itching to find someone to take out my aggression on. I didn’t care that I wasn’t supposed to patrol alone. Hamid, the Council, and their rules could all go to hell.

  Lucky for me, the underworld denizens were active tonight. When I came across two Gulaks dragging a teenage girl into an alley where a moving van was parked, I smiled in vicious glee. I’d always despised the scaly demons, but now my hate for them was tenfold.

  I didn’t utter a word as I drew my sword and went after them. They didn’t see me coming, so I was able to cut the first one down before they knew what was happening.

  The second one drew his short sword and brandished it at me. I laughed coldly before I relieved him of his sword and then his head.

  I looked around for the girl, but she had run off during the fight. After I checked the van to make sure it was empty, I tossed the dead Gulaks inside, and then I was on my way again.

  An hour later, I was cruising down by the port when I heard a man scream. By the time I found the source, the man was dead, but the vampire was still there finishing up her meal and drunk on the fresh blood.

  She was a few years old and more of a challenge than the Gulaks, but a good fight was just what I needed. I came away from it with a few claw marks and another vampire kill. I left the bodies behind a dumpster and made a mental note to send someone later for cleanup.

  I was riding away when I felt a faint trickle of awareness that told me Hamid was nearby. The anger I’d been working hard to burn off flared to life again. There was no way he was here by accident. If he thought I was going to let him track me down and take me back with him, he had another thing coming.

  As soon as I could no longer sense him, I pulled off the road and removed the tracker from my bike and the other from my coat. I tossed them into a garbage container and took off again.

  Part of me wanted to jump onto the closest interstate and just ride until I had to stop. But duty kept me from following my instincts. I couldn’t stomach the thought of seeing Hamid, but I couldn’t leave either, not without jeopardizing the integrity of the spell. Too many lives would be at risk if the barrier did reopen, and I couldn’t live with the knowledge I was responsible for that.

  I was trapped like a rat in a maze. I could run around this city all I wanted to, but I couldn’t leave. And eventually, I was going to have to go back.

  But not tonight.

  Around midnight, I had my second vampire kill of the evening outside a movie theater. People leaving late movies were easy targets since they were usually still caught up in the movie and not paying attention. Lucky for the girl, who was more interested in texting than watching her surroundings, I spotted the vampire lurking around the corner of the building. Unlucky for the vampire who should have been paying better attention, too.

  After the movie theater kill, my body reminded me I hadn’t eaten since lunch. I sought out an all-night food truck and amazed the vendor with the number of tacos I could consume. I’d managed to wipe the blood from my kills off my leather jacket, and I was glad the guy couldn’t see my jeans. I was starting to look like an extra on a horror movie set.