It was near eleven in the evening when my phone started going off. He nearly hit me on the side of my head as I pulled it out of my pocket and saw it was Paden.
“Stop,” I snapped, answering and pulling it up to my ear, wondering what Paden needed tonight.
“Kaliya, you have to hide,” he said, coughing.
My blood ran cold.
“Paden, are you hurt?” I asked softly. “What happened?”
“Before opening, that witch and fae working for Sinclair came by. They promised my wife would be okay if I did as they asked, but you know, torture is sometimes an irresistible urge. Warning, the fucking witch has a hard-on for pain.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, slowly moving toward the side of the gym and leaning on the wall. “Oh, Paden, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. We all know the risks. They didn’t kill me, so you can’t kill them, yeah?”
“Yeah…” But I wanted to, those motherfuckers. “Why you?”
“They know you have him, and after getting over their pissy shit, they came back with a plan. I had to give them something, Kaliya. I had to protect my wife.”
“I know,” I whispered. “What did you give them, old friend?”
“Your condo. It’s closer to me, and I figured it would buy you time,” he explained, coughing. “Can they find your desert place using it?”
“Yes, but it’s fine. It’ll take them a little time to connect the two places.” Or it should. I was already plotting how to get what Raphael and I needed and get out before we were caught in the middle of nowhere with no backup. “How long ago did they leave?”
“Two-and-a-half hours ago, roughly,” he answered, groaning. “Wife had to heal my vocal cords and my hands once Henley got me to her. He’s pissed. We’re going to hide out until this all blows over.”
“I’m sorry, Paden. I really am.” I felt terrible. Guilt shredded my resolve about Raphael, about all of it. I slid down, letting my legs spread out as I let it sink in. Sinclair and his people were torturing now to get him. The escalation was fast, which meant I had been right: the vampire wasn’t going to let this go—not now, not ever.
“I got you started on this,” he reminded me. “I started this. It’s a lesson learned, not to toy around with these things so brazenly.”
“We didn’t know…” I tried to find something to say. I knew Sinclair was dangerous. I had seen his work more times than I could count, but this was open. This was stupidly in the open. The only thing was, I couldn’t get Sinclair on the torture. His minions did it for him, and Paden didn’t mention him being there. I had nothing on the vampire himself, which was the way he always got away with things. Paden also brought up a good point. They didn’t kill Paden, so I couldn’t kill them.
Not yet, anyway. The moment they moved against me personally, they were fair game.
“No, we didn’t. Kaliya, you have to get somewhere else to hide.”
“I know,” I said, forcing myself onto my feet. Raphael stood close, frowning, the picture of concern. My fangs ached terribly, trying to tell me I should bite him, keep him, and use him for my own comfort. I shoved that feeling down so far, I was certain my face went blank because he got very confused.
“Paden, I’ll call you when we’re on the move,” I said coolly, knowing I needed to keep my head clear if I wanted to steer clear of Sinclair and the gang.
“Good luck,” he said, then hung up. I hated how raspy his voice had been, but that was a problem for another time. I could pay for him to have a repair done. I owed him for that.
“A good friend of mine, one who knows where my homes are, was attacked and tortured to try to find us,” I explained quickly, shoving my phone back into my pocket. “They left him two-and-a-half hours ago, which is plenty of time for them to have found my condo in the city and maybe even deduce where we are out here.”
“How?”
“No supernatural worth its power only owns one home. A smarter one has fake names and shell companies to keep fortunes and properties secret. The smartest supernaturals know how to work through all that and figure out where others are hiding, or hiding their money,” I said, beginning to jog out of the gym, letting him keep up. “Sinclair is one of the