his slate irises.
“Azara?” he breathed out.
I leapt out of bed and ran a hand through my own tangled locks. “You know me?” Plastering my palms against the glass, I searched my memory for an image of the man. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t quite place it. He seemed youngish, thirty at most, and he was pretty damned good looking. Broad shoulders and a barrel chest, only a few inches shorter than Talon. He wasn’t human, but for some reason I related him to the human world.
“It is you…” He sucked in a breath and whirled at Actaeon. “Get her out of there, immediately.”
The C.O.’s dark brows bunched. “But Warden, she—”
Warden?
He swiped his palm over the scanner, cutting him off and the door slid open. I hazarded a step but before I made it through the threshold, he bounded toward me. Rough hands cupped my cheeks as he searched my face. “It really is you. You’re the spitting image of your mother, but those eyes—they’re all Ryder.”
I gulped and squirmed free of his grasp. “You know my parents?” He looked nearly two decades younger than them.
“I’m Logan Campbell. It’s been years since I last saw you. I’ve known your family for quite some time. Do you remember me at all?”
“You’re Logan? Dad’s friend from the Gargoyle Guardian Council?” That would explain the age difference. Gargoyles aged at a much slower rate than humans or most supernaturals.
He nodded. “And your mom’s trainer at Darkblood—I mean, Darkhen Academy.”
“While my Dad was MIA in the Underworld, right?”
His expression darkened. “Right.”
Dad didn’t like to share the stories from his time in the Underworld. I always thought there was more to it than he told me. I knew he’d had trouble controlling his demon for a while, but I’d never heard the whole story.
I was so consumed with this ghost from my parents’ past that I hadn’t noticed Talon and Hayden slip out of their bunks.
“So our little pumpkin does have family.” Hayden smirked and jabbed his elbow into my side.
Talon’s dark gaze flickered from me to Logan and back. “Interesting coincidence you knowing our new warden.”
“Yeah.” I released the breath I’d been holding since I set foot in this prison fortress.
Logan spun at Actaeon, his face like stone. “How did she end up in a cell with two males? And in the wrong cell block?”
The C.O. shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t oversee intake.”
He gritted his teeth and snarled. “I knew I saw her the day I arrived.” He turned to me, and his face softened. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner, Azara.”
A vague memory of my arrival at Darkblood and a shadowy figure calling out my name seeped to the surface. That was Logan?
“She’s handled herself just fine, Warden.” Talon tossed an icy glare in his direction.
As if finally realizing who had spoken, Logan’s expression morphed into one of understanding. “Talon,” he muttered. “From the Triad?”
The dragon’s cheeks flushed, and I nearly died of shock. I didn’t thing the big brute was capable of embarrassment.
“I need to speak to the two of you later.” The warden pointed at my roommates before turning back to me. He squeezed my shoulder and led me to the door.
“Hey Warden,” Talon growled, “before you get too chummy with your old friend, you should probably look at her file. She’s not in here for pick-pocketing.”
Logan spun back and seared my surly bunkie with an icy smile. “Thanks for the advice, inmate. I assure you I’m more than capable of handling my job, along with this prisoner.”
“Sure…”
The rest of Talon’s words were drowned out by the mechanic suctioning sound of our cell closing. Faces of delinquent angels pressed to the glass enclosures as we passed, some eyeing our new warden but most shooting daggers in my direction.
I shrugged out of Logan’s hold, hoping he’d understand. The last thing I needed was a bigger target on my back.
“Where are you taking her?” Actaeon asked, glued to Logan’s flank.
“To my office.”
The dragon guard’s eyes rounded to the size of full moons. “You can’t…”
“Why not?”
“She’s a prisoner, Logan. And the things she’s done—it’s not safe for you.”
He glanced at the wrist that sported my fashionable prison accessory. “I think I’ll be fine.”
“That’s what you thought about Delacroix too,” he muttered under his breath.
My eyes widened at the demon’s name. “You had a run in with Delacroix?” Was that why he’d come to see me?
Logan’s cheeks flamed, and he shot Actaeon fierce side-eye. “Nothing too bad. And no that’s