back at Arcayos, whose face is unreadable. Is he talking about the same kind of ring Tyrone and Steve found? “No. Sir, you can trust me—”
“Really?” Damon cocks his head. “The company you keep says otherwise. Do you know what he is?”
“Yes. He’s a demon. I know—”
“Do you know what he’s done?” he growls. “To the wolves? To so many others? And all on his father’s orders?”
Those words send a jolt through me. His father’s orders? I shoot a glance back at Arcayos.
His chin lifts, his expression giving nothing.
“Sir, whatever he’s done to you and your people, I’m truly sorry. But he is a different person now—”
“Are you sure of that?” Damon cuts in. “Did you ask for his help? Did you shake his hand?”
My throat works. “I…”
“Enough, Damon,” Arcayos rumbles.
Damon’s grin is almost vicious.
“Sir, I don’t know how much Arcayos has told you, but my sister was taken from a house close to here. I’m not here to cause trouble, and neither is he. He’s here to help me find her. We were hoping you’d have an idea where she’s being held.”
Damon relaxes, and I swear I see sympathy flicker in his eyes. With a quick glance at the woods around him, he shakes his head. “I shouldn’t even be here. Just talking to him, I risk everything.”
“I know, sir. He told me. We wouldn’t have come, but I think she might be held somewhere near here.” I put as much appreciation into the words as I can.
“What makes you think she is here?” He flicks his eyes to Arcayos, making it hard to tell which of us he’s talking to. I didn’t imagine the hint of hardness in his tone.
Shit. I shouldn’t have said that. I can’t explain without revealing my abilities.
Arcayos touches my arm. “You don’t have to answer that,” he says hastily.
“She does if she wants my help,” Damon snaps, his eyes blazing.
I hate the idea of revealing my powers, but if I don’t give a little, he may not help. Not if he’s insulted thinking we’re accusing the wolves of being involved. I lick my lips.
“I can see things. I saw a vision of my sister being held against her will. I heard wolves in my mind. Arcayos thought she might be near a pack.”
Damon hesitates. “You are a Precog?”
Arcayos steps closer to me, but I put my hand out, signaling to him that I’m okay. He steps back.
“Yes,” I say firmly.
Those intense eyes flick to the gloves covering my hands. “I can see it took a lot for you to trust me with that.” He sighs, but nods and points the head of his axe to the ground, resting his palms on the butt of the handle. “I can’t tell you much. Two demons broke into the house and stole the girl.” He pauses, nodding to Arcayos. “Word in the Underground says his daddy believed she had powers and wanted them for himself.”
His dad.
Icy cold slides through my veins. Hazuldar wants… Oh, God. That means Arcayos is…
One last time, I swing a glance at him. “Arcayos? Your father is—”
He makes a deep growl in his throat, his lips peeled back in a snarl at Damon.
When I look at Damon, his teeth are visible.
“He didn’t tell you?” the werewolf says. “He’s keeping secrets from you too then. You’d think if he wanted to help you with something involving Hazuldar, Arcayos would have told you he was the Prince of Hell.”
Refusing to let this news shake me, I face Damon. “Saffron didn’t have any powers. Why would Hazuldar want her?”
“She did have something, or he wouldn’t have,” Damon says. “I don’t know where she is, but she isn’t anywhere near here. I’ve heard whispers in the Underground. Talk of a place called the In Between.”
The In Between. I’ve heard Arcayos use that name before—
A loud male voice shouts through the darkness. “Kill him.”
Arcayos snatches me behind him, head turning this way and that, red eyes flashing in the blackness. Panicked, I draw my gun, looking everywhere for the source of the voice.
“Arcayos!” I press into him and he keeps me close, his sword at the ready.
Six wolves stalk out of the trees surrounding us, and in the lead, a man a head taller than Damon straightens from a wolf’s crouch. He draws a long, thin black blade from the forest floor.
Arcayos rounds on Damon. “You set us up,” he snarls.
The second man, who must be Tyruse, leaps on Damon, flattening him to the ground. He yanks