still angry. I took a deep breath to prepare for the impending argument. “I am sorry for—”
My words cut short as I rounded the couch to find the reason for Oz’s preoccupation. She knelt before him, face buried deep in his lap where his pants lay open. With a laziness that made my blood boil, he raised his head and looked at me. Then his hand cupped the back of her head and pushed it down further still.
“Is this why you summoned me?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral as rage bloomed in my gut. “Is this why I needed to come running? To watch you satisfy your needs with the mouth of another?”
The smirk he had given me the night we had met graced his face, and I considered all the ways in which I could remove it.
“I called you here because I wanted to remind you of who and what I am.”
“I am profoundly aware of both. I did not require this charade to make that point clear.”
“I think you did,” he said, leaning forward. “I think you’ve forgotten a lot over the course of the past few weeks—since you arrived in Detroit.”
“Perhaps we could have this conversation when your cock is not crammed down this woman’s throat.” My anger slipped into my tone, and his smile widened.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” he asked, flopping back against the cushions. “It hurts knowing that you aren’t the only one.”
“What exactly are you talking about—”
“It hurts when you learn the truth.”
I took a deep breath and tried to calm my anger, but the blaring music and pounding bass thundered in my skull. Pressure and pain grew alongside my rage, and I feared that there would be no stopping its escape. That, at any moment, lightning or fire would shoot forth from me and eliminate Oz and the girl.
“I came here to learn the outcome of your meeting with Raze. I do not have time for this,” I said, turning to leave. My restraint was slipping away with every passing moment. There was little time to waste.
I was halfway to the stairs when Oz’s words stopped me cold.
“Guess you’re just not that entertaining anymore, Khara…”
Something niggled at the back of my mind, and I turned slowly to face him. “What did you say?” I asked as I processed his exact words.
“I said you’re just not that entertaining anymore.”
“After that,” I pressed, taking a step closer. “What did you call me?”
He looked at me as though I had taken leave of my senses. “Your name, you fool. Khara.”
The word fell from his tongue, and I could feel the wrongness of it. The lie.
It was my turn to smile. “Oz would never have used my real name if he wanted to get under my skin. He only uses it when circumstances are dire—or he is trying to fuck me—which can only mean one thing…”
Phobos.
I closed my eyes and focused on the pressure and pain, pushing past both until I felt it—a small tether to another. I followed that connection until it came to an end. Then I ripped it free.
I gasped and stumbled back a step, as though I had been tugging on a physical rope that had broken. Reality, as it truly was, came into view, and I quickly took stock. The club was full, as it had appeared, but I could not see a sofa on the balcony. Bodies blocked my view entirely—and Oz was not among them. He was nowhere to be seen.
I could feel the pulse of fear on every beat of music that echoed around me.
Phobos was near.
Then, in a sea of black leather, I saw a flash of pale white making its way toward me. A wave of fear crashed over me, rooting me in place, and I wondered how I would escape. My mind was too clouded to think clearly. I could barely breathe.
His silhouette flickered behind passing bodies, making his approach even more surreal and frightening, and I closed my eyes to block it out.
“You must flee,” I whispered to myself, voice shaking.
When I opened them, Phobos was nowhere to be seen.
“Khara…” His voice came from behind me, only inches from my ear. “It is time…”
“No,” I said.
Then I focused every ounce of energy I possessed, survival driving my actions, and channeled Trey’s ability. I disappeared into an alley just outside the club and bent over as my breath raked through my throat. Transporting was so much more difficult than any of the abilities I had absorbed