us is gone.
“Valentina’s going to bill us for that.” Sawyer speaks into the sudden eerie quiet as the rumbling dies out. “It’ll take her forever to fix that tunnel.”
“Are the gargoyles… are they…?” I trail off, biting my lower lip.
“Dead?” Ford growls, shaking off his brothers and walking up to me—with a slight limp, I can’t help but notice. “Yeah. Rock beats rock.”
I know he probably won’t appreciate it since Ford’s not the most touchy-feely guy, but I can’t help myself. I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Ford goes stiff for a moment. Then, to my surprise, he tentatively wraps his arms around me and hugs me in return. His body is tense, as if it’s spring-loaded, but he’s not shoving me away like I feared he might. We’ve been closer than this before, with a lot fewer clothes on, but sex is different than open displays of affection like this. This feels even more intimate, in some ways.
Even though I could happily keep hugging him for a lot longer, I pull back so he doesn’t have time to get too awkward about it. “What do we do now?”
“You’re demon-marked,” Ryland says, sounding supremely unsympathetic about it. “Which means you’re going to be a beacon for all kinds of supernatural creatures to come out of the woodwork and try to kill you. As long as we’re in the city, you’re not safe.”
“We can go to my place,” Nix pipes up.
Phoenix, thanks to being Sloth, is a bit of a hermit. He doesn’t like to be disturbed. In fact, when Beckett, Remington, and I went to Nix’s place for the first time, they had to disable all of his crazy security measures before we could get inside his house. It’s a veritable fortress. It’s also pretty far out of the city, which is a benefit. There won’t be anyone else around.
“All right.” Beckett shoots me a look, his emerald eyes blazing, then nods curtly at Ryland. “We’ll go to Nix’s house.”
As secure as Beckett’s apartment is, it’s not as defensible as Nix’s place will be. Luckily Beck is Greed, not Pride, so he’s able to recognize that and not get all touchy about it.
I just hope this plan will be enough to keep us safe until we can find a real solution.
Chapter Four
Trinity
I’m shaking with nerves the entire way to Nix’s place.
What if someone can track us there? What if people have already guessed about Nix’s home base and have set a trap for us? What if… well, you get the picture.
The possibilities spin around in my mind until I feel dizzy despite the fact that I’m not even moving. I’m just sitting in the car staring out the window. There wasn’t enough room for us in just one car—not even a minivan could contain all seven of the sins and me, and honestly, I can’t see Beckett driving a minivan even if you put a gun to his head. So we split into two cars, with Ryland driving one and Beck driving the other.
The sins are nervous too. I can feel the energy of the three men in the car with me, their tension seeming to suck up all the oxygen in the small space.
Beckett’s knuckles are white where he grips the wheel, and Ford still looks pissed, like he’s in the middle of a fight, even though we’re just sitting here.
Knight never talks, but he’s the most empathetic of the group. He tends to take on the emotions of those around him, so he was an absolute twitchy mess when he climbed into Ryland’s car. I wanted to hug him just like I did Ford, but that will have to wait until we get where we’re going.
“I don’t think we’ve been followed,” Beck says as we finally pull up to Nix’s front gate. We took the long way, or rather a bunch of false ways, to try to throw anyone who might be tailing us off the trail. But you never know.
“No need to worry. My security is the best,” Nix promises, punching in the code that lets us in. “A whole army couldn’t get in here.”
“You’ll regret those words if you have to prove them later,” Beck notes.
The gate swings open, and we roll through. Ryland’s car is right behind us, and I twist around in my seat to make sure the gate shuts firmly after we’re all in the compound.
Everything seems to be in order when we get inside the house,