Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,84

some bizarre reason, I’d have expected him to be back by now, if only to let the rest of us know something needed our attention.

Had the Company managed to capture him again? But it wasn’t their style to stealthily scoop up just one of us if they could easily see where the whole squad was. I couldn’t imagine the hellhound shifter being caught without a major fight that one of us would surely have noticed.

Snap set his pizza down, the first time I’d ever seen him lose his appetite. He tucked his hand around mine instead, but I was too on edge to take much comfort from the gesture or Ruse’s squeeze of my shoulder.

It felt like ages before Thorn returned the second time, but the slice I was forcing myself to nibble at hadn’t even gotten cold when he appeared with no ice-cold bastard beside him. He looked even graver than when he’d talked about failing to protect his boss the first time, before we’d rescued Omen.

“I can find no sign of him,” he said. “I can’t imagine where he would have gone.”

My heart ached for the warrior even as a twisting sensation ran through my chest. The only thing I could think of that had happened recently and might have affected Omen’s mood was our scorching interlude in the bedroom this morning. He’d seemed like he accepted what had happened, even if he wasn’t crowing from the roof about hitting a home run with me. He’d hassled me when we’d gotten here like I’d have expected him to.

But who really knew what was going on behind those icy eyes and his carefully constructed self-control? Had he gotten angry at me for provoking him—had he gotten angry with himself for giving in to his lust? Would he really have compromised our mission just to go cool himself off?

Maybe, if he felt he was fraying enough to warrant it.

Ruse had been tapping at his phone. “I’m not getting any response the mortal way. He might be in the shadows. Phones don’t work there.”

“He wouldn’t have left us,” Snap said, but he looked at his companions for them to confirm that was a fact.

The incubus chuckled. “And miss out on the chance to call the shots for the grand finale of our trip? I can’t imagine it.” But the worried crease hadn’t left his brow.

We picked at the rest of the pizza until the incubus declared a ceasefire and packed the rest of it into the RV’s tiny fridge. With each passing minute, Omen’s absence weighed heavier. Finally, Thorn cleared his throat.

“We know what Omen wanted us to do—to continue to San Francisco as swiftly as this vehicle can convey us. He knows if we’re not here, that’s where we should be heading. And he may be able to arrive there even faster than us making use of the rifts through the shadow realm. I say we move out. The longer we linger here, the more likely we’ll draw the attention of the wrong people.”

That was true. I nodded despite the lump in my throat, which seemed to have spawned from my stomach.

Ruse swiped his hand across his mouth. “Just watch. We’ll pull up to the city limits, and he’ll be standing there ready to chide us for taking so damn long.”

His jaunty tone fell flat. My original trio had gone on without their leader before, but then they’d known what had happened to him and had some idea of how to get him back. Now, we didn’t have a clue how to help Omen or whether he even needed help.

And after the way I’d been losing us allies left and right, I had to admit that whatever had happened to him, chances were I wasn’t totally blameless.

23

Thorn

With every passing minute after we’d left our last stop behind us, Omen’s disappearance gnawed at me more perniciously. I stalked the length of the RV—physically and through the shadows and then back into my solid body again—but I couldn’t wear out the uneasiness winding through my nerves.

It’d been my suggestion to move on without our commander. I stood by that suggestion without a single doubt. It was what he would have wanted, regardless of what had happened to him. Whether he was with us or not, the Company of Light still needed to be demolished.

But it was so unlike him to abandon us without a word. I couldn’t imagine how our enemies could have attacked and seized him without my coming across any