Outlaw (Wolves of Royal Paynes #4) - Kiki Burrelli Page 0,71

never stupid. This would all be easier if he was. He's greedier than I ever suspected. I spent the most time with him early on. I should've recognized who he was instead of making excuses for a pack brother."

"We aren't playing the blame game again." Hallie lay on one of the couches, a cool cloth over her head. "You're right. Pierce is smart. He's also right in saying he's been one step ahead. So, what do we do? How do we close that gap?"

"Forget the gap." Knox stood abruptly, taking mate and son with him. "How do we close the gate? Claus?"

"I've never opened one. I'm not stupid enough to ask for that wrath, nor am I brainless enough to learn how without reason. We know nephilim blood is a key component."

"But you escaped hell, same as Thalasso," Diesel pointed out. "That doesn't matter?"

"I wasn't responsible for opening the gate, just being near enough to sense it. I'm a demon. I can't be blamed for being a little naughty whenever given the chance. As for closing it, we'll have to figure out the ritual he used to open it. Find that, and the other information should fall in place."

"So we…research?" Huntley didn't sound pleased that the next steps weren't immediately jumping into the action. "Where do you even start looking for a thing like that?"

"No idea. I'd check the devil's grimoire if you have the stones for it. There are a few copies on earth, pages pressed from the wood of trees used to hang the innocent, bound in virgin leather. I can probably sniff out a copy on Earth."

"Virgin leather?" Storri asked.

"Don't tell him," Sitka cried out.

Jazz patted a bewildered Storri's arm. "Okay, you get this creepy book. We figure out how Thalasso opened the gate, close it, and then…"

"Dance?" Claus's grin was evil.

Was that redundant? Like saying the yellow school bus was yellow?

"All we need to do is search the creepy book that is, last I checked—since the grimoire is ever-growing—seven billion words long and written entirely in Enochian."

Jazz winced, possibly imagining having to turn the pages and hold a book like the one Claus described. "Could we get the ebook version and Google translate?"

"We should stay and help the others." I planted my feet on the floor in front of the steps, bringing Diesel to a stop. Claus had left immediately after the plan had been set, in search of a copy of the devil's grimoire. Without knowing how far he'd have to travel to find the book, we didn't know how long we would be left on watch and waiting.

Claus believed more nephilim wouldn't be killed until right before the next sacrifice. In the meantime, Knox had the Walker County pack and the shifter council working on tracking down more groups of nephilim. With the information Badger and his men were collecting, there were several leads, and once the nephilim were found, they could go into protection. It wouldn't be easy convincing so many that they could be trusted, but at least they'd be warned. The nephilim family in Idaho clearly had known danger existed. Their security system was too advanced for them to be unaware, and they'd still been overcome.

Before he'd left, dressed in tan linen pants and a red Baja hoodie, he'd explained that lesser demons wouldn't be able to pass through the gate until it was fully open, which was a thing he'd said was best avoided. "But as the gate grows, more demon kings will notice it, and they aren't as warm and cuddly as I am."

"Why are you helping us?" Hallie had asked, her arms crossed over one another.

Claus didn't look at all offended. "I'm not just here out of the goodness of my void. The devil will fry the demon who opened the gate but likely reward the demon who had a hand in closing it."

Knowing he had something to gain seemed to have been enough to soothe Hallie's distrust for the time being. Since Alejandro had left, ending their relationship in the process, Hallie had acted like she didn't hurt, but we all knew she did. We felt it through our pack bond, and the alphas could sense it every time they scented her. But if Hallie wanted to push her problems away for a bit and concentrate on something else, then the possible end of the world was a great option.

But then he'd left and everyone else had split up, to make calls or tend to young ones,